Merlin Annual Pass?

[PoppyAnna]

Does anybody have one of these?

Myself and eldest DD currently have full Legoland Annual Passes, younest DD wasn't eligible at the time but now we have to pay for her we are thinking of upgrading our Legoland passes to Merlin Annual Passes for £300 for all four of us.
I think it's a bargain for entrance to all the Merlin themeparks as well as the London Eye and London aquarium and nationwide Sealife Centres.

My question is, have you had your money worth? Or is it one of those things that you buy and never use? We've worked out that we need to make 3-4 visits in the year to get our money back. To be honest we go to London quite a bit and I imagine the London Eye would get used a few times, and we would like to do a summer and halloween visit to Alton Towers. I also have the summer holidays to cover and imagine Thorpe Park and Chessington would be easy for me to visit in a day.

The pass also gives other benefits like 20% off food and shopping in the attractions.

 

[natalielongstaff]

Sounds like a good deal if you do go that often

 

[jjk]

we used to have the annual pass before they changed to Merlin and found it great value then, we really did get excellent value for money when the boys were younger we used to spend most sundays at a theme park
in the summer holidays we used to pop to chessington for the afternoon etc
I think it is even better value now with all the other attractions

 

[Danauk]

We both have Merlin passes. We started out with Alton Towers AP's about 7 years ago which then changed to Tussauds AP's then last year to Merlin ones. We find them great value. So far this year we have used them 2x at Warwick castle, several trips to Alton Towers, 2x sea life centre and a trip on the London eye. We intend to use them quite a bit over the summer at Alton Towers and Thorpe Park.

 

[MinnieMouse73]

We got Merlin passes last year with our Tesco vouchers (about £27 in vouchers each though it has now gone up to £35 I think). We used them first for a 2-day trip to Alton Towers, then have been to Chessington 3 times, Legoland, Madame Tussauds, London Eye 3 times (twice in one day!), then we finished with another 2-day trip to Alton Towers. So yes we've definitely had our money's worth out of them

The London Aquarium has recently been taken over by SeaLife so you can now use them there as well, unfortunately we didn't find that out until we were at Alton Towers - the last day they were valid!

 

[natalielongstaff]

great way to spend the tesco deals vouchers

 

[MaddieB]

If you have lots of Tesco clubcard points you can exchange them for the merlin annual pass. I think you need £37.50 worth of points per pass. I always save my points up now instead of spending them in Tesco so I can swap them for theme park tickets over the summer!

 

[MaddieB]

You beat me to it MinnieMouse73 - I was too slow looking it up

 

[PoppyAnna]

Thanks for your input everybody
I think we're going to go for it, our original Legoland passes were an absolute bargain and we've had our money back a few times over. I don't see the point of renewing them just as Legoland passes as I think the novelty of the park is wearing off for the girls.

Thanks again

 

[Dimplenose]

We had Tussauds passes years ago and certainly got our money's worth - we live close enough to Thorpe Park to go for a couple of hours after school.

The only problem was that the kids were sick of theme parks after a year!

 

[PoppyAnna]

Thanks Libby,

The only problem was that the kids were sick of theme parks after a year!

This is what I thought about only renewing them to Legoland passes, I think after a couple of July & Auguest visits this year they've had enough! We also had membership to all our local amenities which recently expired(swimming, soft play and trampolining etc) and they've become a bit bored of that too. Kids these days . So we're thinking the Merlin pass will spice things up a bit, IYKWIM
We also thought it's another idea for their birthdays, eldest DD had a BIG party in april this year so maybe if she chooses a couple of friends we can take them for a day to a theme park next year

 

[jjk]

We also thought it's another idea for their birthdays, eldest DD had a BIG party in april this year so maybe if she chooses a couple of friends we can take them for a day to a theme park next year

my boys used to choose to do this a lot for birthdays and had a fab time

 

[fizz13]

Hi Joanne,

we got these passes in the easter holidays and already we got our money back. Not sure I would have hit all 4 major theme parks in such a short space of time normally but we definitely would have by the end of the summer. On top of going to Thorpe, Chessington, Legoland and Alton Towers, the discount off the food and merchandise in the parks has been great, and i love that we have the freedom to just go for a couple of hours if we are at a loose end.
Summer we will be hitting London in a big way what with the london aquarium, London Eye, Madame Tussauds. I think these passes are absolutely brilliant. I do know someone who had these last year who did not renew this year as if she saw Chesington one more time she would screamBut I think for a year its well worth it.