Project LC

The whole worlds first nonsense has to end. If Merlin actually surveyed people I'm almost certian they would find no one cares if its a worlds first when the first it is on about is something stupid. I'm assuming its not the marketing team that decides to use the Worlds first slogan all the time and is actually something Head office makes happen because no marketing expert could possibly think at this point that the worlds first slogan is effective. I'm sure it worked on the smiler (although I think they used world beating) and possibly Saw but everything else they have made it has been completly irrelevant or in 13's case damaging to the rides reputation. This new for 2018 "world's first " I'm almost certian will be just a stupid tag line like worlds first horror maze themed on season 7 of the walking dead. This is either going to ruin some existing ride, be a overhyped flat ride with some IP tagged onto it or some new VR sequence on DBGTROTD that gives it a really obscure worlds first.

I suspect it's because the weather is terrible and nothing is open is the reason why it's closing early. Very few people would want to stick around in heavy rain and strong winds.

Unfortunately Merlin won't sell them. They represent a very large asset, valued in the hundreds of millions, which if sold share holders would panic and the share price would fall drastically. The only way they would consider selling them is if they had consecutive years of negative growth and financial losses. Even in that scenario no one is likely to buy them due to the high cost and poor looking balance sheet.

The reduction in capex is going to hit the theme parks hard on future projects and I'm willing to say that Thorpe's next ride has just taken a budget cut or worst case cancelled all together. I highly suspect DBGT didn't perform as well as they hoped and it's no secret that the swarm didn't either. Which put together is going to paint a picture to Merlin that large investment at Thorpe doesn't pay off. The lack of investment is going to put off visitors as there is nothing new and quality is already low at the parks. The terror climate is unlikely to improve so that will continue to deter guests. All of that adding up and it will not surprise me that in a few years there is negative growth in the parks and that really won't please share holders.

The price of a night stay at the hotel will have been worked out and I suspect that opening it at a discounted price would have made it difficult to turn a profit with the average demand the hotel normally gets at that time of year. The reason they gave for falling visitor numbers is concerning as it's unlikely to be the truth and the action they are taking to "solve" the problem is even more concerning as it is damage limitation.

That announcement has a rather negative outlook for the UK midway attractions and the theme parks. The share price would have dropped because of its pessimistic outlook will have spooked investors. It saying trading towards the end of the season dropped despite record high number of tourists will also have worried investors as well as them reducing capex in its struggling theme park division probably won't help. "Analysts say Merlin's explanation for the dip in popularity of its UK attractions is at odds with official figures which show the number of foreign visitors to Britain over the summer rose." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41637793

I have pretty much the exact same complaints. The food in the park is dreadful, having tried pretty much everything they had to offer I can confirm that every restaurant there serves inedible food. The staff are completely incompetent and rude. The lady in guest services was also rude to us but compared to the ride hosts she was the best service we had at any point while there. I have no intention to ever return to the park and seeing as you 2 have the exact same complaints id advise others not to bother visiting.

I think it's pretty much certian that it's never returning. The work needed to be done costs more than Merlin's stupid formula allows. The only way the ride is ever reopening is a complete retheme so they can market it as brand new worlds first nonsense.

I'd say I just have a strong dislike of Merlin rather than an agenda. Merlin can sometimes do good things but there marketing hype and constant errors have led me to not visiting anymore. I had an agenda against reserve and ride as I'm sure many people picked up on. But currently I do not have an agenda against Merlin Entertainments.

The plan doesn't have any banking but on construction photos that corner has limited banking.

The fact it doesn't have banking implies it's lost all of its speed by then so now I'm not only concerned about the rides short length it now also seems the pacing might not be very good either. It's safe to say that I'm not expecting very much from the wickerman.

What sort of height is the corner? It's quite late on in the layout and it could simply be that the speed at that point doesn't need much banking.

If the queue was 2 hours before but adding a second train doubled throughput and the queue is now only an hour then there would be the same number of people in line. (An example not saying that is what has happened) I suspect now it's on 2 trains again there are actually more people in the queue as people were willing to wait 90 minutes before (an example). So now they are still willing to wait 90 minutes but the ride is able to deal with way more people in a 90 minute queue.

The BBC is reporting that they are only looking to buy Busch gardens from SeaWorld rather than the entirety of it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41509236

There is too much unknown to be able to comment on the ground conditions for a large structure such as a coaster for the loggers site. There are always solutions to foundations its just some are far more expensive than others. I mainly know about foundation design for buildings which are far more dense than a coaster is but then again I imagine a coaster presents its own issues such as stability and large changes in the load cases.

A wooden coaster completely depends on how well the wickerman is precived and more importantly if it makes any money for Alton. If it's a flop which I think it might be then we won't see a woodie on the loggers site. I think a more likely outcome for the area is it's left as it currently is for a few years until eventually Merlin trys to install the "scariest attraction ever" which will be just like every other investment of a good concept, poorly executed. The trains are probably in storage because it would cost money to remove them. The gauge of the railway is custom so they can't sell it on.

The price rise is simply supply and demand. Either they think demand will be greater or they have reduced the supply. Seeing how last year they sold out a lot then I have a feeling they are just adjusting the price for demand. If people are willing to pay that much then Thorpe are going to charge it as it makes them the most money.

3 SBNO rides is never good and it's not like it's just Thorpe either. Alton has so many rides closed or removed in the last few years that it almost has no flat rides at all. Then when you look at CWOA it's so poorly run and so run down just living in the shadow of its former self. I assume rush is expensive to run and maintain but I don't think Merlin would be stupid enough to remove it. Then again the first part of my post would suggest otherwise.

Zodiac would suffer a lot of shear stress from high winds especially coming in off of the water. Quantum would likely have the same issue. Dodgems and the tea cups I don't see how wind would adversely effect the ride but rain water certianly could. Merlin have evidently had quite a knee jerk reaction to the smiler incident and have gone rather over board on the saftey front seeing as for years it's never been a major problem. That being said many US parks close at the first drop of rain and I have always thought Merlin would one day do the same. It's just nice to see that they still operate in bad conditions, just not as bad as they once did operate in.

Europa has won best park from the golden ticket awards for the 4th year running.

I certainly agree the park is currenrly living off of its nostalgia which can't last forever. However to say it's never had a decent theme past or present is a bit harsh. The old chessington did wonders with their budget and pretty much transformed theme parks in the UK. Now Merlin have large budgets, invest it poorly in unfinished ideas, gimmicks and try to create brands in experiences which just leaves it feeling hollow.

Merlin and there jungle brand obsession is responsible for that. The aim to turn the park into this consistent brand is just killing off any fun the place had left.

I haven't visited for a couple of years because of the state Merlin has fallen into and I used to visit pretty frequently.

They could have just themed it so it's the same as mutiny bay. A pirate theme would have suited the ride perfectly fine and would have made a nice change to Merlin's themes. Instead it looks like once again a dark gloomy ride pitched at the completely wrong audience for the layout. All we need now is for the pre-show to contain a load of actors and we will have a full house of Merlin repeated mistakes.

It does look like one hell of a coaster. I really liked Mean Streak but it certainly felt like you were being beaten up unless you were in the front row. I think the conversion is going to turn a pretty good coaster into an absolutely outstanding one. I'm now going to have to find a way to get back there.