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Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

Always genuinely thought a Tussauds Waxworks in Scotland located in Glasgow might have had potential based on many Scottish celebrities and Sports stars would have gone down well according to many family members of mine but then again them just having a Dungeons in Edinburgh is very much their token location for north of the border.
 
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QTXAdsy said:
Always genuinely thought a Tussauds Waxworks in Scotland located in Glasgow might have had potential based on many Scottish celebrities and Sports stars would have gone down well according to many family members of mine but then again them just having a Dungeons in Edinburgh is very much their token location for north of the border.
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Surely if there was to be a be Tussaud’s Waxworks in Scotland it would have to have been in Edinburgh, it’s the UK’s second most visited city after London and has a massive amount of overseas tourists that flock to it. Obviously like you say Edinburgh already has the Dungeon but there’s a reason the city has that reputation for tourism and appeal on the international stage for visitors.
 
Glasgow has a bit of a reputation for being a bit rough, whereas Edinburgh has the nice touristy feel. Not sure if that's the reality, but that's the impression I've always had from down here in the Midlands of England.
 
While I'll understand Edinburgh being a likely spot for a possible Waxworks location, Glasgow despite often being hated by the rest of Scotland for its rough nature, egos and where the majority of the media and sporting scene is controlled by, it is the largest city in Scotland (like what London is for England I guess) it does have a fairly strong tourist market that could easily hold say a Waxworks or Sea Life centre plus in many ways it would be smart on Merlin's part to spread their footing in the two largest Scottish cities.

Speaking of which as I mentioned with all the majority Scottish celebrities and sporting stars hail from Glasgow in which likely wouldn't have worked if set say in Edinburgh as some of our Scottish users will know of the show Still Game which is beloved by almost everyone in Scotland in which my friends were saying that regarding the Rovers Return Inn recreation in Blackpool, imagine a reskin version of that with instead it is the Clansman pub with several wax models of Still Game characters there?

If Merlin actually committed for a 'local' theme rather than copy and paste something from somewhere else (ok maybe the Marvel or Doctor Who sections perhaps) then that would go down well and honestly the more you think about it, there is a lot you could add and though Glasgow is a tough city, it's a proud one and if Merlin were to double down with such a thing then it would go down well.

To bring it back to the Dungeons in Edinburgh, the capital city has long history of many gory parts of Scotland's history which makes it a no trainer choice for the Dungeons to be set there rather than Glasgow (unless football violence is the theme), the same can be said that a Waxworks is a good fit for Glasgow for the media side of the country.
 
Four million overnight visitors stopped in Glasgow last year.
Seventeen million stopped in Edinburgh.

Merlin may know what they are doing.

I know lots of people who have done fun trips to Edinburgh, but none who have had fun in Glasgow.
 
I had an email from Merlin this afternoon inviting me to complete a survey on new attraction concepts for the south bank in London. (There wasn't an NDA or request not to share)

Concept 1 is a themed adults-only bar with activities like axe throwing and darts. The theme would be 'Rebels & Royals'.
There's already lots of attractions of this type within London and across the country, and it sounds like Merlin expect the "uniquely London" theme to appeal to tourists while differentiating this concept from the competition.

concept1.pngconcept1b.png

Concept 2 was around hosting events on the south bank. Examples included London Fashion Week and Pride.
concept2.png
 
will6789 said:
Concept 2 was around hosting events on the south bank. Examples included London Fashion Week and Pride.
concept2.png
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That image must be AI generated. It is a view from the north bank looking towards the eye on the south, but the boat is on the side and features random cranes like docklands.

I am surprised they aren't already renting out the space behind the eye where they used to have an ice rink.

The other concept seems odd, can't see what the point would be in a crowded market.
 
jon81uk said:
That image must be AI generated.
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I'm pretty sure all the images were AI generated, they're all in that style which all AI images seem to share. Also, the more I look at the images of the bar, the less practical it appears (especially the chairs in front of the axe throwing targets!) which is another AI image hallmark. I know its just "visual inspiration" but it makes it look very low effort.
 
will6789 said:
I had an email from Merlin this afternoon inviting me to complete a survey on new attraction concepts for the south bank in London. (There wasn't an NDA or request not to share)

Concept 1 is a themed adults-only bar with activities like axe throwing and darts. The theme would be 'Rebels & Royals'.
There's already lots of attractions of this type within London and across the country, and it sounds like Merlin expect the "uniquely London" theme to appeal to tourists while differentiating this concept from the competition.

concept1.pngconcept1b.png

Concept 2 was around hosting events on the south bank. Examples included London Fashion Week and Pride.
concept2.png
Click to expand...
Concept 1 sounds interesting. I think that the specific 'non-family' moniker that it has could attract people who want to get away from families, but still want to be sociable.
 
Islander said:
It’s not their land to rent out. Not actually sure what the deal with the queues is, I assume there’s some written agreement that they can use the area for queuing, but yeh it’s not theirs.
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The land is owned by The Jubilee Gardens Trust, of which Merlin are/is a board member. The primary stakeholder is Shell, the oil company (what with owning Shell Tower behind the Eye).

Merlin lease the land for the Eye, and their operations around it, from The Jubilee Gardens Trust. They cannot sublet it.

jubileegardens.org.uk

Jubilee Gardens: Landscaped park on London's South Bank

Jubilee Gardens is a landscaped park on London's South Bank, run by a local charity, with a free playground for children up to 11 years old.
jubileegardens.org.uk jubileegardens.org.uk
 
MaxPower said:
Seems strange that they're trying to streamline by getting rid of attractions like the zip line in Australia and Bear Grylls Adventure, but then looking at things like this.
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The strategy seems to focus more on tourist centric cities like their London and Blackpool clusters and less on standalone midways or non tourist locations like Birmingham.

That’s not to say they will suddenly close all the non cluster, non tourist heavy places - but as and when leases and/or IP licences come up for renewal they could well chose to exit that location to focus the investment elsewhere.
 
AT86 said:
The strategy seems to focus more on tourist centric cities like their London and Blackpool clusters and less on standalone midways or non tourist locations like Birmingham.

That’s not to say they will suddenly close all the non cluster, non tourist heavy places - but as and when leases and/or IP licences come up for renewal they could well chose to exit that location to focus the investment elsewhere.
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They have the Birmingham cluster with LDC and Sea Life - it's not really a non-tourist location.

The issue with the NEC location for BG will be the cost of the rent vs the revenue generated. For comparison, I know they pay upwards of £2M a year for the two Manchester units, which benefit from higher footfall than the NEC does. Factoring in the limited footfall compared to other midway sites and the high unit rent, the profit for this particular location will have been plummeting.

I'm not sure we'll see BG pop up again. Given that the Australian high-wire attractions are being sold off and Merlin's previous dead-end venture into this type of attraction, it seems their appetite for this type of concept just isn't there either.
 
will6789 said:
I had an email from Merlin this afternoon inviting me to complete a survey on new attraction concepts for the south bank in London. (There wasn't an NDA or request not to share)

Concept 1 is a themed adults-only bar with activities like axe throwing and darts. The theme would be 'Rebels & Royals'.
There's already lots of attractions of this type within London and across the country, and it sounds like Merlin expect the "uniquely London" theme to appeal to tourists while differentiating this concept from the competition.

concept1.pngconcept1b.png

Concept 2 was around hosting events on the south bank. Examples included London Fashion Week and Pride.
concept2.png
Click to expand...

How exciting.....:confused:

Not the best they could come up with. The darts and axe throwing bar will more than likely have a lot of health and safety red tape. Expect a 15 minute speech before you can throw your dart at the board.
 
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