2026: General Discussion

[The Lynch Effect]

Don’t think that’s a thing?

From the website here: https://www.altontowers.com/plan-your-visit/before-you-visit/car-parking/

Standard Parking
Standard Parking is charged at £13 for Theme Park Guests, when booked online in advance. Upon arrival, please follow the road signage or our team members directions. We have both tarmac and grass car parks. During peak periods, you may be parked on grass.
Gold, Platinum and Premium Merlin Passholders, visitors to Extraordinary Golf, or those staying in any of our Resort Accommodations enjoy free parking, no ticket required.
Standard Parking is between 15-25 minutes walk to the Theme Park Entrance.
Book in advance and save – On the day parking is £15!

 

[jon81uk]

From the website here: https://www.altontowers.com/plan-your-visit/before-you-visit/car-parking/

Standard Parking
Standard Parking is charged at £13 for Theme Park Guests, when booked online in advance. Upon arrival, please follow the road signage or our team members directions. We have both tarmac and grass car parks. During peak periods, you may be parked on grass.
Gold, Platinum and Premium Merlin Passholders, visitors to Extraordinary Golf, or those staying in any of our Resort Accommodations enjoy free parking, no ticket required.
Standard Parking is between 15-25 minutes walk to the Theme Park Entrance.
Book in advance and save – On the day parking is £15!

Not seen that before then I checked the golf page not the parking one. But yes with golf at £5 why pay for parking!

 

[AT86]

I suspect that loophole may not exist for much longer now it’s hit ‘the socials’.

 

[The Lynch Effect]

I suspect that loophole may not exist for much longer now it’s hit ‘the socials’.

Or it’s a plan to boost the golf, they’ve been giving tickets away for it with hotels for years and let’s be honest, the vast majority of visitors won’t be organised enough to do it. So the impact on the parking revenue will be minimal socials or not.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Or it’s a plan to boost the golf, they’ve been giving tickets away for it with hotels for years and let’s be honest, the vast majority of visitors won’t be organised enough to do it. So the impact on the parking revenue will be minimal socials or not.

I've heard some optimistic takes on Merlin's business strategy in my time, but the suggestion that they are deliberately cannibalising their single highest margin revenue stream (parking at £15 a throw for a static piece of tarmac with zero overheads) to boost the participation numbers of a low value bolt on (golf at £6 with staffing, maintenance and equipment costs) is truly in a league of its own.

Merlin doesn't care if the golf course is empty, provided the car park is full. They would much rather you paid £15 to park and didn't play golf, than pay £6 to play golf and park for free.

It's an oversight, likely a legacy T&C that hasn't been updated to reflect the aggressive hike in parking charges. Enjoy the loophole while it lasts, because the moment a Finance Director spots that variance on a spreadsheet, the "Free Parking with Golf" perk will vanish faster than a gosling in a fox den.

 

[The Lynch Effect]

I've heard some optimistic takes on Merlin's business strategy in my time, but the suggestion that they are deliberately cannibalising their single highest margin revenue stream (parking at £15 a throw for a static piece of tarmac with zero overheads) to boost the participation numbers of a low value bolt on (golf at £6 with staffing, maintenance and equipment costs) is truly in a league of its own.

Merlin doesn't care if the golf course is empty, provided the car park is full. They would much rather you paid £15 to park and didn't play golf, than pay £6 to play golf and park for free.

It's an oversight, likely a legacy T&C that hasn't been updated to reflect the aggressive hike in parking charges. Enjoy the loophole while it lasts, because the moment a Finance Director spots that variance on a spreadsheet, the "Free Parking with Golf" perk will vanish faster than a gosling in a fox den.

It’s Merlin, at this stage anything is possible. The wizards seem to work in mysterious ways!

I don’t think it’s an oversight however as the parking was a tenner or so previously, and it didn’t get stopped then.

 

[Secret Weapon]

It's an oversight, likely a legacy T&C that hasn't been updated to reflect the aggressive hike in parking charges.

You're probably right, but I sometimes wonder with these "free giveaways" whether somebody's bonus (or reputation) is tied to the success of a particular attraction? (golf, in this case)

I remember reading that Commodore discontinued the Amiga A500+ (their most popular home computer at the time) in order to pressure / force people to buy the less popular Amiga 600, simply because an executive's bonus was tied to the sales of the A600