Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2026 Discussion

[Craig]

I’ve talked about my feelings about RAP before so I’m not going to do a lengthy post covering old ground, but I think the main question to ask is:

As a ride access pass user visiting season after season, despite the recent changes has your queueing time and experience with things such as prebooking got:

• Worse
• The same
• Better

I’m willing to bet most people’s answer will be the first. Merlin have already tried to get eligibility checked externally to try to ease the burden - it hasn’t worked. They’ve tried to limit RAP - that hasn’t worked either. As others have pointed out, queues are an inherent part of a theme park - and with the increasing level of eligibility, I think there’s now an acceptance from Merlin that something has to give. On busy days in particular, RAP became nothing more than lip service as opposed to actually providing a worthwhile adjustment for those in need of it.

In an ideal world, it would’ve been great to see allowances made for those with more serious needs and who have difficulty in queuing, but if the Nimbus card doesn’t allow for that I’m not sure how that could be done. Ultimately even if it were possible, I have my doubts that it would do nothing except push things back to how they were as time went on.

That said, I do agree that the communication for the whole thing could’ve been better. A proper communication plan to those that have utilised the service clearly setting out the reasoning in good time prior to bookings going live. Helpful videos explaining the change, and suggestions of what guests can do to mitigate it would’ve been good. Suggestions to visit on quieter days, routes around the park that are quieter than others at certain times, crowd calendars or that sort of thing could’ve been helpful. They have had apps and prebooked ticketing in place for a while now which are more than capable of providing that data. It won’t resolve the kickback, but it could’ve certainly gone some way to improving the situation they now find themselves in.

 

[Hid]

Merlin are damned if they do, damned if they don't if they kept things as is. There are no good or bad outcomes from this either or is going to have an impact. Morals and practicality must be separated you cannot have it both ways

 

[Bowser]

Reducing RAP numbers doesn't just improve the queue times for those who remain eligible, it also frees up capacity on the rides for the guests who are paying for Fastrack. Every seat filled by a RAP user is a seat that cannot be sold as a Fastrack upcharge. Merlin effectively reclaims that capacity to monetise it, by tightening the RAP criteria

Whilst the RAP criteria has changed, we have no indication the CAPACITY has changed. Thus if that remains the case there will be zero impact on the park experience for anyone unless the capacity is no longer being reached on a regular basis, which would be incredibly unlikely.

If anything it will be worse as those no longer eligible could still decide to visit and either increase the main queues or be forced to add to FastTrack numbers as their only means of access.

 

[Craig]

Whilst the RAP criteria has changed, we have no indication the CAPACITY has changed. Thus if that remains the case there will be zero impact on the park experience for anyone unless the capacity is no longer being reached on a regular basis, which would be incredibly unlikely.

If anything it will be worse as those no longer eligible could still decide to visit and either increase the main queues or be forced to add to FastTrack numbers as their only means of access.

Speculation here, and this is Merlin… but I wouldn’t expect they would make these changes and suffer the not-unexpected substantial kickback as a result, without somehow making the experience better for those that are still eligible. Whether that be by reduced capacity or some sort of research that has shown fewer companions for those who remain eligible and therefore a lower overall queue.

 

[Bowser]

As a ride access pass user visiting season after season, despite the recent changes has your queueing time and experience with things such as prebooking got:

• Worse
• The same
• Better

I’m willing to bet most people’s answer will be the first.

I disagree with this.

Queuing has gotten much better across all the parks, especially Chessington with the digital system, except Legoland which shares RAP with FT.

The days of 30 minute RAP lines are gone and it would be rare to wait even 10 minutes physically.

I think Alton and Thorpe visitors using the new digital system will be very pleasantly surprised (unless it doesn’t work on a technical level for some reason).

The prebooking system has only had one iteration so can’t comment yet whether the new monthly releases of slots will be better.

 

[Craig]

I disagree with this.

Queuing has gotten much better across all the parks, especially Chessington with the digital system, except Legoland which shares RAP with FT.

The days of 30 minute RAP lines are good and it would be rare to wait even 10 minutes physically.

I think Alton and Thorpe visitors using the new digital system will be very pleasantly surprised (unless it doesn’t work on a technical level for some reason).

