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Formed in 1999, Merlin Entertainments has grown into one of the biggest attraction companies in the world. It started as a buy-out of Vardon Attractions. The majority of Merlin has been owned by Black Stone since 2005. From 2000-2008, Merlin Entertainments delivered double digit EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) every year. Merlin have since bought big name

companies such as Legoland Parks, Gardaland and the Tussauds Group. They are now the second largest attractions company in the world, second only to Disney. They own 60 attractions in 13 countries across three continents, welcoming over 35 million visitors in 2009. These are in 3 operating groups, Resort Theme Parks, Legoland Parks and Midway Attractions. They own very famous, global attractions such as Legoland, Sea Life, Madame Tussauds and individual attractions such as The Merlin London Eye, Alton Towers & Heide Park. They want to become the largest attractions company around. At the rate they are going this will happen.

 

Here are some opinions from members of our forums about what they think of Merlin...

 

Thorpefandan:

“Since Merlin have bought all of the Tussauds parks, they have been brought back to life, for example, the magic being brought back to Alton Towers, and the dilapidated rides of Legoland being updated, re-themed and fixed. What merlin has in store for the parks sounds exciting, and I don't think we need to worry they'll go back to the state they were once in. However Merlin's money making schemes sometimes seem rude and unnecessary - £5 to park at a theme park where you'll be spending lots on entry, food and drink seems to take it too far, and it seems more schemes like this will be introduced in the near future. The fact that Merlin is so large seems like a good idea, as we'll be getting more bigger rides, in part of 3 ride deals etc, but theres a line that they are crossing in terms of size of the company. They're going to start to monopolise the market, and make smaller parks like Lightwater and Paultons suffer.”

 

“All in all I love Merlin parks, but I'm not too sure about their business strategy.”

 

Ewan2000:

“I really like Merlin. I think they are a great company and deserve all of the cash they have made. Since Merlin bought Alton Towers, the maps have been clearer, and the logo is now much better. This is the same with Chessington and Thorpe.”

 

ThrillSeekerMatt:

“I admire the way Merlin run their business - they certainly know what they are doing! They didn’t become the second largest amusement park operator in the world by accident.

 

They have a large number of good quality attractions all over the world, but I can’t help thinking that Merlin care more for quantity rather than quality. The way I see it, it’s all about how many more Madame Tussauds they can build across the world or how much further can they stretch the Legoland brand, etc.

 

They seem to have a reputation for money grabbing, and the attractions are shockingly overpriced for what they are if you pay the standard prices, and many attractions cannot deal with the amount of guests they get. Fortunately we were awash with 2for1 vouchers last year, meaning prices were more reasonable. Merlin do know how to draw the crowds in.

 

Having said that I do like Merlin, they are doing a great job with Thorpe Park and in my opinion all of the Merlin owned UK parks are better than they have ever been, and all have good plans for the future. They may upset us from time to time (shoddy overpriced car parks, constant price increases, poorly themed over-hyped rides) but the UK parks would be in a completely different state if Tussauds were still in charge.”