If you’ve spent any time on social media, following any theme park page or group, you’ll have seen a lot of talk and speculation and even hate directed at Merlin Entertainments. The consensus seems to be that the decision to remove the Merlin Magic Making division and Entertainments team are the wrong ones to take, the quality of the parks is declining and the talks bout selling off some of the Sea life properties.
I’m not going to defend Merlin where they don’t deserve it, but I will give them credit where it is due. I can only go off what we’ve had and what I’ve personally seen up to this point.
Merlin Magic Making North
Late last year, Merlin announced that they would be closing Merlin Magic Making North, which is based at Alton Towers, with the loss of 30 jobs. Now this is very sad news indeed as there does seem to be a lot of talent at Merlin Magic Making North! Through my digging though, it seems that Merlin are using the studio less and less for their larger projects, sidelining them into smaller and small parts over time. I would love to hear from anyone who has worked there or currently does to confirm this though!
This does not mean that the entirety of Merlin Magic Making is going though, purely the team based at Alton Towers. I would hope that those at Towers can be integrated into the larger Magic Making group so as to not lose them.
The only upshot here is that Merlin will be outsourcing theming to other companies which can surely mean innovative ideas and fresh eyes on things? Let’s try to be a little positive about what is quite a negative thing!
I would love to know what involvement in recent projects Merlin Magic Making North has had, such as Nemesis Reborn, Sub Terra, Toxicator or even Gangsta Granny and Wicker Man. Without sounding too harsh, it would be nice to know if this decision is based on good evidence that the team does indeed need to be axed, or whether it truly is a terrible move, at least based on how much the team has been used!
I really don’t want to come across as insensitive as I know this is a touchy topic to discuss, but that’s all it is, a discussion about things many of us know little about!
The Entertainments Teams
The next thing we heard was that Merlin were scaling back a lot of their entertainment this year and reducing their entertainment teams. This is evident from the lack of Oktoberfest in Alton Towers/Thorpe Park’s calendars, as well as no other events besides Scarefest/Fright Nights and Fireworks. Fireworks has even seen the number of days dropped from 3 to 2, which I will agree does seem like a daft idea when Fireworks is arguably Tower’s best event and is constantly sold out.
Now I do believe I’m sticking my head right above the parapet in saying this, but losing Oktoberfest and the other events, doesn’t mean we’re losing all entertainment like everyone is suggesting. The general opinion that I read is that the parks will be devoid of any shows or entertainers almost entirely and nothing in their place.
Now we can’t see the future, but I highly doubt it’ll be completely gone. I will agree that we probably won’t be seeing Oktoberfest/Mardi Gras/Festival of Thrills returning, but what’s to say they don’t have live shows in the parks throughout the year anyway? Pirate takeover is currently on going and from what I’ve seen from social media, there is more entertainment than ever.
Thorpe Park has never really had any entertainment besides Oktoberfest/Mari Gras/Carnival and Fright Nights, so Thorpe won’t be missing much as Carnival was axed last year anyway. Chessington has a few shows aimed at children, as does Towers in Cbeebies land, and I don’t think these will go either. The Tellytubbies will endure!
Legoland Windsor is the park that seems to have been hit hardest with the cutbacks here. Pirates of Skeleton Bay was a particularly good show and always had a large crown watching, so I hope something is put in its place or it makes a return. The puppet show in Duplo land has been cut too, but no matter what time I’ve been in Duplo land, the area hasn’t exactly been rammed with people, so maybe this was cut due to lack of attention? Yeah, it’ll save money too, but if it wasn’t popular and was costing money, why keep that? Once again, just thoughts!
The final point I have to make regarding entertainment and why it might be scaled back, is the general public and priorities.
As you’re reading this, remember back to the first time you visited Alton Towers, or Heide Park, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Parc Asterix, Phantasialand or Efteling. Imagine going for just the 1 day as tickets are costing a family of 4 around £100 (and then food and merchandise on top). Now think back to what your priorities were.
