Tussaud Group [TTG] Bought Out By Merlin

[Wes]

dont forget

 

Corkscrew: worlds first inverting

 

 

Um, what? That's not even close to being true.

[TPDave]

I'm pretty happy about the merger, tussauds were bought by an investment company 2 years ago and have now been sold to an entertainment company which will provide knowledge and experience to improve the parks.

 

As for thorpe park in 2009, It's not a 4D, tilt coaster or anything like that, and MAY be over 100 ft.

 

But yeah, this could be great for tussauds, i hope they take inspiration from the theming at the other parks owned by Merlin

 

Dave

[birdie100]

As a Legoland employee, this is very exciting for me. To go from working for the Lego group, to being a part of a £1.5bn company in a little over two years is very exciting. To what extent do people on here think that Chessington and legoland will now push for cross brand strategies - eg nectar points/ Tesco clubcard issues, or indeed staff benefits packages. Bear in mind that overnight, if my maths is correct, the Lego Group have now got a 24% stake in places like the London Eye or Thorpe park - which is more that Dubai International. This is a very interesting business growth here...

[IceDragon]

dont forget

 

Corkscrew: worlds first inverting

 

 

Um, what? That's not even close to being true.

 

tis what i heard from the lips of the owner at Alton Towers...

[TPDave]

Remember, legoland don't have a stake or say in any of the other parks, they are run seperately and ultimately take orders from blackstone. It will be interesting to see what they do, because they now have two parks very near to each-other bothnatural competitors after the same market. In my mind there is no doubt that Legoland is the better park, but the zoo at chessington could proove to be very useful. I'm doubtful, but i'd love to be able to use my anual pass at legoland, at least then i'd visit!

 

^EDIT: He's wrong. Very wrong.

[birdie100]

Ah, I know that Legoland don't have a say over anything Blackstone wants. But, this is a unique position. If Balckstone want to be Disney beaters, they've got two different ways to play it. Either, they push hard for integration between all the brands. The original merlin was going to buy out legoland as far as I was able to make out - but Blackstone bought Merlin before they did this. Note though that the rumours between the proposed buy out of legoland by Dubai never came to fruition - and therefore we must assume have been unfavoured by the Lego group. On the press release, lego didn't make a statement.

In short, the original sealife centres and Legoland made sense - so much so there's a strong possibility that Sealife centres will open in legoland from 2008. (The model makers are sick of making pirate ships for the fish though in return but Thorpe park and Legoland? It'll be interesting to see what happens next. Will Blackstone try to integrate the brands - or keep them very distinct. Still, the CEO Nick Varney must be very pleased - to have become the CEO of the second largest themepark business on the planet - from controlling Sealife centres two years ago! And is it a good thing that there is in effect from tonight a duopoly on themeparks in the world - Disney versus the Blackstone backed Merlin it would seem?! And what would occur if Blackstone bought a controlling share in Disneylands. Now that would be a deal and half

[sebo]

No, becuase most of the worlds theme parks would be controlled by one company. So No.

[jamesissoocool]

yay free tickets for me because my dads a manager at merlin

[IceDragon]

/\ i hope they dont integrate the brands for the sake of TP... *shudders at the thought*

 

although, ripping up the scenery and everything will prove stupid as it would take a lot of time and money, so i dont see that happening

 

what i do see happening is inter-park advertising, coupons to the other parks, maybe they'll take away the annual passes, or just add all the parks together... would be interesting to see how it develops first...

 

yay free tickets for me because my dads a manager at merlin

 

fancy hooking me up with some

[jamesissoocool]

they wont touch the themeing and that

but they will change the severs and networks

[sebo]

What the hell?

[jamesissoocool]

servers are marjor computers

sorry i put sever spelt it wrong

[sebo]

Yes, i't not mentally retarded. Why would tehy change their servers? What the heell?

[IceDragon]

they wont touch the themeing and that

but they will change the severs and networks

 

didnt think so, once again, it'd be too much hard work and too much money spent...

 

will they continue with the style of theming already there, or will it suddenly change and look strange?

[jamesissoocool]

no it wont

like on the legolands they just put the park onto their computer sytem and fix what was wrong wtih the parks sytem

they dont make the dission on the rides and such

but they control the computers and staff

[RollerC]

Alton Towers 1998: Oblivion, worlds first vertical drop coaster

Alton Towers 2002: Air, worlds first Flying Coaster

I think they may...

