Theme park designer John Burton has announced that he has left Merlin Entertainments after almost 10 years.
The former creative lead announced on Instagram on Saturday that he had decided to hang up his “wizard’s hat”.
“I have so many memories to look back on, and I want to say a big thank you to all those who were there for me along the way,” he said.
Promoted to progressively senior roles since 2016, Burton’s headline projects for Merlin have been Thorpe Park’s Hyperia and the rebuilt Nemesis Reborn rollercoaster at Alton Towers.
He also lead the development of the World of Jumanji at Chessington World of Adventures, and the lauded dark ride the Curse of Alton Manor at Alton Towers.
‘Successor’ to John Wardley
Burton was seen as an unofficially successor to veteran ride designer John Wardley, has has stepped back to a more advisory role since about 2010.
Wardley conceived some of Alton Towers’ most famous rides, including Nemesis, Oblivion, and Air.
Burton has worked with limited budgets under Merlin’s constrained finances in recent years, and has also worked with intellectual properties as part of the company’s strategy.
A theme park enthusiast, he was highly active on fan forums and social media for many years.
He has cited simulation games such as RollerCoaster Tycoon as formative to his interest in ride systems and guest management.
Burton previously cited Hyperia as the highlight of his career.
“Hyperia was my biggest ‘I’ve made it’ moment in my career so far.” he told the Birmingham City University last year.
“To have the opportunity to design a rollercoaster is actually incredibly rare, because they aren’t things that get built every single year.
“They are millions of pounds worth of investment, so the amount of people who get to do that in this world are few and far between, and the challenges that you have to overcome is insane, especially when it comes to planning restrictions.”
So, for me, Hyperia was a really big, momentous moment in my life.
“To say that I designed the UK’s tallest, fastest and most weightless rollercoaster is quite a claim to go against. Hyperia was what my whole career had been building up to.”