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Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

Interesting article in the Independent today about Merlin and Halloween.

Perhaps unsurprisingly October is a key revenue month for the group.

  • Thorpe makes 46% of its annual profit in October and sees 20% of its yearly visitors in the month
  • Towers makes 27% of their annual profit in October and expect 440,000 visitors during the month
Last Halloween they weren't as busy as they were expecting. Apparently they got ghosted.
 
Last Halloween they weren't as busy as they were expecting. Apparently they got ghosted.
Go Away GIF


😜
 
Merlin Entertainments have announced that they are scrapping their Discover and Silver passes, starting today.

A new "Essential" pass has been introduced. It's more expensive than the Silver pass it replaces, but it has far fewer exclusion dates.

It would appear as though Merlin are scrapping the "dirt cheap" passes that @rob666 is so fond of, but they're still cost effective for those who want to visit regularly.
Important updates to Merlin Annual Pass

We regularly review our Merlin Annual Pass options to ensure we’re offering the very best value and flexibility for every guest.

As part of this, on Wednesday 15th October we discontinued new sales of Discovery and Silver Passes. This change is part of a wider refresh designed to simplify our range and deliver even better value across the board.

At the same time, we have removed sign-up fees on all memberships and have adjusted monthly rates for all new sales of Gold and Platinum Memberships.

What this means for you

Your current Gold Pass will continue to work exactly as normal until it expires, with all the same benefits you signed up for at the time of purchase.

When your Pass expires, we’d love to invite you to share another year of awesome adventures with us! You’ll retain your exclusive renewal rate on existing Gold and Platinum Pass products, alongside other great alternatives including our brand NEW Merlin Annual Pass - Essential.

As always, should any changes apply to your existing product in the future we will be in touch with at least 30 days’ notice to let you know, per our agreement with you made at time of purchase.

If you have any further questions please reach out to our helpful contact centre team below:

Thank you so much for being part of the Merlin Annual Pass community. We absolutely love having you as a Passholder and can’t wait to welcome you back to our attractions soon!
 
Merlin Entertainments have announced that they are scrapping their Discover and Silver passes, starting today.

A new "Essential" pass has been introduced. It's more expensive than the Silver pass it replaces, but it has far fewer exclusion dates.

It would appear as though Merlin are scrapping the "dirt cheap" passes that @rob666 is so fond of, but they're still cost effective for those who want to visit regularly.
There used to be 3 tiers of passes which worked better Merlin Pass, Premium Pass and V.I.P maybe that is what they are returning to.
 
There used to be 3 tiers of passes which worked better Merlin Pass, Premium Pass and V.I.P maybe that is what they are returning to.
There is no way the VIP pass will return, the fasttrack benefit didn't work.

Essentially the platinum pass and the old premium pass are the same thing.
Mainly when they changed all the passes it was to introduce cheaper options with more blockout dates.
 
Merlin Entertainments have announced that they are scrapping their Discover and Silver passes, starting today.

A new "Essential" pass has been introduced. It's more expensive than the Silver pass it replaces, but it has far fewer exclusion dates.

It would appear as though Merlin are scrapping the "dirt cheap" passes that @rob666 is so fond of, but they're still cost effective for those who want to visit regularly.
Interestingly, new Gold pass purchases now includes Towers Fireworks dates (but other exclusion dates do still apply). Presumably current Gold members also get it included? My email from MAP was tailored to my Premium pass and nothing was mentioned of other current tier's perks.
 
Interestingly, new Gold pass purchases now includes Towers Fireworks dates (but other exclusion dates do still apply). Presumably current Gold members also get it included? My email from MAP was tailored to my Premium pass and nothing was mentioned of other current tier's perks.
All passes except platinum are excluded on the 7,8 & 9th of November 2025

Specific calendar for gold pass https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/media/pxknsn1z/gold-pass-restriction-dates-2025.pdf

Also (edit to add) now spotted the text for purchase of the gold pass states "Only excludes Alton Towers Ultimate Fireworks Spectacular dates". So its the opposite to what you thought, the only exclusion for gold is fireworks dates. So Platinum is just paying £60 for fireworks, which seems ludicrous unless you visit multiple fireworks dates, might as well get gold and pay £40 just for one day of fireworks.
 
