• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2026 Discussion

Bowser said:
How do you know this? That seems a ridiculously high number relative to park capacity.
Click to expand...
I don't know if I can link it in here but there was a unofficial website that showed the slot availabilities which said 1522 in total in the 14th and it varies accordingly by the day tho, the busier the day the more slots available, also lines up with the conversation with a staff member where they said the app is probably playing up because it'll be the first day with 1000+ people using it.
 
Does anyone have knowledge of Merlins policy on ear defenders?

My son has previously not been allowed to wear his on Mandrill and Hyperia, which i understand for the most part but I’ve just seen a vlogger wearing theirs on Nemesis?
 
Merlin have sent out a lengthy email detailing changes to the carer pass and i can’t for the life of me work out what said changes are…

​
We constantly review our experience offering based on the valuable feedback from our guests, including you, our loyal Passholders. This sometimes results in a change to our Merlin Annual Pass Terms and Conditions (“T&Cs”) for new and returning guests.

As of 18th March 2026, the following will apply:​
​
ESSENTIAL PASS
29. If a guest with disabilities has purchased an Essential Merlin Annual Pass and completes a Carer Pass application online, at their own discretion, providing documentation that evidences a disability (for example Entitlement to Disability Living Allowance for children under 16 or DLA/Personal Independent Payments (PIP) for those aged 16-64, either in the form of a letter stating that the benefit has been awarded, or the actual Allowance book; A valid Blue Badge; in the case of visual impairment, a registration card known as the BD8 or a Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI) or a Nimbus Access Card with the companion/ +1 symbol ), that disabled Passholder shall be entitled to a free digital Carer Essential Merlin Annual Pass ("Carer Pass") which enables them to bring their carer into an Attraction with them at no additional cost.

30. Carer Pass: A carer pass will be issued with a disabled Passholder's Essential Pass where evidence of the disability has been provided by the relevant Passholder via the online application form and accepted by Merlin. Once documentation has been accepted, Merlin will provide a unique code and link for the Passholder to process their digital Carer Pass. Carer Passes will be valid for the Validity Period, and the Passholder will need to re-apply for a Carer Pass when the Validity Period expires. The "Validity Period" is defined as the shorter of: (i) 12 months; or (ii) the remaining duration of the Annual Pass to which the Carer Pass is linked. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Passholder pays on a monthly basis, the Validity Period will be 12 months unless the Annual Pass is terminated before this period expires, upon such termination the Carer Pass will be immediately deemed invalid.. The Carer Pass can be used by any family member, friend or carer of the disabled Passholder who is 14 years or over. Each time a disabled Passholder visits an Attraction with a carer, they shall also supply their Carer Pass in order for the carer to be granted entry. If a disabled Passholder has forgotten their Carer Pass and wishes to have a carer present during their visit to an Attraction Merlin may, at its sole discretion, issue the carer with a day ticket. The Carer Pass entitles the designated carer admission to the Attraction only and does not entitle the designated carer to any other benefit including, but not limited to, privilege packs and their associated contents. The details and photograph associated with the Carer Pass must be that of the disabled Essential Passholder. Use by the Passholder and/or their carer of either the Essential Pass and/or the Carer Pass in breach of these Terms may result in both the Essential Pass and the Carer Pass being revoked without compensation.​
​
GOLD PASS
34. If a guest with disabilities has purchased a Gold Merlin Annual Pass and completes a Carer Pass application online, at their own discretion, providing documentation that evidences a disability (for example Entitlement to Disability Living Allowance for children under 16 or DLA/Personal Independent Payments (PIP) for those aged 16-64, either in the form of a letter stating that the benefit has been awarded, or the actual Allowance book; A valid Blue Badge; in the case of visual impairment, a registration card known as the BD8 or a Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI) or a Nimbus Access Card with the companion/ +1 symbol), that disabled Passholder shall be entitled to a free digital Carer Gold Merlin Annual Pass ("Carer Pass") which enables them to bring their carer into an Attraction with them at no additional cost.

