Merlin Entertainments

Merlin Entertainments plc^[1] er en britisk-baseret koncern, der driver forlystelsesparker over store dele af verden. Den har hovedkvarter i Poole. Merlin er nr. 1 i Europa og er samtidig verdens næststørste foretagende inden for besøgsattraktioner.^[2] Eksempelvis er det Merlin Entertainments der ejer Legoland-forlystelsesparkerne.

Denne artikel omhandler Merlin Entertainments. Opslagsordet har også en anden betydning, se Merlin (flertydig).

Merlin Entertainments
Virksomhedsinformation
Selskabsform	Public limited company
Branche	Underholdning
Grundlagt	1998
Grundlægger	Nick Varney
Hovedsæde	Poole, Storbritannien
Organisation
Ejere	CVC Capital Partners Kirkbi BlackRock Blackstone
Moderselskab	Blackstone
Eksterne henvisninger
Virksomhedens hjemmeside
Information med symbolet hentes fra Wikidata.  [ redigér på Wikidata ]

Merlin er etableret i 1999 og er siden 2005 ejet af investeringsselskabet The Blackstone Group^[3], det selvsamme år Merlin opkøbte dele af Legolandparkerne. Under Blackstone opkøbte Merlin Gardaland i 2006, en italiensk forlystelsespark. I 2007 blev virksomheden fusioneret med Tussauds Group^[4] og sidstnævnte ophørte med at eksistere som navn samme år, idet det blev videreført som Merlin Entertainment.

Lokationer

Resort theme parks

Navn	Lokation	Åbningsår	År købt	Noter
Alton Towers Resort	Staffordshire, UK	1860	2007	Erhvervet i handel med Tussauds Group
Thorpe Park Resort	Chertsey, Surrey, UK	1979	2007	Erhvervet i handel med Tussauds Group
Chessington World of Adventures Resort	Chessington, Greater London, UK	1987	2007	Erhvervet i handel med Tussauds Group
Gardaland Resort	Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy	1975	2006	Købt i 2006 under Blackstone.
Heide Park Resort	Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany	1978	2007	Erhvervet i handel med Tussauds Group
Warwick Castle	Warwick, UK	1978	2007	Erhvervet i handel med Tussauds Group

LEGOLAND parks

Navn	Lokation	Åbningsår	År købt	Noter
Legoland Billund Resort	Billund, Denmark	1968	2005	Erhvervet i handel med Blackstone
Legoland California	Carlsbad, California, U.S.	1999	2005	Erhvervet i handel med Blackstone
Legoland Deutschland Resort	Günzburg, Germany	2002	2005	Erhvervet i handel med Blackstone
Legoland Dubai Resort	Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	2016	-	Åbnede som en del af Dubai Parks and Resorts i Jebel Ali.
Legoland Florida Resort	Winter Haven, Florida, U.S.	2011	2011	Cypress Gardens erhvervet og omdøbt
Legoland Japan Resort	Nagoya, Japan	2017	-	Nybygget temapark
Legoland Korea Resort	Chuncheon, South Korea	2022	-	Nybygget temapark
Legoland Malaysia Resort	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	2012	-	Nybygget temapark
Legoland New York Resort	Goshen, New York, U.S.	2021	-	Nybygget temapark
Legoland Windsor Resort	Windsor, UK	1996	2005	Erhvervet i handel med Blackstone

Peppa Pig parker

Navn	Lokation	Åbningsår	År købt	Noter
Peppa Pig Theme Park Florida	Winter Haven, Florida	2022	-	Nybygget temapark
Peppa Pig Theme Park Dallas-Fort Worth	Frisco, Texas	2024[5]	-	Nybygget temapark

Midway-attraktioner

Navn	Lokation	Åbningsår	År købt	Noter
Australian Treetop Adventures	Australia	2005	2010	Canopy walkway blev erhvervet I handel med MFS Living and Leisure
Blackpool Tower Circus	Blackpool, UK	1894	2011
Sandcastle Waterpark	Blackpool, UK	1986	2022	Drift fra efteråret 2022
Cadbury World	Birmingham, UK	1990	2022	Operation and brand licences from summer 2022
The Bear Grylls Adventure	Birmingham, UK	2018
The Dungeons	Alton Towers Blackpool London Warwick York Edinburgh Berlin Hamburg Amsterdam Shanghai	2019 2011 1974 - 1975 2000 2013 2000 2005	1992
Eye Brand	Blackpool London Sydney	1894 2000 1981	2011 2007 2011
DreamWorks Tours: Shrek's Adventure!	London	2015	-	Bruger karakterer fra Shrek franchise under licens fra DreamWorks Animation.
LEGOLAND Discovery Centres	Birmingham at Arena Birmingham Manchester at the Trafford Centre Berlin at the Sony Center Oberhausen Phoenix at Arizona Mills Atlanta at Phipps Plaza Bay Area (San Jose) at Great Mall of the Bay Area Boston Chicago at The Streets of Woodfield Columbus at Easton Town Center Dallas Fort Worth at Grapevine Mills Kansas City at Crown Center Michigan at the Great Lakes Crossing Outlets New Jersey at American Dream Meadowlands Philadelphia at the Plymouth Meeting Mall Westchester (New York) at Westchester's Ridge Hill San Antonio at the Shops at Rivercenter Toronto at Vaughan Mills Melbourne at the Chadstone Shopping Centre Beijing Shanghai Shenyang Hong Kong Osaka Tokyo Istanbul Scheveningen Brussels[6]
Little Big City	Berlin, Germany Beijing, Kina	2017 2018
Madame Tussauds	London Blackpool Vienna Skabelon:Lande data Czechia Prague Berlin Amsterdam Hollywood Las Vegas Nashville New York Orlando San Francisco Sydney Beijing Chongqing Shanghai Wuhan Hong Kong New Delhi Tokyo Singapore Istanbul Bangkok Dubai Budapest
Peppa Pig World of Play	Shanghai Auburn Hills (Michigan) Grapevine, Texas Chicago, Illinois Leidschendam	2018 2019 2019 2020 2022
Peter Rabbit: Explore and Play	Blackpool	2022
Sea Life	Birmingham Blackpool Brighton Great Yarmouth Castelnuovo del Garda Gweek Hunstanton Manchester London Scarborough Weymouth Loch Lomond Bray Blankenberge Berlin Hanover Königswinter Konstanz Munich Oberhausen Speyer Timmendorfer Strand Helsinki Jesolo The Hague Porto Benalmadena Istanbul Orlando Melbourne Mooloolaba (Sunshine Coast) Sydney Auckland Shanghai Nagoya Iskandar Puteri Busan Bangkok
This is Holland	Amsterdam	2017	2022	Merlin take on day-to-day operations of this flying theatre[7]

