£436 for two adults and two children. Seems crazy expensive

We did Premium passes last year for the first time, family of 4 with 2 adults and 2 children aged 6 & 7. We definitely got our monies worth but you do find you use it just because you can and if your not careful that cheap day out can get expensive when factoring in hotels, travel, food and extras like fast track, photos etc.

If you use it mostly during peak times like school holidays you will most likely be very tempted to spend extra on fast track.

Not sure why anyone would pick the standard over premium though, the parking alone makes it worth it if you plan to get your monies worth throughout the year.

If you have kids think about the height restrictions and if that will restrict your use.

The firework display at Legoland was ok this year but Alton Towers display was excellent. All the usual 2for1 tickets etc exclude special events like fireworks so taking other family members for £10 to those was a bonus otherwise it would have cost them a lot more.

You get some discount going in to splash landings also which is useful.

Not sure if I will renew yet, the height restrictions were one of the biggest problems for us but will definitely do it again in the future.

The January prices won't be as low as June. They will be the "sale" discounts on the 2017 prices. They do this every year but people kept complaining when the Boxing Day Sale started with "discounted" 2017 prices and not 2016 prices!

Expect a price hike which will be higher than the previous summer sale!

​I also did mine through The Dungeons @ 11.5% TopCashBack. It tracked almost straight away, and 10 days later it is now in confirmed status.

​I'm sure they start once you collect them from your attraction? Unless you upload your pictures online.

I haven't bought my renewal yet, but if I do I'll be collecting in June hopefully.

London Sealife is 5.5%, so anyone booking for collection in London Shrek is a better bet at 6.6%.

Did you select London Dungeons?

Having just looked at it now, it appears the The Dungeons (non london) is 11% but London Dungeons is 3.3% :disappointed:

Hi can you tell me where the Nhs discount is please as the usual NHS discount website just sprays coming soon?.....many thanks

My wife mentioned we were getting passes this year and a colleague mentioned they do a NHS discount. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it stacks having spoken to them, but it is about £5-6 less per pass. The 6.6% Quidco at Shrek would offer a bigger saving but isn't guaranteed, so we may well just go with the NHS discount.

Also worth bearing this in mind for the future, as it appears to be on all the time, unlike the sale which is only on for a limited time.

Hope it helps anyone else that qualifies.

Can anyone thats grouped together with other people to qualify for Family Pass confirm how they've gone about it?

I need four Adults, so will get 3 through a family pass. But unsure about logistics for forming a group with others to get the fourth pass (i.e. find two people on here or other forum/fb). Can they be collected independently? Or shipped to separate addresses?

​im picking mine up on 16th April for exactly that reason so we can go back next Easter lol.

Sealife now includes the 11.5% cashback

Thanks, but for a tenner I may as well just grab all premiums.

Can't see a way to do it online. Want to order for pickup, as we won't be using them until next month.

Anyone need (got space for) third adult to make up family ticket? Thought I'd try here before getting the Mrs to try to FB group.

​we picked ours up in May last year.. our expiry date was 1 year and 1 week from when we picked it up.

this year after renewal we intend to pick it either in June or july

What date would anyone suggest picking up the passes. Is anyone waiting till Easter so they can get a visit in 2018 just before the pass expires?

Yeah it's definitely tracked so will let you know if it gets paid out.....

Quick question, does anyone know if they still post vouchers for Merlin passes? I know Sealife used to do this, not sure if they still do.

Did yours track? would be amazing if it did!!!
plz let us know

Agreed, we did London eye at night champagne experience and loved it, on our next visit to London we did the same in the day and was amazed how much nicer it was at night but happy we did both to experience it. So I personally would add if you don't plan on going back, do it at night.

Can you not do that anymore ?? The last time we got them (for 2 adults and 2 kids) we got 3 standard and 1 premium; sure we couldn't all do London attractions in August but at least we got free parking everywhere else.

They did one last year but I'm not sure about this year. On Twitter they wouldn't confirm.

Do they do a summer sale every year? If so, do you know what month? is it the same sort of price as this sale?

Do they do a summer sale every year? If so, do you know what month? is it the same sort of price as this sale?

​You can buy 3 standard and then when u go to collect upgrade 1 to premium for £50...but it saves u £10 against having 3 premiums.

