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Merlin Annual Pass Changes - November 2017

At £129, the Premium pass is good value for us (family, sale + renewal price) as we live near by and visit Towers loads.

But most families won't do that, they just need to be careful of pricing out the majority.
 
Lordy said:
But most families won't do that, they just need to be careful of pricing out the majority.
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To some extent pricing out the majority will help the park on certain days.
The main reason the fireworks at Alton Towers are so crowded is due to passholders and its very similar I think for the Legoland fireworks. I am actually surprised they didn't restrict the standard passes for those days similar to Thorpe did for Fright Nights.
 
Lordy said:
At £129, the Premium pass is good value for us (family, sale + renewal price) as we live near by and visit Towers loads.

But most families won't do that, they just need to be careful of pricing out the majority.
Click to expand...
In terms of the number of hours of enjoyment available to you per £ spent, it's got to be up there above most other forms of entertainment. The cost to do anything in this vein as a family is forever on the rise - the changes to MAP reflect that and the distribution of guests at some of the larger attractions, as discussed previously.

I think Merlin are lucky (or smart in their approach) in that the MAP forms a large part of the social calendar for a lot of families - particularly for those in and round the M25 with access to Thorpe, LEGOLAND, Chessington and the London midway cluster.

Agree with @jon81uk with regards to fireworks and Scarefest - perhaps that's the plan for next year!
 
jon81uk said:
I am actually surprised they didn't restrict the standard passes for those days similar to Thorpe did for Fright Nights.
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Nooooooooooooooo! Please don't give them ideas! We are standard pass holders. The £5 fireworks pre-booking is enough
 
RoyJess said:
Nooooooooooooooo! Please don't give them ideas! We are standard pass holders. The £5 fireworks pre-booking is enough
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I think pretty much that Fright Nights at Thorpe its a £10 mandatory booking charge for standard passholders and I think free booking for premium passes. Going to mandatory booking for the fireworks wouldn't really be a surprise to be honest.
 
I actually hope they scrap this "we recommend you book but you can just turn up and pray" policy and replace it with a "pre-book only" one, it might make their staffs' lives easier too because they won't have to put up with the abuse they were getting last year (at Lego and Thorpe) when the places hit capacity and pass holders were turning up expecting they'd get in.
 
I've said it before and I'll say it again-

VALUE is a perception. Something is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. If you are not used to these theme parks then the first year of a PREMIUM Merlin pass is extremely good value.

Once you get used to the parks and you reach the point where you notice their YOY decline in standards and/or customer offer, then the passes move from the "Value" category to either "poor/declining value" or "cheap".
 
@matthewgcole - I agree entirely with regards to perception. It's value vs. last year in part, but as much as that it's value vs. what else can I do with the same money.

If standards/customer service are in the death spiral that you describe, people won't buy/renew and the blistering success of the MAP product in the UK will ultimately unravel. All those former MAP holders will go to Drayton Manor every weekend instead.

However, I don't think that's the case for the majority of the public who are nowhere near as jaded as the average coaster forum poster. If anything, MAP seems to be in the ascendancy.
 
I don't disagree with you at all. You make a good point, but I think you've misunderstood mine. The emphasis of my post was on the PERCEPTION of Value.

The current perception of the MAP is (rightly) that it is cheap when compared to other products on the market such as cinema passes and paying the gate prices of non Merlin parks in separate transactions.

There are strong rumours out on the market that the current MAP sale has been very successful so far. So successful in fact that Merlin shares are seen as a good punt in some circles as a good buy in the short term (on top of some other factors of course) in order to make a quick buck.

So much in fact that I've thought about a trade myself.

But, going back to my original point slightly, if you have any evidence that this is is driven by MAP renewal LFL as opposed to new MAP LFL sales then I would love to see it!
 
Their website collapsed under the strain, that's all you need to know about how successful the promotion has been if you understand how modern websites handle traffic.

As said value is personal perception, someone buying a pass now will not be aware of the perks that were in place five years ago, as the saying goes, you don't miss what you've never had.

Still might not stop him hating Merlin come November though.
 
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