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Merlin Annual Pass

Skyscraper said:
Shared by a friend who's in a MAP Facebook group, it looks like the sale may start on Monday. And gift cards may be coming back for 2022.
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I took advantage of this sale and have purchased a Platinum pass for the first time after years of wanting a pass and finally being in a good position, financially, to afford one.
Sad as it sounds I can't wait for it to arrive and wishing March would come around right now!
Also hoping to be able to attend meets with it too, as I was a member of this and other forums in the early 2000's but never got to meet anyone, though I was avid participant way back then.

Edit: I do wish there was another tier of membership that included unlimited fastrack passes for peak days such as summer holidays and easter. Is "Early Ride Time" still a thing that they did in the early 2000's? I remember they took it away and made it only for pass-holders, but I don't hear/see any references to it any more.
 
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STEJENT said:
I took advantage of this sale and have purchased a Platinum pass for the first time after years of wanting a pass and finally being in a good position, financially, to afford one.
Sad as it sounds I can't wait for it to arrive and wishing March would come around right now!
Also hoping to be able to attend meets with it too, as I was a member of this and other forums in the early 2000's but never got to meet anyone, though I was avid participant way back then.

Edit: I do wish there was another tier of membership that included unlimited fastrack passes for peak days such as summer holidays and easter. Is "Early Ride Time" still a thing that they did in the early 2000's? I remember they took it away and made it only for pass-holders, but I don't hear/see any references to it any more.
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No early ride time at towers now no. Chessington does for hotel guests only. That's it I think
 
Mattie boy said:
No early ride time at towers now no. Chessington does for hotel guests only. That's it I think
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Fair enough.
Does anyone know roughly how long delivery of the passes takes and the method by which they come?
I missed an Evri delivery today and wondering if it was that as I don't have anything else coming and got no tracking info.
Though I only bought the pass on Monday so would be surprised if it was that.
 
STEJENT said:
Fair enough.
Does anyone know roughly how long delivery of the passes takes and the method by which they come?
I missed an Evri delivery today and wondering if it was that as I don't have anything else coming and got no tracking info.
Though I only bought the pass on Monday so would be surprised if it was that.
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Passes usually come from DHL rather than Evri. It'll usually say it's coming from Adare International on the DHL mail, and you usually get an email from Merlin too. Timescale wise I'd guess it's much less than the 5-6 weeks it was taking last year, but I still wouldn't expect them for a while yet. Your digital pass will get you by for the time being.

(Also, welcome back!)
 
Craig said:
Passes usually come from DHL rather than Evri. It'll usually say it's coming from Adare International on the DHL mail, and you usually get an email from Merlin too. Timescale wise I'd guess it's much less than the 5-6 weeks it was taking last year, but I still wouldn't expect them for a while yet. Your digital pass will get you by for the time being.

(Also, welcome back!)
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Cheers Craig, this is reassuring. And thanks. Certainly is good to be back active on a forum and revisiting something I was so passionate about for so long 😊
 
I'm due to renew mine soon (gold pass) and hoping to take advantage of the Black Friday offer. However my current pass is valid until 4 December.

Question is, if I renew now, will my new pass be valid until 4 December 2023 or will it expire on 18 November? Don't want to cut my current subscription short particularly.

I do think it's odd I've not had anything from Merlin inviting me to renew either... That seems like an obvious oversight.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
I'm due to renew mine soon (gold pass) and hoping to take advantage of the Black Friday offer. However my current pass is valid until 4 December.

Question is, if I renew now, will my new pass be valid until 4 December 2023 or will it expire on 18 November? Don't want to cut my current subscription short particularly.

I do think it's odd I've not had anything from Merlin inviting me to renew either... That seems like an obvious oversight.
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Hey you realize you can renew your gold pass to a platinum and the renewal cost is always cheaper than any sale, the sale cost is £239 I renewed my gold to a platinum for £229 the other day.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
I'm due to renew mine soon (gold pass) and hoping to take advantage of the Black Friday offer. However my current pass is valid until 4 December.

Question is, if I renew now, will my new pass be valid until 4 December 2023 or will it expire on 18 November? Don't want to cut my current subscription short particularly.

I do think it's odd I've not had anything from Merlin inviting me to renew either... That seems like an obvious oversight.
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The current system is that renewals are cheaper than sale prices (renewals were discounted in the past).

Pass will expire 12 months from purchase so wait until your old one has expired. You have a month after expiry to claim the renewal price, so do that if you're not going to an attraction beforehand and need it sooner than early January.
 
George W said:
Hey you realize you can renew your gold pass to a platinum and the renewal cost is always cheaper than any sale, the sale cost is £239 I renewed my gold to a platinum for £229 the other day.
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Thanks George, don't need a Platinum really, there are no exclusion dates I care about other than Fireworks and it works out the same even if you pay the upcharge for all 3 days. A renewal is £20 cheaper than a new membership I believe at all levels I believe.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
Thanks George, don't need a Platinum really, there are no exclusion dates I care about other than Fireworks and it works out the same even if you pay the upcharge for all 3 days. A renewal is £20 cheaper than a new membership I believe at all levels I believe.
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The current offer doesn't benefit renewals, only new customers, so there's nothing to be gained anyway, unless you upgraded to Platinum. Unless I've missed something.
 
STEJENT said:
The current offer doesn't benefit renewals, only new customers, so there's nothing to be gained anyway, unless you upgraded to Platinum. Unless I've missed something.
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These are the renewals prices for all the pass levels. For Discovery and Silver you don't save anything on a renewal, a Gold renewal is £20 cheaper and a Platinum renewal is £10 cheaper than a new pass. I don't really understand why Platinum cardholders don't get the same renewal discount tbh. So seems a straight Gold - Gold renewal gives you the biggest renewal discount.

As with a lot of other Merlin practices, logic isn't something that's really in play here.

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I have a question about passholder photos. The website states "no hats or glasses". I missed that part when I took my photo and am wearing my glasses in my photo. It also shows an example acceptable photo of someone wearing glasses. And says if there are any issues with the uploaded photo, customers would be contacted about their photo. I was sent the pass with the photo.
I'm a worrier, so thinking the worst. Has anyone known issues with people wearing glasses in their photos on their passes? Or would the fact the pass was issued, make it a NMP case?
 

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John_P said:
I've always worn my glasses on my Merlin pass cards with no issues.

I think they mean no sun glasses, the bad example they use they are shown as obscuring the persons face/eyes.
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I figured so. Merlin lack of attention to detail strikes again!
 
STEJENT said:
I have a question about passholder photos. The website states "no hats or glasses". I missed that part when I took my photo and am wearing my glasses in my photo. It also shows an example acceptable photo of someone wearing glasses. And says if there are any issues with the uploaded photo, customers would be contacted about their photo. I was sent the pass with the photo.
I'm a worrier, so thinking the worst. Has anyone known issues with people wearing glasses in their photos on their passes? Or would the fact the pass was issued, make it a NMP case?
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The guy in the 'acceptable' photo is wearing glasses...

Yet the description advises 'No hats or glasses'

Oh Merlin!

(I think you'll be fine anyway! :))
 
Mine is me sat on Nemesis whilst it's broken down with the OTSR in both sides of the shot. They really, really don't care about the photo unless you've made a proper attempt to hide your face.
 
Sorry for bumping this thread, but I wasn't sure where to put this. It appears there will be more changes soon, affecting those with the old standard and premium passes. The terms and conditions are being updated to include that they reserve the right to remove any Merlin Pass product.

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This is probably to force those who still have the old passes to upgrade to the new ones.
 
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