Which US company is Merlin most similar too?

[nadroJ]

Just doing some preliminary research for my Masters dissertation. What do you guys think? My initial thoughts were to go with Six Flags, but I feels like Merlin are a class above that?

 

[spicy]

I created a statistics report a couple of years ago for University comparing Merlin group statistics to Six Flags and Disney. Some of the statistics were very similar with six flags, so I would say that they are comparable to them.

Although it depends on how you mean similar, statistics wise or park wise. Park wise I would also say Merlin were a class above Six Flags as they theme their attractions and parks better, so this maybe makes them more comparable to the Busch parks?

But as Busch are now owned by Blackstone, they are part of the same group which starts to make things complicated :lol:

 

[nadroJ]

^Ha, yeah I did think Blackstone but then was like nah because of being affiliated with Merlin anyway.

I guess I mean similar in terms of parks, but I'm actually going to be analysing their PR, which when you look at it Merlin and Six Flags have VERY similar ways of marketing, but only so far as thrill attractions. Once it gets to family/non-theme park stuff it differs a little, which is what made me question it in the first place.

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Definitely Six Flags from a PR point of view - they have the same age dynamic in sight for marketing.

 

[Nic]

Are you looking at Merlin as a whole with their international operations too, or just in the UK?

I don't really know a lot about it, but what about Cedar Fair? They probably have a similar coverage and ratio of parks across the US as Merlin do in the UK. Kinda. If you squint a bit. Knott's is the closest park I've ever seen to Thorpe. I haven't got a clue about the financial situation though.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

^ I never thought of that, but yeah, Knotts is really similar to Thorpe. It's hard to say though really, because like Jordan said, the marketing of Merlin and Six Flags is kind of similar, though as far as the way the parks look and stuff, it'd be really hard to say. Thorpe would certainly be more like Cedar Fair I think, but Alton can't really be compared to anything over here. I guess you could stretch it and say Disney because of the atmosphere of being somewhere else, but then what about Chessington?

I know this post wasn't very helpful, I just don't see how you're gonna find something similar enough to Merlin to do a good paper on it :S The Merlin parks are all so different from eachother.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

There really isn't one. Merlin behave in a way which is actually really original. They sit somewhere between Cedar Fair and Seaworld Parks, in a niche most believe doesn't actually exist and Merlin force to exist by bending the rules out of shape.

In the USA, due to its size, you'll find companies specialise in an audience then dot their attractions across the country. Merlin have variety no one else has, they are a jack of all trades. The closest to this is possibly SeaWorld Parks? When you think of how different even the Busch brand parks are to one another, with Tampa catering more to the Thrill crowd than Williamsburg. Then look at how different SeaWorld parks are, ranging from glorified zoo to full blown family park avec thrill rides. Then remember they have Sesame Place, a childrens park. Yes they are a scale above Merlin on quality and especially customer services, but I think they are the most comparable.

 

[Taxi]

Yeah, sea world parks would be a good equivalent. Not exact, but very close.

 

[spicy]

What company did you go with in the end? What's nice is that when it comes to analysing the marketing of theme parks you can't really go too wrong as every theme park is marketing towards the same goal, which is essentially to attract guests into the park, no matter where they are in the world, therefore naturally they are similar..

What's the actual dissertation question? Only because I am nosy :lol:

 

[nadroJ]

Well I get to make my own question, I want to look at how parks use social media in their campaigns, how's it can be used as a feedback tool and how they deal with the negative comments (of which there are many).

I wanted a US chain to compare just to give a bit of back up to my work, I haven't decided which to use yet though, it's not in until September I just wanted to start thinking about it.

I'll probably go with Busch to be honest.

 

[ECG]

Busch Gardens/SeaWorld are independent & have their own business/management system as part of the deal when the parks were sold, so that's probably your best choice & it gives you the variety that Merlin parks have.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Adding to what Jerry has said, Busch will give you quite a bit to talk about, as they overact to the negative comments in hilarious ways.