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Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2026 Discussion

imanautie said:
If they wanted to be spiteful nothing stopping them retroactively applying it to existing bookings.
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I'd be very surprised if they did that.

I do expect a lot of people will no longer qualify and as renewals come up, MAP purchases will decline accordingly.

If we no longer qualify then our 3 Merlin passes become worthless pieces of plastic unless we want to give them even more money for Fast Track. For us i'm glad that we've managed to make European park trips possible (for now) where this isn't an issue (also for now) but i appreciate for many that isn't possible and with Merlin's dominance in England this is nearly all they have.

Should be noted that it seems Paultons have also updated their RAP criteria to reflect the new symbols but have not adopted Merlin's fewer levels of acceptance.
 
TPick said:
As ever, no email received. Wonder what we need to do to get these emails sent to us, requesting multiple times doesn't seem to work.
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Basically if you miss the initial consent from when you initially sign up, too late. Been a thing with map orders for a while
 
imanautie said:
Basically if you miss the initial consent from when you initially sign up, too late. Been a thing with map orders for a while
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I receive the RAP emails but don't have a MAP, unless it's from when I used to have one of the old Towers' Season Passes 🤷‍♂️
 
Its a better system overall. Not without its frustrations but improved.

Putting all the parks on one app is great. The ability to cancel. No repeat bookings. Multiple slot releases including last minute.

The change in criteria is the big concern. They’re ultimately weeding out the neurodivergent, who likely form the majority of users but its such a wide definition that some are going to unfairly get disqualified.
 
Looking at how this is blowing up on line.. they’re gonna have to release a statement at some point. Either there’s an error and these people are still eligible. Or an explanation for the changes. At the moment there’s just void and void breeds anger.
 
Perhaps to be taken with a pinch of salt but web chat are telling people if you’re able to book a slot with your current card it will be accepted which was as i expected.

If your card doesnt qualify the system won’t register it.

Nimbus have digitally updated everyone’s cards which you can check here:

Access Card App

App for Access Card - accesscard.org.uk
app.accesscard.online app.accesscard.online
 
Bowser said:
The change in criteria is the big concern. They’re ultimately weeding out the neurodivergent, who likely form the majority of users but its such a wide definition that some are going to unfairly get disqualified.
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I would argue this is a Nimbus problem, if you can’t tolerate crowds that would suggest you should have access to reserved spaces in concerts etc, a queue isn’t a crowd, it’s a linear progression of people.

If you can’t wait in a queue because your neurodivergence means you can’t manage being in a restricted area of movement for a period of time that needs its own definition.
 
I have gone through an utterly exhausting range of emotions about this since I heard.

I will not qualify after my current RAP. I have tried, and cannot tolerate more than around 15 minutes in the main queue environment, and that was on a quiet day.

There isn't a symbol on the Access Card that fits visually impaired people who struggle in queue environments - it's not processing visual information, it's navigating often uneven surfaces, steps, and dark spaces. I am also awaiting assessments for autism and ADHD, so it's not just a VI thing for me.

Ironically, this is what Access Card say about the "crowds" symbol (which I have now) I've added the bold: "This symbol is allocated to people who find crowded environments or queues overwhelming or distressing, often due to neurodivergence or mental health conditions."

I've sent an angry email. It won't do anything, but it's better in an email than in my head.
 
I’m going to start by giving Merlin the benefit of the doubt on this - I’m hoping that this is just an oversight and the response will help them realise their error.

That being said. If this is the course they’re choosing to go down, I don’t know how this can be taken as anything except indirect discrimination towards the neurodivergent, and I suspect they’re going to need a lot of help from legal as (in my view, not a lawyer) this may well constitute a breach of the Equality Act.
 
Dave said:
I would argue this is a Nimbus problem, if you can’t tolerate crowds that would suggest you should have access to reserved spaces in concerts etc, a queue isn’t a crowd, it’s a linear progression of people.

If you can’t wait in a queue because your neurodivergence means you can’t manage being in a restricted area of movement for a period of time that needs its own definition.
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To play devils advocate, what are the reasons one is unable to queue? If it's a physical inability to stand for long periods or urgent toilet access, these remain covered. If it's as you state, about a restricted area of movement for a period of time or similar, i suspect they might argue that's something they cannot guarantee, not a reasonable adjustment that can be made and their theme park is not a suitable environment in such circumstances?

To be clear, this is not my view but i'm trying to see what their justification will be. Obviously the above would be a hard sell considering they were previously able to accommodate these disabilities. If they're reducing access, and lets be clear it is Merlin not Nimbus reducing eligibility here (as i mentioned Paulton's have retained both queueing symbols), then they need to give an explanation, especially when they already have the money of annual pass-holders who may no longer be able to visit the attractions they have paid for.
 
