Related:  Peppa Pig World to open at Paultons Family Theme Park /  Coin Operated Rides: Northern Leisure Group / Kiddy Rides to Launch new Peppa Pig ride and 3 Seater Carousel at the EAG Expo for 2010 / Branding & merchandising, costumes & mascots: Somewhere, over at Rainbow

By Jeroen Nijpels

I've just returned from Paultons Park in the UK, where Richard Mancey and his team pre-opened Peppa Pig World last Friday. I had no clue about who Peppa Pig was before I got involved in this project roughly a year ago. But it seemed that the park was very diligent in trying to find the right set of characters that would both have a strong appeal to the market and was also easily transferable from the screen into a real theme park area.

Well, I think they did a magnificent job over there! I'm sure my 2½ year old daughter Emily would be 100% convinced that this is where Peppa, George and all of their family and friends are really living. And they seem to have so much fun over there.

But is this really the way to go for theme parks? In a few weeks, the Pleasure Beach in Blackpool will open its Nickelodeon themed area, and although I haven't seen the work in progress myself, first comments from those that have been there are also very positive. No doubt also this development will show a significant increase in numbers, like Thomasland did for Drayton Manor Theme Park. So the first answer to this question seems to be a sound YES.

I guess the long term answer is that we will have to see how long the lifespan is of the actual characters involved. If the characters are existing already for more than a decade, I think there's not much to fear. But only the future can tell if the same goes for characters that are only a few years old, and whose adventures on TV might soon be replaced by new heroes. For the moment I am very optimistic, since the areas that are now open and will open shortly are very well done, and the quality of the work over there can easily compete even if the characters would not be known to the general audience. I'm curious to see which amusement parks around Europe will follow the great examples from the UK, and with what kind of IP.

Related: OLC up forecast to 27m visitors for 2011 - Creating Happiness at Tokyo Disney / Compagnie des Alpes: Q1 Sales and Creating a Walibi Universe / Pigs in Pythons: Capex at Disney and Universal

Forced to abandon plans for an IPO in 2010 due to a jittery market - a costly rethink with £4.9m of professional and advisory fees hitting the P&L as exceptional items - the company’s underlying business model remains sound. 

Whilst in the long term the plan is still to create Merlin plc, Merlin is committed to its core strategy:

1.    Organic growth
2.    Continued roll-out of Midway attractions
3.    Transition of Theme Parks into Resort Theme Parks and
4.    Development and acquisition.

Merlin is now the clear market leader in Europe and second only to Disney  in terms of visitor admissions with a vision to become "the world-wide leader in branded, location based entertainment". In December 2010, Blooloop asked Merlin’s MD Resort Theme Parks, Mark Fisher, what Merlin’s ultimate ambition is (see Interview with Merlin Entertainments' Mark Fisher).  Fisher says, “I’ve been asked before, “What is success for Merlin?”.  The answer is, it’s not about growing and selling the company, its about one day looking at this fabulous team that is rocking around the world and knowing you’ve been part of growing that.   It’s not about where we’ve been, it’s about where we’re going.”

Highlights from 2010’s performance are:

•    Total visitors increased to 41.0m – a rise of 2.5m (6.5%)
•    Group Revenue up 4.1% to £800.8m (2009: £769.0m)
•    Underlying Group EBITDA up 8.5% to £255.8m (2009: £235.7m)
•    Capital investment of £103.8m during the year (2009: £101.2m), funded from operating cash flow, comprised £74.6m on existing estate and £29.2m on new business development in Midways and LEGOLAND Florida
•    2010 acquisitions of Cypress Gardens, Florida, USA to become LEGOLAND Florida and operating contract for the UK’s iconic Blackpool Tower Complex
•    2011 acquisition of Sydney Attractions Group completed post year end

Nick Varney (below), Merlin Entertainments Chief Executive, said, “We are delighted to report another year of strong performance from Merlin Entertainments, with growth coming from all parts of our unique business. During 2010 we significantly extended our geographic footprint, while delivering further growth in turnover and profitability as we welcomed 2.5m more visitors to our iconic attractions around the world.

