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Merlin Annual Pass Changes - November 2017

Rick

Rick

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From the 28th November 2017, following a review of our Merlin Annual Pass packages there will be some changes to both new and renewing, Standard and Premium Merlin Annual Passes.

Standard Merlin Annual Passes
Standard Merlin Annual Pass, new or renewed purchased on or after 28th November will no longer include Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in August including September 1st and 2nd at five of our busiest attractions (Chessington World of Adventures Resort, THORPE PARK Resort, Alton Towers Resort, Warwick Castle and LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort). There will be no change in pricing for the Standard Merlin Annual Pass.

This will not change the existing restrictions which apply to the remaining 27 attractions and does not affect current passes until they renew.

Premium Merlin Annual Passes
The price of Premium new and renewal passes will be increasing by £10 per pass. We have also made some small changes to the usage restrictions for the Share the Fun Vouchers. Our full terms and conditions will be available to view from the 28th November.

This will not affect current passes until they renew.

https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/2018packages
 
I think creating more of a distinction between Standard and Premium is a long time coming, I am surprised it took this long. It will be interesting to see if the changes translate to more Premium sales, or if people stick with Standard and 'put up' with the restrictions.

I'll get another premium pass, that 2p a day increase doesn't feel too offensive from where I'm sitting. MAP is still one of the best priced annual passes out there in the whole industry.
 
Imposing date restrictions while keeping the price same? sounds familliar... oh yeah, just like the big food companies reducing weights while keeping the prices the same! :mad:
Oh well, at least it's only for august!
 
Sounds like a good idea to get more people to visit off-peak. I don't think standard passes make them that much money really despite any extra food/merch spend.

I am also suprised its taken this long for them to add further standard pass restrictions.
 
There's been a steady flow of restrictions placed on the standard pass since they removed car parking. The gap between the passes has been, and will continue to be, ever-widening.

This is a publicly-listed company, whose shares fell by a fifth less than a month ago. This is the 'adjusting of the tiller' that Varney spoke of at that time, and there will be much more 'adjustment' to come across the theme parks more generally.
 
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A lot of the large American parks put restrictions on their standard passes. Disney and Universal have a number of different passes many of which have varying restrictions, some blocking everyday during peak periods.
 
Tom said:
There's been a steady flow of restrictions placed on the standard pass since they removed car parking
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Which are? The standard pass always excludes parking, fright nights at Thorpe and London attractions in August (plus valentines and Halloween at some London attractions. I don’t think these have significantly changed since the passss were split. Some newer attractions such as Castle Dungeons and Shrek.


Also for some perspective this blocks five weekends out of 33 they are open ( I haven’t counted fireworks due to the prebook issues). Standard pass holders still have 28 theme park weekends to visit and around 48 weekends for London attractions.
 
It's clearly a move to drive sales of Premium MAPs, simple as that. And that of course makes sense, especially with the £10 price increase.

I would never consider a Standard MAP anyway but it will be interesting to see if there are any upcoming changes to individual park's annual passes.

:)
 
@jon81uk Car parking was removed for 2011, if I'm not mistaken, it was included prior to then. There have been a number of restrictions progressively placed on the standard pass since then, the creep of Fright Nights admission etc. You can expect further cuts in due course, discount reduced to 10% perhaps.

@Rob - Don't forget there is also a saving associated with having less standard pass holders use the park. The driving up of Premium sales is likely, but it's only part of their identified potential savings/revenue boosts.
 
Tom said:
@Rob - Don't forget there is also a saving associated with having less standard pass holders use the park. The driving up of Premium sales is likely, but it's only part of their identified potential savings/revenue boosts.
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I don't for one minute think this is a move to have less people visiting the parks, if that is what you are suggesting?

:)
 
This, is exactly why I got premium even when (on paper) standard would have suited us fine.

I predicted Merlin's bs!
 
Tom said:
You can expect further cuts in due course, discount reduced to 10% perhaps.
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I do think that there will be further cuts, but I am yet to be convinced the discount will be dropped - I think it would be counter-intuitive given that it has to be such a driver for passholder spending.
 
It will be intresting to see what the new restrictions on the share the fun vouchers are, I'm not suprised to be honest considering the amount my friends have saved using mine and my families this season!
 
