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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?

  • Total voters
    45
Themeparksandy1981 said:
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.
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There’s also the cost of feeding all the animals (something I expect is not cheap at all) and any unexpected vets bills, plus they’ll still be footing the bill for the keepers retained. Colcester have stated a £25k a day cost, which with no income, is terrifying.
 
If the worst case scenario happens and lightwater or Oakwood went bust, what would be the more likely things that a would tempt a would be investor to save the park?.
 
I could see M&D's, Lightwater, Oakwood and Drayton all going, along with several showmen and a few seaside parks. The upside to it is I reckon someone could make a half decent park by buying bits from each and cobbling them together.

M&D's are obviously on the ropes now, as we have seen. LWV has constantly been on the verge of failure for such a long time I can't see them crawling out of this. DMP has had the rapids, floods and now this to cause serious damage and Oakwood I can see being unlucky enough to drop into this.
 
Mr Pearse said:
Drayton manor is the only one I can see an investor being interested in if it went bust. I think visitor numbers are steady enough and they have the Thomas land brand to keep them going after.
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That's assuming theres no break clause in that branding agreement in case if change of ownership.

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Mr Pearse said:
That’s true, if a new investor did come in I’m sure the first thing they would do was tie up any contract for the Thomas brand.
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I imagine any deal for Drayton would be contingent on license rights being agreed, without the brand it's just another generic theme park for the POV of an investor.

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That’s what sets it apart from the other parks imo. The sort of thing i constantly think about when it comes down to this, unless you are local some of the smaller parks the average joe wouldn’t of heard about. But with Drayton they always had that ace card with Thomas land as I’m sure every person somewhere down the line has heard about it.
 
Many people around me have never heard of Drayton, including families with young kids, and I'm only about a hundred miles away.
 
I moved from the midlands to South Wales and it confused the hell out of me when more people round where I live knew about Thomas land then Oakwood, obviously things may be different up north.
 
If there's one thing Drayton Manor is known for around where I live (in the South West of England), it's Thomas Land. The vast majority of non-enthusiasts I know who've been to Drayton Manor are families with young children who went for Thomas Land. A hook like that is pretty promising for investors, so even if Drayton Manor's future form is as Thomas Land XXL, I think it could survive in some form because of Thomas' huge popularity.
 
Out of anything Drayton has done securing the Thomas brand has to be one of the best business decisions possible. I doubt to this day Drayton would still be here without it. The brand that is constantly saving Drayton.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
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.
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You miss the point.

Even with a break on their debts, Drayton do not have that much money to play with full stop. They rely on a constant influx of cash to keep the the turnover going. The fact the staff are furloughed makes no difference. The zoo is key here. The zoo is expensive to run. Any zoo is. The government will not be paying for that. So Drayton are now in a position where they have no incoming cash but stil have an expensive zoo to run. Yes, seasonal staff won't be hired and alot of full time staff furloughed. But engineers for the zoo, zoo keepers and the operation and upkeep for the zoo still has the same operational costs which will be coming out of Draytons pocket. A zoo the size of Drayton would cost many tens of thousands a week to run. At a time when Drayton are not strong financially and also have no money coming in. They still have to run one of their biggest operational costs.

It is all good and well you speculating saying they should be ok, they haven't built anything since whenever so should be ok.

Rather than speculating, go and look at the financials available for Drayton Manor publicly online. They do not have much cash and they have not been making money either. The reason they haven't built a new ride is most likely down to the fact they have been bleeding money like no tomorrow. They haven't turned a profit in a good few years. Yes, they have been loosing less money in recent years. But they have still been loosing money and not making it. This is why Drayton is in a precarious position. Now they have no incoming cash to support turnover it puts them in a more dangerous position. Don't take my word for it. Go read the publicly available financials.
 
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I agree Drayton is at risk, whether another buyer would be tempted to take it on if the company folds is difficult to say. It hasn’t been profitable for a long time.

Can imagine Merlin swooping on the Thomas IP if it becomes available in the UK.
 
Dave said:
I agree Drayton is at risk, whether another buyer would be tempted to take it on if the company folds is difficult to say. It hasn’t been profitable for a long time.

Can imagine Merlin swooping on the Thomas IP if it becomes available in the UK.
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I imagine merlin would replicate the Peppa pig play centres if they got the IP on a larger scale, not so sure if they could use it at a smaller scale

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When Merlin was taken over last year for 7.5 Billion which included 3 billion worth of debts so if Drayton sold up it be worth more than the amount of debts they got.
 
On a note somewhat related to this topic, I saw an article today that makes me think British theme parks could do quite well once lockdown is over: https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...out-what-theyll-do-when-lockdown-over-2549871


If you don't want to read the article, they basically did a survey on a selection of British people about what they dreamed of doing after the lockdown, and Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Alton Towers were two of the top places people wanted to visit once lockdown is lifted.


If this survey is anything to go by, then I think parks could be popular when lockdown is relaxed!
 
Matt N said:
On a note somewhat related to this topic, I saw an article today that makes me think British theme parks could do quite well once lockdown is over: https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...out-what-theyll-do-when-lockdown-over-2549871


If you don't want to read the article, they basically did a survey on a selection of British people about what they dreamed of doing after the lockdown, and Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Alton Towers were two of the top places people wanted to visit once lockdown is lifted.


If this survey is anything to go by, then I think parks could be popular when lockdown is relaxed!
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Which could actually make it longer before they can reopen fully if they expect to be swamped.

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