Merlin Entertainments expands its China Midway portfolio with two leading attractions, the Dungeon in Shanghai and Little BIG City in Beijing.
THE SHANGHAI DUNGEON is set to be the first ‘dungeon’ attraction in Asia. It will open in late summer 2018, says Merlin. The Little BIG City will be the second attraction of its kind. The first opened in Berlin last month while the new offering will be sited in Beijing.
The Shanghai attraction will be the fourth opening for Merlin in the Chinese city. It comes on the heels of Madame Tussauds, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre and Changfeng Ocean World. THE SHANGHAI DUNGEON will be based within Mosaic Mall on Nanjing Road. It will take visitors back in time for a multi-sensory experience of the city’s dark history. The experience will combine authentic and atmospheric themed sets with live actors. Cutting edge technology will allow visitors to see, hear, and smell ten legends of Shanghai’s colourful past. It will also include a thrilling drop ride.
Little BIG City is Merlin’s latest family attraction concept. It features a unique interactive miniature location. The Beijing attraction features hand built replicas of iconic buildings and streets of the city. All are built to scale. Special effects and cutting edge multi-media technology brings alive the key moments that have shaped Beijing. The attraction will move from mythical legends to modern day history. The sets will include more than 6,500 miniature ‘locals’, all created in startling detail from painstaking historical research..
The announcement is the latest in a series of news broadcasts concerning new Midway attractions in 2017. These include Madame Tussauds in Nashville, LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres in Philadelphia and Melbourne, SEA LIFE Chongqing and, as previously mentioned, Little BIG City Berlin.
Merlin Entertainments also unveiled its eighth LEGOLAND® Park, LEGOLAND® Japan in April.
“We are delighted to be introducing to China both Merlin’s newest attraction, Little BIG City, and the first ‘Dungeon’ in Asia,” says John Jakobsen, Chief New Openings Officer for Merlin. He points out that China is a very important investment market for the company and that Beijing and Shanghai are both natural locations for attractions. “Indeed, China offers an exciting and colourful leisure opportunity,” he continues. “With the inclusion of these new attractions we will see a total of eleven Merlin attractions in the country. More broadly, our Midway roll out is set to accelerate in 2018, with a particular focus on Asia.”
Merlin Entertainments plc is a global leader in location based, family entertainment. It is Europe’s Number 1 and the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator, operating over 100 attractions, 15 hotels and six holiday villages in 24 countries and across four continents.
Midway attractions are high quality, branded, indoor attractions located in city centres, shopping malls or resorts. There are over 100 Midway attractions across 21 countries, with five established chainable brands: SEA LIFE, Madame Tussauds, The Eye, The Dungeons and LEGOLAND Discovery Centres