35. Carer Pass: A carer pass will be issued with a disabled Passholder's Gold Pass where evidence of the disability has been provided by the relevant Passholder via the online application form and accepted by Merlin. Once documentation has been accepted, Merlin will provide a unique code and link for the Passholder to process their digital Carer Pass. Carer Passes will be valid for the Validity Period, and the Passholder will need to re-apply for a Carer Pass when the Validity Period expires. The "Validity Period" is defined as the shorter of: (i) 12 months; or (ii) the remaining duration of the Annual Pass to which the Carer Pass is linked. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Passholder pays on a monthly basis, the Validity Period will be 12 months unless the Annual Pass is terminated before this period expires, upon such termination the Carer Pass will be immediately deemed invalid.. The Carer Pass can be used by any family member, friend or carer of the disabled Passholder who is 14 years or over. Each time a disabled Passholder visits an Attraction with a carer, they shall also supply their Carer Pass in order for the carer to be granted entry. If a disabled Passholder has forgotten their Carer Pass and wishes to have a carer present during their visit to an Attraction Merlin may, at its sole discretion, issue the carer with a day ticket. The Carer Pass entitles the designated carer admission to the Attraction only and does not entitle the designated carer to any other benefit including, but not limited to, privilege packs and their associated contents. The details and photograph associated with the Carer Pass must be that of the disabled Gold Passholder. Use by the Passholder and/or their carer of either the Gold Pass and/or the Carer Pass in breach of these Terms may result in both the Gold Pass and the Carer Pass being revoked without compensation.​
​
PLATINUM PASS
37. If a guest with disabilities has purchased a Platinum Merlin Annual Pass and completes a Carer Pass application online, at their own discretion, providing documentation that evidences a disability (for example Entitlement to Disability Living Allowance for children under 16 or DLA/Personal Independent Payments (PIP) for those aged 16-64, either in the form of a letter stating that the benefit has been awarded, or the actual Allowance book; A valid Blue Badge; in the case of visual impairment, a registration card known as the BD8 or a Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI) or a Nimbus Access Card with the companion/ +1 symbol), that disabled Passholder shall be entitled to a free digital Carer Platinum Merlin Annual Pass ("Carer Pass") which enables them to bring their carer into an Attraction with them at no additional cost.

38. Carer Pass: A carer pass will be issued with a disabled Passholder's Platinum Pass where evidence of the disability has been provided by the relevant Passholder via the online application form and accepted by Merlin. Once documentation has been accepted, Merlin will provide a unique code and link for the Passholder to process their digital Carer Pass. Carer Passes will be valid for the Validity Period, and the Passholder will need to re-apply for a Carer Pass when the Validity Period expires. The "Validity Period" is defined as the shorter of: (i) 12 months; or (ii) the remaining duration of the Annual Pass to which the Carer Pass is linked. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Passholder pays on a monthly basis, the Validity Period will be 12 months unless the Annual Pass is terminated before this period expires, upon such termination the Carer Pass will be immediately deemed invalid.. The Carer Pass can be used by any family member, friend or carer of the disabled Passholder who is 14 years or over. Each time a disabled Passholder visits an Attraction with a carer, they shall also supply their Carer Pass in order for the carer to be granted entry. If a disabled Passholder has forgotten their Carer Pass and wishes to have a carer present during their visit to an Attraction Merlin may, at its sole discretion, issue the carer with a day ticket. The Carer Pass entitles the designated carer admission to the Attraction only and does not entitle the designated carer to any other benefit including, but not limited to, privilege packs and their associated contents. The details and photograph associated with the Carer Pass must be that of the disabled Platinum Passholder. Use by the Passholder and/or their carer of either the Platinum Pass and/or the Carer Pass in breach of these Terms may result in both the Platinum Pass and the Carer Pass being revoked without compensation.​
 
Bowser said:
Merlin have sent out a lengthy email detailing changes to the carer pass and i can’t for the life of me work out what said changes are…

​
We constantly review our experience offering based on the valuable feedback from our guests, including you, our loyal Passholders. This sometimes results in a change to our Merlin Annual Pass Terms and Conditions (“T&Cs”) for new and returning guests.

As of 18th March 2026, the following will apply:​
​
ESSENTIAL PASS
29. If a guest with disabilities has purchased an Essential Merlin Annual Pass and completes a Carer Pass application online, at their own discretion, providing documentation that evidences a disability (for example Entitlement to Disability Living Allowance for children under 16 or DLA/Personal Independent Payments (PIP) for those aged 16-64, either in the form of a letter stating that the benefit has been awarded, or the actual Allowance book; A valid Blue Badge; in the case of visual impairment, a registration card known as the BD8 or a Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI) or a Nimbus Access Card with the companion/ +1 symbol ), that disabled Passholder shall be entitled to a free digital Carer Essential Merlin Annual Pass ("Carer Pass") which enables them to bring their carer into an Attraction with them at no additional cost.

