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Merlin Annual Pass

You'd hope the renewal price would always be cheaper now it's all gone digital.

Used to be I'd buy my renewal voucher in this sale then take it to my home attraction and they'd give you a new pass with the extra 12 months added on regardless of when it expired.
 
Hi all, I’ve purchased a silver Merlin pass does the start date begin from when you purchase it or when you go to your first attraction?

The last time I had one was 2010 and only started from when you got the card.

Thanks all, I’m excited to get back on nemesis it’s been since before covid.
 
AT86 said:
As the passes are now digital they are valid from the date of purchase.
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Gold and Platinum passholders still receive a physical pass by post, within 30 days of purchase. The digital pass can be used instantly though, as you say.
 
FYI if anyone wants to purchase a new Merlin pass at the sale prices but delay activation for any reason you can purchase as a Gift Voucher at the sale prices which then gives you up to 4 months to activate.

You could buy a voucher on the last day of the sale on 10th December for example, and not have to activate it until April 2024, meaning your pass is active for most of the 2024 season and the first few weeks of the 2025 season too.

www.merlinannualpass.co.uk

Buy A Gift Card | Merlin Annual Pass

Looking for a unique gift? Surprise your friend or family member with 12 months access to the UK's top attractions!
www.merlinannualpass.co.uk www.merlinannualpass.co.uk
 
I’ve gotta say the customer service from Merlin Annual Pass we’ve received has been truly diabolical.

It’s taken them four months to resolve a very simple problem for us and it has taken them a month on average to reply to each of my emails. I have had to chase their response on several occasions.

Truly appalling.
 
venny said:
I’ve gotta say the customer service from Merlin Annual Pass we’ve received has been truly diabolical.

It’s taken them four months to resolve a very simple problem for us and it has taken them a month on average to reply to each of my emails. I have had to chase their response on several occasions.

Truly appalling.
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What is the issue?
 
Does anyone have any idea how revenue is shared from the Annual Pass, does an attraction get a fixed amount per pass visit allocated to its budget or does is vary by pass amount or do pass visits make no difference to their budgets? Just thinking there should be some correlation since extra visits mean more costs eg chocolates at Cadbury world but at the same time how to they allocate an amount for people who visit a crazy number of times? Would they work out a loss on those passes? Any insights gratefully received
 
pjanvil said:
Does anyone have any idea how revenue is shared from the Annual Pass, does an attraction get a fixed amount per pass visit allocated to its budget or does is vary by pass amount or do pass visits make no difference to their budgets? Just thinking there should be some correlation since extra visits mean more costs eg chocolates at Cadbury world but at the same time how to they allocate an amount for people who visit a crazy number of times? Would they work out a loss on those passes? Any insights gratefully received
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Passes make no difference to attraction budgets, in the same way that paid in full ticketed visitors make no difference to attraction budgets. The total number of visitors give the powers that be an idea of how where they might want to focus resources, but there is no direct correlation or compensation.
 
Does anyone know when pre booking for the 2024 season at Alton Towers will open available? Other attractions are available to pre book on the portal but not Towers yet. Tried emailing merlin but they claimed that it should be live to book.
 
RyanY said:
Does anyone know when pre booking for the 2024 season at Alton Towers will open available? Other attractions are available to pre book on the portal but not Towers yet. Tried emailing merlin but they claimed that it should be live to book.
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General tickets are on sale so I'd expect pass pre books to be available too.
 
I have a question about renewals - I will contact customer services but just wondering if anyone here knows the answer.

We have gold passes this year, and I’m pricing up whether a platinum would be better value next year due to meets sometimes happening on gold black out days.

Question is - as I’m renewing a pass, would I get the platinum renewal price, or would Merlin see it as a new purchase and make me fork out full platinum this year? It seems to be £80 difference so not to be sniffed at!
 
Alix said:
I have a question about renewals - I will contact customer services but just wondering if anyone here knows the answer.

We have gold passes this year, and I’m pricing up whether a platinum would be better value next year due to meets sometimes happening on gold black out days.

Question is - as I’m renewing a pass, would I get the platinum renewal price, or would Merlin see it as a new purchase and make me fork out full platinum this year? It seems to be £80 difference so not to be sniffed at!
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I'm in the exact same position. I already asked customer services though it was in the context of the Black Friday sales so it didn't quite clarify the answer.

Our renewal date is December 16th so i'll be able to update you this weekend if you don't need to know before then! I'd be surprised if they didn't encourage you to upgrade by offering renewal prices across the board but we'll see.
 
Alix said:
Question is - as I’m renewing a pass, would I get the platinum renewal price, or would Merlin see it as a new purchase and make me fork out full platinum this year? It seems to be £80 difference so not to be sniffed at!
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You would - just choose whatever pass you want from the renewal page. You just need an old pass number that's within validity to renew - doesn't matter if it's gold to platinum, platinum down to silver or whatever :). You can actually check it works now for assurance if you wanted by putting your pass number in on the page.
 
Thanks both - my renewal date is February so a while yet - hopefully the price will stay down.
 
I renewed up to Platinum from a Gold pass and I was able to get the Platinum renewal price. They are clearly happy for you to upgrade - not sure if downgrading is also an option mind!

I'm unsure whether the price I got (£229) was inclusive of a further Black Friday discount or if that's just the renewal price. In any case, they usually have a pre-start of season sale as well so you should be able to find that price again.
 
You can downgrade from a platinum to a gold pass in exactly the same way if you wish (or silver or discovery if you wanted as well).

The Black Friday deals are for new customers, there haven't been renewal prices during the sales for a while now. Black Friday brings new passes roughly to renewal rates, so a platinum pass down to a tenner more than a renewal price. There was also the joining fee removal for the monthly passes too, so £229 was the "normal" price.

Hopefully pass prices won't move too much, it's difficult to tell if they will since the hikes when they were relaunched. Hopefully if you're nabbing one before the season kicks off it'll be the same price though.
 
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