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Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2024 Discussion

pluk said:
Ultimately there is no resolution though. For access to be maintainable for those that are there they can't simply add a tonne more on top. People will be disappointed, but arguably less disappointed than turning up on the day with their RAP pass and finding a 45 minute queue they absolutely cannot do for every ride.

This is the better of two bad options Merlin find themselves with.
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Exactly, there isn't a resolution, they're just re-directing and deflecting already!

I mean, let's open the RAP bookings on a Saturday but we'll only have customer services open Mon-Fri, again, not great...

Also, you're saying people will be disapointed, but less disapointed?

There are people who have pre-booked their main tickets, not following the 'system'. It's guaranteed they're going to argue the toss and end up getting their RAP ticket in the end and those who followed the process will be the disapointed ones.*

*Yes, the system was already broke by allowing earlier bookings than 10am but I'm not sure when the main tickets sold out. Sure they were up yesterday!
 
Booked for our visit (not opening weekend, not planning on visiting any parks on a weekend for the forseeable) before 10am as well.

Certainly broken, but at least you can pre-book mobility scooters through the website now.
 
mutti said:
Also, you're saying people will be disapointed, but less disapointed?

There are people who have pre-booked their main tickets, not following the 'system'. It's guaranteed they're going to argue the toss and end up getting their RAP ticket in the end and those who followed the process will be the disapointed ones.
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Yes, I meant regarding the system as a whole (being a good thing and a reasonable way to disapoint), not the way they have launched it (being a bad thing and incompetent in the extreme), just didn't want to be repeating my previous comment.

I'm confident it is a possitive change in the long run, but they need to get clear comms out to every single person with a booking for entire season, and they need to have done that yesterday.
 
Booked passholder slots for opening day, along with a friend - us and our 2 carer passes.

Tried from 6.30 this morning, due to issues with the barcodes on both our RAPs, we’ve not been able to book a RAP. His is red, mine yellow. We’re now having to cancel the day as we won’t cope with the queues without the RAP.

Not ideal :(
 
I echo some of the thoughts above.
Never managed to take my boy as he wouldn’t cope with the old system - 50+ min RAP queues on Thirteen for ex.

Super excited on the one hand that numbers seem to be quite low so we can probably take him this year!

But.. could’ve been handled a lot better.

Going forward everyone knows what to expect and while people will be upset if they can’t make “big” days. Overall it’s for the best.

If I were the RAP team I would apologise and try to ride the wave. Caving in would only make it worse in the long run.
 
The disappointing thing is the flawed execution, with all the things people suggested would be flawed occurring plus more. Who are they actually consulting on this?
 
The issue is that even with the new limits on RAP in place, it's not actually garunteed to lower RAP queue times.

The issue wasn't with the number of people in the park, it was to do with individual rides, which surely could still end up with excessively long queues.

For example if they've distributed 1000 RAP for the day but 900 of those were taken by people over 1.4m tall, that would mean the big coasters would still end up with extremely long queues, whilst the kids with RAP wouldn't be queuing at all.
 
Squiggs said:
The issue is that even with the new limits on RAP in place, it's not actually garunteed to lower RAP queue times.

The issue wasn't with the number of people in the park, it was to do with individual rides, which surely could still end up with excessively long queues.

For example if they've distributed 1000 RAP for the day but 900 of those were taken by people over 1.4m tall, that would mean the big coasters would still end up with extremely long queues, whilst the kids with RAP wouldn't be queuing at all.
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That should mostky work itself out with the return times though, people will have the same decisions to make as the main queue. Ride Nemesis and have a 90 min lock out, or choose to ride something else with 15 mins on it. There will be anomalies, but it should work itself out with minimal waits.
 
From the Merlin Disability Facebook Group;


WhatsApp Image 2024-03-02 at 14.55.38_803cfe80.jpg

I know they're trying to be helpful but that doesn't really help kids who don't understand the concept of queueing.
 
Bowser said:
Same system but without the stress as i've never known a slot to not be available since it was introduced (including on the day)... and ultimately Paulton's is such a better run park that RAP generally isn't needed for the ambulant.

They didn't win toilets of the year for nothing.

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Paultons also don’t have the same visitor numbers.

Fireworks is going to have a lot of angry RAP users not getting a ticket.
 
Can't confirm but apparently people are tweeting that they're just going to use the RAP queues anyway, without the timecard. That's just gonna make the whole situation even worse.
 
As much as Paultons has the same system, I think the fact that they are a smaller park with smaller guest figures makes it easier for them to make a success of RAP using it.

It remains to be seen whether the same system will work at the Merlin parks, simply because they’re bigger and get more guests. As much as it should be scalable in theory, I think that the Merlin parks’ increased scale does introduce new challenges that Paultons do not have to contend with.
 
Although it looks like they've ballsed up the implementation of what appears to be a welcome change, I do question the mentality of people knowing they need RAP, but purposely booking opening day. It's their right to do so ofcourse, and now those lucky enough to have got a pre-booking will now have a far better experience than they likely would before. But if crowds and queues are so much of a problem, why did they pick one of the busiest days of the year to go in the first place? Even if they waited one more day, or went the Saturday after they would likely experience a less crowded park.

Again, not saying they didn't have a right to do so, and taking people's bookings before allowing them to pre-book RAP is stupid, when there should be synchronised in the same process. But booking a day you know will be rammed and expecting Merlin to somehow magically dance around you regardless seems quite entitled to me.
 
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I feel sorry for the team that's managing the MAP socials. They're getting tons of questions and complaints about the RAP fiasco even though it's nothing to do with them.
 
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Matt.GC said:
Although it looks like they've ballsed up the implementation of what appears to be a welcome change, I do question the mentality of people knowing they need RAP, but purposely booking opening day. It's their right to do so often course, and now those lucky enough to have got a pre-booking will now have a far better experience than they likely would before. But if crowds and queues are so much of a problem, why did they pick one of the busiest days of the year to go in the first place? Even if they waited one more day, or went the Saturday after they would likely experience a less crowded park.

Again, not saying they didn't have a right to do so, and taking people's bookings before allowing them to pre-book RAP is stupid, when there should be synchronised in the same process. But booking a day you know will be rammed and expecting Merlin to somehow magically dance around you regardless seems quite entitled to me.
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I can only answer for myself obviously, but as my friends and I are local, if we're booking a day we know will be busy, we all go in with lowered expectations. We each pick 1 ride that's our top priority, and aim for those, but we understand even with our RAP there's no guarantees. If we get more done, great, if we don't, we've managed expectations beforehand and just enjoy the atmosphere and the time with each other.

Nemesis is my favourite ride in the UK, I was really looking forward to getting back on but because of the poor implementation of the system (who launches a new system on a Saturday, for goodness sake?!) we're missing out.
 
Dave said:
Paultons also don’t have the same visitor numbers.
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They don't but proportionately it's superior in that they have better ride operations, no fastpass and have deliberately set price points to have lower visitor numbers for a more pleasant experience.
 
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