 

dont forget

 

Corkscrew: worlds first inverting

Yea thats wrong. The first inverting was was invented back in the early 1900's.

 

Though you also have Knotts Corkscrew coaster being the first modern coaster to invert riders. Also, Stealth passed Air by 2 years on as the first flying coaster.

[IceDragon]

Alton Towers 1998: Oblivion, worlds first vertical drop coaster

Alton Towers 2002: Air, worlds first Flying Coaster

I think they may...

 

dont forget

 

Corkscrew: worlds first inverting

Yea thats wrong. The first inverting was was invented back in the early 1900's.

 

Though you also have Knotts Corkscrew coaster being the first modern coaster to invert riders. Also, Stealth passed Air by 2 years on as the first flying coaster.

 

ok. i stand corrected

[birdie100]

Well, as an employee, in real terms it makes no difference to me who owns Legoland. After all, Legoland Windsor I know trades as its own entity (as it pays me as legoland Windsor - always has - even from the days of Lego). So, who its current owner is isn't too much of a problem for us staff. It's going to be the cross branding that'll be the one to watch this summer - and that may have an impact on me, with free tickets I hope being offered to Thorpe park for employees!

[jamesissoocool]

birdie100 whats your job at legoland

[jamesissoocool]

/\

 

yay free tickets for me because my dads a manager at merlin

 

fancy hooking me up with some

i'll have to ask

[birdie100]

A lowly retail assistant. But, I'm going off to uni next year to read economics. It's exciting to think that I'm a small part of all this business - at the front line, making the bottom line profit for the corporate bigwigs to buy and sell. I'm looking forward to my company training for the new season, with all the usual spiel about how amazing the legoland brand is, but knowing that really we're just a minnow compared to the might of private equity!

[Juggler]

YAWN! Visit Europe. YAWN!

 

Sort the damn theming out, get rid of the yobs, enforce the queue policy bring the magic BACK to Awful Towers, stop pushing the Woodie every year so you can sneak the original ride through the courts, Clean the place up, Pick up the litter.......

 

There is just SO much wrong with the Tussauds parks that Merlin may have bitten off WAY more than they can chew.

[IceDragon]

/\

 

yay free tickets for me because my dads a manager at merlin

 

fancy hooking me up with some

i'll have to ask

 

sweet!!! thanks!!!

[verticalzero]

A cool £1Bn pounds is a huge sum of money, invest it into Thorpe Park with a 2009 "Floorless" by loggers leap and a extra large woodie.

[exmouse]

I have mixed feelings on this one. I think it's good that Tussauds is owned by an amusment industry company rather than investment capitalists. However should they get much bigger we could lose competition in this sector thus driving up prices and a decline in investments.

 

I predict that certain parks will see the addition of mini Legolands and Sea Life Centres. With Legoland Windsor and CWOA being so close and competing for the same market I suspect we'll see CWOA becoming more of a zoo. They already have lots of animal exhbitis and in the past 12 months have added and redeveloped more. So to parents and families the two parks will offer different days out. It would also be natural to add a Sea Life Centre to CWOA to stick with an animal theme. Although I gather this may already be happening with Legoaland Windsor.

 

I can't see Thorpe changing much as it doesn't have a local competitor. The Sea Life and Lego brands wouldn't fit in at Thorpe. In terms of what's coming next I would be flabbergasted if it tursn out to be a 4D coaster. Given all the issues they've had with Rush and Slammer not sure they'd rush back to S&S. Plus as has already been stated size would be an issue. Having ridden several floorless coasters I don't get the hype. As sit down coasters they're great but the floorless aspect is a gimmick only good in the front row. Not sure what I'd like to see added to Thorpe but it better be something decent as Thorpe is lacking a good coaster.

 

With regards Alton Towers I'm wondering if this buyout has lead to there being no progress with the new area and Woodie. I doubt DIC would make a massive investment at a time the sale of the business was in the pipeline. As to whether Merlin will continue with the project who knows. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets dealyed and opens in 2009.

 

Given that Merlin are planning a new Legoland in the US I think we can rest easy that they plan to expand the business rather than shrink it. I only hope they don't go for a Six Flags cookie cutter plan.