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IOA | Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure | Intamin LSM Launch (Dragon Challenge replacement)

Crazycoaster said:
Merlin are in a position to spend that kind of money on their parks. But they just simply don’t want to, they want to get as much money from the parks with as little investment as possible. Phantasialand think differently, along with Europa Park, Disney and Universal, they realise the importance of repeat visitors. While they don’t have to invest into their parks so much, they choose to. Because it’s a long term investment into making a world class attraction.
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Ah right, thanks for the clarification @Crazycoaster! So Merlin and have essentially proven that you can still create a stunning attraction on a low budget?
 
Err... no I wasn’t saying that to be honest. But if you think that Wicker Man is a “Stunning” attraction, you need to actually go and ride some Stunning attractions tbh. It’s an okay, mid range family ride with one piece of decent theming (that doesn’t work how it should half the time).
 
Matt N said:
Ah right, thanks for the clarification @Crazycoaster! So Merlin and have essentially proven that you can still create a stunning attraction on a low budget?
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What Merlin has proven is that you can pull in a lot of visitors in the short run on a low budget, but the longevity of these attractions isn't the greatest, so the things you build need constant renewal for the park to stay relevant. 40 years from now, Klugheim will probably still be considered a good enough reason for people to visit Phantasialand if they haven't been there before. By contrast, I doubt that the Walking Dead overlay on X:NWO will last five years at Thorpe (okay, Saw is still around and kicking, but...). Besides, the big coasters are still the major draw for visitors to Merlin's parks, most of which date from before Merlin's days. They simply aren't building as many "backbone" rides for the parks to rely on in the coming years and decades, meaning they need to spend those small sums constantly to stay on top of the game. Stop investing any one year, and visits will plunge. Universal and Phantasialand can afford to take breaks in their investment schedule, since the stuff they've already built is substantial enough to pull people in for annual re-visits.
 
Pokemaniac said:
What Merlin has proven is that you can pull in a lot of visitors in the short run on a low budget, but the longevity of these attractions isn't the greatest, so the things you build need constant renewal for the park to stay relevant. 40 years from now, Klugheim will probably still be considered a good enough reason for people to visit Phantasialand if they haven't been there before. By contrast, I doubt that the Walking Dead overlay on X:NWO will last five years at Thorpe (okay, Saw is still around and kicking, but...). Besides, the big coasters are still the major draw for visitors to Merlin's parks, most of which date from before Merlin's days. They simply aren't building as many "backbone" rides for the parks to rely on in the coming years and decades, meaning they need to spend those small sums constantly to stay on top of the game. Stop investing any one year, and visits will plunge. Universal and Phantasialand can afford to take breaks in their investment schedule, since the stuff they've already built is substantial enough to pull people in for annual re-visits.
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Very well said. I've never quite verbalised this but it's definitely an interesting model that Merlin have been using for the last five or so years. I'm not sure if many other parks have been run like this, with a focus on temporary pop-culture attractions rather than larger permanent ones.
 
Pokemaniac said:
What Merlin has proven is that you can pull in a lot of visitors in the short run on a low budget, but the longevity of these attractions isn't the greatest, so the things you build need constant renewal for the park to stay relevant. 40 years from now, Klugheim will probably still be considered a good enough reason for people to visit Phantasialand if they haven't been there before. By contrast, I doubt that the Walking Dead overlay on X:NWO will last five years at Thorpe (okay, Saw is still around and kicking, but...). Besides, the big coasters are still the major draw for visitors to Merlin's parks, most of which date from before Merlin's days. They simply aren't building as many "backbone" rides for the parks to rely on in the coming years and decades, meaning they need to spend those small sums constantly to stay on top of the game. Stop investing any one year, and visits will plunge. Universal and Phantasialand can afford to take breaks in their investment schedule, since the stuff they've already built is substantial enough to pull people in for annual re-visits.
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Ah right, thanks for the clarification @Pokemaniac!
 
From Saturday, forgot to post these earlier -
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CrashCoaster said:
I've never watched Harry Potter.
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Bravo! I knew there was a reason I liked you. :)
I've not seen all of 'em either, and the ones I have seen have been largely awful. Save yourself the trouble my friend, they're not worth your time. <braces for backlash>.

But the coaster will be good.
 
I watched the first one at the cinema when it came out. That's it.

The Harry Potter areas of the parks are amazing though.
 
gavin said:
I watched the first one at the cinema when it came out. That's it.
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The Harry Potter series is quite difficult to judge. The books and movies grew up with their main target audience: The first two films are quite childish, whereas the later ones are pretty dark in tone. That's the reason why they are liked by children and adults alike and why it's such a great IP to build a theme park area from. There are so many fantastic things in this universe and you can use a colorful and a dark tone. I'm really looking forward to this ride which by now seems to utilize all of these aspects with fast coaster parts and slow dark ride parts set in the dark woods.
 
By coincidence I'm actually watching the first Potter film right now. It's pretty cringe but I'd say the franchise itself is fantastic. Because of it's immersive universe say it's almost as if it were written just for themed entertainment. Haven't seen all the Star Wars because the ones I have seen were awful, but just like Harry Potter, it's definitely asking for a theme park attraction/immersive land.

Meanwhile, Thorpe Park gets a retheme based on a franchise that died years ago and is definitely not asking to be translated into themed entertainment.
 
Add me to the group of not caring about Harry Potter books or films. All that being said though, Forbidden Journey is my favorite dark ride.
 
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