At the moment I'm not sure what to make of this decision from Merlin. In some ways I was half expecting either this or a significant price increase for this year, but it is sad to see they've gone with the option of removing it altogether.

I do think the pass has been a somewhat troubled product from the start. It took a while fot staff to know what it was, and throughout it's lifetime there have been numerous inconsistencies with things. Merlin never did seem to manage to get the right balance with the Golden Ticket options - there were some amazing experiences on there, but at the same time there were also some not so good. I will miss the Priority Parking that came with the pass - it was especially useful during the Halloween season.

It wouldn't surprise me to see a new top tier product introduced at some point - either another pass similar to VIP but priced much higher, or a top tier membership. It will be interesting to see the reaction if this is the case.

Hi,

I signed up for the monthly premium pass last year and all was well, I got all my fastrack vouchers and share the fun vouchers which we always use.

It has been 12 months and I would have expected these would have been renewed and I would get a fresh set of vouchers, just like an normal annual pass.

But this isn't the case, after speaking with Merlin, they tell me you only get 3 vouchers... And thats it, regardless of how long you have the membership.

Seems a bit harsh to me...

We like to use the vouchers when my daughter brings a friend.

Anyone else realise this?

The T&C's are very vague as you would expect.

As posted on TowersTimes social media, the Merlin Annual Pass has received a permanent price cut on renewals, for both Standard and Premium passes. Standard pass renewals are now £99pp when bought as a family and £119pp when bought individually. Premium pass renewals are now £139pp when bought as a family and £159pp individually. This is a saving of £20 per pass bought individually, and £10 per pass when bought as a family.

Those are actually very good price cuts. It may not have anything to do with it, but I think the takeover of Merlin is providing wholesale changes and major improvements. Agreed?

Merlin have provided a COVID-19 update for Passholders on their website.

Only problem I see with this is yes, it is a multi attraction pass including midway attractions however, for those who only use it to visit Theme Parks, the extension would be running through closed season and may not be of use.

Well that’s why individual theme park passes exist! It’s extremely fair what they are doing by adding on months. And if you don’t want to visit a SeaLife or Tussauds during the winter then that’s your own problem, not Merlin’s.

Liam.W wrote:

Well that’s why individual theme park passes exist! It’s extremely fair what they are doing by adding on months. And if you don’t want to visit a sea life or tussauds during the winter then that’s your own problem, not Merlin’s

People buy the pass for different reasons. I was simply saying it would be an issue to some people. Also buying a individual theme park pass for multiple parks can work out more expensive than a Merlin Annual Pass as well as the fact that there are no membership options.

Sorry for double post but Merlin Annual Passes have been confirmed to be extended past closed season.

https://www.facebook.com/285888326152/p ... 76153/?d=n

Earlier today Merlin Entertainments launched two brand new Annual Passes, the Merlin Gold Pass and Merlin Platinum Pass.

TowersTimes News rounds up all the details around the latest update to the Merlin Annual Pass offering.

So what do we think of the new pricing?

Although I don't have a family, so the lack of this option doesn't affect me, I feel the prices for the Gold and Platinum passes are still reasonable.

Following The Smiler incident in 2015, the prices of the Merlin passes have stayed similar with nominal inflationary rises each year. With the introduction of the individual park seasonal passes, I feel this really cheapened the product, and unfortunately people have got used to a very cheap day out, which should not be the case. The comments on social media have been an interesting read, with a lot of 'entitlement' going around, shall we say.

Although the theme parks have not invested in too much, and generally more rides have been removed than added, at least Merlin can say in 2021 that each park is receiving something substantial (Thorpe - subjective), which justifies the price increase somewhat.

I can see why they pushed the prices up as Chris says.
However, my main problem is timing. This year has been difficult to go to the parks (regardless of what people say, some can't situations means it is hard/harder to plan/book tickets in the future)
The pricing has jumped up very quickly for little gain. I feel the pricing has now become unreasonable based on even the level of quality I would expect from the parks. As such, it feels more like a kick in the teeth to me.

We have decided to cancel and not renew. Instead, the money will be going towards trips to parks out of the country. Either Disney Land, Europa (which is my favourite), or others.