The prebooking system has only had one iteration so can’t comment yet whether the new monthly releases of slots will be better.

Fair if you’ve had a good experience with it, I’ve not had experience with it myself. However, looking at online comments it seems others have not been as fortunate.

That said, I don’t think it can be argued that there is an increase of eligibility in recent years and only seems to be increasing at an ever faster rate. Considering that, even if it’s working for you personally at present I’m curious as to what those who are not happy with the changes would do instead? The changes they’ve made so far only seem to paper over the cracks, so I’m interested to hear people’s alternative suggestions that would need to be more major to address the issue longer term.

 

[imanautie]

Fair if you’ve had a good experience with it, I’ve not had experience with it myself. However, looking at online comments it seems others have not been as fortunate.

That said, I don’t think it can be argued that there is an increase of eligibility in recent years and only seems to be increasing at an ever faster rate. Considering that, even if it’s working for you personally at present I’m curious as to what those who are not happy with the changes would do instead? The changes they’ve made so far only seem to paper over the cracks, so I’m interested to hear people’s alternative suggestions that would need to be more major to address the issue longer term.

They could be a bit smarter(dynamic) with capacity for each ride, capacity for rap as it stands now is set for the entire park on an assumption that one ride will get everyone.
Chessington claimed to do this when they were using loqueue, however in reality the data showed they were just manually closing the queue on rap and moving capacity towards paid offerings.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I disagree with this.

Queuing has gotten much better across all the parks, especially Chessington with the digital system, except Legoland which shares RAP with FT.

The days of 30 minute RAP lines are gone and it would be rare to wait even 10 minutes physically.

I think Alton and Thorpe visitors using the new digital system will be very pleasantly surprised (unless it doesn’t work on a technical level for some reason).

The prebooking system has only had one iteration so can’t comment yet whether the new monthly releases of slots will be better.

With respect, I believe you are conflating two entirely different aspects of the system and, in doing so, missing the fundamental point.

You are not entirely incorrect that for those who are able to secure a RAP slot, the on the day experience has improved. However, whether the physical RAP queue on the day is 2 minutes or 20 minutes is utterly immaterial when the primary barrier has now shifted from the merge point to the booking portal. It's like arguing a restaurant has fantastic service when you can no longer get a reservation.

Whilst the RAP criteria has changed, we have no indication the CAPACITY has changed. Thus if that remains the case there will be zero impact on the park experience for anyone unless the capacity is no longer being reached on a regular basis, which would be incredibly unlikely.

If anything it will be worse as those no longer eligible could still decide to visit and either increase the main queues or be forced to add to FastTrack numbers as their only means of access.

The capacity has changed, just not in the way you're measuring it. Merlin haven't necessarily reduced the number of daily RAP slots available for booking, but they have drastically reduced the pool of eligible users who can book them in the first place by tightening the criteria. This is, in effect, a capacity cut, just enacted at the front of the pipeline.

Speculation here, and this is Merlin… but I wouldn’t expect they would make these changes and suffer the not-unexpected substantial kickback as a result, without somehow making the experience better for those that are still eligible. Whether that be by reduced capacity or some sort of research that has shown fewer companions for those who remain eligible and therefore a lower overall queue.

This directly addresses @Craig's point. Merlin is indeed enduring this kickback to make the experience better for those who remain, but the "better experience" isn't just a shorter physical wait for the remaining RAP users. It's also a better experience for Merlin's accountants. By shrinking the pool of non paying RAP users, they reclaim ride capacity which can then be sold to Fastrack users.

 

[Bowser]

Speculation here, and this is Merlin… but I wouldn’t expect they would make these changes and suffer the not-unexpected substantial kickback as a result, without somehow making the experience better for those that are still eligible. Whether that be by reduced capacity or some sort of research that has shown fewer companions for those who remain eligible and therefore a lower overall queue.

The improvement in experience will likely be in the availability of slots rather than a noticeable difference onsite (albeit the newly digital parks will be improved as they will now be able to manage queue lines).

The complaints I’ve seen, indeed on this very forum, was the impossibility of getting slots on any peak dates let alone special events as they were being block booked months ahead.

Again, on this very forum the complaints of massive RAP queues in 2025 have not emerged so it’s not a case of good fortune on our part.

