And sea life Great Yarmouth is missing from the map

Justin wrote:

They also list Warwick as a theme park?

RMC through the castle confirmed?

Just imagine!

Justin wrote:

They also list Warwick as a theme park?

Weirdly, Warwick Castle forms part of the Resort Theme Park division

Was it listed under this before? I have a feeling it did, but in no way should it be classified as a theme park!

Merlin divides their attractions into three groups: Resort theme parks, Legoland parks and Midway Attractions. Out of them, Warwick castle is clearly not a Legoland Park, and it's too big to be a Midway Attraction, so even though it doesn't fit entirely, they've put Warwick in Resort theme parks.

AltonOperator wrote:

And sea life Great Yarmouth is missing from the map

Yarmouth is not really worth a trip for nowadays.  It has a lot less aquariums and not that many interesting fish now.  IMO it's really gone down hill the last two seasons.  It used to be a good Sealife.

ROYJESS wrote:

AltonOperator wrote:

And sea life Great Yarmouth is missing from the map

Yarmouth is not really worth a trip for nowadays.  It has a lot less aquariums and not that many interesting fish now.  IMO it's really gone down hill the last two seasons.  It used to be a good Sealife 

My first visit to Great Yarmouth was in February and I'm in no rush to go back. The Sea Life looked pretty gross from the outside but we were never planning on going in, my family hate them.The only really interesting thing about the town was seeing all the places John Wardley worked as a teenager!

There is nothing wrong with Yarmouth itself, I visit it regularly.  It's great during the summer months, plenty to do, but the Sealife itself is not what it used to be.

I doubt that Yarmouth would be very appetising during Febuary. 

February is not a good time to visit Yarmouth.
I'm actually visiting next Saturday, but I'll only go in the SeaLife centre as I have my pass. To be fair, it isn't a bad SeaLife, but it's probably one of the oldest and now smallest! I can remember a time when they had fish in the window and water used to splash up the glass.

When the Pleasure Beach is open too, then you can make more of the day, especially when you visit Joyland and Pleasure Beach.

Yarmouth is undergoing major investment with the Entertainment complex at Pleasure Beach, and hopefully in the future we will see other Merlin attractions added.

Justin wrote:

Was it listed under this before? I have a feeling it did, but in no way should it be classified as a theme park!

When Merlin bought the Tussaud's Group back in 2007 (or may have been 2008), Warwick Castle was initially placed within the Midway category of attractions. I was working at the Castle at the time and remember sitting through a presentation explaining that the Castle was being placed in the same group as the Dungeon attractions and Madam Tussaud's. However, for various reasons it didn't stay in that group and was moved across to the Resort Theme Park division - whilst I don't know exactly when this change took place, I do know it has been grouped with the Resort Theme Parks since at least 2014, possibly 2013.

Having Warwick Castle within the Resort Theme Park division isn't something I agree with personally, however, from what I can tell, placing it in this category has allowed Merlin to allocate more funds to the conservation and development of the Castle than they otherwise would have done. Warwick Castle is also part of the sale and leaseback agreement Merlin made with Nick Leslau (a deal which also included Alton Towers and Thorpe Park).

I do recall vaguely that it was under theme parks before, but I wasn't sure as it is not a website I visit very often. Personally, I don't agree with it being under the theme park category as it sends out the wrong message, but then again, it is only a website category, so it doesn't affect my enjoyment or views of the attraction. I can see why they have done it though, especially with it having accommodation, but something as simple as 'Theme Parks and Large Attractions' would have been better.

Not a big thing, but interesting!

I think to brand it as a midway attraction it has to be replicable? Warwick castle certainly can't be built in any city Merlin fancies!

I did enjoy great Yarmouth. Even just looking at joyland and pleasure beach was plenty interesting. One of the highlights was finding a small window in the building on the south pier that gave great viewing of the backside of the bowling alley. Fascinating! We also found a lovely old penny arcade and the model village where john wardley quit working after he was told to cut the grass with scissors

Justin wrote:

I'm actually visiting next Saturday,  but I'll only go in the SeaLife centre as I have my pass. To be fair, it isn't a bad SeaLife, but it's probably one of the oldest and now smallest! I can remember a time when they had fish in the window and water used to splash up the glass.

When the Pleasure Beach is open too, then you can make more of the day, especially when you visit Joyland and Pleasure Beach.

Yarmouth is undergoing major investment with the Entertainment complex at Pleasure Beach, and hopefully in the future we will see other Merlin attractions added.

You will have to let me know what you think of the Sealife in it's current state.  If you look carefully, some of the aquariums have ended up like the bagging drop off at Alton, they have been boarded up  , the black box exhibit at the end has been turned into a kids activity area.  Lot of the interesting fish have gone and been replaced with boring fish.  Conga eels have gone. 

Talking about the Pleasure Beach complex, well the go-carts have been moved along a few feet to make the Pleasure Beach smaller to accommodate the Premier Inn and Beefeater that they are building. 

IMG_0798 by Roy Lee, on Flickr

There have been changes to the management structure within Merlin Entertainments.

Fiona Eastwood will move from her role as Managing Director, Resort Theme Parks to become Managing Director of Midway leveraging her three years as Global Marketing Director for the Operating Group. Ian Crabbe, currently Divisional Director, Alton Towers Resort, will assume responsibility for Resort Theme Parks. With over 20 years’ experience at Merlin, Ian has recently overseen the management of both Alton Towers and Thorpe Park.

In addition, Merlin has created two new senior management roles to support the delivery of strategic initiatives and executional excellence across the three Operating Groups. Putnam Shin, currently Divisional Director, Midway Asia will be appointed Resort Development Director, and Hywel Mathias, Divisional Director, Midway London will become Midway Development Director.

Interesting that they've created new positions of Development Director at both Resort and Midway divisions. Although given the last company update saying they were considering Midway themed hotels, could Development Director really mean Hotel Creation Director?

Swarm Chris wrote:

Interesting that they've created new positions of Development Director at both Resort and Midway divisions. Although given the last company update saying they were considering Midway themed hotels, could Development Director really mean Hotel Creation Director?

Wait... did it? I thought that was just our April Fools...?

lewis97 wrote:

Wait... did it? I thought that was just our April Fools...?

It did...

The operator of Legoland and Alton Towers is to step up the expansion of its theme parks into short-break destinations by adding accommodation and is considering themed hotels in cities where it operates “clusters” of attractions.

This is why we need to be careful about what we post on here ... You never know what they'll take seriously

We think we are probably the world leader in themed accommodation

Nick Varney said that. Has he heard of Disney?

Mr Varney is absolutely deluded. Vinyls. Are. Not. Theming.