Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2026 Discussion

[Skyscraper]

Another RAP email has just been sent out:

Dear Merlin Accessibility Community, I wanted to take the time to personally write to this community. Let me start by saying thank you. So many of you have taken the time to share your thoughts, concerns, and personal experiences with the Ride Access Pass (RAP) over the past few days. As the people who rely on the RAP most, your voices matter deeply to us - and they are shaping the decisions we make. Whenever we consider changes to the RAP, it’s because we genuinely want it to work better for the guests who need it most. And you’ve told us clearly, and with honesty, that the current system isn’t delivering the experience you deserve. As part of our efforts to improve the RAP, we proposed a half-term trial with reduced criteria. But after receiving extensive feedback from you all, with diverse and opposing views put forward, we believe it’s important to pause and fully reflect on what you’ve shared. This means we will not be proceeding with the trial at this time, and we will continue to accept the Difficulty with Crowds access symbol for RAP while we explore alternative ways to evolve the system. For those who were impacted by our recent announcement, we are sorry. That said, the pressures on the RAP haven’t gone away. The system is under huge pressure and it’s clear that we need a more sustainable long-term approach. To help us get this right, we are launching a fuller consultation involving this community, accessibility experts, and industry partners. This is a shared challenge across the sector, and meaningful progress will require working together In the short term, some of the challenges you’ve been experiencing may continue. I know that’s not ideal, and I’m truly sorry for the frustration this may cause. Please know we are working hard behind the scenes to build a better, fairer approach — and we ask for your patience and understanding while we do that. Our commitment to supporting guests with accessibility needs is unwavering. Today we welcome more disabled guests than ever before and continue to expand the adjustments and support available across our attractions. These measures are detailed here. As our work progresses, we will continue to share updates. Thank you again for your honesty, your patience, and your continued partnership in helping us shape a better experience for everyone. Rob Smith, Chief Operating Officer​

 

[BarryZola]

U-turn on the new RAP conditions confirmed. Source: Emails just sent out.

Edit - See above.

 

[Dave]

Really would love to hear what people against this change actually want? I assume basically that everyone who doesn’t have RAP should be expected to queue 5 hours per ride and just lump it…

 

[Bowser]

Translation: Too many annual pass cancellations.

 

[BarryZola]

Well, I suppose it's got the idea of a theme park trip in the minds of the public a month or so before parks open. Free advertising in pretty much every publication.

 

[Skyscraper]

It's obvious that the core issue is oversubscription and too many people being eligible for it. I just don't see what else Merlin could do to sort it out, they are well and truly damned if they do and damned if they don't. Every change will be controversial and protested, as seen here.

 

[dave___]

What an embarrassing climbdown and backpedal for them.

There has to be something to be done but maybe they will think about it a little bit more next time rather than just blundering into this.

I really hope though if they are using the existing system that there is not one single complaint about the lengths of RAP waits from any of the RAP community this season.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Translation: Too many annual pass cancellations.

You can't "cancel" a Merlin Annual Pass. It is an annual contract with a 12 month minimum term. Once you've signed the agreement and passed the 14 day cooling off period, Merlin has your money (or a binding agreement to take it monthly).

They don't offer pro-rata refunds because you disagree with a policy change, and they certainly don't let you just walk away from a monthly membership mid-term. Financially, Merlin had that revenue locked in regardless of this U turn. The "cancellations" threat is largely toothless in the short term.

This reversal wasn't driven by a sudden drop in revenue; it was driven by the realisation that they were the subjects of a national news scandal regarding disability discrimination, potential legal challenges (which they would win, but are costly to defend) and a PR firestorm.

Really would love to hear what people against this change actually want? I assume basically that everyone who doesn’t have RAP should be expected to queue 5 hours per ride and just lump it…

This is the uncomfortable reality of the U-turn. The community has "won", but the prize is a return to a broken system.

I think they need to address the structural flaw at the heart of this entire debacle, the Nimbus business model.

Nimbus' revenue stream is directly correlated to the number of cards they issue. Financially, they're incentivised to approve applications, not reject them. The more people who have a card, the more money Nimbus makes.

Merlin tried to outsource the difficult job of being the gatekeeper to a third party. The problem is that they outsourced the job of saying "No" to an organisation whose business model relies on saying "Yes".