Lets take our very first day at Alton Towers 2019. We went straight to Wicker Man, Nemesis, Galactica, Rita, Th13teen, Oblivion and The Smiler. We had a look around Sharkbait reef and had some dinner. We completely missed Duel, but we did do the Dungeons. I paid for a fast track to be able to do Galactia, Nemesis, The Smiler and Oblivion and we missed so much. We didn’t stop for shows or anything like that as we didn’t have time.
We didn’t stop for shows at Efteling or Phantasialand, Parc Asterix or Hansa Park. We went for the headline attractions, and I can see the general public doing the same too. Yeah I will certainly, 100% agree that parks need entertainment and shows and such. Of course they do. I just think that maybe Merlin have decided that cutting back on that is a good way to save money as a large portion of the visitors come for the rides, rather than the shows? Repeat visitors would probably want to see the shows after they tick off all the rides they want to do, but how many people are visiting the same park multiple times a year besides us enthusiasts and pass holders? That is something I would love to know!
It wouldn’t be fair to compare attendance figures when a new ride opens vs the introduction of a new show as I’m certain that Wicker Man, The Smiler, Karnan, Baron 1898, F.L.Y or Taron and all the big coasters pulled in huge numbers compared to the introduction of a new stage show on its own.
Maybe that’s just my own opinion, maybe others share it? Maybe Merlin believes the future of parks isn’t with entertainers and shows on all the time, instead concentrated down to a few larger scale events, who knows?
The Sea Life rumors
It was recently reported that Merlin is looking to sell off some, not all, of its Sea Life properties. This isn’t a done deal, they are looking at options at present and a lot of the larger ones will remain but I can imagine that they cost a fortune to run. A business that’s looking to increase revenue is going to look at cutting lose things its regards to be liabilities. I don’t feel that Sea Life are liabilities or terrible attractions, but if running costs are too high and money coming in isn’t covering it, then maybe its a logical step?
Now I will say I’d be saddened to see the Sea Life centres taken off the Merlin Annual Passes if they got sold off, but to be honest, we’ve visited Scarborough Sea Life a few times in the 5 years we’ve had our passes, but that’s about it. They’re not that expensive when buying tickets at full price and maybe they could be run very differently if they were owned by independent people. I will say that pretty much all Sea Life centres feel the same and don’t deviate too much from an almost cookie cutter layout with a similar selection of wildlife to see.
That’s not to say I don’t like Sea Life, far from it! I have an aquarium, and I love seeing different and interesting species for myself. I recall visiting Scarborough Sea Life for the first time around 2010 when they had a big exhibition on Weedy Sea Dragons, and I don’t think an awful lot has drastically changed between then and our last visit in 2022.
Having a small tank myself, I get a little bit of an idea as to how much they cost to run and Sea Life has tanks that are orders of magnitude bigger than mine, that contain hundreds, if not thousands more fish than mine, run salt water and require a lot of attention. This surely doesn’t come cheap and maybe putting prices up would help here, but people wouldn’t like that too!
At the time of writing, Scarborough Sea Life is £18 for an adult in the height of summer, a price that on its own is pretty good, but I can imagine will put a lot of people off if they have larger families, and paying in the region of £80 for a family of 4 for an aquarium isn’t appealing to many! I do hope they figure out a way to keep Sea Life on and make it more appealing or profitable, whichever is the main issue!
The Quality of the Parks
Now this is an interesting topic to dive into as I can go off of what I’ve seen in the 5 years we’ve had our annual passes. There have been new rides added, old rides removed and some much needed TLC done here and there. The introduction of the very polarising Ride Access Pass has forced a lot of changes about the parks and the system itself changed and altered over the years. I can’t go into detail about Ride Access Passes as we don’t require them but Social Media is always awash with complaints about it.
As for investment, here is a list of every new or remodeled attraction that has been to Alton Towers, Chessington, Thorpe Park and Legoland Windsor.
