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Which theme parks are you most worried about during Covid-19 lockdown?

Which theme parks are you most worried about in this time?

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Skyscraper

Skyscraper

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As we saw recently with M&D's, this is a hard time for theme parks. Which ones are you most worried about not being here at the end? Vote and discuss below.
 
skyscraper said:
As we saw recently with M&D's, this is a hard time for them parks. Which ones are you most worried about not being here at the end? Vote and discuss below.
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Drayton manor is pretty much the only park I've been to that I'm worried about.

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I think we could see Gulliver's going as well however I don't know how much money they have in their bank after building Gulliver's Rotherham
 
I think some of the smaller parks like Oakwood and lightwater are the ones to watch out for, but some of the bigger parks I think will scrape by just about.
 
I don't think any of the parks thst weren't at some risk anyway are at risk

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I think that the ones to worry about are the ones that were at risk or showed signs of struggling before COVID-19. I think the Merlin parks will definitely survive, Blackpool will survive and the more successful mid-level parks, such as the likes of Paultons and Flamingoland, will survive as well.

The park I'm particularly worried about is Drayton Manor. They showed signs of struggling before the pandemic, and as they still haven't received a fine for the 2017 incident as far as I'm aware, I fear that that could tip them over the edge.

Lightwater Valley is also somewhat worrying; recent reports show that the park was absolutely deserted most of the time before the pandemic, and their momentum really seems to have ground to a halt in recent times.
 
I wanted to be concerned about Drayton but just my personal opinion if the park was to go bust, I still think it will be brought out and survive. They have certain assets that help convince a potential buyer.
 
I'm worried for my favourite UK theme park Alton,and it survival will depend if Merlin survives this crisis or not, so if Alton goes, so will Chessie, Thorpe and Legoland.

As for Drayton, going by my last visit, there isn't much left there to that will warrant me going back, so I'm no too worry about it going, I think the park is on it last any way.

I'm also concerned for all our tourist attractions including Blackpool and Gt Yarmouth pleasure beaches, and our local Zoos. Many were insured, the policies covers the plague and pandemics, but the insurance companies have squirmed their way out as the closures are down to government intervention :rolleyes:

BBC look east was talking about this last night and it looks like the government are going to help the tourist industry, but what sort of help and how much is yet to be confirmed.
 
RoyJess said:
BBC look east was talking about this last night and it looks like the government are going to help the tourist industry, but what sort of help and how much is yet to be confirmed.
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That's promising! Do we think this will be in the form of some sort of grant to cover income lost during the closure, or in a different form?

Regardless, any form of help that the industry can get will definitely help to make the situation less grave than some were originally predicting!
 
RoyJess said:
I'm worried for my favourite UK theme park Alton,and it survival will depend if Merlin survives this crisis or not, so if Alton goes, so will Chessie, Thorpe and Legoland.

As for Drayton, going by my last visit, there isn't much left there to that will warrant me going back, so I'm no too worry about it going, I think the park is on it last any way.

I'm also concerned for all our tourist attractions including Blackpool and Gt Yarmouth pleasure beaches, and our local Zoos. Many were insured, the policies covers the plague and pandemics, but the insurance companies have squirmed their way out as the closures are down to government intervention :rolleyes:

BBC look east was talking about this last night and it looks like the government are going to help the tourist industry, but what sort of help and how much is yet to be confirmed.
Click to expand...

I don't think Merlin group will go, but they may long-term look to get rid of the worst performing parts of what they own. But the overall international Merlin group is huge and is private funded now.

Although Drayton Manor isn't really competing with Alton Towers as they almost were in the 90s there still are some good parts to the park and I think they could have concentrated on the family attractions again for a while and then moved on in a similar way to Paultons to add more family thrill, but between the Splash Canyon issue and now Covid who knows if they can re-invent themselves. Overall Drayton is a similar experience to Chessington now.

I agree though that zoos are probably more at risk especially given the ongoing costs of feeding animals.
 
