Madame Tussauds panopticon opens soon in Budapest!

Presumably, the new Madame Tussauds panopticon will open in early 2022 in the heart of Budapest, lining up international and Hungarian, contemporary and historic personalities in an interactive environment.

The most extraordinary element of the attraction opening in the immediate vicinity of Vörösmarty Square is that it will be the world’s first Madame Tussauds franchise. So far, all the 22 panopticons worldwide have been realised by the central rightsholder British Merlin Entertainments. In Budapest, there will be Hungarian owners who pay a franchise fee for using the right, based on the agreement between the rights owner Merlin Entertainments and Dorottya Experience Ltd.

The process is shrouded in secrecy; therefore, it is unknown who we can meet among the figures, how much the ticket will cost, and how many visitors can be expected every year.

What we know so far is that 50 “handmade” pieces are being made for Budapest in the only operating figure factory in West London.

According to the organisers, Budapest’s new attraction will line up international and Hungarian, contemporary and historical personalities in an interactive environment. Hopefully, it will play an important role in the resumption of domestic tourism after the coronavirus epidemic.

In addition to international celebrities, the Budapest venue will also feature a number of Hungarian-related historical figures in the section of the exhibition set up for this purpose. The key goal is for visitors, especially young people, to get to know the Hungarian culture and history of our nation in a direct and interactive way. As Turizmus.com reports, the selection of the lifelike pieces to be presented was preceded by extensive market research and consultations.

The project owners assessed consumer needs quite thoroughly among the Hungarian population and foreign tourists visiting Budapest. Accordingly, the following aspects have been taken into consideration:

• Exclusive location in the city centre.
• Themes and allocation with an extremely conscious room and puppet layout, including the number of historical persons, athletes, actors, politicians, and singers. In addition, it is also a question of how many global, regional, or local figures are set up from a given country.
• Durability for photos, selfies. The puppets are very delicate but also need to be durable as each figure is treated as a “living person”. They are hugged by visitors hundreds of times daily. Perhaps the only exception is Adolf Hitler from Berlin, who was locked behind bars by organisers after a guest cut off his head.
• Side by side: an important promotional element is when a live celebrity and its replica puppet are photographed side by side.
• Puppets in the shop window can be viewed free of charge, by which the panopticon becomes even more attractive for the passersby.

As the Hungarian news portal Telex reports, the Hungarian organising company is Dorottya Experience Ltd., whose primary owner is the construction contractor József Kreinbacher, one of the wealthiest Hungarian businessmen. He is obviously very interested in the adventure tourism of the Hungarian capital, as he is also involved in the Gellért Hill funicular project.

The new panopticon will entertain in an area of ​​about 2,000 square meters.

The rights holder British Merlin Entertainments is still one of the global leaders in the industry of visitor attractions. The international company includes Madame Tussauds Panopticons, Legoland theme parks, global SeaLife marine parks, the London Ferris Wheel, the London Eye, Shrek’s Adventure in England, and The Dungeons network.

The attraction is implemented with the support of the Kisfaludy program of the Hungarian Tourism Agency.

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Source: telex.hu; turizmus.com