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WTF Merlin?

Whilst there might have been nuggets of interesting information in those documents for enthusiasts, really, does this matter outside of extremely niche circles? The documents may or may not have been digitised and they were probably a fire hazard. Nobody knew they existed until now, and they have no real bearing on anything at this point. Having had to clear out documents like this myself as a lowly graduate structural engineer, I'm sympathetic to them getting shot of this stuff (and usually, they do actually either get digitised or sent to secure storage for a defined period instead of just disposed of). Alton do a lot of things badly and are deserving of criticism in many respects - this doesn't feel like one of them to me.
 
StevenX said:
Whilst there might have been nuggets of interesting information in those documents for enthusiasts, really, does this matter outside of extremely niche circles? The documents may or may not have been digitised and they were probably a fire hazard. Nobody knew they existed until now, and they have no real bearing on anything at this point. Having had to clear out documents like this myself as a lowly graduate structural engineer, I'm sympathetic to them getting shot of this stuff (and usually, they do actually either get digitised or sent to secure storage for a defined period instead of just disposed of). Alton do a lot of things badly and are deserving of criticism in many respects - this doesn't feel like one of them to me.
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I'm pretty sure I've seen British/European/Alton Archive (whichever one they go by these days) say that much of the archive is in fact not digitised, and they have had to cherry pick items they archive themselves privately as Merlin/Alton have very little interest in doing so outside of compulsory documentation and the park and broader company has spent the last few years just chucking away things they think are redundant.

From a professional capacity, you are right - the vast majority of these items serve absolutely zero purpose. But from a nerdy point of view, material like this is only a few steps away from being a brilliant memorabilia book, that parks like Disney and Efteling have managed to execute on a very high level. From a creative point of view, it may be a bit of a self-own considering how much nostalgia-baiting the park has done recently.
 
Merlin have sold all the Lego Discovery Centres to Lego - (they are both owned by the same parent co so this all seems a bit more restructure-y than anything else)

Press release;

The LEGO® Group to acquire LEGO® Discovery Centres and LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres from Merlin Entertainments

www.merlinentertainments.biz www.merlinentertainments.biz

Posted on 24 September 2025

The LEGO Group today announced it has agreed to acquire LEGO® Discovery Centres and LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres from Merlin Entertainments. The acquisition will include 29 Centres in nine countries which attract around five million visitors each year.

...snip...

The acquisition is expected to close around the end of the year with an estimated cash consideration of £0.2 billion (subject to customary closing adjustments).

Merlin and the LEGO Group will continue their long-standing brand partnership. Merlin will continue to operate eleven LEGOLAND Resorts around the world under licence from the LEGO Group, including the recently opened resort in Shanghai.
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The lions and tiger have left Chessington:

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The lions are not surprising as it was an old enclosure and off the beaten path.
The tiger is odd though, I am gathering from the comments that there was only one tiger left so this leaves the recently rethemed Tiger Rock log flume and its nearly-new enclosure without any tigers.
 
Peet said:
The lions and tiger have left Chessington
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Their spaces were not great so happy to seem them move on hopefully to nicer homes. However this brings up them having a land themed to tigers...with no tigers and now an empty enclosure in the middle of it.

Its great what they have coming in 2026-27 but this now also needs a refresh and this shows how much Merlin have been putting off or poorly invested in the park. I remember when Tiger rock was announced, i was surprised and happy to see them keep the flume considering what happened to Altons and Thorpes, now maybe they should have knocked it all down and done something new.

I also saw that the Vampire has be taken off the Winter offering (source) and for years now thats been rumored to go. The lions are just behind the Vampires building so that could also be a massive redevelopment area.

With the current construction i dont see them doing anything to Tiger rock or Vampire for a while but Merlin have a lot still to do with this park.

......Also still waiting on a waterpark and hotel 😐
 
It's hit all the Merlin parks, but I feel like Chessington in particular is really suffering from the lack of investment in anything truly new in the mid to late 2010s. Scorpion Express, Gruffalo, and Tiger Rock were all rethemes of some of the park's oldest ride systems, and while none of them were necessarily bad moves in their own right, the lack of any significant new hardware for a long time leading up to 2020 makes it feel like pretty much everything is due a major upgrade/replacement soon.

Obviously a real effort is being made to change this trend post-pandemic, with Croc Drop, the new pirate ship, Jumanji, Paw Patrol, and Minecraft all bringing brand new rides to the table, but I think Vampire's recent problems and Tiger Rock losing its gimmick really highlights how far there is still to go, and 2027 surely won't be the end of the park's growing pains.

With any luck they'll keep Vampire going a bit longer and do a good enough job of the Minecraft coaster to be able to close Vampire (be it for replacement or retrack) without a huge loss of capacity and flagship appeal, but that still leaves the question of what to do with Rattlesnake, Trail of the Kings, Tiger(less) Rock, and even Dragon's Fury before long.

I'm sure it's all doable, but whether Merlin's pockets are deep enough is another matter...
 
Land of the Tiger can’t have long left now, surely? The land’s USP has gone, its lynchpin ride is nearly 40 years old, and that’s before you consider that Merlin have been strongly moving away from the unrestrained water rides within the last decade or so, River Rafts excepted.

At some point, I would not be stunned if that area ends up being absorbed into the Minecraft area as an expansion. In fact, I would be very surprised if Tiger Rock ends up staying for much longer or getting rethemed at this point.
 
Matt N said:
Land of the Tiger can’t have long left now, surely? The land’s USP has gone, its lynchpin ride is nearly 40 years old, and that’s before you consider that Merlin have been strongly moving away from the unrestrained water rides within the last decade or so, River Rafts excepted.

