MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS CLOSES UK THEME PARKS AND ATTRACTIONS

BY GABRIELLE

In response to the COVID0-19 pandemic, Merlin Entertainments is closing its theme parks and attractions in the UK for a temporary period.

The sites suspending operations include Legoland Windsor, Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventures.

Legoland Windsor was closed on March 20 but the Legoland Windsor Resort Hotel will remain open for now.

The opening of Alton Towers, due on March 20, has been postponed until further notice.

In a statement, Merlin Entertainments said: While we have been looking forward to welcoming visitors this weekend, we believe that this decision is the right thing to protect the health and wellbeing of our employees and guests. Alton Towers Resort will remain closed until further notice.”

Chessington World of Adventure Resort closed on March 21. The resort announced: “We believe that this is the right decision to protect the health and wellbeing of our guests and staff.”

This season’s opening of Thorpe Park has also been postponed from March 21.

BLACK MIRROR EXPERIENCE COMING TO THORPE PARK

BY GABRIELLE

The world’s first Black Mirror experience is coming to Thorpe Park in Surrey. The new ground-breaking attraction is inspired by the popular Black Grape TV series.

Details of what the Black Mirror Labyrinth will entail have not yet been released, other than the maze will feature ‘cutting-edge visual technology’ within ‘sensory-defying environments.’

The aim of those visiting the Black Mirror maze is to keep a grip on reality as an ‘unpredictable digitised dimension’ attempt to suck them in.

Thorpe Park is opening for the 2020 season on March 27 alongside the highly awaited Black Mirror experience.

AROMAPRIME LAUNCH THEME PARK FAN COLLECTION

BY GABRIELLE

Theme park scent-creation specialists AromaPrime are launching a new collection of themed scents that customers can buy to recreate the special smells and pongs they associate with their favourite theme park experiences.

It is known that our smell receptors are connected to the part of our brains that process emotions, trigger memories and influence behaviours, with theme parks long employing special scents at their attractions to enhance the guest experience. Now theme park fans will be able to purchase a collection of these scents to reminisce and relive their fun in the comfort of their own homes.

The Theme Park Fan Collection will launch with scents used by the famous Thorpe Park Resort in Surrey, England. The initial collection includes the exact same smells the park employs to enhance the visitor experience within their Creek Freak Massacre scare maze, the Platform 15 scary train ride, the Containment escape room and the Fright Nights cinema.

Other scents from theme parks all around the world will be released in new collections soon. There will also be a mini-dispenser available for purchase alongside the scent collections.

As well as Thorpe Park, AromaPrime has previously been commissioned to create scents for the likes of Alton Towers, Sea Life aquariums, Bobbejaanland in Belgium, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Madame Tussauds and even the Natural History Museum in London.

They will also make available certain smells that used to enhance guest experiences in theme parks that have long since closed, so fans can relive memories of the fun and frolics they experienced twenty years ago!