Well we have booked under our Feb 2025 gold renewal for fireworks via the hotel, assuming this will still be allowed as chessington stopped allowing restricted pass date entry via hotel
 
Well we have booked under our Feb 2025 gold renewal for fireworks via the hotel, assuming this will still be allowed as chessington stopped allowing restricted pass date entry via hotel
Having the hotel booking won't make any difference to the blocked dates of a pass. Gold pass isn't valid on those dates so it can't be used.
The only advantage of a hotel booking is if the park is sold out and you don't have a pre-book then the hotel booking allows entry. But as the gold pass calender always blocked the fireworks weekend it can't be used https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/media/pxknsn1z/gold-pass-restriction-dates-2025.pdf
 
It was known that quite a few groups/families would buy a mix of passes to take advantage of the parking perks on one pass. For example, a group of 5 people might buy 4 of the cheapest passes and then one gold pass that would give the group free parking, meaning a much lower average pass price across the group/family. Now, although one member of the group can still buy a gold pass and get free parking, the others' cheap passes won't be so cheap, costing them an extra £60 per pass. Merlin might have got wise to the above practice and are making sure that they at least get a fairer payment from those buying the cheapest option of pass. The previous £80 was ridiculously low for the amount of attractions you could get into.
 
It was known that quite a few groups/families would buy a mix of passes to take advantage of the parking perks on one pass. For example, a group of 5 people might buy 4 of the cheapest passes and then one gold pass that would give the group free parking, meaning a much lower average pass price across the group/family. Now, although one member of the group can still buy a gold pass and get free parking, the others' cheap passes won't be so cheap, costing them an extra £60 per pass. Merlin might have got wise to the above practice and are making sure that they at least get a fairer payment from those buying the cheapest option of pass. The previous £80 was ridiculously low for the amount of attractions you could get into.
Although I think most families doing that were getting the silver pass and then one gold pass. The £79 discovery pass blocked out a lot of weekends and all school holidays so not very useful for families.
Could still get the essential pass for most of the family and then one gold pass (for the extra £100) for the free parking and 20% food discount, essential has fewer restriction dates than the old silver one so is likely a better option for most people than silver was.
 
Although I think most families doing that were getting the silver pass and then one gold pass. The £79 discovery pass blocked out a lot of weekends and all school holidays so not very useful for families.
Could still get the essential pass for most of the family and then one gold pass (for the extra £100) for the free parking and 20% food discount, essential has fewer restriction dates than the old silver one so is likely a better option for most people than silver was.
That's a very good point actually 👍 :)
 
All passes except platinum are excluded on the 7,8 & 9th of November 2025

Specific calendar for gold pass https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/media/pxknsn1z/gold-pass-restriction-dates-2025.pdf

Also (edit to add) now spotted the text for purchase of the gold pass states "Only excludes Alton Towers Ultimate Fireworks Spectacular dates". So its the opposite to what you thought, the only exclusion for gold is fireworks dates. So Platinum is just paying £60 for fireworks, which seems ludicrous unless you visit multiple fireworks dates, might as well get gold and pay £40 just for one day of fireworks.
Sorry misread the info on the page initially.
 
Having the hotel booking won't make any difference to the blocked dates of a pass. Gold pass isn't valid on those dates so it can't be used.
The only advantage of a hotel booking is if the park is sold out and you don't have a pre-book then the hotel booking allows entry. But as the gold pass calender always blocked the fireworks weekend it can't be used https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/media/pxknsn1z/gold-pass-restriction-dates-2025.pdf
Upon a stay with merlin holiday club, restricted dates were included if staying at the onsite accommodation
 
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