At some point, I would not be stunned if that area ends up being absorbed into the Minecraft area as an expansion. In fact, I would be very surprised if Tiger Rock ends up staying for much longer or getting rethemed at this point.
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I would agree but they spent quite a bit of money on it during the last closed season redoing alot of the foundations of the trough, can see some of the work here: https://themeparkguide.co.uk/news-p...Partly-Removed-at-Chessington-for-2025-Season

I don't think CWoA planned on getting rid of Tiger Rock anytime soon but 2 of the tigers unfortunately died this year so they were left with just the one which they have decided to rehome along with the lions. I would expect the flume to be closed next season and reopen with a retheme in 2027. The gorillas are also rumoured to be leaving very soon and the whole trail of the kings area will be closed off next season so they are definately winding down the zoo offering.

Vampire won't be going anywhere yet though, the current problem is with the second lift hill which I guess they aren't going to get the parts in time to repair it in time for the Winter event.
 
Interestingly, Merlin’s credit rating has today been downgraded once again, with “under-investment, tired and less relevant assets, a downturn in US visitor numbers across the sector and a weak UK consumer” being described as reasons for Merlin’s challenges: https://riderater.co.uk/12710/merli...JAJ7GAnNqm_e7816H3_aem_9StJRl8xkSruqarrbqQFcQ

The company’s “scattergun overexpansion” has also been criticised.

I wonder whether these downgraded credit ratings are based on Merlin’s prior financial situation or whether they’re taking into account the recent restructuring and attraction closures?
 
Matt N said:
Interestingly, Merlin’s credit rating has today been downgraded once again, with “under-investment, tired and less relevant assets, a downturn in US visitor numbers across the sector and a weak UK consumer” being described as reasons for Merlin’s challenges: https://riderater.co.uk/12710/merli...JAJ7GAnNqm_e7816H3_aem_9StJRl8xkSruqarrbqQFcQ

The company’s “scattergun overexpansion” has also been criticised.

I wonder whether these downgraded credit ratings are based on Merlin’s prior financial situation or whether they’re taking into account the recent restructuring and attraction closures?
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It’s just more doom and gloom for Merlin isn’t it.

Not entirely sure what the “Scattergun overexpansion” is referring to.
Possibly the failed Bear Grylls Adventure which was a waste of £20 million but when there are so many different parks and attractions under the Merlin umbrella i’m not sure how it can’t be anything other than a “scatter gun”.

I would assume the downgraded credit rating will take into account the recent restructuring with the sale of the Lego discovery centres to Lego group, naturally if you have lost £200 million worth of assets then your credit rating will lower somewhat. Merlin also reported a £492m loss for 2024 which will have affected it.

I struggle to see a way out for them with £630 million of debt without further considerable restructuring. Could we see one of the major parks leave Merlin soon? Very unlikely but I would love to see what Alton Towers could become with the Merlin shackles removed.

What is more likely given as Kirkbi (Lego) paid 7.5bn for Merlin back in 2019

Merlin taken private in $7.5bn deal — Financier Worldwide

www.financierworldwide.com www.financierworldwide.com

We know they already taken the Lego discovery centres from Merlin.. Maybe we could see Lego group take control of the LegoLand parks in further restructuring from Merlin to clear the high interest £630 million debt?
 
Matt N said:
Interestingly, Merlin’s credit rating has today been downgraded once again, with “under-investment, tired and less relevant assets, a downturn in US visitor numbers across the sector and a weak UK consumer” being described as reasons for Merlin’s challenges: https://riderater.co.uk/12710/merli...JAJ7GAnNqm_e7816H3_aem_9StJRl8xkSruqarrbqQFcQ

The company’s “scattergun overexpansion” has also been criticised.

I wonder whether these downgraded credit ratings are based on Merlin’s prior financial situation or whether they’re taking into account the recent restructuring and attraction closures?
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How can underinvestment and scattergun overexpansion both be used as negatives towards a company? I think Merlins investments have been pretty well thought out in general (hyperia, toxicator, reborn (reservations aside)) but they just rested on their laurels for too long that too many attractions have outstayed their welcome all at once.

I hope that this inspires them to invest more, as I would be curious to see what they do. But it seems unfair to criticise them for two halves of the same coin.
 
Took my 17 year old cousins to Energylandia and Parc Asterix last weekend.

They were absolutely blown away. One of them said, unprompted: “I’m never going to a UK park again.”

Yup, that’s what happens.
 
Nitefly said:
Took my 17 year old cousins to Energylandia and Parc Asterix last weekend.

They were absolutely blown away. One of them said, unprompted: “I’m never going to a UK park again.”

Yup, that’s what happens.
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Amazing what parks with little/no IP's (I know Asterix is an IP) can build with a budget. As an American I love visiting European parks to see knockoff IP's and I mean that in the best way possible.
 
Changa said:
How can underinvestment and scattergun overexpansion both be used as negatives towards a company? I think Merlins investments have been pretty well thought out in general (hyperia, toxicator, reborn (reservations aside)) but they just rested on their laurels for too long that too many attractions have outstayed their welcome all at once.

I hope that this inspires them to invest more, as I would be curious to see what they do. But it seems unfair to criticise them for two halves of the same coin.
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My interpretation is that they mean underinvestment in the existing estate and scattergun overexpansion into new areas with midways and the like. Which if we’re looking back further, I don’t necessarily disagree with.

For years, Merlin was primarily focused on “catching the mouse”, and expansion above all else. This led them down numerous different paths midway-wise in particular, and some of those bets didn’t really pay off, which left their budgets potentially spread a bit thinly between their many attractions. Had the company not pursued expansion above all else for so many years, I feel they may have been a bit better off financially.
 
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