Merlin attempted to unilaterally correct this over-subscription by filtering which symbols they accepted. That's failed. Now that they've walked it back, we are left with the original problem: a third party assessor incentivised to issue cards, and a theme park operator physically unable to accommodate the volume of resulting cardholders.

This U-turn fixes nothing; it just resets the timer on the operational bomb. What is needed is a holistic review of the entire ecosystem, the assessment criteria, the financial incentives of the assessor, and the capacity of the parks, rather than this reactive tug of war over specific icons.

Also, I enjoyed the retconning of the previous announcement as a "proposed trial". It was communicated as a definitive policy change with immediate effect. Calling it a "proposal" after the fact is classic corporate revisionism.

 

[Skyscraper]

You can't "cancel" a Merlin Annual Pass. It is an annual contract with a 12 month minimum term. Once you've signed the agreement and passed the 14 day cooling off period, Merlin has your money (or a binding agreement to take it monthly).

They don't offer pro-rata refunds because you disagree with a policy change, and they certainly don't let you just walk away from a monthly membership mid-term. Financially, Merlin had that revenue locked in regardless of this U turn. The "cancellations" threat is largely toothless in the short term.

People who had recently bought annual passes and were now ineligible for the RAP were offered pro-rata refunds, though.

 

[Ash]

Really would love to hear what people against this change actually want? I assume basically that everyone who doesn’t have RAP should be expected to queue 5 hours per ride and just lump it…

The solution as it stands will have to be caps on RAP entries per park.

 

[Burner]

Just get rid of the pre-booking, make it uncapped. They can't complain then. Merlin can go "well we tried, you didn't like it, so have it your way".

 

[Steve74]

You can't "cancel" a Merlin Annual Pass. It is an annual contract with a 12 month minimum term. Once you've signed the agreement and passed the 14 day cooling off period, Merlin has your money (or a binding agreement to take it monthly).

They don't offer pro-rata refunds because you disagree with a policy change, and they certainly don't let you just walk away from a monthly membership mid-term. Financially, Merlin had that revenue locked in regardless of this U turn. The "cancellations" threat is largely toothless in the short term.

This reversal wasn't driven by a sudden drop in revenue; it was driven by the realisation that they were the subjects of a national news scandal regarding disability discrimination, potential legal challenges (which they would win, but are costly to defend) and a PR firestorm.

This is the uncomfortable reality of the U-turn. The community has "won", but the prize is a return to a broken system.

I think they need to address the structural flaw at the heart of this entire debacle, the Nimbus business model.

Nimbus' revenue stream is directly correlated to the number of cards they issue. Financially, they're incentivised to approve applications, not reject them. The more people who have a card, the more money Nimbus makes.

Merlin tried to outsource the difficult job of being the gatekeeper to a third party. The problem is that they outsourced the job of saying "No" to an organisation whose business model relies on saying "Yes".

Merlin attempted to unilaterally correct this over-subscription by filtering which symbols they accepted. That's failed. Now that they've walked it back, we are left with the original problem: a third party assessor incentivised to issue cards, and a theme park operator physically unable to accommodate the volume of resulting cardholders.

This U-turn fixes nothing; it just resets the timer on the operational bomb. What is needed is a holistic review of the entire ecosystem, the assessment criteria, the financial incentives of the assessor, and the capacity of the parks, rather than this reactive tug of war over specific icons.

Also, I enjoyed the retconning of the previous announcement as a "proposed trial". It was communicated as a definitive policy change with immediate effect. Calling it a "proposal" after the fact is classic corporate revisionism.

It would be very naive of Merlin to not realise part of the problem is Nimbus so I am sure they are well aware, but even so, out of curiosity have you thought about emailing them with your in-depth thoughts on the way you see Nimbus is operating and how it affects the whole system?

 

[Blackrock]

They should have stuck to their guns and gone ahead with the changes.

They had the ‘bad press’ and it would have quickly blown over, now if they try anything similar they’ll still get the bad press because they’ll never please everyone so they’re doing themselves over twice when there was no need.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

People who had recently bought annual passes and were now ineligible for the RAP were offered pro-rata refunds, though.
Merlin didn't offer those refunds out of the kindness of their hearts. They offered them because, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, if you purchase a service (a Pass with RAP eligibility) and the provider fundamentally alters the nature of that service immediately after purchase, you are entitled to a remedy.

Those refunds were restricted to people who had purchased passes very recently, specifically in the window where the old criteria were advertised but the new criteria were about to be enforced. Selling a product based on features you are about to remove is Misleading Actions under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. They had to refund those specific people to avoid a Trading Standards investigation.

