Using this topic for a general post / comment / rant about the Merlin resorts and their car parks.

Went to two parks today, Chessington and Thorpe Park, I left both at reasonably off-peak times and in both cases I had issues being able to leave the park because the gates were jammed with cars having issues getting out of the car park.

In Chessington's case, it took nearly 20 minutes to get off-site at 2pm because the back gates were not manned. Guests managed to get to them and not have either a token, credit card or annual pass to use and then got stuck and blocked in by the cars behind. When staff did eventually arrive, there was a bit of an argument, essentially revolving around the car stuck had cash, but of course there was no facility to pay cash. There were only about 10 cars there at the time.

At Thorpe there were also delays and people stuck. In one case I saw a car just sat there with windows up at the barrier, I'm not quite sure what was going on there.

Something seems to have changed since last year. Having the machines accept credit card is a pain because it's extremely slow. Whilst removing the staff from the gate who could do last minute cash purchases, or manually open the barriers if they were struggling to read annual passes isn't helping either.

Saw a pretty bad video from last week at Thorpe Park, with just people getting angry in the car park and constant horns going on. With the parks going to a great deal of effort to ensure guests have a good day, but then end it with chaos at the car park barriers, just seems crazy.

This exact feeling of annoyance happened to me when I first went back to a Merlin attraction after they took over. Day at Warwick castle that had had crazy unnecessary queues the entire day, then of course now the queue to buy a token and queue to get out. Undid what good parts of the day there were and I didn't return to a Merlin attraction for over a year. Simply because of that experience.

At Chessington in only light rain and I could feel my car was starting to get stuck in the car park. I typically avoid going if there's been rain in the week before now. For me it's the inside the car that's a state, mud and grass everywhere.

If they feel they have to have a car park charge, rather than just increasing ticket prices, then a pay on entry would be so much better. As you say, a smile and a welcome to start the day, rather than a kick in the teeth on the way out.

Merlin have been successful in obtaining a High Court injunction that bans three named individuals and their currently unnamed associates, from accessing Merlin properties internationally. Issued on 30th May, this order comes after several trespasses onto Merlin property by the same group of individuals this year.

Merlin have also been successful, for the time being, in obtaining a banning order on any person from trespassing on Merlin property in England and Wales.

The injunction states that any person who breaks the injunction, or helps another person to break it, may be held in contempt of court and imprisoned or fined, or have their assets seized.

https://www.merlinentertainments.biz/trespass-injunction

Blooloop have an interview with Nick Varney where they at length discuss a wide range of topics from the entertainments sector. I've pulled a couple of interesting aspects out of it that may be relevant to the UK parks.

VR
Nick Varney appears to have a more muted interest in VR, making the point that whilst they had been able to use it to breathe new life into Air, they are very mindful that "VR can be an isolating experience" and that "technology needs to be embraced but we must never forget that people come to us for shared, immersive experiences".

He also makes a point about some new technologies not being quite ready for the attractions industry, possibly alluding to issues with VR at both Alton and Thorpe: "A lot of suppliers out there are not delivering on their promises. You create demand, customers queue up, rides break down, and equipment doesn’t work: you end up disappointing a lot of people."

Trackless Dark Rides for Legoland Parks
He was impressed with both the new Pirates of Carribean ride at Shanghai Disneyland and Ratatouille at Disneyland Paris. Of the two he says about Ratatouille: "It’s another good example of a blend of classic 3D theming with modern amazing hi-definition projection equipment and a new trackless system. We’re going to be introducing a similar system into the star attractions at our LEGOLAND parks going forward."