With news of Paramount - will development plans change?

[Sr88]

I wish somebody would buy Camelot and restore that.

[RCandrew]

I don't think such a big park resort such as Paramount will effect smaller, less budgeted places like Blackpool or flamingo land. They seem as though they would continue as they are.
I think it would more be AT and TP basically still competing for the best park in the UK, and even with paramount coming, it may not be long until AT seriously expands with the enchanted village and entertainment complexes rumoured, meaning it may still remain the best UK park. And even though i will love this PP and it will be great, i still hope AT could do this.

[sw7nutter]

Alton will struggle to keep up with PP investment. PP are having a medium-low investment year as £30million. Alton don't have that kind of money and ultimately they will suffer because of it.

[stealthsmiler]

I wish somebody would buy Camelot and restore that.

Me too, I always wanted Merlin to invest in that park due to the link between the name and theme of the park. It could have been so amazing with so real investment put into it.

I also imagine smaller parks will be fine as Merlins parks are superior yet people still go to the smaller parks. I think a lot of it is due to the difference in entry price. That is where merlin could possibly suffer. If PP doesn't have quite a higher entry price, then people wont be able to justify spending £50 each on Merlin parks, when they can get more for their money at PP.

[Themeparksandy1981]

I think it all depends on how much Paramount charge for there tickets&Parking. Like with 2 for 1 vouchers you can go to any Merlin uk theme park for less less than £100 for a family of 4. So unless Paramount charge max £30 online or offer 2 for 1 I doubt they get many guests within a hours drive away going.

[sw7nutter]

PP will have a lot of media coverage. Its already getting some because its a fastracked project so when it opens it will get a lot of mentioning. Also in the first 3 years it will get a lot of guests going because they have never been before and want to see what its like, instead of returning to Thorpe or AT.

[ponder]

This Paramount park, should it go ahead, could be the shot in the arm the UK theme park industry needs. I don't think Merlin will adapt their plan in terms of what attractions they chose to open, as this is an area that they do well in - open a big headline attraction to drive up visitor numbers, but neglect other, equally important areas of their parks.

Assuming that Paramount operate using similar standards to the big American parks, this may force Merlin to focus on areas such as cleanliness, operations and maintenance. Competition is a good thing, and Merlin are capable of reaching those levels. From reports, it appears they manage it in other countries where the do have genuine competition, but over here they have something of a monopoly and no-one pushing them to excel.

[Henry]

I think it will be of a more Merlin change than just Alton Towers and it could either go really well, or really badly. I hope Merlin start to up their game and hopefully it will go well.

[Alton13Nemesis]

I would say if any park is to change its strategies, it will be Thorpe.

[bensaund]

PP will be good. The price will be one thing which will put a lot of people off. Their predicted park attendance seems very ambitious. You don't get this level of investment without them wanting to have their pound of flesh back. So expect 2 days and a family of 4 paying £300 is pounds. This is where Merlin have the upper hand as most of their investments have paid for themselves where are PP will be looking to get return on investment very quickly.

Merlin are currently in a position where they don't need to do anything at the moment. The reason for this is there is still a possibility the PP could fall through as similar plans like these have failed in the past.

Once planning permissions has been given it will take 2-3 years to build the park, which gives Merlin 2-3 years to build any investments it feels will help secure its current parks. This could be new killer rides, more accommodation, mega discount tickets on the year PP opens etc.

Many people are expecting Merlin to invest 100's of millions now without PP getting planning permission and having an opening date. This is simply not going to happen.

[mark_h]

The main problem with opening a new theme park is having enough rides and attractions from the start. This was one of the issues with EuroDisney when it opened.

It may make some sense for Merlin to delay the construction of major new rides to coincide with the Paramount opening in order to steal its thunder.

Hopefully Merlin will choose to invest in its parks to compete with Paramount. If it merely compete on price (which it could do if it chooses not to invest) it would only survive for a short time before the decay sets in.

[fillc85]

Just because they haven't mentioned them yet hopefully doesn't mean they won't be any coasters.

I say this as a coaster 'thusy! the biggest crowd puller any park can have is a beast of a coaster. They will have to be bringing some epic to get the 15 million visitors without a coaster so either way win-win I suppose. I agree about the smaller parks too some of them are struggling as it is.