Sandcastle Waterpark Blackpool - General Discussion

[venny]

Didn't merlin take over Cadbury World operations too? Sure I heard that a while ago but nothing since.

Can only be a good thing even if its day to day operations, unlikely to feature on annual passes next season.

I’m not sure it “can only be a good thing” for Merlin to take on the operations? The Sandcastle has been a well-operated attraction for quite some time. I’m not at all confident that foisting a faceless multinational on it will inevitably lead to improvement; indeed quite the opposite may be true.

It seems rather odd that the Council would take such action, when surely retaining the same operating model with a new manager would make sense. There’s very little information on why they’ve take this step with what is essentially a public asset.

 

[rob666]

Err, who says the attraction is well operated?
Got any actual financial results to back up that claim...I can't find any.
It has been run by the council at a considerable loss for many years, though they do their best to bury the losses as commercially sensitive information.
It is a public asset running at a clear loss, and has been run in that way since the council took over operations.
Been absolutely dead on the days I have visited off peak...to put it bluntly, it must cost them an absolute fortune some days to accommodate a hundred punters.
Not well run or seeking returns for the local council tax payer at all, just dragging along the bottom as local government projects often do.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I hear there are plans afoot to just rename the town Merlinpool and be done with it.

More like Welcome to Mer Vegas (2nd biggest operator to Disney)
They could even have there own sign included in the Illuminations with pictures of Nick Varney.