Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

[Hid]

Merlin do offer the best park thrills and dark rides for all their faults in the UK. That is the problem with loosing the Merlin Pass in the UK the amount of thrill rides you get is unmatched

 

[Bowser]

I will put it like this. There is plenty of choice in this country for a day out. I enjoy quality and I will pay a fair price for it. In the UK there is lots of choice but no quality. Merlin offer the best of a bad bunch and unfortunately I don't want to compromise on quality. Too much red tape here means no fun imo. Too much softness means no excitement. Too much give and not enough graft means failure.

I’d argue Paultons fit the bill of what you’re describing but obviously they are tailored to a demographic you perhaps don’t fit.

The quality is there in service and presentation. Admittedly the ride offerings are a step below what we see in many other countries.

 

[Tim]

It's interesting how this discussion of a monopoly has changed over time. Whilst Merlin has never had a true monopoly, I don't remember their being much dispute 10+ years ago that they were acting monopolistic.
The car park charges were added because "everywhere else has them" when at the time it was only Alton Towers that charged for parking, (originally to pay for a bypass that ultimately never happened). They also controlled the price in the market, with the core purpose of the MAPs and 2 for 1 vouchers being to make any non-Merlin attractions look undesirable.

What's changed is that Merlin itself overestimated the dominance it had over the market. Standards were dropped as if it was a true monopoly, which has allowed for competition to creep back in. Paulton's made a name for themselves on the basis of being the Merlin alternative. Drayton was weakened so much that they had to sell to new owners, allowing for a second chain to establish a group of parks in the UK that can invest to a similar level as Merlin.
Then there's Universal, the competitor that's about to smash whatever resemblance of a monopoly Merlin had left. There was a time, back when Alton Towers were truly competing with the likes of Europa Park and Efteling that no one would have ever imagined a big name like Disney or Universal would come to the UK. Yet, we've reach a point, not only where that is happening, but Merlin are actively letting go of some of their best staff, perfectly in time for Universal to pick them up.

My point in summary is that I don't think it's unreasonable to refer to Merlin as having a quasi-monopoly. However there is a debate to be had if that has already been broken? Or if Merlin still controls the UK market, at least until Universal's arrival?

 

[Bowser]

Is there any equivalent elsewhere in the world of the MAP that provides access to 4 domestic theme parks and a dozen other attractions for a relatively nominal fee?

I assume there must be a Six Flags national pass?

 

[Maelstrom]

Yes six flags (now combined with Cedar Fair) are doing their Gold level pass with free all access pass (allowing visits to all six flags parks 40+ parks inc water parks) Inc free parking for $110 currently (offer ends next week, but will likely go back on offer at various points). With tax and converted at current exchange rate thats about £88. Valid for rest of 2025 and all of 2026

I will prob get one for my Aug 2026 California trip as will have a day and half at magic mountain and a day at Knotts. Cheaper than buying daily tickets and parking etc.

 

[jon81uk]

Is there any equivalent elsewhere in the world of the MAP that provides access to 4 domestic theme parks and a dozen other attractions for a relatively nominal fee?

I assume there must be a Six Flags national pass?

Seaworld Orlando passes start from $171 with blockout dates or from $195 for silver without blocked dates. Single day tickets start around $65 so two or three visits should cover the pass price (when you consider parking comes with the silver pass). A pass to all 11 Seaworld/Busch parks is $399, so about £300.

But as above it is Six Flags passes that are truly bargain basement pricing.

 

[rob666]

...and it was Merlin that followed them down that long term plan, get 'em in cheap, hit 'em with that secondary spend...
So parking, more expensive food, fasttrack, and weaker ops, so longer queues overall.
But this is progress, and we all knew that those walk on weekdays would not last forever.
Sadly.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Is there any equivalent elsewhere in the world of the MAP that provides access to 4 domestic theme parks and a dozen other attractions for a relatively nominal fee?

I assume there must be a Six Flags national pass?

In the UK Drayton Manor Park and Zoo's Platinum Pass comes quite close. It gives unlimited access to two parks, and a free ticket for another. I expect this will be updated once the handover of Pleasurewood Hills is complete and they take over the water park in full force.

Merlin offer similar passes themselves too. The LEGOLAND Annual Pass acts as the US Merlin Pass. The top tier pass grants 12 months of access to all three LEGOLAND theme parks (California, Florida, New York) plus more than 30 other attractions, including all SEA LIFE Aquariums and Madame Tussauds locations in North America.

In Germany, the Merlin Abenteuer Pass (Merlin Adventure Pass) provides annual access to 16 German attractions. This includes Heide Park Resort and LEGOLAND Deutschland, as well as SEA LIFE centres, Madame Tussauds Berlin, and the Hamburg and Berlin Dungeons.