Another thing to remember with Merlin is that some of their attractions in China may well be operating with measures in place; China has now lifted the more restrictive parts of its social distancing measures, so dependant on the type of attractions that Merlin operates in China, they could be open and getting money in now.

With regards to zoos, wouldn't they potentially fall under the category of a charity, so they might benefit from the government's aid for charities as well as their aid for businesses?
 
Matt N said:
Another thing to remember with Merlin is that some of their attractions in China may well be operating with measures in place; China has now lifted the more restrictive parts of its social distancing measures, so dependant on the type of attractions that Merlin operates in China, they could be open and getting money in now.

With regards to zoos, wouldn't they potentially fall under the category of a charity, so they might benefit from the government's aid for charities as well as their aid for businesses?
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Keep in mind China doesn't exactly like foreign companies, so merlin might not have a 100% in their Chinese attractions.

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The Goverment have announced a zoo hardship fund, but not much else at the moment.

Back on topic, Lightwater and Drayton I'm concerned about, but Drayton is in a Fantastic location that I reckon it could be Saved, plus they'll have an insurance payout covering Feb Half term which many other parks won't. I think they are fairly safe.
 
Pretty much all zoos are charities and can therefore benefit from zero VAT, gift aid and other donations. Unfortunately, that isnt possible for 'theme parks with animals' sonI doubt chessington, drayton, paultons etc will benefit from any of that.

Drayton is the Park I fear for the most. Even before Covid-19 there were so many rumours. Ride removals, a pretty cr*p development to replace G-force. Remember, this is their 70th year and what did they plan to offer the public? Not a lot!
 
I have to admit I dont know that much about alot of parks so I cannot really comment. Even what I say about these parks is just pure speculation aswel.

The Merlin parks are safe. They are owned by a massive company which is owned by an even bigger company. Even if Merlin are in financial trouble, their owners will more than likely bail them out. If they did not (which I think is very very unlikely) then another company would be hand over fist ready to save them. Due to the sheer amount of assets they own. Now you have to remember, they might hit financial trouble, not because they are unprofitable, but because of the current situation. This is why the current owners would be more inclined to save them. Which they will I am sure.

Drayton Manor however, not in a strong position as it is. Privately owned and still have a pretty big expenditure due to having to operate the zoo. That could cause them trouble going forward. In the unlikely event they had to sell, many companys would snap them up. As they have a big park ready to go, they might need to re work a few things, but it is there ready to go.
 
Drayton should be ok as they only paying out to Zoo staff, a team of security and maybe Maintenance the rest of the staff would have been Furloughed and the main season temporary staff wouldn’t have started so no payout to them. The banks would have given them a payment holiday on there debts for the rest of the year. So I can see them been fine when they reopen.
Also they not build anything new since 2017 as they waiting on the HSE report and fine.
 
RoyJess said:
I'm worried for my favourite UK theme park Alton,and it survival will depend if Merlin survives this crisis or not, so if Alton goes, so will Chessie, Thorpe and Legoland.

As for Drayton, going by my last visit, there isn't much left there to that will warrant me going back, so I'm no too worry about it going, I think the park is on it last any way.

I'm also concerned for all our tourist attractions including Blackpool and Gt Yarmouth pleasure beaches, and our local Zoos. Many were insured, the policies covers the plague and pandemics, but the insurance companies have squirmed their way out as the closures are down to government intervention :rolleyes:

BBC look east was talking about this last night and it looks like the government are going to help the tourist industry, but what sort of help and how much is yet to be confirmed.
Click to expand...

Even if Merlin was to fold (unlikely), Alton Towers would be fine. It would be sold off as an asset and it has continued evidence of profitability as an attraction (Smiler accident aside) so would be purchased by someone.

I suspect if Merlin hadn’t stupidly sold off the land for most of their attraction and are now paying rent they would have had limited costs throughout the lockdown anyway.

idiots
 
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