This is a world away from the narrative that "everyone is cancelling". The vast majority of the pass holders are mid-contract, having paid up front, or paying monthly, and have absolutely no right to cancel or refund. Merlin was not facing a total revenue collapse; they were facing a specific legal liability for a small group of new customers they had accidentally miss-sold to.

Just get rid of the pre-booking, make it uncapped. They can't complain then. Merlin can go "well we tried, you didn't like it, so have it your way".

If you uncap it, you return to the days of RAP queues exceeding well over an hour. When the RAP queue is that long, the main queue stops moving entirely to facilitate the merge ratios. The entire park grinds to a halt. It doesn't just punish RAP users; it punishes every single guest on the park.

Merlin also has a legal duty to provide effective reasonable adjustments. A system that is uncapped and unusable because the queues are three hours long isn't "effective". They can't just shrug and say "you asked for it"; they would still be in breach of their obligations.

It would be very naive of Merlin to not realise part of the problem is Nimbus so I am sure they are well aware, but even so, out of curiosity have you thought about emailing them with your in-depth thoughts on the way you see Nimbus is operating and how it affects the whole system?

I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I suspect the procurement directors do not need a goose to explain the concept of conflicting financial incentives to them. (Some may even argue that neither do my fellow users of TST, but then what would I do with my spare time?)

They know exactly how Nimbus works. They chose Nimbus because it outsourced the liability of the decision making process. It allows Merlin to say "We don't decide who is disabled, the experts do". They bought a liability shield. The fact that the shield is now cracking under the weight of the volume it incentivised is a problem of their own making, but not one they are ignorant of.

Sadly my contact in the CX team moved on to pastures new during the summer. My emailing would likely result in a generic auto-response thanking me for my "feedback", which would then be filed directly into the digital recycling bin alongside the requests for a Blackhole return.

Edit: The BBC's article on the reversal of the changes suggests that both Nimbus and the BALPPA are increasingly aware of the effect Nimbus' business operations are having on accessibility, in the wider industry.

The now-aborted plan followed an update by the disability access card provider Nimbus Disability which Merlin uses to verify additional needs.

Nimbus has split its former "standing and queuing" card section into two separate symbols: "difficulty standing" (a physical need) and "difficulty with crowds" (often linked to neurodivergence or anxiety).

Nimbus Disability Managing director Martin Austin said: "We developed the Access Card in response to frustrations shared by disabled people and venues about how disability was evidenced.

"Merlin has been considering how these criteria relate to its Ride Access Pass... Accessibility is constantly evolving and improving, and we welcome Merlin's willingness to listen to feedback."

Nimbus said it remained in "close dialogue" with Merlin and the wider industry about how its system might best support both disabled guests and operators.

The British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers & Attractions (BALPPA) said that pressure on accessibility systems went beyond the parks owned by Merlin.

"British attractions have made significant progress with accessibility, but are facing operational challenges with increasing demand from guests," BALPPA chief executive Paul Kelly said.

"We support Nimbus's continued efforts... Their input will be invaluable as we continue to evolve our approach."

 

[BarryZola]

At this point, I think they're screwed unless they strip it right back and start again. Announce a date at the start of the 2028 season (or whatever) and have a requirement that you need an official letter directly from a doctor which explains exactly why this person cannot possibly queue for more than an agreed amount of time. You'd probably cut out a good percentage of RAP applications straight away as a lot, I expect, only apply as they know how easy it is to supply only a diagnosis of a certain condition to Nimbus and they'll get greenlighted within minutes. I can attest through first hand experience that the evidence required is very minimal. If you had to plead to your doctor in person and get them to agree that there was no way you could stand in a theme park queue, a lot would not bother through embarrasment as they know that just having a certain condition does not necessarily mean that they can't wait in lines.

This would mean that the large numbers of those who really need the passes would actually get the benefit that the RAP passes are meant to provide. This would have to be processed through Merlin, or a totally not for profit organisation.

 

[shaun3]

People with the RAP can defend it all they like. They know the system does not work and they know that people, possibly even themselves, benefit from additional perks that the rest of us don't get. I have a MAP, and I see people taking advantage of the RAP all the time. It's human nature to see something and take advantage of it. The general public are not nice people on the whole of it. You only have to see how rampaged people got on Nemesis Reborn opening day for that.

