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Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

Now the buyout is set to complete, expect to hear more in the press about the LEGO Group's plans for the next six months, as they will no longer be restricted in what they can communicate about the deal :)
 
There were certainly many references from Varney and the other business professionals to "long-term investment", so I think Merlin could have an exciting and prosperous future ahead!
 
TakeYourMedicine said:
not a single reference to ... bad management
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Just putting it out there, but Jorgen Vig Knudstorp (ex LEGO Group CEO and current chairman of the LEGO Brand Group) is a phenomenal manager. He took the LEGO Group from the brink of bankruptcy in the mid 2000s, through a decade of year-on-year double digit growth to become the world's biggest toy brand. Now that KIRKBI are the majority owners of Merlin, I would imagine that Jorgen Vig's influence will shake up the existing management for the better.
 
grrrr said:
Just putting it out there, but Jorgen Vig Knudstorp (ex LEGO Group CEO and current chairman of the LEGO Brand Group) is a phenomenal manager. He took the LEGO Group from the brink of bankruptcy in the mid 2000s, through a decade of year-on-year double digit growth to become the world's biggest toy brand. Now that KIRKBI are the majority owners of Merlin, I would imagine that Jorgen Vig's influence will shake up the existing management for the better.
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Hopefully when KIRKBI management look back at the Merlin and Tussauds investments they will see it's fun and quality rides and entertainment products (nemesis, wickerman), not just gimmicks and IP increase attendance. I would also be happy for them just to spend 1-2 years polishing the parks, investing in infrastructure like permeant lighting and the monorail to improve the quality of the parks and make them look less run down
 
grrrr said:
Just putting it out there, but Jorgen Vig Knudstorp (ex LEGO Group CEO and current chairman of the LEGO Brand Group) is a phenomenal manager. He took the LEGO Group from the brink of bankruptcy in the mid 2000s, through a decade of year-on-year double digit growth to become the world's biggest toy brand. Now that KIRKBI are the majority owners of Merlin, I would imagine that Jorgen Vig's influence will shake up the existing management for the better.
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Im sure they will bring a better influence but Merlin’s senior board is not changing as far as we know, just its shareholders

Of course that could go either way, I dont know what the exact influences within Merlin are or will be. For all we know Nick Varney could be a divine saviour of entertainment who has his hands tied by corporate overlords. Or Merlin could be the problem and Lego want to take control
 
Well that was an interesting video,
but time will tell if they live up to what they are suggesting.
but from what I could gather from that was that they are not happy with the way Legoland is being run, could be wrong tho
 
Not sure the best thread to shoehorn this into, but apparently Legoland California are having to remove their Star Wars Land.

https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201911/7101/

Will be interesting to see whether the other Legolands have to follow suit and if so over what period of time. When the Star Wars brand was first added to the Lego parks, I seem to remember it being credited with helping to fuel their rise in attendance. Hopefully losing Star Wars won't have the opposite effect.
 
Funcone said:
Not sure the best thread to shoehorn this into, but apparently Legoland California are having to remove their Star Wars Land.

https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201911/7101/

Will be interesting to see whether the other Legolands have to follow suit and if so over what period of time. When the Star Wars brand was first added to the Lego parks, I seem to remember it being credited with helping to fuel their rise in attendance. Hopefully losing Star Wars won't have the opposite effect.
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The Windsor Star Wars Miniland is also going, coincidentally. Maybe it's something to do with the fact that Disney now has Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge open at two parks?
 
DiogoJ42 said:
There's nothing coincidental about it. Didne's lawyers are throwing their weight around.
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I highly, highly doubt that. The collaboration between Star Wars and LEGO is as strong as ever - for evidence, look at all the LEGO Star Wars content on the recently launched Disney+ platform. I can't see what Disney's lawyers would achieve by asking for this to be pulled.

It's much more likely that the park had a license to use the IP / theme in the parks for a set period of time, and that's now come to an end. Nothing to do with throwing weight around.
 
Nah, my money is on The Mouse kicking off at the thought of any mention of something they "own" in any other park.
 
Trust me, I work with IP licensing (including Disney), and these sort of agreements are set in stone. Once you've agreed it, neither party can unilaterally cancel it just because they feel like it, without major repercussions. I'm 100% sure that this attraction has just reached its natural EOL.
 
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