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Merlin Annual Pass

I think by July there will be new sales. By that point, 2020 season passes will have expired as will many more of the 2019 Merlin passes.

I renewed my pass into the new Platinum product the other day, glad I could to be honest. Still no sign of Europa-Park offering passes, although hardly surprising.
 
Just received my platinum pack and it's a nice step up from previous passes in terms of the pack. Still the same stuff, just presented much better and whilst the gold lanyards look a bit naff, the black ones are actually quite nice.
 
Does it come with pop badges? Not sure if the staff are wearing them and exchanging at the moment due to Covid.

In any case there should be a way to opt out of the crap you don't want. Saves it just going straight into landfill.
 
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I usually sell all the stuff that comes in the pack with the pass on a well known auction site to get some money back.
 
Merlin have posted an update today regarding the relaxation of the Coronavirus rules. You can read it here.

There aren't really any significant changes:
  • Prebooking is still required for now
  • Face coverings will still be recommended indoors
  • Staff members may still be using PPE and will operate enhanced cleaning
 
Have they implied that social distancing is being scrapped? Or is this still in place for now?
 
You may still see increased ventilation and suggested spatial separation markings and other similar operating adjustments around the attraction. Whilst legal restrictions have been lifted, we want to ensure we can offer you the best possible guest experience.
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My interpretation is the markings are guidance only and will not be enforced, but it's a bit vague.
 
Matt N said:
Have they implied that social distancing is being scrapped? Or is this still in place for now?
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From what I can gather social distancing at the parks has been a bit of a myth anyway. It's just way too difficult to police unfortunately. In order to properly police it they would need a lot more staff and we know that wont happen.
 
I’m wondering whether the rule of “1 group per car” on things like rapids rides and the Skyride, as well as “no single riders on Spinball” and “even-numbered groups only on TWD” will remain?
 
Merlin have announce some changes to the pre-booking

With Covid-19 restrictions easing and after careful consideration, from Monday 9th August 2021 we will revert to making Passholder tickets available to pre-book for the entire year, in accordance with each respective attractions’ calendar of events. To reassure you about this change, we wanted to let know about the measures we’ve taken before reaching this decision.

This July our attractions increased their Passholder ticket allocation significantly in accordance with the latest Government updates around social distancing, helping improve Passholder availability at our attractions.

In addition, we also introduced the three pre-book rule* earlier this year alongside our new pre-booking system, which helps prevent Passholders from overbooking or booking slots they did not intend to use, creating a fairer system for all.

Following the introduction of the above measures there’s currently plenty of Passholder slots available at our attractions, including the ability to use your Pass to visit on the same day if we have tickets left!

All attractions will release October – December 2021 Passholder tickets from Monday 9thAugust onwards. This will be a staggered release, so please check back regularly on the Passholder Pre-Book Hub throughout the week to pre-book visits to your favourite attractions and events for the rest of this year. Please note special ticketed events at our attractions outside of our usual operating calendar such as Winter’s Tail at Chessington World of Adventures may take longer than regular day tickets to appear, so please keep an eye on our social media channels for updates on these!

*Six pre-books for Platinum Passholders.

We hope this helps to explain why we’re making this change from August onwards and we look forward to welcoming you to the attractions for more magical days out this autumn and winter!
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https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/...JFGttRSHpX21B4visiwx3b8szzDDiUxeJwh8r_F9520b8
 
To be fair I’ve not had any issues pre booking at all recently. Every date is available for august when I last looked, even booking on the day with your pass.

I guess capacity is so big now it doesn’t cause any issues. I think only problem we will have is the likes of fireworks and peak scarefest and fright nights dates.
 
Just to give you all a heads up, attempted to book tickets for Fireworks dates and even as Platinum pass holders these are the only dates not available for the rest of the season. Slightly disappointing but understandable I guess.
 
I don't think that there is any incentive for me to park with my money to renew my MAP when it runs out. The only one available is the discovery pass with so many restrictions and if getting Fireworks dates are going to be difficult to obtain plus there is an up charge, I will take my money to a company that treats me like a value guess.

The problem you can only pre-book up to 3 dates, so I've already used my allocation which means that if I want to visit on scarefest or fireworks, I either book these way in advance and won't be able to visit any Merlin attractions in the mean time or I miss out on these events

I'm hoping that they haven't released the fireworks dates yet.
 
coastinginlife said:
Just to give you all a heads up, attempted to book tickets for Fireworks dates and even as Platinum pass holders these are the only dates not available for the rest of the season. Slightly disappointing but understandable I guess.
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Fireworks tickets haven’t been released at all yet. Not day tickets or pass holders. I guess they are still planning how it will work and the costs etc.

RoyJess said:
I don't think that there is any incentive for me to park with my money to renew my MAP when it runs out. The only one available is the discovery pass with so many restrictions and if getting Fireworks dates are going to be difficult to obtain plus there is an up charge, I will take my money to a company that treats me like a value guess.

The problem you can only pre-book up to 3 dates, so I've already used my allocation which means that if I want to visit on scarefest or fireworks, I either book these way in advance and won't be able to visit any Merlin attractions in the mean time or I miss out on these events

I'm hoping that they haven't released the fireworks dates yet.
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If you are renewing you are able to renew onto a Gold or Platinum pass. It’s only new pass holders that can only get Discovery ones.
 
RoyJess said:
The problem you can only pre-book up to 3 dates, so I've already used my allocation which means that if I want to visit on scarefest or fireworks, I either book these way in advance and won't be able to visit any Merlin attractions in the mean time or I miss out on these events
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It's three days per attraction, so you can have three at Alton Towers, three at Thorpe Park, etc.
 
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