Enter Valhalla
TS Member
The rebrand of Dungeons and Tussauds will be interesting. Those attractions are Merlin to the core.
There is no indication of a rebrand. Blackpool Tourism Ltd will operate them as franchises with support from Merlin Magic Making on new exhibits.The rebrand of Dungeons and Tussauds will be interesting. Those attractions are Merlin to the core.
Only renewed my Merlin Pass this week and now the only places I use it outside of the theme parks will no longer be valid from 1st January 2026.
Hadn't realised but Merlin had handed operating control of the Sandcastle back to Blackpool Council quite recently as well.
I can't see them floating Merlin, especially as they not long took it private because they had less control over business (which all three current owners had large stakes in anyway). I do think however that splitting the business up isn't entirely of the cards, I don't think it's something that'll happen instantly but I could see them split into two different companies.Seems like something you would do when you are preparing to float. Or split the business up
With all due respect, it's the norm with ice hockey with the team renting ice time at a ice rink which I know sounds mad but there you go.A bit like buying a football club and not owning the ground. Utter madness.
A bit like Wimbledon?Why would you want to buy the theme parks, isn’t the land under Alton, Chessington and Thorpe owned by a 3rd party?
A bit like buying a football club and not owning the ground. Utter madness.
A bit like Wimbledon?
A lot of american football teams have jumped grounds as well, it happens, renting!
I think Tesco did very well out of renting early on as well, frees up capital for other things.
Sea-Life centres and Midway hub attractions were a Varney legacy and always a bit of a distraction, with Merlin themselves getting their start in aquariums and dungeons.Since they’ve already sold off that family silver, they seem to have needed to move to even more radical options to how generate more capital, ie the Sealife sell off.
I swear Bear Grylls was planned and built during the period of time after Blackstone had divested after making Merlin go public, and before they would later re-acquire them to take them private again in 2019.Attractions like The Bear Grylls Adventure are likely never to have turned a profit. In the actual case of Bear Grylls, it was built at the behest of Blackstone who had then recently acquired The NEC Group, to attempt to encourage day time, regular, family visits to the NEC. If it weren't for the pandemic, I'm sure that this offering would have been shored up by a small Sea-Life Centre and one other attraction on the same site. It is no coincidence that the Birmingham Legoland Discovery Centre, which also opened in 2018, was built into another NEC Group owned property (the NIA).