“In the past year we have continued to invest to grow and develop our business.  We now operate over 70 attractions in 17 countries across four continents under our internationally recognised brands. Looking ahead, we have accelerated our growth plans and by the end of 2012 we will be operating more than 80 attractions as we develop further across Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region.

“This year will be one of the most exciting in Merlin’s history. October will mark our move into the biggest family tourist centre in the world when we open the gates to LEGOLAND Florida. The development of this exciting theme park on the historic Cypress Gardens site has gone to plan and early ticket sales have confirmed our confidence in taking LEGOLAND to the heart of the US theme park market. In addition, we will capitalise on the wealth of opportunities open to us in the Asia Pacific market in the wake of our acquisition of the Sydney Attractions Group while keeping up the pace of change in Europe and the US with the opening of seven new Midway attractions.

“We are now approaching the start of our key trading period in confident mood. We have an impressive pipeline of new developments across all of our existing attractions, including thrilling new roller coasters in our theme parks in Germany and Italy. While the outlook for the consumer economy remains uncertain, we believe Merlin will make further good progress and continue to grow.  Under our new ownership structure we will continue to invest in our clear and proven strategy of growing our strong brands in a portfolio of attractions balanced by geography, product and demographics.”

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By Martin Barratt, CEO BALPPA

With the advent of the Coalition, a review seemed much further away. The message came that even mentioning the subject in front of a Minister would damage credibility and cause further delays, and that it wouldn’t be worth mentioning this again for at least four years.

The Coalition was clearly as committed to the issue as Labour who had introduced the bill in December 2001, so it was a surprise when the attack on free entry came from a Labour MP known for his interest in culture and the arts.

Tristram Hunt (below right) is the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central and a well known historian, broadcaster, columnist and author. He called for an end to free museums not because he doesn’t believe in them, but because he resents museums and galleries in London continuing to enjoy free entry while outside London many will have to start charging again.

In what he calls an “…assault on the region’s arts”, the government has “…cut Renaissance in the Regions funding, slashed the Arts Council budget and wound down all central support for non-national museums.” This means the reintroduction of admission fees to well known collections such as the People’s History Museum in Manchester and the Museums in Tyne and Wear, as well as the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Hunt’s own constituency.

Notwithstanding his motives Munira Mirza(below left), cultural advisor to Boris Johnson the Mayor of London, writing in the London Evening Standard this month, called it alarming that Hunt would call for an end to free museums in London or anywhere else. For a start, she points out, many of the London Museums and Galleries have spawned outposts in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool and they’re all free. Lucky they are. Many were built before free entry was re-introduced and, because they received lottery funding, they had business plans which said they had to be self supporting. Does anyone believe that developments such as the Imperial War Museum in Manchester and the Royal Armouries in Leeds would still be open if they had to cover their costs?

She chose to ignore Hunt’s point that the real benefit from free entry came not from broadening the audience for art and culture, which was its intention. Instead “…working with schools, a proper outreach strategy and well-funded inclusion programmes” brought the museums to their target audiences and encouraged some of them to visit. According to a study by Mori, "While the number of people coming through the door might have dramatically increased, the profile of a typical 'population' of museum or gallery visitors has remained relatively stable and firmly biased in favour of the 'traditional' visitor groups."

With that justification gone all that is left is Mirza’s view that the London Museums should remain free to all so that foreign tourists can see objects that may have come from abroad in the first place. Apparently this may stop the Greeks clamouring for the return of the Elgin Marbles and the Egyptians militating for the repatriation of the Rosetta Stone.

For this reason alone we in the commercial attractions sector are being asked to put up with unfair competition. In a time of unprecedented economic hardship, free museums will remain free only to hold off demands to return the treasures bought or stolen from foreign nations to their rightful owners.

With the cultural elite squabbling amongst themselves this could be just the time to push the Coalition to accept that free entry to National Museums failed in its objective to widen the audience for culture and the arts and that it is a system supported only by those who can well afford to pay for their pleasure. To encourage them to look again at a new pricing regime; one that charges tourists a fair amount for their visit but promotes multiple visits to locals and UK tourists.

