A lot of what he's saying also reads like it was written by Merlin. "We know we're not perfect but we're trying our best and where would you be without us". Urgh.
And on to a rant.
Disappointing how often it has to be said, but "Merlin are a business" is not a get out of jail card for being terrible. God, I hope you people making that shout don't have that attitude with your own jobs. Disney are a business. Phantasialand is a business. And Phantasia, as far as I can tell, are a much smaller business than Alton Towers, let alone Merlin. Christ, Mack is a business, they could get away with just a catalogue like all the other manufacturers, instead the have Europa Park, the world's most glorified showroom. What separates these companies from Merlin is they actually seem to care about the means, not just the end.
Merlin's reply makes it clear how happily ignorant and uninterested they are of the competition, their customers and even their own properties. This is no way to run a business. Nor is their obsession with TripAdvisor scores. While I can understand their attitude in the UK to an extent, you would think with Heide park having to compete with Phantasia, Europa and now Hansa, they would go about business very differently. If Merlin want to justify their boasts they should be building something on the same level as Taron there, it's not as if they don't have the money for that to be the standards they set themselves. They just don't care. When Blackpool open their Mack in 18 months Merlin are going to be in for a shock, and as much as I'd like to hope it'll spur Merlin on, I doubt it will have any effect on them. If they think Heide Park is enough to compete with its neighbours they're hardly going to be concerned by the one major UK park they don't own. I honestly believe they treat customers with contempt, closing rides at Towers as 'TLC' and Loggers Leap at Thorpe being closed for another season, for 'redevelopment', what do they take people for? It's clearly dishonest, and of course businesses lie, but it doesn't mean it's ok. To me it just looks like incompetence, like they don't even know what to do with their own rides. They don't want to operate it, but have too much uncertainty to go through with actually removing it, perhaps (not incorrectly) believing that actually removing it would create a backlash if there's no replacement lined up. Surely if they had redevelopment plans that involve replacing it, they'd have removed it already and put signs up to create a buzz. If they had redevelopment plans that involve keeping the ride, they should have done it straight away. It just seems like they don't have a plan. Past experience tells us this is probably the case. I'm sure we all remember them trying to close Enterprise to build The Smiler, or trying to close Blade to build a ride that never even reached the application stage. Opportunistic at best, incompetent in the middle, at worst, both.
On a different note, when Merlin do invest, I think one of the major issues is they put too much focus on, not necessarily a gimmick or lack of effort, but there's always a 'something' that is used as a focus, that they prioritise over more important things, takes away from the rest of the product, and can be used as a scapegoat. For example the fireworks this year. It's obvious there was a lot of thought and effort put in to the show, but the screen was badly executed, and it took away from the show. As good and unique an idea as it was, chances are it would have been better not being there and the money being spent in other ways. Like on more actual fireworks. Even more obviously is The Smiler's theming. While the Marmaliser thing is a centrepiece of the ride and forms not just a key part of the brand but actually adds to the ride, it seems to be a way to excuse the rest of the ride's theming/lack thereof. They obviously put quite a bit of effort in to designing it, but at the cost of bothering with the station building and the queue, which was clearly an afterthought. Add in the difficulties with the ride's construction (let's not go in to how every single project Merlin seem to undertake runs into issues) and it's a perfect way for them to try to excuse their laziness. As much as the Marmaliser adds to the experience of riding The Smiler, I'm sure as an overall package the ride would have been better if the money and time invested in it went on the queue and the interior and exterior of the building. But the thing is, when you're supposedly the leading theme park in the UK and have serious financial backing, it shouldn't have to be one or the other.
Merlin are massively incompetent, arrogant, ignorant and greedy. Their attitude directly contributed to The Smiler accident and it'll continue to hurt them. It's not entirely an internal problem, being owned by venture capitalists of course means they have to squeeze out profits even more than they would otherwise, but when they do spend money, they seem hopeless at it. Towers and the other Merlin parks are likely going to continue to struggle, and the response is likely to be to continue making cuts, and it will harm the parks. Austerity Towers is not the way out of this, and I'm sure their precious KPIs will soon start to reflect this.
