The (hypothetical) Universal Impact - Merlin's response. Tanks on their lawn, or golden opportunities?

[flyingguitar]

co-ordinated responses from parks like Pleasure Beach

that requires Amanda doing a good job

This all depends on what Blackstone wants to do, if they want to make Merlin public again, then they’re going to prep the company for a public listing using the same methods when they’ve brought theme park chains before.

it really dose mater what they are going to do, I would argue that Alton needs to improve some of its areas to be able to compete and get some better service between now and when universal opens.
I could see them putting money into rides and theming with the argument that it is to counter universal. but I would argue that Minecraft world means they are probably here for at least the next 2-3 years so it depends on how they ant to proced

 

[VerticalLoop123]

One of the things I think towers will seriously need to reinvest in is their Halloween operation.
Already Universal have submitted lots of trademark applications linked to Halloween Horror Nights. If Towers still want to be a serious competitor in the Halloween market they will need to ensure they have a decent number of mazes and scare zones.

We know that budgets in the ents dept have dropped- getting it up to a good standard before Universal opens will be tough.

 

[owenstreet7]

One of the things I think towers will seriously need to reinvest in is their Halloween operation.
Already Universal have submitted lots of trademark applications linked to Halloween Horror Nights. If Towers still want to be a serious competitor in the Halloween market they will need to ensure they have a decent number of mazes and scare zones.

We know that budgets in the ents dept have dropped- getting it up to a good standard before Universal opens will be tough.

I think that I'd say the same for Fright Nights at Thorpe Park.

Something that can compete with Universal and potentially they may need to run these events in September to compete with Universal.

 

[QTXAdsy]

With the likes of Towers, Thorpe and Chessie are needing at this moment in time is pretty much they all need a 5 or 6 year plan for each park until Universal opens as they will be needing to brace themselves from Universal and the only one I can see that has a plan of some kind is Chessie who have clearly made it clear that the park is heading fully into the IP direction with Minecraft on the way.

Can't say what Thorpe and Towers' plans are with the latter more focus on firefighting years of neglect rather than what seems to be the direction that park is heading in.

 

[Hid]

With the likes of Towers, Thorpe and Chessie are needing at this moment in time is pretty much they all need a 5 or 6 year plan for each park until Universal opens as they will be needing to brace themselves from Universal and the only one I can see that has a plan of some kind is Chessie who have clearly made it clear that the park is heading fully into the IP direction with Minecraft on the way.

Can't say what Thorpe and Towers' plans are with the latter more focus on firefighting years of neglect rather than what seems to be the direction that park is heading in.

Thorpe Park have just had Project Sparkle to bring the park back up to where it should be, Towers have been doing some very much needed structure work with Skyride almost ready to reopen, noticed the Monorail Trains are getting some TLC. They are both doing a lot at the moment, Thorpe Park very much knows its a thrill park and they should build upon Hyperia and add more rides for that thrill level. Towers I think will receive some interesting investments over the next few years what it really needs is more rides which I think they are working on.

There will be changes but change takes time to see the benefits from

 

[owenstreet7]

Thorpe Park have just had Project Sparkle to bring the park back up to where it should be, Towers have been doing some very much needed structure work with Skyride almost ready to reopen, noticed the Monorail Trains are getting some TLC. They are both doing a lot at the moment, Thorpe Park very much knows its a thrill park and they should build upon Hyperia and add more rides for that thrill level. Towers I think will receive some interesting investments over the next few years what it really needs is more rides which I think they are working on.

There will be changes but change takes time to see the benefits from

With Thorpe Park, I'm hoping that there will be a consultation later this year like Chessington had last year for the next few projects in the pipeline to make it Universal Ready.

I think the key thing with Thorpe Park is to be consistent and to refine it's thrill offering.