Merlin Entertainments

[Coaster]

43 minutes ago, KingNemesis said:

 

That sounds like every trip to Thorpe ever for me...

 

I love the other parks and yes, you do have good times at other parks, however I have had several amazing trips to Alton Towers!

 

There are flaws with Merlin, the problem is with any business that is massive, it get very hard to control and getting a message to the head honcho through the never ending, hierarchy. 

 

The smaller parks can control a lot more, If something isn't right they can see that as the big bosses office might be on site. 

I too have had some great trips to Alton in the past, but this year it's under-performing as are Thorpe and Chessington.  The non-Merlin parks are far superior to the Merlin ones this year in terms of a good day out IMO.

[CharlieN]

9 minutes ago, Ian-S said:

 

They are the only operator in Europe that has more than one park?

I can think of Walibi and Parques Reunidos.

 

I believe the answer to my question is that Merlin are a decent company who don't deserve this heckling.

[Graeme]

20 minutes ago, CharlieN said:

Then how have they become the theme park group with the second highest attendance of 2015?

 

I would imagine their european parks fairly pull in the guests, from what I've seen, they're looked after far better than anything we have in the UK.

 

First time in 10 years that I haven't renewed my MAP and actually.....I don't miss it one bit, I have renewed my EP one for the 5th year in a row though. Merlin have more than one ride being delayed against them in my eyes, they just constantly screw the majority of projects up and do not offer value for money

[Benin]

19 minutes ago, CharlieN said:

Then how have they become the theme park group with the second highest attendance of 2015?

 

Quantity over Quality (3 in UK, 1 in Italy, 1 in Germany, several Legolands and then numerous Midway attractions)... It adds up to arguably the largest number of parks under any company bar Six Flags (and look how badly they do)...

 

ANY company deserves heckling if they're not being particularly great at their job... What a daft thing to say...

[pognoi]

19 minutes ago, Ian-S said:

 

They are the only operator in Europe that has more than one park?

 

Yeah no they're not.

ooooof you should do some research pal

 

Studio 100:

• Holiday Park
• Plopsa Coo
• Plopsa Indoor Coevorden
• Plopsa Indoor Hasselt
• Plopsaland De Panne
• Mayaland Indoor
• Plopsaqua

 

 

Compagnie des Alpes:

• Parc Astérix
• France Miniature
• Walibi Rhône-Alpes
• Futuroscope
• Walibi Belgium
• Bellewaerde
• Fort Fun Abenteuerland
• Walibi Holland

 

Park Reunidos:

• Bobbejaanland - Lichtaart, Belgium
• BonBon-Land - Næstved, Denmark
• Mirabilandia - Ravenna, Italy
• Movie Park Germany - Bottrop-Kirchhellen, Germany
• Parque de Atracciones de Madrid - Madrid, Spain
• Parque Warner Madrid - Madrid, Spain
• Attractiepark Slagharen - Hardenberg, Netherlands
• Tusenfryd - Vinterbro, Norway

 

Aspro Park:

• Aqualand
• Aquarium Barcelona
• Aquarium du Grand Lyon

• Blue Planet Aquarium
• Blue Reef Aquarium
• Boudewijn Seapark

• Deep Sea World

• Las Águilas Jungle Park

• Oakwood Theme Park

• Palmitos Park
• Puuhamaa

• Walygator Parc
• Wasalandia

 

Gelissen Group:

ADDVenture

Toverland

Gepla

 

There are more, multipark companies too, but these are the big ones.

 

 

[Ryan]

This topic has really gone to ****, hopefully ghost train opens ASAP.

[Graeme]

Seaworld managed a 0.3% increase on their attendance last year with all the bad press etc.....

 

Merlin managed a 0.2% increase, the lowest in the top 10 park groups and that's worldwide. 100,000 extra is all they could manage. Says it all. 

[Coaster]

^ Do Merlin's figures include the parks only or are the midway attractions/everything else included as well?

[Marc]

3 minutes ago, Graeme said:

Seaworld managed a 0.3% increase on their attendance last year with all the bad press etc.....

 

Merlin managed a 0.2% increase, the lowest in the top 10 park groups and that's worldwide. 100,000 extra is all they could manage. Says it all. 

 

I think its fair to say Merlin had their own share of bad press last year too!

[CharlieN]

4 minutes ago, Benin said:

 

Quantity over Quality (3 in UK, 1 in Italy, 1 in Germany, several Legolands and then numerous Midway attractions)... It adds up to arguably the largest number of parks under any company bar Six Flags (and look how badly they do)...