Tom said:
Car parking was removed for 2011, if I'm not mistaken, it was included prior to then. There have been a number of restrictions progressively placed on the standard pass since then,
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OK I think you are right about parking changing later (I checked internet archive) but I don't think the date exclusions have changed dramatically.
These were the resrictions in 2010 (from Marlin Annual Pass site via Internet Archive)
"Entry is subject to attraction operating calendars and the following exclusions apply to the Standard Merlin Annual Pass: No entry during the month of August at London Eye, Madame Tussauds London, London Dungeon and SEA LIFE London Aquarium. No entry during Fright Nights at THORPE PARK. Not valid for admission to The Castle Dungeon at Warwick Castle. No entry on 14th February at the London Eye. No entry on 30th and 31st October at the London Eye and The London Dungeon"
A standard pass was £150 and included parking.

The current exclusions are
"No entrance into any of Merlin’s Central London attractions during the month of August: The London Dungeon, SEA LIFE London Aquarium, DreamWorks Tours Shrek’s Adventure! London, Madame Tussauds London, and The Coca-Cola London Eye.
No entry to Madame Tussauds (London), the Coca-Cola London Eye, SEA LIFE London Aquarium, DreamWorks Tour Shrek’s Adventure! London and the London Dungeon including but not limited to January 1st 2017, January 2nd 2017, 14th April 2017, 17th April 2017, 1st May 2017, 29th May 2017, 26th December 2017.
No entry to the London Eye on 14th February.
No entry to the London Dungeon 28th October to 31st October 2017 (inclusive).
Secondary attractions at Warwick Castle including, but not limited to, the Castle Dungeon will be subject to additional charges. Secondary attractions/events at THORPE PARK Resort Theme Park including, but not limited to, Fright Nights, Summer Nights and Ministry of Sound.
Parking not included for Standard Passholders at any attraction."
A standard pass now costs £179.

So its only increased by £29 in seven years, and has lost free parking. The only major change in dates is excluding some holiday dates in London (New Years Day, Easter, half-term etc). and of course for 2018 August in the theme parks.

For what you get its still a very good price really if you are happy to exclude a handful of peak days.
 
How much do the individual passes cost now? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it £109pp on Standard MAPs and £139pp on Premium MAPs?

As for the changes, my family and I have standard MAPs, so that means we can't go back to the EV for my birthday again like we did in 2015 and 2017, as we never bought park tickets and used our MAPs to enter the park. These restrictions will put a stop to that, because isn't it basically any Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Summer holidays?
 
@Matt N Yes - if you want to visit on what is classed as a premium in demand day, you need a Premium pass to do so. It sounds aggressive and awful, but it's just an expansion of the current policy that currently relates to Midway, really. I suspect it will nudge more people to move towards Premium than it will create a scenario whereby people don't buy a pass at all.

I don't visit that often, but the money I 'save' on parking makes Premium a no brainer. Of course, I only visit frequently enough to 'save' that money because I have a Premium pass.

The plan seems fairly straightforward.
  • Make Premium more attractive vs. standard
  • Make Premium more expensive
  • Make Premium more popular in the short term and therefore in the longer term too (because of renewals)
  • Make more money
  • Make the share price go back up
  • (which will) Make Rick smile
 
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I decided to only get a Alton annual pass this year when they were £70. Bit annoyed however as I have heard that despite them saying on line when purchasing that the pass was not valid for fireworks events, apparently members from this site managed to gain entry using their Alton annual pass!

Going back to the passes, and everything else happening in the "magical world of Merlin", is it just me or is it really starting to come across more and more than those "wizards" with lots and lots of money can have a much better day out than those on lesser incomes?
 
Rick said:
@Matt N Yes - if you want to visit on what is classed as a premium in demand day, you need a Premium pass to do so. It sounds aggressive and awful, but it's just an expansion of the current policy that currently relates to Midway, really. I suspect it will nudge more people to move towards Premium than it will create a scenario whereby people don't buy a pass at all.

I don't visit that often, but the money I 'save' on parking makes Premium a no brainer. Of course, I only visit frequently enough to 'save' that money because I have a Premium pass.
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I can assure you my family would probably rather not buy a pass at all than pay for a Premium.
 
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