Merlin instead have given us a theme park with low throughput rides and then incentivise ways for people to skip queues. Universal will hopefully wipe the floor with them with high capacity rides that won't matter about perks like this.

 

[George W]

Well I guess now the only way forward is to make it nearly impossible to get slots, it'll only get worse from last season and people in wheelchairs and physically disabled will have no choice but to stay home.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

The general public are not nice people on the whole of it.

First, a point of order: What exactly do you think you are?

Owning a Merlin Annual Pass does not elevate you to a higher plane of existence. You're not staff. You're not a shareholder. You're a member of the public. The lanyard around your neck doesn't make you a deputised park ranger; it just means you paid upfront.

I prefer the term Casual Visitor for those who don't spend their evenings discussing turnstiles on the internet, but let's be clear: You are the "General Public"... and judging by your sweeping generalisations about the medical needs of strangers you pass in a queue, you are doing a marvellous job of proving your own point about them "not being nice people".

I have a MAP, and I see people taking advantage of the RAP all the time. It's human nature to see something and take advantage of it.

One could argue that buying a cheap annual pass and visiting dozens of times a year, clogging up park capacity while spending absolutely zero pounds on secondary spend, is also "taking advantage" of a system designed for the Casual Visitor. Glass houses, stones, etc.

Unless you have X-Ray vision or access to their private medical records, you have absolutely no idea who is "taking advantage" of RAP and who is masking a debilitating condition to survive the day.

They know the system does not work

The system does work. In fact, the problem is that it works too well.

It was designed to provide an alternative route for those unable to queue. It's doing exactly that. The issue isn't that the mechanism is broken; it's that the eligibility criteria set by Nimbus became so broad that the volume of users overwhelmed the physical capacity of the ride to process them. A door works perfectly fine, but if you try to push 5,000 people through it at once, it isn't the door's fault when it gets blocked.

Merlin instead have given us a theme park with low throughput rides

This is demonstrably false.

Alton Towers operates a lineup dominated by Bolliger & Mabillard and Intamin. These are manufacturers specifically chosen for their ability to chew through crowds.

Nemesis Reborn has a theoretical throughput of approx. 1,400 riders per hour. The Smiler is designed for 1,200+. Oblivion is a capacity monster. These are not "low throughput rides". They are high capacity industrial machines. The issue is that the demand exceeds that capacity, compounded by operational inefficiencies (staffing, faffing, fastrack), not the hardware itself.

Universal will hopefully wipe the floor with them with high capacity rides that won't matter about perks like this.

This is a utopian fantasy that ignores the reality of Orlando.

Universal operates some of the highest capacity rides on the planet (VelociCoaster, Hagrid's, Forbidden Journey). Do you know what happens? They still have 120 minute queues. They still have an accessibility system (IAC) which is currently mired in its own controversy regarding third party verification (IBCCES). They still sell Express Pass for hundreds of dollars a day to let rich people skip the line.

High capacity does not eliminate queues; it just induces more demand. If you think Universal United Kingdom is going to open with walk on rides where disability accommodations "won't matter", you are in for a very expensive shock.

This footballification of the industry is juvenile and self destructive.

If you are a fan of theme parks, you should be praying for fierce competition, not total annihilation. If Universal "wipes the floor" with Merlin to the point of irrelevance, we lose the only major domestic competitor. Dominance leads to complacency, stagnation, and price gouging (see: Disney).

We need Universal to scare Merlin into innovation, not destroy them.

 

[Skyscraper]

They have uploaded a video now as well;


From: https://youtu.be/n3SWM7njQd0?si=pTg37t6l5dH-sv3y

 

[Bowser]

At this point, I think they're screwed unless they strip it right back and start again. Announce a date at the start of the 2028 season (or whatever) and have a requirement that you need an official letter directly from a doctor which explains exactly why this person cannot possibly queue for more than an agreed amount of time.

Moving the burden onto the healthcare system is not wise. GP's already refuse to do such letters for Blue Badges because it is a time sink. Refusal to give a patient what they want can result in repeat appointments until they acquiesce.

Imagine now overnight sending hundreds of thousands of people to their GP requesting theme park letters for their children.

Not to mention the determined could simply book a private GP appointment who will likely be far more willing to assist. Why wouldn't they, it's of no impact to them and better to get through these requests as quickly as possible.

The only viable method now would be to have an eligibility team, be they in-house or independent but one that is not driven by profit.