It was noticeable that when David Cameron made his famous speech on Tourism in July (see:  Is the UK Government doing enough for Tourism? ) there was one thing that connected all the attractions he namechecked. They were all free entry and they were all heavily subsidised. Re-evaluating free entry to National Museums is a chance for the Coalition to prove to us in the Commercial Visitor Attractions sector that we are valued too.

“The billionaires list, while it is a rarified universe, does reflect the enormous changes apparent in the global economy,” said Forbes Media Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes, in a press conference announcing the results yesterday.

The U.S. held onto the greatest share of the billionaires, with 34 percent, followed by the Asia- Pacific region with 27 percent.  “This year, the United States is still number one but the lead is shrinking,” said Forbes. Ten years ago U.S. residents accounted for about 50 percent of the list, he said. “The trend is very real.” 

Forbes Highlights

Key geographical trends highlighted were: 

• For the first time in a decade, the Asia-Pacific region had more billionaires than Europe,  gaining the most billionaires of any region, with 105 newcomers;
• Of the 214 new billionaires this year 54 were from China and 31 from Russia;
• Moscow knocked New York off the top spot with the greatest number of billionaires: 79 to New York’s 58; and
• Mexican Carlos Slim, whose holdings include America Movil SAB, the biggest mobile-phone company in the Americas, with 225 million wireless subscribers, remained the world’s richest person for a second year with estimated assets of $74 billion, an increase of $20.5 billion.

Asian Attractions

This week in Blooloop News and Facts we saw evidence of the rapid growth of the Asian tourism and leisure sector with:

• A glimpse of the Shanghai Disneyland blueprint with the first phase investment of $3.7bn attracting an estimated 7.3 million visitors a year.  First phase construction starts in May on the Chinese “Magic Kingdom,” “Epcot” and “Animal Kingdom” and the park is set to open in 2015;
• Singapore Tourism receipts for 2010 were estimated at S$18.8bn, up 49% on 2009 (see also Lion City roars in 2010);
• Siam Park City aims to increase the number of visits to its amusement park from 1.3 million last year to 2 million this year, and up to 3 million in the next three to five years; and
• Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town (OCT Group is the largest tourism company in China with a series of popular theme parks including Happy Valley, Windows of the World, Splendid China, and China Folk Culture Village in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chengdu) recorded 78% growth in 2010 net profits
  

Other trends

Internet billionaires are faring well:

• Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, jumped to 52nd this year from 212th place last year; and    
• Mark Pincus, founder of San Francisco-based Zynga Inc., creator of FarmVille was a first time entrant this year.  Games are big business with 2011 being tipped as the Year of Gamification by Gabe Zichermann (see Gamepocalypse or Gametopia : What Can Gamification Offer Theme Parks And Attractions?).

Finally, we see an increase in luxury spending as the rich get richer and BRIC citizens demand high status goods.  The wealthiest European, Bernard Arnault, CEO of  LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest maker of luxury goods, jumped to fourth from seventh as his net worth increased $13.5 bn to $41bn. (LVMH announced Monday it will acquire a controlling stake in Bulgari SpA , the world’s third-largest jeweller.)  This echoes the increasing social stratification of out-of-home entertainment and leisure noted by Randy White in his recent article for Blooloop.  Attractions should look to meet the high expectations of higher socio-economic households both in terms of their offerings and beyond to their associated brand values.

Intriguing though the analysis of the billionaire list is, maybe we should remember physicist Niels Bohr’s warning: “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future”.  “Twenty years ago Japan was said to take over the world. Today it is not even holding its own,” said Forbes. “So things do change.”
 

