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Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

SteveT said:
I think the annual pass sale is imminent. One of the sealife centre's websites has been prematurely updated with the details, but then the links within are still at full price, so they haven't put it live yet

www.visitsealife.com

The Merlin Annual Pass Black Friday Sale is Here! | SEA LIFE Hunstanton Aquarium

www.visitsealife.com www.visitsealife.com
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Interesting to observe that the Gold Passes are now 364 days too, the same as Platinum, but explicitly exclude use at Fireworks at Alton Towers. Earlier this month it was 361 days.

Considering the sale price for Gold appears to be £199, with no sale being offered for Platinum, those Fireworks dates are now costing £100. I believe you could buy tickets for all three Fireworks dates for less than £100.

The free flavoured carbonated water voucher, singular Extraordinary Golf game, and free one shot Fastrack are sure doing a lot of heavy lifting now.
 
SteveT said:
I think the annual pass sale is imminent. One of the sealife centre's websites has been prematurely updated with the details, but then the links within are still at full price, so they haven't put it live yet

www.visitsealife.com

The Merlin Annual Pass Black Friday Sale is Here! | SEA LIFE Hunstanton Aquarium

www.visitsealife.com www.visitsealife.com
Click to expand...
That's interesting, assuming that's correct it looks as though only the Essential and Gold passes will be discounted - suggesting they're intent on keeping the Platinum pass as a full-price premium product.
 
If I was to buy myself a gold pass and then 2 essentials for my kids, would there be any problem in doing that when booking trips? I assume I can have them all under the one account email address as well or will I need 3 separate? Cheers in advance
 
Wilko said:
If I was to buy myself a gold pass and then 2 essentials for my kids, would there be any problem in doing that when booking trips? I assume I can have them all under the one account email address as well or will I need 3 separate? Cheers in advance
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Absolutely no problems there at all, apart from any restriction dates when it came to the Essential passes.

Although you buy the passes online, this doesn't actually create a booking portal login for you (yay not having joined up systems).

Once you've purchased your passes, create an account here and add the passes to your account:

Manage Trips | Pre-Book Portal | Annual Pass

Welcome to the Annual Pass pre-book portal. Add your passes and manage your attraction visits.
www.merlinannualpass.co.uk www.merlinannualpass.co.uk
 
I'm worried this is too cheap with very few exclusion days. I'm downgrading 4 of mine from gold saving about £450 and keeping all the benefits with one gold pass. The couple of extra exclusion dates I can work around.

Hopefully the parks won't become even more unbearable.
 
havaska said:
A Merlin Essentials pass is only £79.
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@rob666

Tim Burton Batman GIF
 
MrTowers said:
I'm worried this is too cheap with very few exclusion days. I'm downgrading 4 of mine from gold saving about £450 and keeping all the benefits with one gold pass. The couple of extra exclusion dates I can work around.

Hopefully the parks won't become even more unbearable.
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This is similar to how I am thinking. I have a Gold MAP which I got in May this year. My brother and his friend would come along and I would get them the MAP discounted tickets. Free parking was a good perk plus 20% off hot drinks which we tend to have at the parks.

We then came to Thorpe Park fright nights and was gutted to find out MAP family & friends tickets are not applicable, so my brother and his friend (who is Blue Light card holder) got their tickets via blue light discount. I have got my moneys worth on the gold pass already this year as I have been a fair amount to AT / Thorpe. The plan so far is to renew in May 2026. We're already trying to get an April date in for next year and one just before mid May.

However with the £79 essentials, that looks very tempting for my brother & his friend to get a pass each. This will cover the Fright Night events in October 2026. Looking at the restriction dates they are mostly on weekends when we typically wouldn't go.

With the website booking price being £33 for Thorpe Park & either £34-£37 for Alton Towers it seems like you only need to go 3 times a year for it to pay for itself.

I am a bit puzzled on why Alton Towers seems to be more expensive than Thorpe Park now, considering you get 1 hour less per off-peak day with opening times. I wasn't sure it was ever like that?
 
How many days did the old discovery pass have? 200 or so? We thought that was incredible value when we had them a couple of years ago whilst my eldest was 4. Then he started school and it was not worthwhile because school holidays and weekends were always excluded. Now its increased to 336 days for the same price - I am ordering these as soon as I get home. We already planned a trip to Sea Life in London so that's like a third of it paid for already.

I will miss the days of being able to go off peak and walk on most rides
 
Roz123 said:
...I will miss the days of being able to go off peak and walk on most rides...
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Oh lets not go there.
Those were the days, sitting on the rapids for a rest for half an hour eating our flask hot dogs.
When you consider recent inflation, these are the cheapest passes ever, aren't they?
 
I am looking forward to seeing what rides will be on the early ride time for platinum holders next year, would be nice getting an extra 30 mins on nemmy in the morning.
 
AT86 said:
A reminder that if you want to lock in the sale prices but don’t need or want to activate the pass immediately you can buy it as a gift card and have 12 months to activate:

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
Click to expand...

Ohhh that’s really clever. Think I’ll bite!

Edit: bought two. I’ve never had an annual pass before; I also bought a Blackpool one this year as it’s my local park and I plan to visit Europa Park and Liseberg. Wowzers, gonna be a busy year for me!
 
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I'm surprised there has been no official announcement on the legoland discovery centres. I feel a lot of people not in the know will be seeing these as part of the passes and not aware they are likely to be removed. I also think its dishonest of merlin putting a sale on with these attractions being advertised although they are still listing Blackpool attractions with a note on them, which is quite misleading as you have to click on the individual attraction to see this.

If it is true, what has been said from staff in the discovery centres that they may not be accepting merlin passes from December that would frustrate a lot of new passholders. However I can't imagine even merlin would give that short a notice of attractions being removed. We must be expecting an announcement soon though.
 
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