 

[RIPCorky]

The improvement in experience will likely be in the availability of slots rather than a noticeable difference onsite (albeit the newly digital parks will be improved as they will now be able to manage queue lines).

The complaints I’ve seen, indeed on this very forum, was the impossibility of getting slots on any peak dates let alone special events as they were being block booked months ahead.

Again, on this very forum the complaints of massive RAP queues in 2025 have not emerged so it’s not a case of good fortune on our part.

Hmmm we were in a pretty horrendous Wickerman queue at the end of last year which was being held up mainly by RAP and Fastrack. Main queues may be longer now but I believe they'll get through it a lot quicker.

 

[Bowser]

Hmmm we were in a pretty horrendous Wickerman queue at the end of last year which was being held up mainly by RAP and Fastrack. Main queues may be longer now but I believe they'll get through it a lot quicker.

As i say, the digitalisation will prevent that going forwards. Each ride has a RAP capacity limit so people will be unable to join the queue when that is reached.

Unless overall capacity has been reduced, the main queue will not move any faster than it has in the past as the RAP and FT lines will almost certainly always be occupied as they have done before. Potentially there will be more of a FT ratio to RAP than in the past, though we'll have to see on that one.

The problem Alton seemed to face more than any other of the other parks and perhaps was what you faced, was lots of rides going down simultaneously meaning the available rides RAP queue would get swarmed. The RAP queue would then often be prioritised having an adverse affect on the main queue. This won't be possible now, RAP users will have to spend their time elsewhere until ride slots become available.

Also i notice the new app asks you to input how many riders on every attractions which is a good feature. My wife often wouldn't go on the more thrilling rides with us but we were still forced to occupy 3 slots each time so that will increase availability for other users. On the flip side, i suspect many people faced the same conundrum and so now there will be no "empty slots" meaning the queues will be slightly longer.

 

[Dave]

They could be a bit smarter(dynamic) with capacity for each ride, capacity for rap as it stands now is set for the entire park on an assumption that one ride will get everyone.
Chessington claimed to do this when they were using loqueue, however in reality the data showed they were just manually closing the queue on rap and moving capacity towards paid offerings.

Yeah that’s what the guy doing the court thing says but no park has managed to crack that nut yet. The concatenation of events that occur in a theme park make ride based allocation a very informed guess at best.

Maybe AI will fix it before it wipes out humanity!!

 

[Alphe86]

Doesn’t seem hard to restrict capacity per ride. Chessington manage it with their larger offerings ..
A camera in the RAP queue and past a certain marker it’s full and can’t take new registration for that attraction? Not perfect but simple enough

 

[imanautie]

Doesn’t seem hard to restrict capacity per ride. Chessington manage it with their larger offerings ..
A camera in the RAP queue and past a certain marker it’s full and can’t take new registration for that attraction? Not perfect but simple enough

Chessington also get caught setting it manually to full when there's not anyone assigned to the queue and leaving it in that state for hours (with 0 rap guests), a few staff there actually even admit it.

 

[fearnwood]

This has been very poorly thought through and handled by Merlin. We have several short breaks at Splash Landings every year and have already spent nearly £1000 on our bookings for 2026. If we cannot use RAP for my neurodivergent children then I'll have to cancel these bookings, so this decision by them will not be coming at zero cost, and this would cost them my business in future years too.

Last year the experience in the park was much better with the new advance booking system limiting numbers on the day, and we found the RAP queues were very short. From what I had been reading about the new partial release schedules, late 48 hour availability and the new virtual queuing system I thought that most of the complaints about the RAP system would be resolved this year. If the logic behind denying access to RAP is due to increasing numbers of neurodivergent diagnosis and ensuring wheelchair users are not outnumbered by them, then I don't see why Merlin don't just restrict the numbers available to 25% or 50% of the advance RAP allocation on a particular day. The digital cards identify the users category so this would be very easy to do.

This total block on an entire segment of disability is a poor decision on the part of Merlin and the fact that it was announced after they've been taking bookings for accommodation shows a poor respect for their customers. Fortunately I paid the £25 cancellation insurance on each booking, so if they don't reverse this decision then I'll free up some hotel room bookings for them. Given the fact they're now giving away an annual pass with short bookings I don't think they'll be flying off the shelf.