The London Resort

[NemesisRider]

Still, the rides could be "overthemed" or just literally be trains taking you through the story.

[awsomelycoolboy]

XD I am willing to bet the there will be a mountain at the back of the park with the stars around the peak with the writing 'Paramout' underneath.

[craig.day.92]

Really hope this park gets a green light what are the chances tho...

[Slappy McGuire]

Here's a thought; if the park does arrive, wouldn't it be wise for merlin to acquire a northern park like LWV or Mingo, so their eggs aren't all in one southern basket, so to speak...

[RCandrew]

They should buy Fantasy island to compete with this, then they already have a pyramid of their own to work with :lol only joking!

[stealthsmiler]

It woud be great if Merlin bought out another Northern park. A big theme park on the MAP would be great up North as the best we have is BPB and that's a bit full. Maybe they could buy out Flamingo Land.

[NemesisRider]

However, Flamingo land would be bad as Merlin can't own all the theme parks in the UK, it is against the law...

[RCandrew]

However, Flamingo land would be bad as Merlin can't own all the theme parks in the UK, it is against the law...

That's why I think they should build a new one up north (Scotland!!!)

[Ryan.B]

Isn't there a ratio like 4:1 or something and they can buy another if Paramount or another uk park opens,closest to me is the 1 and half hour dive to lvw to the north of me and Alton is 2hours away:( still I've visited 5 times in the last year so it's good! I want another northern park! Oh and since Tayto crisps on all the parks in Ireland why shouldn't merlin

[stealthsmiler]

Funny that is practically how far away each of those if from me. Camelot used to be the closest but that shut down. However if PP does get built, Merlin could buy another Northern park.

[Adz]

Merlin not be buying a northern park. They have zero interest in building/buying more theme parks with the exception of foreign Legolands. They have an investment plan for the existing attractions to attempt to counteract the effects of Paramount but that's it.

[Themeparksandy1981]

Why would Merlin want another park there already got 31 attractions around the uk. Merlin building attractions all over the world not just the uk.

[Ryan.B]

It's sadly not going to happen unless one goes down under and that won't happen for another 2 years and unless there is some fierce competition with 3 new non merlin parks it's not going to happen til at least 2025, they have loads of midway attractions such as sea life's and dungeons up north they'll keep the theme parks down South, not much point unless they could buy Lightwater or Flamingo Land once Paramount opens just because they can. The thing closest to a park will be another legoland discovery centre with a few little flats.

[lewis97]

Can we try to stay focussed on the Paramount Park development itself please. As Adz has already said, Merlin have no intention of acquiring any new theme parks for the foreseeable future.

[Ryan.B]

I think paramount will go ahead but have some financial difficulties having the budget lowered significantly.

[abigsmurf]

My worry with the Paramount park is the choice of franchises.

Sleepy Hollow? Even excluding the Johnny Depp version, it's a famous ghost story so that's fine indefinitely.
Star Trek? Always relevant as it always has some form franchise running.
Grease? Timeless but very narrow ride/show opportunities.
Rango? It flopped and although it deserved better, it'll fade into obscurity by the time it's built, let alone 10 years after that. It's also that bit too creepy for a children's zone.
Spiderwick Chronicles? Already long forgotten.

That said, you can have rides based on forgotten films that remain timeless. Very few Americans have ever actually seen Song of the South (lucky for them as it's long and boring and easily the worst of Disney's hybrid films) is popular.

In terms of money. Can't see Dubai not wanting to invest heavily. With the incredible transport links and "short train ride from central London" marketability, it's a potentially massive investment (despite it being roughly where a failed waterpark was).

This was roughly the region Universal wanted to build on wasn't it? They got blocked because they wanted to build on marshland.

[Dom]

It will be interesting to see what films the rides and attractions will be based upon, if and when permission is granted. But chances are they will use franchises that they know will attract people. So you can safely say Transformers and Mission Impossible will probably appear in the park.

[abigsmurf]

There's a good chance Universal have global ride rights to Transformers.

[Dom]

Ah. Yeah. Forgot about that

[TheBeast]

There are a lot of Paramount films people forget. Dont forget that paramount did a lot of the Marvel films, so we could potentially be seeing an iron man or Thor ride