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New Merlin "Annual pass"

Re: New Merlin "Annual pass"

Interesting concept, especially if after 12 months you can cable any time.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using Tapatalk 2
 
Handy if you live near a main attraction and cheaper than buying in one go, but if I got one I'd feel compelled to go to Blackpool every other week (and no-one wants to do that)
 
Re: New Merlin "Annual pass"

Tbh Merlin would love everyone to do this as your paying full price.

How many people actually pay full price for their pass?

It's good they are doing this as not everyone has the money up front, but they will make a lot from this.

Also between October and March it's hard to use the pass so you will feel your paying for no reason.

It's catch 22 tbh. If your not going to an attraction twice a month it's really not worth it and 241's don't work out much more.
 
When I was there 7/8 out of 10 annual pass sales were full price.

I'd never pay more than half, but I'm glad at least one of my many suggestions was listened to (inspiration taken from Cineworld)! xD
 
Re: New Merlin "Annual pass"

Tbh would rather put the money away each month and just get it cheaper over Xmas.

The up front payment has a 10% discount so it's already £20 cheaper than the new pass.
 
Time for maths.

A premium membership (PM) costs £16 a month, that's a £192 a year.

A premium anal pass (AP) costs £176 online, £196 without discount, or £137 when renewing at a Merlin attraction.

Tbh, I'd rather put aside £11.42 each month and renew mine annually. I'm willing to put up with the burden of renewing to save £55, or even buying a new one online and saving £16.

However, we all know that Merlin have done their maths and I have no doubt that the PM prices will eventually be cheaper than a AP. Monthly subscription will probably end up being the only way to do it and they'll make more money because people will let the monthly charge roll on without realising.

At the moment the only people this benefits are people who can't organise themselves to make one annual payment.
 
Re: New Merlin "Annual pass"

Tbh the standard pass has to many exclusions and due the fact it does not include parking people may as well spend the extra each month and get the premium. One trip to Thorpe will cover the few pounds extra.
 
I picked our Merlin membership passes up today and it seems alot of other people had the same idea they had already given out over 50 by the time I got ours I suppose alot of people prefer for a small amount to come out each month and I've made the money back for the pass just on the savings for food and drink and merchandise today.
 
^How?

You'd have to buy about £800 worth of food and merchandise to "save" enough to cover the cost of one regular pass.
 
^ To recoup the £16 monthly price using the 20% discount, you'd need to spend £80 on food, drink and merch each month. £960 a year.

Now I know how much money I need to spend at Merlin parks each month to "make my money back".
 
Well the reason I got the membership was went to at yesterday, stopped in the hotel and going back today and as its just before pay day didn't have enough to buy the ap so that £15 so far is giving us 2 days entry, money off all the Food and drink in the park yesterday, the meals in the hotel last night and random merch bought in the park, that's how I saved the £15 in one day
 
... and spent £143/192 on the rest of the year.

I know you'll probably make the most of it but you're kind of committed to it now, all for saving £15
 
Well that's why I got it aswell we have always said we'll go to various Merlin parks but when it comes to it don't have the money so now with this monthly fee even if we go one place a month it's paid for, but with living less than an hour from alton, Warwick castle and sealife I would end up going to a couple a month.
 
A lot of comments on social medias about how much the price inflation is - but actually, its only about 50 quid on each pass. and even then, this is without the sure-to-come summer deals, extra benefits you now get, taking into account how hard the company may have been hit by COVID, and its still, in the scheme of things, a pretty banging deal. For cheaper than 4 park visits you get to visit dozens of attractions for free for an entire year? Genuinely an impressive feat how much the UK community have been able to kick up about such a standard and typical, fairly well executed business move.

Sure, compared to other international passes like Cedar Fair, Walibi etc, its pretty steep;
But its on the same level as Phantasialand's pass, for access to a plethora of different, vastly popular attractions. I think personal experience and intended use will weigh much more into the true value of the pass now.

I haven't had an MAP for years, I've always just used friends' magic passes, but I still think these are a good deal. If I were to visit merlin things more than a couple times, I'd probably get one, but I simply don't, so don't need one. I truly suspect that you only need to use these new passes 3+ times to get the value out of them, which isn't bad at all for an annual membership kinda job. Unfortunately having this opinion on some of my personal SMs would have me descended upon like a chicken carcass in a wolf pit, but I totally see why the MAPs have been jigged up and why the price change has come along. For me, the only reason I would complain would be British entitlement (as in, I don't like change, even tho this is totally reasonable, so I have a problem with it, because f*** you).
 
I miss the Tussauds annual pass at £80. Once they stopped free parking for the passes, I became uninterested to be honest. They keep raising the prices but add nothing of interest to make me want to go back once a year, let alone multiple times. I don't enjoy the parks anymore and would rather spend my money on one or two trips to a different country.

Bring back the days when I could use tesco vouchers to get a pass!
 
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