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Merlin Annual Pass

According to a few news articles a new sale of monthly membership launches today, nothing on the Annual Pass website yet, but worth keeping an eye on.

The deal is that they will be waiving the joining fee for passes, so you can save £40 off a Silver pass, £50 off Gold and £60 off Platinum.

Edit - it’s live now.
https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/buy-passes/membership/
 
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Further proof that they're not trying to restrict numbers of pass holders at all. Of course they could still do so through capacities in pre-booking, but no evidence of that on a significant scale.
 
Tom said:
Further proof that they're not trying to restrict numbers of pass holders at all. Of course they could still do so through capacities in pre-booking, but no evidence of that on a significant scale.
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A complete change of heart seems to have occured in the last 6 months.

Absurd.
 
AstroDan said:
A complete change of heart seems to have occured in the last 6 months.

Absurd.
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Maybe someone was overruled and longed for the old ways. Seems odd to me with the Discovery Pass still around.

I wonder if they initially calculated that a lot of fanatics including families would pay £300 each no question.
 
Perhaps many pass holders let them expire over the covid period and realised they were fine without Merlin visits so haven’t come back. They may be left with less pass holders than they forecast.
 
Tom said:
Maybe someone was overruled and longed for the old ways. Seems odd to me with the Discovery Pass still around.

I wonder if they initially calculated that a lot of fanatics including families would pay £300 each no question.
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I Q
 
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Tom said:
Maybe someone was overruled and longed for the old ways. Seems odd to me with the Discovery Pass still around.

I wonder if they initially calculated that a lot of fanatics including families would pay £300 each no question.
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Unfortunately i bought discovery passes on the planet offers website just before the silvers were announced

We'd decided as a family that passes were well out of our price range now and the discovery was a good deal at the reduced price of £69 (bought 3 and renewed 1 pass as gold for parking and discounts)

I'm a little gutted now with the silver and now this monthly offer but hey ho...silver would have been perfect for us as we avoid school holidays etc and we could have renewed to them instead of buying new discoverys

Suppose discovery is 'better than nothing' as they say!
 
They still haven’t brought pack the family discount when buying three or more passes so the overall prices are still slightly higher than before the pandemic. But yes I don’t think they are trying to reduce the number of passholders as much as we were expecting.

yoursilentface said:
I'm a little gutted now with the silver and now this monthly offer but hey ho...silver would have been perfect for us as we avoid school holidays etc and we could have renewed to them instead of buying new discoverys
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Could always switch to the silver pass for 2023 if you feel you don’t get the chance to visit enough this year. Or you might find you get enough time at the parks anyway and there is no need to spend more!
 
jon81uk said:
They still haven’t brought pack the family discount when buying three or more passes so the overall prices are still slightly higher than before the pandemic. But yes I don’t think they are trying to reduce the number of passholders as much as we were expecting.


Could always switch to the silver pass for 2023 if you feel you don’t get the chance to visit enough this year. Or you might find you get enough time at the parks anyway and there is no need to spend more!
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That's is they keep the Silver Pass next year. Depends on the uptake this year.
 
The programme certainly went into a test and adjust phase, I am not sure what we're seeing here is a change in strategy, more a response to data that they now have. They had a number of factors to consider, not least Covid and how that was going to affect the business in the medium term.

As @jon81uk says, the spend per pass is still in a good place - increased, dramatically in some cases due to removal of the family discount. If they're able to sell the the same or a similar number of passes under the new tiers, more power to them. Those who want unfettered access are paying quite a bit more for their passes. Those who have gone for the Discovery option have given Merlin a stream of income without causing capacity headaches.

I do think there were too many passes in the 2018/19 period - the mix at the parks felt very wrong. That said, if there is a similar number of passes, the additional restrictions and the continuning requirement to pre-book will mean that the impact could be less on peak days, which can only be a good thing.
 
So, credit where it’s due. Despite this sale starting on Monday, Merlin are proactively contacting any customers who have purchased membership passes since 7th Feb and are auto refunding their joining fees so they essentially get the same prices as the sale.

I don’t think I have ever known a company to retrospectively allow customers to benefit from sale offers, let alone Merlin to do it.
 
AT86 said:
So, credit where it’s due. Despite this sale starting on Monday, Merlin are proactively contacting any customers who have purchased membership passes since 7th Feb and are auto refunding their joining fees so they essentially get the same prices as the sale.

I don’t think I have ever known a company to retrospectively allow customers to benefit from sale offers, let alone Merlin to do it.
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That's really good and unexpected, I wonder if they've calculated that the cost of doing so is cheaper than having to deal with the backlash.
 
Ok so on further investigation it seems the T&Cs of memberships allow you to cancel within the first 14 days as long as you haven’t used the pass. So in theory anyone purchasing in the last two weeks could cancel and re purchase under the sale prices, which goes someway to explain why they have done this.

They could have kept quiet about that of course until customers individually contacted them to undertake the refund/repurchase but they chose to be proactive about it, so it still strikes me as a very pro-customer initiative, which isn’t usually Merlin’s way.
 
Great news from Merlin Annual Pass today, they have confirmed on Twitter that you’ll be able to attend the various Christmas events across the Merlin parks for free (depending on restrictions on pass).

They have also said it includes access and rides but not additional charges such as light walks and Santa grottos.
 
Few questions

Do they really take 30 days to come? Was planning on going Monday with a share the fun voucher for my friend but still waiting!

Secondly - how does it work - I’ve pre booked my ticket and have my pass on my phone- do I just get them to scan the barcode? Do I need to provide ID or go to guest services or something or does it just show them my photo or something! Not sure how it works! Thanks!
 
loulou21 said:
Few questions

Do they really take 30 days to come? Was planning on going Monday with a share the fun voucher for my friend but still waiting!

Secondly - how does it work - I’ve pre booked my ticket and have my pass on my phone- do I just get them to scan the barcode? Do I need to provide ID or go to guest services or something or does it just show them my photo or something! Not sure how it works! Thanks!
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I can't actually remember how long it took for mine to come last year, although I don't think it was 30 days.

Yes you'll just need to scan the barcode on your phone to get in, you won't need any form of ID.
 
Rob said:
I can't actually remember how long it took for mine to come last year, although I don't think it was 30 days.

Yes you'll just need to scan the barcode on your phone to get in, you won't need any form of ID.
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Thank you! Due to go Monday! I have the pass on my phone - but was hoping for a share the fun voucher for my friend…I ordered my pass 24th feb and have nothing yet so wandering if you bite the bullet or hang fire
 
The passes are taking up to 30 days at the moment due to supply issues and the sale they have on at the moment increasing demand. I saw on Facebook that people who had ordered their passes on the 21st feb were receiving their cards at the end of last week so you’re looking at around 2-3 weeks or so from when you ordered.
 
BigShadowtinytree said:
The passes are taking up to 30 days at the moment due to supply issues and the sale they have on at the moment increasing demand. I saw on Facebook that people who had ordered their passes on the 21st feb were receiving their cards at the end of last week so you’re looking at around 2-3 weeks or so from when you ordered.
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Ohh thanks! I ordered 24th feb so may come in time!
 
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