- Hyperia (TP)
- Ghost Train (TP)
- Black Mirror Labyrinth (TP)
- Mandrill Mayhem (CWoA)
- River Rafts (CWoA)
- Jungle Rangers (CWoA)
- Croc Drop (CWoA)
- Blue Barnicle (CWoA)
- Trawler Trouble (CWoA)
- Jungle Bus (CWoA)
- Barrel Bailout (CWoA)
- Ostrich Stampede (CWoA)
- Mamba Strike (CWoA)
- Duplo Dino Coaster (LLW)
- Minifigure Speedway (LLW)
- Flight of the Skylion (LLW)
- Fire and Ice Freefall (LLW)
- Toxicator (AT)
- Nemesis Reborn (AT)
- Nemesis Sub Terra (AT)
- Curse at Alton Manor (AT)
- Gangsta Granny the Ride (AT)
- Twistotron (AT)
- Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango (AT)
- Funk ‘n’ Fly (AT)
- Roller Disco (AT)
- Mixtape (AT)
- Spinjam (AT)
I thought the list might be longer as I thought we have had more, but there is also Cadbury Worlds dark ride, and a couple at Heide Park and Gardaland too. I’ll stick to the UK offerings for the sake of ease though!
Chessington World of Adventures is soon to receive what is expected to be a Minecraft themed area in place of Wild Asia, including a new roller coaster. Mexicana is also being remodelled with another new roller coaster, 2 new rides and a relocated one, if the plans are to be believed. They have had 3 new areas in the last 5 years and 10 new attractions, which is more than any other Merlin property.
Thorpe Park has had a major tidy up and a rethemed area, which wasn’t quite as exciting as a brand new roller coaster, but it ended up getting one of those as well in Hyperia. Ghost Train was reimagined (and made worse in my opinion) and Black Mirror Labyrinth has come and gone in that time too.
Legoland has had Mythica, incorporating Flight of the Sky Lion and two new drop towers, and the dueling roller coaster, Minfigure Speedway. Ferrari Build and Race has also made an appearance too and this is a lot of fun for what it is, as is The Brick. Areas designed to allow people to just build with Lego fit well in a park themed around Lego!
Finally theres Alton Towers, which has also gone through a spruce up over last closed season, as well as The World of David Walliams, including Gangsta Granny. Curse at Alton Manor replaced Duel and was done over 1 closed season.
Then there’s the Retro Squad, which I’ll admit weren’t permanent, nor owned by Merlin, but were still an investment into the park. (Even if they didn’t feel as such!)
There’s Nemesis Reborn and Toxicator. There is definitely a case to be had about the choices made here. On the one hand you have a much loved roller coaster, the one that put the UK on the theme park scene and quite rightly deserved its preservation. Nemesis Reborn was a substantial investment for the park to undertake, likely costing as much to build as a new attraction would have but extending the life of a great attraction.
Toxicator is a weird one though. I like Huss Top Spins but removing one 10 years ago to build a new one might sound like what they did with Nemesis, but Ripsaw didn’t hold the prestige that Nemesis has, so making a new one under a new theme is questionable, but still, a new ride nonetheless.
Sub Terra was also reintroduced too which I enjoyed, going into it knowing it wouldn’t blow me away certainly helped to curb expectations.
So investment has been happening in the parks, Chessington has had a lot of love and is getting even more with the new lands and a water park on the way too. Alton Towers has had a good amount of investment but a retheme here and retreading old ground there isn’t as exciting as brand new things. (Though i have loved all the new stuff we’ve gotten!)
Legoland and Thorpe Park have had a few bits here and there but could certainly do with a bit more, Legoland especially as it has lost of lot of big attractions in the same time it’s gained the ones mentioned above. Thorpe Park seems to be content as it is and plods along not really needing too much to round it out. New attractions are always welcome but Thorpe seems to do fine with what it has.
The food, merchandise and Prices
I would have included these in the previous point but it was already getting bloated so lets talk about these two here. The food is arguably the single worst aspect about Merlin Entertainments right now. Alton Towers and Legoland suffer really, really badly under Aramark. Chessington gets away with it for the most part, having a few more tasty/reasonable offerings. Thorpe Park gets carried, heavily, by Burger King and KFC, but it has those to offer as well as Merlin/Aramarks own offerings.
