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Orlando Eye, Sea Life & Madame Tussauds

I wish there was something different at each Sea Life. I don't know how hard it would be to have exhibitions such as crabs or jelly fish move? Surely it'd give them something new to market for each center, plus it'd be cheaper to invest in several movable tanks than just something permanent for each center?
 
Honestly, everything that Merlin churn out is a replica.

LEGOBLAND, LEGOBLAND Discovery Centre, SeaLife or Tussauds; I do not care anymore. I want to see more individual attractions, based on the area that they're in. You can only put so many wax models of Hitler and so many spider crabs around the place before people question the extortionate prices they must pay to see the same old tat.
 
It wouldn't be so bad if they created a few more Sea Life Adventure Parks. If they're to high enough standards then they could create their own mini Sea World parks! :p
 
Harvey. said:
Honestly, everything that Merlin churn out is a replica.

LEGOBLAND, LEGOBLAND Discovery Centre, SeaLife or Tussauds; I do not care anymore. I want to see more individual attractions, based on the area that they're in. You can only put so many wax models of Hitler and so many spider crabs around the place before people question the extortionate prices they must pay to see the same old tat.
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But that is surely the point of these midway attractions? (This does not include Leogland parks). Merlin have a very successful model for rolling these out, it obviously makes them a lot of money. These attractions do not exist to attract people from all around the world. Clearly no-one is going to fly to Orlando just for a SeaLife and Madame Tussauds. That's not what Merlin want. They will however attract local visitors and provide a day out in that sense. Then when they are placed in tourist destinations tourists will visit as something to do. It doesn't matter that a lot of them are very similar. I can't fault Merlin for this at all.

On the topic of rolling out the same thing over and over again, look at say Disney. All their resorts feature a 'castle' park with very similar attractions. Or Universal, they're building another Harry Potter area in California I think. It is important to do what you know works well.

:)
 
I don't think anyone was suggesting that they aren't successful for Merlin. They obviously are. But you can't say that there's anything at all interesting about the construction of yet another Sea Life or Madame Tussauds attraction when they are, for the most part, all clones of each other.
 
Jordan said:
I don't think anyone was suggesting that they aren't successful for Merlin. They obviously are. But you can't say that there's anything at all interesting about the construction of yet another Sea Life or Madame Tussauds attraction when they are, for the most part, all clones of each other.
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That pretty much sums up what I was going to say myself in reply, actually.

I appreciate that Merlin is a business but Merlin 'Entertainments' should, primarily, be... well, entertaining. To me, the cloned SeaLife/Tussauds/Eye Wheels aren't innovative, and don't really seem interesting, that's all.
 
They're only not entertaining to us, because we've done them. A lot of people going to Orlando may not have done a high quality wax museum or an observation wheel that high.

I still think London has an amazing Tussuads - with one of the best dark rides in the country, a horror maze and a 4D experience. I wish they were all clones of the London one!
 
Would that not then make the original less special? When I could only buy Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the South, they were really special, but now they're everywhere I don't really care for them as much. :p

Anyway, I'd like to see Merlin open a few Wild Life parks like the ones they own in Australia. If they want to concentrate on midway stuff, at least try and vary what you do.
 
Midways work because they are spaced out so you can clone to an extent. If there was a Madam Tussauds in every town you would have an issue but the closest two are 240 miles away from each other and therefore can keep entertaining people.

America is a big country, you could put 20 sealifes and 10 Tussauds in and you would still have enough unique visitor potential that people wouldn't notice they where clones of each other. Its why the midway attractions are so profitable for Merlin. I hope they continue to expand and make money as it's the midways that make profit not the theme parks, without them the parks wouldn't be getting much investment.
 
Dave said:
Midways work because they are spaced out so you can clone to an extent. If there was a Madam Tussauds in every town you would have an issue but the closest two are 240 miles away from each other and therefore can keep entertaining people.
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Also in defence of Madame Tussaud's, whilst I haven't been to the one in Blackpool it looks very different to the one in London. There seems to be a bigger focus on domestic celebrities (Jeremy Kyle, The Two Ronnies, Keith Lemn etc..) compared to London's which has a multinational audience so therefore focuses on the bigger names. I'm sure some of the models are identical between the two (like the Royal Family) but they do seem to be noticeably different. Same with the Dungeons.

With Sealife there is only so much you can do with fish, but I like aquariums so that doesn't bother me too much.
 
Posted by Screamscape.

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OrlandoEye rising!
 
If the Polercoaster ends up in Orlando, it'll be interesting to see what happens between that and this Wheel.
 
Seems it's been a while since an update on here, so let's amend that shall we? Here's a look at the capsules which have just been revealed:

B2Ux_TfCIAA6rKN.jpg:large


And a look at how construction stands at present:

B2PYgUNCIAAPuoJ.jpg:large
 
I would be more impressed if they had got a similar wheel to London.

The cable wheel style is beautiful.
 
Dave said:
I would be more impressed if they had got a similar wheel to London.

The cable wheel style is beautiful.
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One theory as to why they haven't gone with the nicer looking spoke & hub style is that this style they are using is more hurricane proof, which can be an issue in Florida!
 
Indeed. Merlin didn't build the London Eye, they just took it over. There's no way they would fork out for an attractive attraction.
 
Why Why Why?

Is there really a lot to look at in Orlando? Last time I checked from my 100ft high hotel room not a lot, I can't imagine it gets any better at 400ft.

I understand Merlin wouldn't be building a Madame Tussaud's unless they thought it was a financially viable investment but really? Who visits wax works? Who would want to visit one in Orlando of all places?

Then there's Sealife? Comparable to SeaWorld it's in a completely different league.

I can't see any of these attractions appealing to the English or anyone who lives within a 50 mile radius of London at least. I think the only way they would ensure these attractions are popular is by selling multi-tickets, standing on their own they're mediocre at best - people will likely compare them to the Titanic Experience or the CSI Experience on I-drive. I can't see people going unless they are really competitively priced.

I could be and will likely be completely wrong. I just don't get it.
 
The Eye itself will probably be quite a hit. I had a superb view of Universal from around 50ft off the ground and that was a good 3-4 miles away, so I imagine 400ft will offer some stunning views.

Having seen Orlando from a helicopter however, the Eye won't even scratch the surface of what I've seen :p I can't imagine many will bother with Sea Life unless it's raining and people are desperate for cover.
 
You only have to look at the queue for tussauds in London to see how popular it is and 95% of the people in the queue won't by British
 
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