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Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

Trooper Looper said:
Can't wait for Bob Chapeks lost British Brother to Become CEO of Merlin...

'Introducing, new Merlin Smiler, a better way to snatch all those pennies In your wallets with a terrible Queue Line system.'
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What makes you assume that the new CEO will stimulate negative change, out of interest? For all we know, they might make the parks go from strength to strength!
 
Matt N said:
What makes you assume that the new CEO will stimulate negative change, out of interest? For all we know, they might make the parks go from strength to strength!
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It just seems to be the thing happening over the states now. Bob Chapek became Disneys CEO with negative responses, and so did Six Flags with Selim, also with a negative Response.

It seems that those big monopolies only got CEOs that cares for profit and not Ghest Satisfaction. I just fear, as Merlin is the Largest non Disney/Universal Monopoly, that they'll be influenced by it and simply follow the same path.
 
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WillPS said:
I think Matt's right. It's silly to pre-judge a change at the top as being a negative thing in the context of the existing CEO retiring.

Feels a little like when Drayton Manor was taken over and everyone assumed the new ownership would be negative.
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He is right, I don't disagree, we could see some excellent new leadership, I mean the likelihood is it will either be somebody on Merlin's board already or someone who's on one of the shareholders boards'. It will depend who they choose and it could have a massive impact, although less now that they are privately owned.
 
Mark Fisher is retiring aswell unfortunately.

uk.linkedin.com

Following today’s announcement about my retirement, I wanted to write a… | Mark (Fish) Fisher | 148 comments

Following today’s announcement about my retirement, I wanted to write a post for all my past and present colleagues and those I’ve been lucky enough to work… | 148 comments on LinkedIn
uk.linkedin.com uk.linkedin.com

He's one of the few people who managed to work his way up from the bottom, something that is practically impossible today. Definitely suggests a boardroom shakeup as a result of the takeover.
 
MaxPower said:
He's one of the few people who managed to work his way up from the bottom, something that is practically impossible today.
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Wayne Burton (currently guest experiance manger for Merlin) is also someone who worked their way up from the bottom with Alton Towers.

Although it doesn't actually feel like many people within Merlin care about the guest experiance enough anymore.
 
jon81uk said:
Wayne Burton (currently guest experiance manger for Merlin) is also someone who worked their way up from the bottom with Alton Towers.

Although it doesn't actually feel like many people within Merlin care about the guest experiance enough anymore.
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Absolutely agree with you on that! Apart from the people who worked on Wicker Man. They need a bloody raise XD

Even during the Millennium, Tussauds, although cheesy and not as good, it still felt like they really cared about the guest experiences, like air and Ug Land were really good additions to the park at the time.
 
Looking at Merlin's board is surprising interesting:
https://www.merlinentertainments.biz/about-us/our-people/executive-team/
Lots of interesting characters on there, some of which we know very little about some we know more. One person that we know is Justin Platt who, like Varney, was marketing lead at Alton Towers although more recently, I believe we was lead during the marketing campaign for The Smiler. Perhaps he could be a potential candidate?
 
The only surprise about this boardroom clear out is how long it's taken, probably due to Covid. It's normal for a load of exec's to exit when a CEO goes, it's usually (but not always) customary practice for a PLC CEO to lead a transition period when a company goes private and then leave.

Nick's time at the helm may be looked on negatively in enthusiast circles but that's only seen through a one sided lense. He was accountable for £millions of investors cash first and foremost so I don't think his corporate quarter to quarter management of the business should be of a surprise to anyone. It's common practice in many listed companies. When you look at his role like that, he did a good job. Had he been CEO of Merlin under private ownership with masses of funds behind the business he would have run the business differently, likewise if said business didn't have 2 pennies to rub together.

At least he green lit the Nemesis retrack before he went. There's very little indication of what comes next as no one knows. There's little reason to be optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the parks unless someone cares to enlighten me on something I've missed?
 
Merlin has only been publicly owned for about 6 of its 23 years of existence. Varney said becoming public was always the objective. He either changed his mind or the process of him being pushed out began before the return to private ownership in 2019.
 
Tom said:
Merlin has only been publicly owned for about 6 of its 23 years of existence. Varney said becoming public was always the objective. He either changed his mind or the process of him being pushed out began before the return to private ownership in 2019.
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I think it was the latter. Once you're listed, especially in such a young PLC that operates in an industry where high rewards require high risk, you can be very much a slave to those who are investing in you.
 
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned elsewhere, but the San Francisco Dungeon has closed down.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/the-san-francisco-dungeon-at-fishermans-wharf-is-closed-for-good

I know this is the European parks area, but I’m not sure if there is a better thread to put it in? I don’t know the ins and outs of it. Covid’s being blamed. Certainly, California had long lockdowns and the nature of the Dungeons would have made it difficult to operate in the pandemic. San Francisco also has very high property prices, so running something like this there would be very expensive there.

Merlin do have a lot of attractions in the States, but I think this was their only Dungeons?
 
That's a bit of a shame really, although from reading the article it seems the attraction is more SBNO than permanently closed.

Although Merlin's Midways aren't as interesting to us as enthusiasts, I'm always surprised the concept of the Dungeon isn't more common as they're fairly formulaic, I mean I'm surprised there aren't more attractions with the same concept/formula but with an IP or other theme attached (Shrek's Adventure aside) it would certainly give it more international attention.

However it does seem that it closed because of COVID-related effects as opposed to distinterest.
 
Covid seems to be a factor, but the Madame Tussauds nearby is open. The Dungeons does have a lot of fixed costs, which could be an issue. The Blackpool Dungeons sometimes closes misweek, presumably for a similar reason.

Nonetheless, The San Francisco Dungeon opened in 2014. If it were that successful, they'd probably have announced another one in the US by now. Although not being successful enough to announce another one doesn't mean it wasn't making money. It could just mean that they get a better a return on one of their other midways. You're right, it could just be SBNO. But assuming they're leasing the site, how long is it going to be viable to keep it closed? Of course, the flip side is that we don't know when their lease expires. It might not be easy for them to move out.
 
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That's a shame, I really enjoyed that Dungeons when I visited San Francisco a few years ago. The Alcatraz finale scene is one of the best Dungeons scenes I've seen.

It followed the same general formula as all other Dungeons but was very Americanised so was a bit different and quite entertaining.
 
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