If there is one thing that I cannot defend Merlin for, its their food. It’s expensive and miles away from good value or being a cost effective way to feed the family during park days. Even Tracy and myself tend to stick to the same tried and tested offerings at Alton Towers or Chessington as the rest is a waste of funds. Legoland is the single worst offender for this, there is barely any choice and what you do have to pick from isn’t cheap or particularly lovely…
On the complete other side of the scale is the merchandise. Merlin are second to none when it comes to offering things in their shops that I’d like to buy. Alton Towers still holds my personal record for a single day of spending, not to brag or anything! I’ve had so much of their stuff and for the most part, it’s very good quality. I’m starting to wear out the socks I bought in 2020 and some of the earlier T shirts are only now starting to fade. Things have gotten better still though as last year we got a lot of embroidered logos and such that will last even longer!
I can’t complain about the merchandise for the most part as it’s all worth the money in my view. The pin badges could be a bit more premium I feel as they charge Disney prices but aren’t quite as good as Disney’s from what I’ve seen and from what I own.
I don’t think the digipasses are too bad either, but I’d love to see a season wide digipass make a return. £100 (or cheaper) and I’d pay that, knowing all my photos were safe. in 2020 they did a £65 one that lasted 365 days from the day you bought it and I rinsed that so much through the end of 2020 and into 2021.
Pricing across the parks is all over the place. I feel that the Merlin annual pass, as it currently stands is good value for money, but that is likely skewed by the gate prices at the parks. Currently, each park is priced as follows for Saturday 16th August:
- Alton Towers – £37
- Chessington World of Adventures – £32
- Thorpe Park – £33
- Legoland Windsor – £44
Our Annual passes are gold passes now (they were premium) and cost us £11.99 a month. I will use the current gold pass price though for comparison. £249 one off payment or £17.99 a month (17.99 x 12 = £215.88 + joining fee of 49.99 = 265.87)
1 visit to each park a year on one of the most expensive days comes to £146, then you’ve got parking at each attraction, so add on another £40 on. Obviously this can be cheaper by going at other times of the year.
Throw in a visit to 2 different Sea Life centres at £18 each and a visit to Cadbury World at £25 and that comes to £247. Get your pass on a deal where there’s no sign up fee and it’s good value I feel.That is very subjective too though, will you be able to visit each attraction once and gain the full benefit, or is it better to pay the gate price for only the one or two attractions you are interested in? then there’s attraction specific annual passes too.
Of the things that Merlin charges for, parking is probably the biggest rip off besides the food. In places like Chessington where they don’t even have a proper car park, it’s simply a field that needs mowing every so often, this is surely just pure profit? This is a good thing for Merlin, not so good for the consumer though!
At least Alton Towers and Legoland have invested in EV chargers and seem to look after their car parks with the money.
So what’s my point?
I don’t think Merlin are entirely bad or making every bad decision possible, some of my most memorable days have been in Merlin Parks, watching the fireworks, or Scarefest, Brick or Treat and Fright Nights. Even just regular days have been great fun and Merlin holds some of the best attractions in the UK. I gather a lot of people are very irate about the choices being made as they are passionate about the parks, what they offer and the memories they build.
I think a lot of the issues raised are directed squarely at Alton Towers as that is Merlin’s biggest and most well known park (even though Legoland Windsor has more visitors). I do think that Alton Towers needs a lot of attention to get it up to the prestigious park it deserves to be.
Maybe they do actually know what they are doing, in the grand scheme of things. We all laughed at Drayton Manor when they fell into administration, and they seem to be doing alright despite what we as enthusiasts thought about their choices.
I guess that’s my point.
We’re enthusiasts. Passionate about the parks and rides but not seeing the numbers behind the scenes, not able to run the simulations and say for sure that removing Oktoberfest will improve the bottom line or outsourcing parts of the business will help. Are the general public bothered by the same issues as the regular visitors? Are there as many pass holders as the general public? And how big of a share do we as enthusiasts actually make up? We don’t know that for sure but it’s certainly been fun going through all this anyway!
Or Merlin could be about to fall apart and everyone else was right to question them all along, only time will tell!
I’ll leave with the final note that I hope Merlin turns things around, that they get into a good place with their parks and attractions, offer better food and value and continue to expand on their merchandise offerings. No offence has been intended here at all when talking about redundancies and I hope all those affected are redeployed or find other employment to further their careers!
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