Mulan image, kind courtesy Walt Disney Attractions: Chinese-born actress Ming-Na Wen, the voice of the character “Mulan” in the Disney animated films “Mulan” and “Mulan II,” poses with Mulan’s guardian dragon, “Mushu,” July 25, 2008 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Related: BBC Worldwide's Doctor Who Experience Crashes into London / Sarner awarded BBC Worldwide contract to create ground breaking "Doctor Who" Experience

The TV show itself was scary enough – like most kids of my generation, I routinely watched it from behind the sofa - but the thought of actually seeing these alien creatures in the flesh was exhilarating.

The exhibition, whilst doubtless to an adult uninspiring (a collection of tatty old costumes from the series), was thrilling for me.  I don’t think I registered that these were just costumes. To a 7 year old they were real Daleks, Cybermen and Ice Warriors.  The most frightening were the Sea Devils, which carried torch-like weapons and, despite living under water, wore rather fetching blue string vests.  I found their awkward movements unnerving, their heads lurching around in an ungainly fashion as they waded through the surf.  Back then this seemed sinister and slightly troubling, much later I realised that the actor inside the costume had his eyes looking out of the creature’s neck, leaving a prosthetic head to flap about above.

A worldwide hit

Although still a very British show, Dr Who today is a worldwide hit.  It has long been broadcast in the US on PBS channels and the revived series (after a 25 year run, the show fell out of favour in 1989 and was restarted in 2005) has been a huge success for the BBC, to the extent that it is now frightening children on a weekly  basis  in over 50 countries.

An altogether more hi-tech experience than the one I saw in Blackpool opened recently at London’s Olympia, the BBC’s brand new “Dr Who Experience”.   The experience can in fact be neatly divided into two: the first an immersive timed dark walk show,  the second a more traditional exhibit, in which visitors can see costumes and characters from the series. (Image above right shows, from the left  Ross Magri, MD Sarner, Michael Bennett, Creative Director Sarner, a waxwork Matt Smith and Paula Al-Lach, BBC Worldwide)

A real sense of urgency and danger

Visitors are taken in batches of 50 through the dark walk, which is comprised of a series of rooms, each highly themed to represent some part of the Dr Who world.  The walk is styled as an adventure, so guests feel as if they are taking part in one of the Doctor’s madcap escapades.  In a neat touch there is little need of the staff who quietly usher you through to the next room as the actor playing the current Doctor (he has regenerations, he’s been played by many different actors, it’s complicated) Matt Smith, has filmed an exclusive series of clips, one for each room, which serve to hurry along the “action” and drill a sense of real urgency and danger into the experience.

The BBC’s research told them that what people most wanted was to take a ride in the TARDIS, the Doctor's phone box shaped spaceship - this surprised me as I thought the show was all about the monsters - so one room is a lovingly created TARDIS interior (of a specific vintage). 

The next section was the inside of another spaceship, in which we met the Daleks, the show’s most famous and possibly most absurd creations.  It has been observed many times before that nothing dates more quickly than our vision of the future and the Dalek, essentially a metal box armed with a sink plunger and an egg whisk, is very much a child of the mid-sixties. Their spaceship however, is state of the art 2011, and guests are treated to a remarkable projected 7 metre CGI rebel Dalek battle scene on a 24 metre painted backdrop. 

A breathtaking finale

This - along with the TARDIS “reveal” using transition gauze as we entered the Doctors spaceship - was one of 3 outstanding moments in the show, as the images, though not technically in 3D, had very much that feel about them, were quite breathtaking and in fact rather beautiful.

Another walk then took us through a forest at night in which Weeping Angels, a particular favourite in my own household, advanced at us from the darkness.  Finally we reached the show’s finale, a 3D show in which various Doctors and a whole variety of monsters made an appearance.  The film was remarkable.  The film’s makers had produced a gorgeous piece of 3D; really crisp, clear images and it was among the best I had ever seen.  A stunning and fitting climax to a ground breaking and brilliantly produced show.

We then had a good look around the second part of the Dr Who Experience, the exhibition of costumes and kit from the series. Thankfully the BBC had seen the show as one organic whole and so alongside the baddies from the current run, there were also many old familiar faces from the 70s and 80s. Didn’t see a Sea Devil, so I slept soundly that night.