 

ANY company deserves heckling if they're not being particularly great at their job... What a daft thing to say...

And your constant use of ellipsis isn't?

 

I don't believe it was daft. I don't think anything deserves heckling and bashing to that extreme extent.

 

 

[Graeme]

5 minutes ago, Marc said:

 

I think its fair to say Merlin had their own share of bad press last year too!

 

Yes I understand that, but Seaworld grew more in percentage terms as well as in actual numerical value....Seaworld of all parks! Anyway, I digress. I;m sure DBGT and several ride closures at Towers in just what Merlin need to bring the guests back and build brand loyalty!  

[Benin]

25 minutes ago, CharlieN said:

And your constant use of ellipsis isn't?

 

I don't believe it was daft. I don't think anything deserves heckling and bashing to that extreme extent.

 

 

 

Who's being extreme? Like? What are you actually on about?

 

People are quite rightly stating that Merlin, for all the customer number, second to Disney, etc. Stuff that they pull, there is very little actual quality to it all... The ride delays, ride closures and shabbiness is there for all to see, and any criticism levelled towards it all is pretty fair game... It's not extreme, it's accurate...

 

Look what happened when Disney half arsed things, we got California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios... The extent Disney have had to go to in order to raise the quality shows what happens when you focus too much on instant returns and little consideration to the guest...

[Matt 236]

Indeed and whilst they are far from perfect, Disney are slowly fixing their errors from the Eisner epitome era.

 

DCA got a massive overhaul which finished a few years back and went from one of the worst Disney parks to one of the best. Walt Disney Studios is getting there. It's got another much needed high quality ride and hoping the 25th Anniversary goes well, that park is expected to get lots of attention in the near future [Marvel Land, Avatar Land [2.0] etc.]. 

 

The one thing I've noticed  about Merlin recently is how areas seem to be lacking cohesion. In a good park, you walk from one themed area to another one but barely notice the transition. This is something parks like Disney and Europa do right and something Tussauds did well at too [prior to their DIC years]. Sadly you don't really seem to get that often with Merlin rides these days with rides just being slapped down on any available plot and not always shaped in to the existing area.

[TarinMaria]

I really don't understand how being 2nd anything means we can't criticise them. Look at the other parks in Europe, not owned by Merlin, Efteling and Europa spring to mind. Rides are well maintained for the most part, the parks are pretty and well themed and guests are happy.

They don't overcharge for hotels, because over £200 to stay in a storage crate for a night is frankly ridiculous, and park tickets are cheaper.

The only thing Merlin care about is money, which is why they keep hiking up the prices (Towers I'm looking at you) when they've closed a lot of rides. It's why they oversell fast tracks. It's why they will sell more Fright Nights/Scarefest tickets than they can actually manage, and specifically Fright Nights will end up with 2+ hour queues for everything.

What Merlin don't understand is that people will spend more money when they're happy, happy guests = more profit.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[CharlieN]

4 minutes ago, TarinMaria said:

I really don't understand how being 2nd anything means we can't criticise them. Look at the other parks in Europe, not owned by Merlin, Efteling and Europa spring to mind. Rides are well maintained for the most part, the parks are pretty and well themed and guests are happy.

They don't overcharge for hotels, because over £200 to stay in a storage crate for a night is frankly ridiculous, and park tickets are cheaper.

The only thing Merlin care about is money, which is why they keep hiking up the prices (Towers I'm looking at you) when they've closed a lot of rides. It's why they oversell fast tracks. It's why they will sell more Fright Nights/Scarefest tickets than they can actually manage, and specifically Fright Nights will end up with 2+ hour queues for everything.

What Merlin don't understand is that people will spend more money when they're happy, happy guests = more profit.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

I agree with your final comment, however can I just clarify what I meant originally. 

 

I was never, for one minute, saying that we "can't" criticise them. I was saying that I personally don't believe that they deserved to be criticised to this extent (by which, I mean the sheer quantity of posts).

 

Of course, you have every right to criticise if you feel like that is what is needed - I just don't believe that  Merlin have done anything to trigger these 1 and a half pages of criticism.

 

Also, if you are making critism, if you feel it is necessary, then I think there is something very important about the wording of it as it can sound very negative.  For example, I believe that saying "Merlin could be better if they lowered their hotel prices" is much more helpful than "Merlin's hotel prices are way too high".

 

Anyway, my point was simply that I didn't feel Merlin merited this bombardment of critism. (But then again, that's all down to opinion).

 

Regarding Maria's final paragraph, I agree completely. Happy customers are paramount to a companies success.

