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Fireworks 2022

R

Rodders

TS Member
Hi everyone, this is my first post so please do let me know if this should go somewhere else.
We have monthly premium passes and I understand that we should expect to pay £20 each to get into AT for the fireworks this year. The thing is, the MAP pre book system has allowed me to book slots for us on Sunday 6th November. Are we going to get turned away at the gate? Are they forcing people out of the park at normal closing? Have I got away with a free fireworks booking here or do I need to pay £20 each?
 
Welcome to the forum Rodders! Should we avoid any referefence to Rodney and Only Fools and Horses? 🤔 🤣

Funnily enough I was thinking about trying this, just to get my ticket early. As it didn't ask you to pay then I don't see how they can force you to pay on the day. But are they within their rights to cancel your ticket between now and November and ask you to book again but this time paying?

Thing is, this isn't necessary something you want to bring to Merlin or Towers' attention directly (although employees do read these forums) in case it is incorrect and they start charging! 🤣🤣
 
Don't worry about Rodders and Del, I'm pretty hard to offend and my real name is Roderick anyway :)
I would not be surprised if our booking just disappeared at some point :) £80 is quite a lot to pay :confused:
 
Premium is the old equivalent of the platinum pass isn’t it? If it is then that’s why it hasn’t charged you as only Gold and below have to pay the upcharge. I think im right in saying that anyway?
 
Rodders said:
We have 4 Monthly Premium passes and a Platinum
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If you have the old premium passes, then I don't think fireworks are blocked out.
See the tab for standard & premium pass terms here https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/important-information/terms-conditions/annual-passes/

When you change over to the new pass types that were introduced last year you will either need platinum or to pay the £20.
But no idea when Merlin will force you over to the new pass types (my guess is before the 2023 season).
Also premium should be roughly the same as platinum, but as there are now more pass types, its not that clear-cut.
 
Aha, that might be it. We are clinging onto our old Premium ones as we only pay £13 per month each rather than the £20 Platinum that I have to pay for our son that just turned 3 years old. I do wonder when they will force us off these premium passes.
 
Tommy85 said:
Premium is the old equivalent of the platinum pass isn’t it? If it is then that’s why it hasn’t charged you as only Gold and below have to pay the upcharge. I think im right in saying that anyway?
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I have the monthly Premium Pass for £11.99 and last fireworks I had to pay £20 (which to be honest, after watching the show they put on I have no issues with that cost as it was just incredible). But if I book now for Sat Nov 5th, it is free, just like @Rodders has found:

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I've asked several members of staff including customer services at AT and nobody has a scooby doo.

The Cat is out of the bag now.
 
I wouldn't be at all surprised if AT haven't actually decided what upcharge to apply for the various MAPs and ATAPs yet; there's a general consensus that £20 is too expensive (and was probably done to control numbers as much as anything else). I don't suppose they'd expect people to be booking this early because of the limit on pre-book slots on most pass types (not sure about Platinum, is it unlimited?). In previous years they've not even announced which weekend they'll be doing fireworks although I think we can be fairly sure this year as November 5th falls on a Saturday. I wouldn't assume that booking early will get you out of paying the surcharge though.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
I wouldn't be at all surprised if AT haven't actually decided what upcharge to apply for the various MAPs and ATAPs yet; there's a general consensus that £20 is too expensive (and was probably done to control numbers as much as anything else). I don't suppose they'd expect people to be booking this early because of the limit on pre-book slots on most pass types (not sure about Platinum, is it unlimited?). In previous years they've not even announced which weekend they'll be doing fireworks although I think we can be fairly sure this year as November 5th falls on a Saturday. I wouldn't assume that booking early will get you out of paying the surcharge though.
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It's quite clear when buying the new passes that only platinum gets you entry to fireworks, the exclusion date calender is easy to check. Discovery/Silver/Gold passholders are not entitled to attend fireworks for free. The park could charge them all full price so the offer of £20 is fair.