30. Carer Pass: A carer pass will be issued with a disabled Passholder's Essential Pass where evidence of the disability has been provided by the relevant Passholder via the online application form and accepted by Merlin. Once documentation has been accepted, Merlin will provide a unique code and link for the Passholder to process their digital Carer Pass. Carer Passes will be valid for the Validity Period, and the Passholder will need to re-apply for a Carer Pass when the Validity Period expires. The "Validity Period" is defined as the shorter of: (i) 12 months; or (ii) the remaining duration of the Annual Pass to which the Carer Pass is linked. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Passholder pays on a monthly basis, the Validity Period will be 12 months unless the Annual Pass is terminated before this period expires, upon such termination the Carer Pass will be immediately deemed invalid.. The Carer Pass can be used by any family member, friend or carer of the disabled Passholder who is 14 years or over. Each time a disabled Passholder visits an Attraction with a carer, they shall also supply their Carer Pass in order for the carer to be granted entry. If a disabled Passholder has forgotten their Carer Pass and wishes to have a carer present during their visit to an Attraction Merlin may, at its sole discretion, issue the carer with a day ticket. The Carer Pass entitles the designated carer admission to the Attraction only and does not entitle the designated carer to any other benefit including, but not limited to, privilege packs and their associated contents. The details and photograph associated with the Carer Pass must be that of the disabled Essential Passholder. Use by the Passholder and/or their carer of either the Essential Pass and/or the Carer Pass in breach of these Terms may result in both the Essential Pass and the Carer Pass being revoked without compensation.​
​
GOLD PASS
34. If a guest with disabilities has purchased a Gold Merlin Annual Pass and completes a Carer Pass application online, at their own discretion, providing documentation that evidences a disability (for example Entitlement to Disability Living Allowance for children under 16 or DLA/Personal Independent Payments (PIP) for those aged 16-64, either in the form of a letter stating that the benefit has been awarded, or the actual Allowance book; A valid Blue Badge; in the case of visual impairment, a registration card known as the BD8 or a Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI) or a Nimbus Access Card with the companion/ +1 symbol), that disabled Passholder shall be entitled to a free digital Carer Gold Merlin Annual Pass ("Carer Pass") which enables them to bring their carer into an Attraction with them at no additional cost.

35. Carer Pass: A carer pass will be issued with a disabled Passholder's Gold Pass where evidence of the disability has been provided by the relevant Passholder via the online application form and accepted by Merlin. Once documentation has been accepted, Merlin will provide a unique code and link for the Passholder to process their digital Carer Pass. Carer Passes will be valid for the Validity Period, and the Passholder will need to re-apply for a Carer Pass when the Validity Period expires. The "Validity Period" is defined as the shorter of: (i) 12 months; or (ii) the remaining duration of the Annual Pass to which the Carer Pass is linked. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Passholder pays on a monthly basis, the Validity Period will be 12 months unless the Annual Pass is terminated before this period expires, upon such termination the Carer Pass will be immediately deemed invalid.. The Carer Pass can be used by any family member, friend or carer of the disabled Passholder who is 14 years or over. Each time a disabled Passholder visits an Attraction with a carer, they shall also supply their Carer Pass in order for the carer to be granted entry. If a disabled Passholder has forgotten their Carer Pass and wishes to have a carer present during their visit to an Attraction Merlin may, at its sole discretion, issue the carer with a day ticket. The Carer Pass entitles the designated carer admission to the Attraction only and does not entitle the designated carer to any other benefit including, but not limited to, privilege packs and their associated contents. The details and photograph associated with the Carer Pass must be that of the disabled Gold Passholder. Use by the Passholder and/or their carer of either the Gold Pass and/or the Carer Pass in breach of these Terms may result in both the Gold Pass and the Carer Pass being revoked without compensation.​
​
PLATINUM PASS
37. If a guest with disabilities has purchased a Platinum Merlin Annual Pass and completes a Carer Pass application online, at their own discretion, providing documentation that evidences a disability (for example Entitlement to Disability Living Allowance for children under 16 or DLA/Personal Independent Payments (PIP) for those aged 16-64, either in the form of a letter stating that the benefit has been awarded, or the actual Allowance book; A valid Blue Badge; in the case of visual impairment, a registration card known as the BD8 or a Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI) or a Nimbus Access Card with the companion/ +1 symbol), that disabled Passholder shall be entitled to a free digital Carer Platinum Merlin Annual Pass ("Carer Pass") which enables them to bring their carer into an Attraction with them at no additional cost.

38. Carer Pass: A carer pass will be issued with a disabled Passholder's Platinum Pass where evidence of the disability has been provided by the relevant Passholder via the online application form and accepted by Merlin. Once documentation has been accepted, Merlin will provide a unique code and link for the Passholder to process their digital Carer Pass. Carer Passes will be valid for the Validity Period, and the Passholder will need to re-apply for a Carer Pass when the Validity Period expires. The "Validity Period" is defined as the shorter of: (i) 12 months; or (ii) the remaining duration of the Annual Pass to which the Carer Pass is linked. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Passholder pays on a monthly basis, the Validity Period will be 12 months unless the Annual Pass is terminated before this period expires, upon such termination the Carer Pass will be immediately deemed invalid.. The Carer Pass can be used by any family member, friend or carer of the disabled Passholder who is 14 years or over. Each time a disabled Passholder visits an Attraction with a carer, they shall also supply their Carer Pass in order for the carer to be granted entry. If a disabled Passholder has forgotten their Carer Pass and wishes to have a carer present during their visit to an Attraction Merlin may, at its sole discretion, issue the carer with a day ticket. The Carer Pass entitles the designated carer admission to the Attraction only and does not entitle the designated carer to any other benefit including, but not limited to, privilege packs and their associated contents. The details and photograph associated with the Carer Pass must be that of the disabled Platinum Passholder. Use by the Passholder and/or their carer of either the Platinum Pass and/or the Carer Pass in breach of these Terms may result in both the Platinum Pass and the Carer Pass being revoked without compensation.​
Click to expand...
Different numbered terms as on the previous set but I don't see any actual content changes.
 