An annual pass for any of the Compagnie des Alpes owned parks will give you a significant discount (typically 50% off the day ticket price) at all other parks in their network.

An annual pass for Europa-Park also grants you one free visit to each of its partner parks, which include Efteling, PortAventura, and Liseberg, among others. The Efteling annual pass offers a similar one-time entry perk for Europa-Park and other partners. The Blackpool Pleasure Beach pass also offers similar access here.

You've also got the Yas Island Annual Pass, which gives 12 months of access to all four of Yas Island's theme parks: Ferrari World, Warner Bros. World, Yas Waterworld, and SeaWorld.

@jon81uk has already mentioned the Six Flags versions. When purchasing a top tier annual pass from a "home park", you can add the "All Park Passport". This grants you access to all 40+ Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks across the US.

 

[Jay51]

...and it was Merlin that followed them down that long term plan, get 'em in cheap, hit 'em with that secondary spend...
So parking, more expensive food, fasttrack, and weaker ops, so longer queues overall.
But this is progress, and we all knew that those walk on weekdays would not last forever.
Sadly.

The mistake in my opinion was that "get em in cheap then upsell" worked, when it became charge more and more for entry and more for cheap food and fastrack people start to think about cost again.
I have been a passholder for over 20 years and this is the first year I have not renewed due to cost and the fact that there is not much that's new..

 

[Bowser]

I have been a passholder for over 20 years and this is the first year I have not renewed due to cost and the fact that there is not much that's new..

I’m on the fence as to what we will do upon renewal. We definitely won’t get Platinum again as that bizarrely seems to have become the multi-day AT firework tier only.

If Vampire is dead for 2026 then we’d probably downgrade further to a Legoland only pass but I can’t imagine they’ll be transparent about what’s happening with the ride.

 

[Poisson]

Six Flags passes make Merlin ones look expensive. Very cheap with huge access, didn't even think twice to get one for the last trip and got money's worth inside one trip (SFGA, KI x 2, CP x2, CW x 2 and SFDL) and the extras are mostly cheap too.

 

[jon81uk]

The mistake in my opinion was that "get em in cheap then upsell" worked, when it became charge more and more for entry and more for cheap food and fastrack people start to think about cost again.
I have been a passholder for over 20 years and this is the first year I have not renewed due to cost and the fact that there is not much that's new..

One issue is the parks are not "charging more and more for entry", the entry price has gone up by less than inflation. A ticket for Alton Towers this year is £29-39, taking into account inflation, ten years ago the equivilant would be £20-28. Yet the online price was about £38 ten years ago and even if you used a 2for1 at the gate you were paying £25 each.
If prices had actually gone up over and above inflation then we'd probably have a better quality product.

 

[John_P]

With the Six Flags parks there's usually 100s of miles between almost all of the parks (Knotts and Magic Mountain the only ones that are pretty close). Whereas the UK merlin pass includes 3 parks that are that close to each other you could visit them all on the same day using public transport.

 

[Maelstrom]

Yes the all park pass being inc at six flags prob doesn’t make a huge difference to large portion of their guests as outside coaster enthusiasts a lot of the general public won’t use that much.

Six flags pre merger tried to move away from this model (following Covid) and again following the merger however instead of holding their nerve after large attendance drops and playing the long game with quality investments, in order to please share holders the short term view they both times reverted back to bargain basement price passes. Which has also led to huge cut in 2026 capital investment with the previously announced plans for next year being cut- ie magic mountains vekoma coaster, great adventures coaster, knotts water park expansion to name just a few projects.

 

[Bowser]

With the Six Flags parks there's usually 100s of miles between almost all of the parks (Knotts and Magic Mountain the only ones that are pretty close). Whereas the UK merlin pass includes 3 parks that are that close to each other you could visit them all on the same day using public transport.

Yes I think that makes the Merlin pass somewhat unique as you also have the plethora of midway attractions in the vicinity too. For a southerner it’s very easy to get value out of them.

The German one seems the closest equivalent but of course that’s also Merlin.

Though in fairness journeys are treated different in the US as people tend to be more comfortable with driving long distances or taking domestic flights.

 

[jon81uk]

With the Six Flags parks there's usually 100s of miles between almost all of the parks (Knotts and Magic Mountain the only ones that are pretty close). Whereas the UK merlin pass includes 3 parks that are that close to each other you could visit them all on the same day using public transport.

Even if you just look at the single pass price though, the Six Flags pass is still cheap compared to UK single park passes.

 

[rob666]

Seen a couple of papers suggesting six flags may be close to another bankruptcy soon, as they struggle to drag in paying punters.

 

[havaska]

Six Flags very cheap passes is quite similar to Vail and their ski resort annual passes.

I went to Whistler skiing in 2020 and it was cheaper for me to buy an EPIC annual pass at around £250 for a year than a weeks pass just for that one resort.

Day passes were something like £100 each!!