Fremtidige lokationer

Navn	Lokation	Planlagt åbningsår
Legoland Shanghai Resort	Jinshan District, Shanghai, Kina	2024
Legoland Sichuan Resort	Chengdu, Sichuan, Kina	2025
Legoland Beijing Resort	Fangshan District, Beijing, Kina	2024
Legoland Shenzhen Resort	Shenzhen, Kina	2024
Legoland Belgium[8]	Gosselies, Belgium	2027[9]
Legoland Discovery Centres	Hamburg, Germany	2023
	Miami, Florida at American Dream Miami	2023
	Pittsburgh at The Mall at Robinson	2023
	Washington at Springfield Town Center[10]	2023

Tidligere lokationer

Navn	Lokation	Åbningsår	År erhvervet	Skæbne	Lukkeår/solgt	Noter
Abenteuer Park Oberhausen	Oberhausen, Germany	1996	2011	Lukket	2015	Formerly known as CentrO.Park (1996–2011) & Sea Life Abenteuer Park (2013)
Earth Explorer	Ostend, Belgium	2004	-	Solgt	2013
Falls Creek ski resort	Victoria, Australia	1946	2011	Solgt	2019	Acquired in MFS Living and Leisure deal, sold to Vail Resorts in 2019.
Hotham Alpine Resort	Victoria, Australia	1925	2011	Solgt	2019	Ski resort acquired in MFS Living and Leisure deal, sold to Vail Resorts in 2019.
Legoland Discovery Centre Duisburg	Duisburg, Germany	2007	-	Lukket	2013	Moved to Oberhausen after a few years.
Legoland Discovery Centre Hotham	Mt Hotham, AZ at Hotham Alpine Resort	2018	-	Lukket	2018
London Planetarium	London	1958	2007	Lukket	2010	Acquired in Tussauds Group deal as it shares the same site as Madame Tussauds London. Closed and the space is now used by Madame Tussauds London for exhibitions & other attractions.
Madame Tussauds Washington DC	Washington D.C.	2007	-	Closed	2021[11]	Closed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The San Francisco Dungeon	San Francisco	2014	-	Closed	2022[12]	Closed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Wheel at ICON Park Orlando	Orlando	2015	-	Sold	2018	Opened as the Orlando Eye; Operations were reverted to the owner and Rebranded in 2018.
Sea Life Hastings	Hastings, England	2008	-	Solgt	2012	Now belongs to the Blue Reef Aquarium chain.
Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary	Oban, Scotland	1979	-	Lukket	2018
Sea Life St. Andrews	St. Andrews, Scotland	1999	TBA	Solgt	TBA	Now operates as the St. Andrews Aquarium.
Manly Sea Life Sanctuary	Manly, Australia	1965	2010	Lukket	2018[13]

Referencer

1. Merlin Entertainments
2. Legoland.dk: LEGOLAND® Malaysia åbner lørdag
3. "Pressemeddelelse fra The Blackstone Group" (PDF). Arkiveret fra originalen (PDF) 21. oktober 2006. Hentet 9. juni 2008.
4. Tussauds firm bought in £1bn deal
5. "Peppa Pig Theme Park Dallas Ft Worth".
6. "Merlin to take Legoland Discovery Centres to Belgium with deal for Brussels site | attractionsmanagement.com news". attractionsmanagement.com/. 2022-08-30. Hentet 2022-02-21.
7. "Merlin Entertainments expands Netherlands operation with management of THIS IS HOLLAND experience". www.merlinentertainments.biz (engelsk). Hentet 2022-02-21.
8. "Legoland heading to Belgium, Halloween is on at Legoland Windsor". Blooloop (britisk engelsk). 2020-09-14. Hentet 2022-02-21.
9. "C'est officiel : un parc Legoland ouvrira à Charleroi sur l'ancien site Caterpillar". metrotime.be. 30. august 2022. Hentet 30. august 2022.
10. "Newly renamed LEGO Discovery Centre arrives in Washington, D.C., in 2023". InPark Magazine (amerikansk engelsk). 11. februar 2022. Hentet 2022-02-21.
11. "Madame Tussauds aims to sublease D.C. wax museum". www.bizjournals.com. Hentet 2022-03-15.
12. "The 'San Francisco Dungeon' at Fisherman's Wharf Has Spooked Its Last Tourist". SFist - San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports (engelsk). 2022-02-14. Arkiveret fra originalen 11. marts 2022. Hentet 2022-03-15.
13. "Manly Sea Life Sanctuary closes its doors after 55 years". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 28. januar 2018. Hentet 14. september 2022.