• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Thorpe Park: General Discussion

Secret Weapon said:
It'll be interesting to see what the attendance figures for the new Universal theme park in Bedfordshire will be, because my theory is that the UK theme park industry has kind of hit its natural ceiling at around 2.5 million annual visitors per park, and that adding more rides or parks would probably not change this much - but if Universal manages to regularly hit 3.5 million or more (possibly by drawing in people from abroad as well) then I will (gladly!) be proven wrong!

I also wonder how many more visitors would arrive if entry was completely free (my feeling is that the entry price is not the main obstacle, but perhaps I am wrong).
Click to expand...
In my view, Universal isn’t necessarily comparable to the other parks in the country, simply because the product and target market are so different. Universal will be a premium product with big budgets and big IPs, aspiring to hit the multi-day short break market. There is no park in the country that hits quite the same market that Universal will aspire towards, and I think that will compel larger quantities of people to visit in a way that the current parks don’t.

I’m not sure free entry would do much for a lot of parks in this country. The likes of Alton, Thorpe et al are in places where you probably actively want to go there rather than having much passive “passing trade”, unlike the likes of the seaside parks which have a lot of passing trade.
GooseOnTheLoose said:
There has been competition, it's just that the others lost the thrill end in spectacular fashion and pivoted to the family market. Outside of thrills, the family market is incredibly competitive here.

Competition doesn't always mean innovation or an increase in quality. It often leads to a race to the bottom, which is what's happened here.
Click to expand...
Nobody is saying that parks other than those owned by Merlin don’t exist in this country, but I do think having Merlin own the country’s top 4 most attended theme parks has had a uniquely stifling effect on other parks and hasn’t allowed for truly fair and open competition between parks in the way that other countries have.

Few would deny that the Merlin parks are a cut above the rest in this country, if only in terms of profile and visitor numbers, which is not really true competition. They are the dominant player in the UK theme park industry, and as such, I would argue that they have broadly controlled people’s expectations of British theme parks in terms of things such as pricing (I know exceptions exist, but many small parks feel they have to keep up with Merlin’s voucher culture and 2 for 1-orientated pricing strategy). I would argue their dominance has absolutely stifled competition, and I think they could be argued to hold an effective monopoly over the UK theme park scene, even if not a technical textbook monopoly.
 
Matt N said:
I think they could be argued to hold an effective monopoly over the UK theme park scene, even if not a technical textbook monopoly.
Click to expand...
I think this is fair; maybe I'm wrong, but I always sensed that Alton Towers (and, later, Merlin in general) had some kind of de-facto exclusivity contract with B&M, that prevented other nearby parks from acquiring their rides? (Thus giving AT kind of a monopoly at a crucial time of growth)

I remember John Wardley saying that B&M don't even advertise in the traditional trade journals, and it always felt like they were a somewhat secretive organisation (I think JW had to pull a few strings with Six Flags Chicago to even find out about the first Batman inverted coaster).

In my opinion, JW's biggest contribution to AT was gaining the trust (and exclusive services) of B&M.

Maybe I'm wrong, though, and it was simply the case that the other parks were simply unwilling to pony up the cash for B&M rides!
 
Matt N said:
Nobody is saying that parks other than those owned by Merlin don’t exist in this country, but I do think having Merlin own the country’s top 4 most attended theme parks has had a uniquely stifling effect on other parks and hasn’t allowed for truly fair and open competition between parks in the way that other countries have.

Few would deny that the Merlin parks are a cut above the rest in this country, if only in terms of profile and visitor numbers, which is not really true competition. They are the dominant player in the UK theme park industry, and as such, I would argue that they have broadly controlled people’s expectations of British theme parks in terms of things such as pricing (I know exceptions exist, but many small parks feel they have to keep up with Merlin’s voucher culture and 2 for 1-orientated pricing strategy). I would argue their dominance has absolutely stifled competition, and I think they could be argued to hold an effective monopoly over the UK theme park scene, even if not a technical textbook monopoly.
Click to expand...
The window specified was 30 years, so from 1995 to date.

Merlin acquired its first theme park in 2005, followed by the Tussaud's parks in 2007. Merlin has only owned and operated the top four most visited parks for 18 years, 60% of the time window.

For two of those years, Merlin's Legoland operated independently of the Tussaud's parks, putting them in competition with each other as well as other operators.

Thorpe Park also wasn't acquired until 1999, so actively competed against the two existing Tussaud's parks within that four year part of the 30 year time period.

Flamingo Land, Drayton Manor Park and Zoo, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Oakwood and some of the seaside parks were all actively building thrill attractions throughout the first 15 years of the originally specified time period of 30 years.

I can't discount Merlin's recent market dominance, but to suggest that there hasn't been competition between operators in this country for 30 years (as originally stated) is false.

Competition at the thrill end of the market stagnated from around 2010 onward, with Merlin becoming increasingly dominant, but it was certainly present and continues in some degree within the family market.

If the window was decreased to the past 15 years, or possibly even 18, I'd have a much weaker argument.

As with all competitions, there is also a winner. Just because one player is dominant now, it doesn't mean that they always have been or that there wasn't, at one time, more competition.
 
Last edited:
Secret Weapon said:
It'll be interesting to see what the attendance figures for the new Universal theme park in Bedfordshire will be, because my theory is that the UK theme park industry has kind of hit its natural ceiling at around 2.5 million annual visitors per park, and that adding more rides or parks would probably not change this much - but if Universal manages to regularly hit 3.5 million or more (possibly by drawing in people from abroad as well) then I will (gladly!) be proven wrong!

I also wonder how many more visitors would arrive if entry was completely free (my feeling is that the entry price is not the main obstacle, but perhaps I am wrong).
Click to expand...

Universals publicly stated estimates for attendance are 8.5m in year one alone.

Disneyland Paris regularly exceeds 15m annual visitors across its 2 parks so i imagine Universal would be VERY disappointed if they find a ceiling at 2.5m. They won't though because what they offer is leagues above what Merlin offer and has international appeal of which the likes of Thorpe Park have essentially none. Outside of the most hardened enthusiasts why on earth would you deliberately visit from Europe when you have the likes of Disney, Efteling, Europa and Phantasialand on your doorstep?
 
So do you think the beach and new stage renovations will take please this closed season and colossus paint Job.

I remember seeing concepts are of the new hotel, buy the water has not been scrapped now?
I know Merlin is going through quite a few cuts, but this is needed for the park and an investment if what to jump on universal International visitors.

If no new ride hardware is planned for this year then they really need to sort the entrance out first impressions are essential for any theme park!
 
I think there needs to be a bigger consideration to the damage the park did to visitors over the years… 07-2015 the park’s availability and over crowding and bad experiences of the park, potentially damaged the brand, through over crowding at peak, the amount of breakdowns etc this alone would potentially put allot of people from wanting to return in the future.

The truth is Merlin took over in 2007 ? The parks have chased attendance and put profit over experience when it comes to capacity constantly and the customer follows.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top