Merlin Annual Pass Reviews 

I've held Merlin platinum passes for the whole family since 2009 but this year has been quite poor value. The main reason being disabled access. It used to be that you could turn up to the parks with your merlin pass and then queue to get a ride access pass - simple. Now I must pre-book the ride access pass and then pre-book the merlin pass also. Unfortunately the ride access passes are limited each day so I have to book on average 6 weeks in advance of any day trip. With 2 children with severe autism, it just isn't possible to know how they will be on the day. Twice I have had to cancel going simply because they would not have tolerated it on that day. The main aim of having a merlin pass is to go more often and systems like this take away all spontaneity and flexibility. They state that they have done this to reduce queues for the disabled, but when I have attended, it's actually been worst than ever before. I have bought several one shots just to combat meltdowns and even they seem to have queue delays, which is shocking when you are charged up to £20 per person, per ride. My other reasons for stating a lack of value is how busy this has become. Quite often I can't pre-book the merlin passes on the dates I would like to. When I can book, the parks are often so overwhelming busy that we are leaving within a few hours. Queue times have increased massively and the queue running at each park seems to vary hugely in quality. I have not had a single day where one of the larger rides has not shut down at least once. It's like a constant closure and open system and you have to continously app watch to try and make the best of it (when it's updated correctly!) It's just not as enjoyable as it once was, everything is designed to keep you in the parks for as long as possible and wring the maximum amount of money from you, for minimum effort from them. In addition to this the food and beverage costs on site have soared but the quality has reduced dramatically. The queues at some of the food areas are often slower than the ride queues, which mostly seems to be down to complete ineffectiveness from the facilities - poor process, undertrained and likely underpaid staff and lack of resources. All in all, I'm well versed in getting the best out of these days under difficult circumstances but even I'm starting to find that hard.

We absolutely love our Merlin passes! So far this year we’ve been to London and used them at all the attractions, Warwick Castle, all the attractions at Blackpool, Trafford centre sea life and Lego! And as we’re only a stones throw from Alton Towers we go at least once a month!

So much value for money, great days out

I dont like the fact that Annual pass holders have to pre book tickets when you have paid so much money for the passes.

Paid for merlin gold passes and still had to pre book visits to Alton Towers and on more than one occasion there was no availability on line via Portal but when went on Towers Web site I could book visits if I paid makes a mockery of paying for expensive passes
Priority should be given to people who have paid for passes. Also prices of refreshments have rocketed over the last twelve months. And quality and value for money have fallen.

After visiting Thorpe Park and Alton Towers last year thought I'd bite the bullet and purchase an annual pass for the first time and boy have I been making the full use of it.
I've lost count the number of times I've been to both TP and AT this year plus used at the London Eye which I've not been on for 15 years.
For this year, its well worth the money I paid and will be renewing next year when the time comes.

Really love the value for money and communication from the team - obviously the attractions - my only issue is how difficult it is to access your member portal at times, hardly any of the links work on the website unfortunately.

Amazing as always. Like my second home

Had passes on and off since I was a child myself just makes sense if you go more then once or twice a year

Great price, great times. Saved over £600 last year before discounts.

Goodbye Merlin😭Your pre-booking system for children with disabilities and special needs has made it impossible for us to go. Always booked up months in advance. Gutted 😞

Family have silver passes. With regards to basic VFM its very good, having access pretty much all year around, but not consistent between parks and once you visit a park the money grabbing is obvious all over.

For example, Chessington we have to pay full price for the car park, Legoland it's half price. Thorpe park all the scare mazes are now upcharges, even after you've bought your entry ticket. As a perk you can get discounted tickets for friends or on a day that your pass is not valid. Normally half price! Unfortunately this is half price of the on the gate price (Even if being pre booked) so it is actually cheaper to buy the ticket online without using a voucher.

As a pass holder we have to book tickets in advance on a special website, but on numerous occasions there are no tickets left for an attraction on a day, but I can go onto the normal website and pay there. (If its a capacity issue I get it, but its not its a 'we will only let people come if they are willing to pay' So the fact that we have paid for the whole year means that they would rather someone else attend

Is good to saving but the new system is complicated to buy passes for family or friends

The entire ordering process and then booking process could not be easier. The portal is so simple to use. I have used the live chat support multiple times already and the staff are so friendly, quick to respond and knowledgeable.

We have booked 3 visits in first week!

I suppose my only complaint would be that whilst we understood the silver pass had some restrictions (no visits in August which is fair enough), it appears more than first thought, such as Jan-April most parks are closed and any of the special Christmas events cant be booked (we would have been fine to pay extra) as we wanted to go with family.

But all in all, we've got an exciting 11 months ahead of us!

Absolutely great renewed for another year used them so much over the last couple of years.

I renewed my Gold pass this year, unsure If I would actually get value from it. However, definitely glad I did. Booked around 10 trips to Alton Towers, 2 to Thrope Park, all the Blackpool attractions, and most London attractions too. Definitely been worth having the pass for all these experiences, The inclusive parking and discounts available has accounted for more than half the cost of the pass.

The merlin passes have been great value for us and we have tried some new attractions we wouldn’t have tried otherwise. The staff on the helpline are really great and the booking portal is mostly effective and easy to use. The discounts in the resort shops and restaurants is great, though the restaurants are really overpriced and food isn’t always that good, so worth planning alternatives. The new accessibility system is unreliable and makes it challenging to really get a good experience in resort, but if you are able bodied and don’t face challenges in busy situations I guess that’s not a problem for you.

Not great for disabled users. This year a new system was introduced so disabled visitors have to pre book spaces and although the ride access pass is linked to your pass, it has to be booked separately through a different portal. Spaces were few and far between and all weekends and most of school holidays booked out months in advance. We won’t be renewing as we haven’t been able to book with any degree of flexibility as a result of this over complicated system and lack of availability.

I have enjoyed being able to take my grandchildren to lots of different places and having the freedom of a merlin pass. It’s easy using the portal to book tickets and just arrive have fun and go home with happy children. Having so many attractions close to home is a bonus.

We had many excellent and very exciting outings with our Gold Merlin passes. I dont drive and life close to Chessington World of Adventures so went there regularly. Lots of the attractions are easy to get to with public transport which has been excellent. The discount you get on food and in the shops are also great.

Both my daughters got disabilities so we got Access cards for them so that we dont have to queue. In the past you could just turn up and use it. Unfortunately this changed and we now have to pre-book. We haven’t been able to go once over the summer holidays as it was already fully booked. Unfortunately I had to cancel now because of this as it is expensive and I feel a waste of money if you’ve got a child with a disability as they now basically made it impossible to go, especially during holidays. Its difficult for us to pre-book as we have to take it day to day with my kids. It is a massive shame

Parks and attractions are generally very good but the food across the parks has gone up in price and down in quality since they changed over to Aramark