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The 'Definitely 100% Totally Going to Happen' London Resort


Liam T

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Merlin are not likely to be a small investor. Why would they invest in something that if it does well will eat their profits and why would they let Merlin invest in the first place.

The back room workings of corporations can be a mystery, Microsoft bailed out Apple yet they were both huge rivals, same for Sky buying into ITV when they hit trouble, I'm not saying Merlin are involved, but if they were it would make commercial sense even if it doesn't to an outsider, they have experience in running theme parks, that experience is worth money (what experience does the BBC have?), being involved gives you a share of the profits if done right or a huge consultancy fee, this project appears to be going ahead regardless so in theory there's a choice, bury your head or get involved it doesn't have to be directly, they have plenty of subsidiaries they can use.

I have a friend who spent the better part of the 1990's bailing out and buying shares in all his rivals, at the time it made no sense to me, he should have just let them goto the wall and moved into their markets, but he continued and today he has a slice of every sector of his industry, all of them bringing in their own income streams, as well as his own successful supply chain, the return on those bailouts is massive, and for the most part, the majority of people have no clue the 'competiting' rivals they pick and choose to buy from, are all owned by the one person.

Despite paramount not owning the project they do have an image to maintain. So like Thorpe and lionsgate, there will be talks going on with what they can and can't do. LRCH will have the creative lead but paramount will provide an input to make sure it is up to standard.

Currently the project doesn't have many big names of the industry in however that will change. When planning permission is approved I'm sure they will start head hunting for the best. They are spending a lot on this and I'm sure LRCH expect the very best. After all their aim is to make money. So they have to be good so people tell friends and they encourage people back.

I don't doubt Paramount have what some call editorial control, but it might not be as controlling as you think, as long as LRCH pay their dues and don't give Paramount a bad reputation (like killing people or casting the brand poorly) they likely have full freedom to do as they wish within the scope of the IP's.

This is similar to how Richard Branson runs Virgin, he only owns the airline himself, the rest is licensed branding, NTL/Telewest run Virgin Media and Mobile, before that the Prince behind A1GP ran Virgin Mobile, Branson himself has nothing to do with the everyday running of the businesses.

Paramount won't care if the park runs at a loss, as long as they're paid their licensing costs, neither frankly will the Kuwaiti's, it's just a tax dodge for them, they might get bored eventually and want out, but the market value of their holding will far outweight their initial investment.

Just my 2p worth mind you :)

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Yes they need to bring all those super 'we do things bigger, faster and longer' coasters over from the States that are sitting dormant over there that you see on sites like 28dayslater, it's not like they're going to be short of a few acres like Thorpe or Chessie.

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 I'm sure LRCH expect the very best. After all their aim is to make money. So they have to be good so people tell friends and they encourage people back.

 

Presumably then, Merlin aren't in it to make money? Why are we thinking this new place would use the same logic in a different way?

 

Don't get me wrong, I think it will be great for the UK industry to have some serious competition to Merlin, but there is nothing like enough known yet to have any idea what approach they will take to empty our pockets.

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I think the point is Merlin don't have much of a fan base, which is why they have to 'buy' return visits by promoting poorly implemented new attractions with over hype. To an extent it works. We have no idea on Paramounts approach yet.

Even its fan base on discussion forums seem to be turning on Merlin or is the perceived increased in negativity just me?

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There is only so many times you can devalue an annual pass or open on one train when 2 is needed or have poor opening times. Merlin have been walking a fine line and it would seem they are starting to take that step too far. Merlin seem to work on a one step forward, two step back model which means they do still have fans (otherwise why would we all be here) but at the same time they do something stupid that angers the fans. I hope that PP play it differently however with the lack of experience they have I expect they will turn to the big names in the UK industry which would be Merlin. 

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Even its fan base on discussion forums seem to be turning on Merlin or is the perceived increased in negativity just me?

 

I think it's just us. Ask the average theme park visitor how their day is going and they are probably going to answer positivity. Theme park forums, Facebook and twitter are not really representative of what is really going on.

 

There is only so many times you can devalue an annual pass or open on one train when 2 is needed or have poor opening times. Merlin have been walking a fine line and it would seem they are starting to take that step too far. Merlin seem to work on a one step forward, two step back model which means they do still have fans (otherwise why would we all be here) but at the same time they do something stupid that angers the fans. 

 

Do you ever stop and think that things like one train operation on rides or the odd retheme are actually small fry compared to the massive problems that are at the heart of Merlin.

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There were a lot of people on Sunday who seamed very happy with their day, many were saying things like will come back when I next get paid etc. etc. there were hardly any complaining (my nipper had to go back to the dome to use the loo so I waited by the exit for him and earwigged people in the queue talking), yes I know there are toilets by the turn styles, he insisted on going to the dome hehe.

Mind you, these were the same people queuing to exit through a single turn style for the ten minutes, rather than exiting though one of the other 15 unused ones, so I'm not sure you can put a lot of stock in that...... LOL

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The flotation made them nearly a billion, they only floated something like 25% of the company, now even taking into account 20% of that billion being sucked up by the filfy vulchers in the City, it should tell you enough of why they floated - in one word, greed.

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not burst anyone's bubble it may be popular for 2 years then after that they will go bankrupt and Merlin will buy it on the cheap 

 

Gotta love some good wild speculation based on pretty much nothing at all...

 

Or dismay at people posting utter rubbish... Either option really...

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Knowing local authorities like I do (I worked for one for many years), this type of project is guaranteed to get approval because of where it's planned, it'll only when it up and running that they'll start running into issues with planning.

Only downside is it's almost guaranteed to kill Dreamland.

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