Bowser said:
Obviously the above would be a hard sell considering they were previously able to accommodate these disabilities.
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The argument though would be were they able to previously accommodate them successfully? And for that, you have to define successful.

For instance, is having a 30+ minute RAP queue on Wickerman a sign of successfully easing the burden of queuing for those unable to? Or does it fail at that primary goal, and equally penalise those who don’t need additional access by pushing their wait time up considerably?
 
Islander said:
The argument though would be were they able to previously accommodate them successfully- and for that, you have to define successful.

For instance, is having a 30+ RAP queue on Wickerman a sign of successfully easing the burden of queuing for those unable to? Or does it fail at that primary goal, and equally penalise those who don’t need additional access by pushing their wait time up considerably?
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Merlin themselves have said these new rules are a direct result of the schemes growth. It did (to me at least) appear out of control in the last two or three years. If it carried on like that you'd end up with more people who have it than don't, thus rendering it useless. There are countless people disappointed when the RAP tickets sell out so quickly.

It is not all bad, I did read a message from a wheelchair user stating she will be able to visit more regularly now.
 
RIPCorky said:
I read somewhere that they went public with the amount of RAP % and general guests and it was 44%? Can't be true surely? If so I'm not surprised they have restricted it further.
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If those stats do exist, it would also be useful to know if they’re from before or after RAP pre-booking was brought in.
 
Leigh said:
I’m going to start by giving Merlin the benefit of the doubt on this - I’m hoping that this is just an oversight and the response will help them realise their error.

That being said. If this is the course they’re choosing to go down, I don’t know how this can be taken as anything except indirect discrimination towards the neurodivergent, and I suspect they’re going to need a lot of help from legal as (in my view, not a lawyer) this may well constitute a breach of the Equality Act.
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I am also not a lawyer, but I suspect Merlin’s legal team has earned their retainer on this one.

The Equality Act mandates reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people are not at a substantial disadvantage compared to non disabled people. It does not mandate a queue skip, nor does it mandate that every disability must be accommodated in the exact same way.

Merlin's likely defence here will be twofold.

If the number of eligible RAP users reaches a point where the main queue is negatively impacted to a degree that the business can't function, or the RAP queue itself becomes longer than the main queue (as we saw frequently last season), the adjustment ceases to be "reasonable". You cannot offer a fast track type service to 20% of your guests without breaking the system for everyone.

Regarding the "Difficulty with Crowds" symbol specifically. A theme park is, by definition, a crowded environment. If a guest cannot tolerate being in a crowd, Merlin may argue that the nature of the venue itself is the barrier, not the queue line specifically. Bypassing a queue does not remove the guest from the 20,000 other people walking around Towers Street or squeezing into the X-Sector pit.

Previously, "Standing and Queuing" covered both physical inability to stand and psychological inability to wait. Nimbus has seemingly split these definitions to allow for more nuance.

By accepting "Difficulty Standing" but rejecting "Difficulty with Crowds" (or whatever the specific neurodivergent queuing symbol is now), Merlin is drawing a very hard line in the sand. They are effectively saying: "If your legs don't work, we will help you. If your brain processes waiting differently, we can no longer accommodate you via this specific mechanism."

It is a brutal correction to a system that was undeniably broken by over-subscription, but for people like Vicki, it feels like the door being slammed in their face.
 
The trouble for Merlin (and Nimbus) is with the increasing diagnosis of neurodivergence in society, we could easily get to the point where nearly everyone qualifies for RAP. Mild apprehension of a queue can’t qualify someone for RAP, it has to be a considerable detriment to mental or emotional function.

Nimbus needs to breakdown the neurodivergence categories to better identify queue specific issues.
 
Islander said:
The argument though would be were they able to previously accommodate them successfully? And for that, you have to define successful.

For instance, is having a 30+ minute RAP queue on Wickerman a sign of successfully easing the burden of queuing for those unable to? Or does it fail at that primary goal, and equally penalise those who don’t need additional access by pushing their wait time up considerably?
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This wasn't the case in 2025 though. By all accounts (and certainly in my experience) the RAP queues were a thing of the past due to the capacity restrictions introduced other than attractions where RAP shared with Fast Track (which is almost exclusively a Legoland problem).

The complaints of 2025 were about the lack of slots available, not the experience in the parks. ScareFest fully booked up 9 months in advance etc.

So Merlin have acted on this by reducing the number of people able to visit the park in the first place. The issue was not accommodating them once onsite.
 
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