[Coaster]

If the visitor numbers for Merlin Entertainments include all their attractions (e.g. the huge number of Sea Life aquariums, midway attractions and everything else) then they don't necessary reflect the attendances of the theme parks.

[TarinMaria]

Also, if you are making critism, if you feel it is necessary, then I think there is something very important about the wording of it as it can sound very negative.  For example, I believe that saying "Merlin could be better if they lowered their hotel prices" is much more helpful than "Merlin's hotel prices are way too high".

Okay, but, and hear me out... Merlin's hotel prices ARE way too high! I can do two nights at Europa in a 4* hotel for the same price as staying in a storage crate for one night. That sounds ridiculous, plus I could do two days on park at Europa for the same price as one day at Thorpe. Why should I sugar coat my criticism? They aren't sugar coating their prices...

[StevenVig]

2 hours ago, KingNemesis said:

Estimated date of Opening:

 

2048-04-27

 

 

 

Its closed on this day.

[CharlieN]

Just now, TarinMaria said:

Okay, but, and hear me out... Merlin's hotel prices ARE way too high! I can do two nights at Europa in a 4* hotel for the same price as staying in a storage crate for one night. That sounds ridiculous, plus I could do two days on park at Europa for the same price as one day at Thorpe. Why should I sugar coat my criticism? They aren't sugar coating their prices...

I'm not suggesting that you sugar coat your criticisms, I'm suggesting that you turn you criticisms into constructive ones - so, Thorpe can improve.

 

I also agree that the prices are "way to high", but if that is the case then saying "these prices are way to high, if they lowered them the park wouldn't find that they would have happier customers and therefore an increase in business" could be seen as more helpful.

 

I'm sorry if I'm being really patronising here by the way! 

[TarinMaria]

That is just summing up what I did say, which is that if Merlin lowered their prices, looked after their rides, and stopped overselling everything, guests would be happier and happier guests means more profit.

Unfortunately, Merlin just want to shortcut everything. Simple things like bundling fast trackers with disabled pass holders (like myself) so they have to queue for longer than needed, only having one train on the track for certain rides that get long queues and could probably do with starting with two, hiking up prices, closing rides and of course delaying projects - rather than doing what Phantasialand did and just announcing an opening date when they're 100% sure it'll be ready. It's the little things that make guests happy.

Take one look at the DBGT posts on Facebook, the comments from the public are scathing. People booked tickets because they confirmed it would be open, and then delayed it, now said people are very angry.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[Marc]

28 minutes ago, TarinMaria said:

Okay, but, and hear me out... Merlin's hotel prices ARE way too high! I can do two nights at Europa in a 4* hotel for the same price as staying in a storage crate for one night. That sounds ridiculous, plus I could do two days on park at Europa for the same price as one day at Thorpe. Why should I sugar coat my criticism? They aren't sugar coating their prices...

 

Whilst I agree hotels are pricey, the fact they sell out a lot would indicate to me they are not too expensive.

 

Prices are driven by demand, when it's quiet they are cheap, when it's busier they are more.

[TarinMaria]

Europa sell out their hotels a lot as well, they have 5 hotels... They don't hike up the prices. Plus, the hotels are far better quality. I've stayed at Splash Landings, the Chessington Hotel and 3 of the 5 Europa hotels.

[Marc]

5 minutes ago, TarinMaria said:

Europa sell out their hotels a lot as well, they have 5 hotels... They don't hike up the prices. Plus, the hotels are far better quality. I've stayed at Splash Landings, the Chessington Hotel and 3 of the 5 Europa hotels.

When was a day ticket to Thorpe £30? Like 10 years ago?

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

Dont get me wrong I'm not disputing that - what im trying to say is why would Merlin lower prices if it sells out at the prices we think are too high?

[TarinMaria]

How much of the year are the hotels sold out?

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[HermanTheGerman]

51 minutes ago, Coaster Jamie said:

If the visitor numbers for Merlin Entertainments include all their attractions (e.g. the huge number of Sea Life aquariums, midway attractions and everything else) then they don't necessary reflect the attendances of the theme parks.

Ha, well their entire "catching the mouse" scheme (yes, that's its actual name) just simply revolves around opening a million new midway attractions. Take away all the Madame Tussauds, Sea Life and other things, and they're a far smaller company. Surprised? Nope.

 

8 hours ago, Owen said:

Well I respect Merlin for 'ploughing on', they try to revolutionise the industry for your enjoyment.

Oh yes, you're right. Guest enjoyment is at the heart of every Merlin project. And Tomb Blaster's new Maplin lights are so revolutionary. God, aren't we lucky.