Several weeks into our Nimbus Access renewal now and the process seems far stricter than our original application!

On our third round of emails, having previously supplied diagnosis letters, EHCP, benefit banding and Blue Badge.

Strangely the sticking point seems to be the Plus One symbol that they are reluctant to give. In theory i don't think that would make a difference for theme parks as you're asked to say if you need accompanying on rides anyway (the Red/Yellow system) but i feel like we should future proof our application bearing in mind what could have happened earlier in the year.... and our son very much requires full time one to one support anyway so quite surprised they are pushing back.

So i do wonder if it's something Merlin are pushing to reduce the number of Carer passes they have to give out, especially considering the trend at other parks for removing the free accompanying tickets.
 
Bowser said:
So i do wonder if it's something Merlin are pushing to reduce the number of Carer passes they have to give out, especially considering the trend at other parks for removing the free accompanying tickets.
Click to expand...
Why?

All parks in the UK use Nimbus, including those who charge for Carer passes. If Merlin wanted to reduce the number of Carer passes they "have to give out" for free, they can decide to charge for them just like others have.
 
Last edited:
Tested the Thorpe digital RAP system today.

We didn't really need it in the end as everything was walk on but used it for Hyperia to shorten the walk at least. They were being quite strict about it, refusing to let people through at the merge point despite there being nobody else there. I missed the QR code first time so had to trundle back and do that. Fair enough though, start as you mean to go on.

No issues with it otherwise but not really much of a test as expect we were the only people in the park on it.

They also let my son wear his ear defenders on Hyperia, stating it was up to us if we wanted to accept the risk. Was quite surprised by this. Last year they insisted we took them off. Unfortunately unbeknown to us the pair we had with us were slightly broken and not as tight fitting meaning they flew off on the first hang time inversion. Fortunately Superdad here managed to catch them mid-flight :cool:
 
Bowser said:
Tested the Thorpe digital RAP system today.

We didn't really need it in the end as everything was walk on but used it for Hyperia to shorten the walk at least. They were being quite strict about it, refusing to let people through at the merge point despite there being nobody else there. I missed the QR code first time so had to trundle back and do that. Fair enough though, start as you mean to go on.

No issues with it otherwise but not really much of a test as expect we were the only people in the park on it.

They also let my son wear his ear defenders on Hyperia, stating it was up to us if we wanted to accept the risk. Was quite surprised by this. Last year they insisted we took them off. Unfortunately unbeknown to us the pair we had with us were slightly broken and not as tight fitting meaning they flew off on the first hang time inversion. Fortunately Superdad here managed to catch them mid-flight :cool:
Click to expand...
Does hyperia not have a copy of the QR code at the merge point? I know Alton do have that widely.
 
Missed the QR code on Hex today.

Seems to work well. Even if the rest of the park is struggling. However it does take a little longer to sync up to any time changes on rides (Alty Mans dropped from 15 to 5 but the app still had 15).
 
Benzin said:
Missed the QR code on Hex today.

Seems to work well. Even if the rest of the park is struggling. However it does take a little longer to sync up to any time changes on rides (Alty Mans dropped from 15 to 5 but the app still had 15).
Click to expand...
Slight qwerk of a design choice they made, it will work even if you go fully offline after checking into the park for a period of time (you can select a ride, scan in and mark as ridden with it tracking timeouts even offline) , I've found if it drops it's useful to hit the force refresh button (top right) to force it to update the offline copy of the ride times.
 
That's fair. Sounds like one of those things really and didn't make too much difference to our day.

Wickerman RAP queue at 7:30 was obscene.
 
In fairness, it is an Alton After Dark day, which is bound to attract considerable crowds, and we're still at that point in the season where operations are settling in and there are some early season pains.

I'm not sure this is necessarily indicative of an average weekend once we're a bit further into the season.
 
Matt N said:
In fairness, it is an Alton After Dark day, which is bound to attract considerable crowds, and we're still at that point in the season where operations are settling in and there are some early season pains.

I'm not sure this is necessarily indicative of an average weekend once we're a bit further into the season.
Click to expand...
I also imagine that there are a lot of RAP holders who are wanting to have Wickerman as a night ride. Just as there were a lot of Platinum passholders last weekend attempting the same for their complimentary one shots.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top