Owner of Legoland, Madame Tussauds and Peppa Pig theme parks to roll out Uber-like surge pricing - following Wendy's controversial bid to do so

The owner of Legoland, Madame Tussauds, Peppa Pig theme parks and Sea Life has unveiled plans to charge more during peak times to offset a decline in visitors.

Scott O'Neil, chief executive of Merlin Entertainments, said the company is introducing a so-called dynamic pricing model to its top 20 worldwide attractions by the end of this year, and to its major US parks in 2025. 

Theme parks are the latest industry to look to dynamic pricing after fast food giant Wendy's caused uproar in January after announcing it would adapt burger prices depending on demand. 

While hotels, airlines and taxi services like Uber have long used this pricing model, it is increasingly being adopted elsewhere. 

Merlin has around 25 parks spread across America. The new system would charge visitors more during peak summer weekends or vacation season than it would for rainy off-season weekdays, O'Neil told the Financial Times.

The owner of Legoland, Madame Tussauds and Sea Life has unveiled plans to charge more during peak times

Merlin Entertainments operates 141 attractions in 23 countries. It is the largest theme park operator in Europe. 

The dynamic pricing model will allow the company to flex prices at particular times in response to shifts in supply and demand using machine learning, the Financial Times reported.

The company did not clarify, however, how much prices could go up under the new model or if there would be any limit for hikes in peak-demand times. 

The parks already offer reduced admission fees during off-peak times, but this new model is able to incorporate more data and adjust prices more quickly. 

But some disgruntled users took to social media to express their anger at the new pricing model. 

'Surge pricing? Sounds more like greed pricing to me,' wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.  

'Surge pricing picks our pockets,' another wrote. 

But during an interview with CNBC, O'Neil said dynamic pricing is not the same as surge pricing.

He said that it actually 'protects the guest experience' by helping the parks, which have limited capacity, cut down on overcrowding through better managing fluctuating demand.

'You don't want to go to Legoland Florida or Legoland New York or Legoland California or Madame Tussauds and wait hours in line,' he said. 

'You take the prices up, it keeps the numbers down to a reasonable number,' he added. 

Scott O'Neil, chief executive of Merlin Entertainments, said the company was introducing a so-called dynamic pricing model to its major US parks in 2025

Merlin Entertainments operates over 25 locations in the US (Pictured: Actor Matthew McConaughey meeting his wax figure in Madame Tussauds in New York City in 2023)

The idea is that the park could also bring down the price of admission on days that are less busy. 

While O'Neil declined to specify on what kind of price changes visitors could expect under the new model, he suggested that guests attending on off-peak days could potentially see a 10 percent discount or 'a bit more'. 

A spokesperson for Merlin Entertainments told DailyMail.com: 'This change brings us in line with competitors and the broader holiday industry that have similar pricing structures, which benefit guests who choose to book off-peak.'

While Merlin Entertainments reported record revenues in 2023, it said visitor numbers have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. 

Around 62.1 million visitors went to its worldwide attractions last year - up 13 percent from 2022 but still below the 67 million in 2019. 

It comes weeks after DailyMail.com revealed how Wendy's had announced plans to introduce an 'Uber surge-style menu' with different prices depending on the time of the day. 

Wendy's experienced major backlash after DailyMail.com reported on its plans to introduce 'dynamic pricing' to restaurants in 2025

Pictured is a slide in Wendy's Q4 2023 earnings presentation in which investors were told that dynamic pricing would 'support margin expansion'

CEO Kirk Tanner said it would begin testing in 2025 and rely on 'digital menu boards', in which it will invest $20 million. 

This pricing plan implied that at busy times like breakfast, lunch and dinner, prices advertised on this digital menu would be higher, and at quieter times they would fall.

This announcement caused widespread backlash online. 

'Wendy's is barely worth it as it is,' wrote one X user in response to the news. 'Who's gonna pay for surge pricing on a mediocre burger?'

Another wrote on Reddit: 'The opposite of Happy Hour?'

But following DailyMail.com's reporting, the company quickly U-turned on its plans, insisting that it never intended to raise prices when demand was high - only to lower them at 'slower times of the day'.

This was despite the fact Tanner had assured investors that the dynamic pricing model would be 'leveraging technology to support margin expansion.' 

Despite originally ignoring a request for clarification on its dynamic pricing plans, a Wendy's spokesperson said prices would only drop to increase traffic at quiet times.

'Digital menuboards could allow us to change the menu offerings at different times of day and offer discounts and value offers to our customers more easily, particularly in the slower times of day,' they said.

The company would not however comment on the earnings presentation.