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WTF Merlin?

I wasn't a fan of the Europa one, but I can only pass judgement for their food. From my trip report...

- Queue to get in. Obviously my fault for trying, but over half an hour is too much, because it turns out this is not an efficient system (especially at Europa)
- Rollercoasters weren't really impressive (didn't even have wheels)
- The clunky touchscreen interface meant I accidentally ordered an extra drink I didn't want. Had to get it taken off the bill
- Not a good solo experience, unless you like sharing a round table with 11 others.
- Eating out of pans is not ergonomic
- Lots of faff with cutlery and the whole rotating table thing
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The tweets just come off as desperate to me, like Alton Towers wants to be trendy and culturally relevant when it should just focus on being a great tourist attraction.

But no, they won't do that. Don't be silly. It's all about the marketing. The actual product is secondary to merlin.

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Yep. Alton Towers Twitter is an absolute joke. It's such a shame as well, because as bad as things have been for the park this season, the unprofessional, poor customer service coming from their social media accounts is giving potential guests a very bad impression before they even set foot in the place.. :(
 
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^
Alton's the worst offender of late, for 2018 they seem to have hired a few people who struggle with typing, spelling and other things that are... fairly important for the role. However, all the UK Merlin parks have had fairly painful social media the last few years. If I actually had a genuine query, I'd probably end up phoning them. Unless I could get an answer on here ;)
 
I would say that the Thorpe twitter feed is the best of the UK Merlin parks, they've helped me a few times when I've had queries and they seem to know their target audience. The others are, how should I say, 'less than good' and about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
 
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That's still a little bit like picking my favourite symptom of the common cold, but it would be fair to point out that I'm probably not their target audience.
 
shawnoc said:
Are Alton admitting that they have come 2nd to Blackpool for best new coaster???
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To be fair to Alton, there is a consensus that Wicker Man is a fantastic all round experience, whereas ICON hasn't been open for very long, so it's difficult to judge what the majority of people think of it, especially as there seems to be a large portion of people who were actually underwhelmed or disappointed by it... only time will tell which coaster "wins", although I prefer to judge wether each coaster wins for its respective park, not by comparing them directly against each other. In this case, I think Wicker Man has been a winner for Alton. We will find out at some point wether ICON has been a winner for Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
 
I think people can perhaps state that Icon didn't live up to their expectations, but still feel it's ultimately a better ride than Wickerman. Certainly, Blackpool have failed if this is not the case - and Mack are not known for failure.

Also, Icon opened on time and (correct me if I'm wrong) doesn't seem to have had much by way of teething problems in it's first week?
 
Teething problems I'll give you, but I don't think Alton can really be blamed for not predicting snow in April.
 
As I've said before: Thorpe really know their audience.

Hint: they won't be reading this forum.

Looking at my non-enthusiast friends who have visited Thorpe in the last few years quite a few of them post/tweet about Love Island.

In seriousness, it's good to see the beach being used when it otherwise wouldn't have been. It also means those who don't enjoy it can avoid that area (unlike The Walking Dead which is all over the park)

Could be worse, it could have been a Love Island VR takeover of Rumba Rapids!
 
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attra...ORPE_PARK_Resort-Chertsey_Surrey_England.html

Thorpe Park also continues to get trashed to death on TripAdvisor, while Alton at least has recovered a little bit from the... let's call it "bumpy" start into the season. Also speaks for that whole "target audience" argument, since most of my GP-collegues who I imagine to enjoy Thorpe are exactly the kind of people who can't be bothered by 120 minute queues since they are well entertained with shouting all over the queue and line-jumping in general.

For reasonable people with some common sense and most basic expectations, Thorpe is absolute cancer right now.

BTW, how come that Chessie even is such a big deal in the UK that it is mentioned so often in this thread? From the looks of it (and yes, I know it's also an animal park), it's a perfect example for a park that is largely popular with the locals, and completely unknown for everybody who lives more than 2 hours away, and plenty of similar places nobody has ever heard about also exist in Germany (Serengeti-Park, Stukenbrock etc). For me as a foreigner, it really exemplifies the poor state of the UK theme-park scene if this place suits a chain like Merlin as a cash cow and is known all over the UK, when it screams "mediocrity-fest" all over my face.

I as a spoilt German consider Movie Park to be a mediocrity-fest and that place got a Mack Multi-Launch last year (it's totally worth the visit again, but Movie Park used to be probably the most Merlin non-Merlin park I know). For me the most interesting part about Chessington is the fact how uninteresting it is.
 
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Mushroom said:
How can you be so sure they won't be reading this forum?

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Awkward XD

In all honesty, Love Island Lates sounds like it’s going to be loads of fun! It’s essentially just a big party on the beach with a DJ, food and drinks. I’m not sure how having the IP for the biggest TV show in the UK of the summer attached to an event is embarrassing and it never ceases I amaze me how enthusiasts can be so dismissive of something that is clearly a great business move for Thorpe considering their demographic.

Just because you personally don’t like it doesn’t mean it won’t do wonders for the park, and let’s face it as enthusiasts isn’t that ultimately what we want - to see the park succeed?

Like, it’s just on the beach - you still get the park open til 10PM so you can have 12 hour riding days in the summer like you’ve been begging for for years, and now it’s back and people are moaning anyway. Surely you guys realise how it works by now?

But of course, I would say that because I’m biased XD.


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I reckon Love Island will be successful for Thorpe this summer. I don't watch the show, but my sister loves it and sounded very excited at Thorpe's announcement! Love Island is a popular IP among what I would presume is Thorpe's target market, so it should go well for them.
 
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