The change to the annual passes to exlude the fireworks was more about money than to control numbers, it costs a lot to put on the firework display but a majority of guests were visiting with passes and therefore the park weren't getting enough revenue vs the cost of the display.

The seperate issue is the people who have the old standard & premium passes/membership which don't block out the firework dates. I expect they will try to scrap those passes soon.
 
I've just had confirmation from Towers that the old Premium passes get you in for free to the fireworks. This was my question and their reply:

1659865604992.png
 
Steve74 said:
I've just had confirmation from Towers that the old Premium passes get you in for free to the fireworks. This was my question and their reply:

1659865604992.png
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After posting this on the MAP group on Facebook and receiving a barrage of replies saying I'd be down right stupid to think what Towers had said was correct (I mean, how dare I take Towers' word as being right!), I decided to email Merlin Annual Pass.

They confirmed that any Premium MAP holder, HAS TO pay the £20 ticket.
They initially responded with a rather ambiguous reply implying you could prebook for free if you weren't staying for the fireworks but had to pay the £20 if you were:
There is no charge occurring, as that is just the normal Pre-book for Day Entry. You must pay the extra £20 if you wish to attend the Family Firework Event. That can be done via the same site on Alton Towers.
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So I replied with:
Your answer to my question is the opposite to what someone on the Alton Towers Twitter team told me. Please could you confirm once and for all who is right – Merlin Annual Pass or Alton Towers?
Also, from your answer, you imply that you can use your pass for free entry to the park if you are not staying for the fireworks. If that is they case, how do Alton Towers know this? I’m sure someone won’t be asking to see everyone’s ticket before the fireworks begin and remove anyone who hasn’t paid the £20! If this isn’t the case, then surely the option to prebook for free for the fireworks weekend should be removed from the website?
I should point out, I have absolutely no issues with paying the £20, I am just more concerned that as a customer I am being told 2 different things and therefore need a definitive final answer!
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Their answer to that was:
We apologise for the misinformation communicated over to you. I can confirm to you that as Merlin Premium Passholder, you would be needing to purchase the £20 Fireworks Passholder Prebook on the following website to access the event: https://www.altontowers.com/explore/events/fireworks/
Again, we do apologise for the misguidance with the matter, but the Fireworks Ticket will allow you to attend the event and have a great time!
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Yep, they've now blocked out those dates on the premium membership pre-booking portal.

I expect anyone who's already booked should be fine though, even if the pass doesn't scan at the turnstiles you could just show your booking confirmation and they'd almost certainly just let you in. If they still try to argue just show them a screenshot of that AT reply "confirming" it's free.

Too late for me though, I hadn't got round to booking yet so I guess I'm now forced to pay to get in.
 
John said:
Yep, they've now blocked out those dates on the premium membership pre-booking portal.

I expect anyone who's already booked should be fine though, even if the pass doesn't scan at the turnstiles you could just show your booking confirmation and they'd almost certainly just let you in. If they still try to argue just show them a screenshot of that AT reply "confirming" it's free.

Too late for me though, I hadn't got round to booking yet so I guess I'm now forced to pay to get in.
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As I said before, no issues with paying the £20 if the show is as spectacular as previous years, especially last years!
 
Is the premium pass different to the platinum then? Cause with a platinum it’s free. I was under the impression they were exactly the same, but one is just the older version?
 
Premium was the top tier pass until 2020, the passes were discontinued at the start of lockdown but the memberships were not (though they stopped taking payments for a while). The current passes are technically different products though the platinum is largely equivalent to the old premium. Premium pass holders have always had to pay a small fee to reserve entry for fireworks
 
Planning on my first Fireworks visit on the Sunday. Feeling a bit apprehensive about queues and the day in general. I've no doubt it will be incredibly busy and queues will be at the maximum. Can you good people give me an idea of what the day is like, the maximum queue times they've ever seen during a Fireworks day and where the best place to watch is and if you didn't get to the viewing area until just before 7pm would you get any sort of view. Thanks in advance.
 
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