Looks like they've changed the companion tickets from £10 to £15 as well :/ getting harder to justify the premium unless you need to do London attractions in August (IMO best avoided if possible) :/

Wish you could do family ticket with one premium and two standard.

Still showing as 11.5% for me. Just searched "The Dungeons" on TCB.

​Hi. Just sign up to quidco. Then through quidco choose either one of the dungeons or Sealife centres to buy your pass through. Make sure your enter either site directly from quidco so it tracks your purchase. Good luck.

Hi
Dungeons site is tracking 3.3% ? plz correct me where i am going wrong here ? 11 % is very good
thanks

We had merlin passes for three years then I got an email saying upgrade at last years prices before the end of the year I went to upgrade on 27th December and the price had gone up over £100 for family of three. When I called them they told me their end of year was Boxing Day, we found that as they have moved their main revenue stream from one off purchase to annual memberships more rides are closed for longer yes you get value even just from sea life and london eye it does not take long but remember most tickets for the parks can be bought at 2-4-1 so ignore their figures.

For anyone looking into this, I've just bought 4 passes through the Dungeons site through TCB and have 11.5% tracked and pending which has taken family premium passes down to £114.17 each, assuming the cashback goes through ok. have uploaded photos and passes are being sent out, so looks like this is the cheapest way to get them wherever you're based. only downside is if you lose a pass, that's where you'll have to go for a replacement.

What is the photo package at £18

Just says "take home the memories with a photo package"

Thought it might be the digipass but that is £50 and not available online.

I think it may just be a photopass for Sealife centre.

£318 (£159 each) for 2 but go via TopCashback and buy through Sealife as that'll get you their cashback.

What's the best price on 2 adult Premium passes?

no you need £50 of clubcard vouchers, it doesn't mean u can just buy them for £50.

Hi, I don't know much about how this merlin pass but can you buy it for £50 from Tesco. Please see link https://secure.tesco.com/clubcard/boost/the-merlin-annual-pass-for-1-person/UK-000393.prd

That really doesn't bother me, just thought Id mention it but what bothers me the renewal pass was £10 cheaper last year

Hi - is it worth getting these passes for a 2 and a 3 year old? Not sure if they will be too young to make it worthwhile?

I wouldnt worry too much about that. There is a much higher chance of being involved in an RTA travelling to one of these.

Prefer to keep family/friends/colleagues separate, but too polite to say no if someone asks to be a FB friend. Don't really want an Uncle/Aunt etc seeing some of the stuff my friends like to post for example. Have watched with a wry smile as thats happened to friends. Also seems like a lot of work :smiley:

Upselling is my pet hate. I get it at the checkout at shops all the time. I can live with it at a restaurant, but when you get to the Post Office and they keep offering better (more expensive services) than when you ask, phone top ups etc, it starts to get quite annoying!

Adam yes my daughter has a Blue Peter badge and we were told that from Jan 2017 Merlin were no longer allowing free entry :disappointed:

Why not eh ?

Does anyone know if it's possible to get this rate as an upgrade from a standard entry ticket? I'm trying to figure out if I can maximise Tesco Clubcard vouchers to buy this (family pass), as the £50 in vouchers for 1 standard pass isn't that great a deal.

Good thinking Batman.

One of the things that appeals to me about these passes is that the family ticket is based on number of people so as a single child family it doesn't feel you are getting stitched up as much as some family tickets from other places where it is barely cheaper than 2 adults and 1 child ticket (i.e. often you pay as much for a 3 person family as others do for 4 or 5 people).

Been buying these for over ten years and this is the first time we've all agreed we're not going to bother.

Year on year the perks get less and less while prices go up and up.

We used mainly for Alton Towers which has gone downhill incredibly fast over the last few years since the crash... instead of plowing money in to try and bring it back up to scratch and attract more customers they seem to instead slash back on staff numbers, quality of the products and most of all the rides. So many were either removed or closed all year it was unreal - all of which were announced after this big promotion in the sale by the way. They've become very sneaky and greedy and so we have finally said enough is enough.

Everything is upsell, upsell upsell and it just ruins what should be a fun day out. Yes you expect this at theme parks but it's really gone too far. And this is coming from a single adult. I really feel for families who have the same costs several times over.

Do you also get the "employee savings"? I logged into the Edenred website before christmas and got the code "edenred" (then it was 20% off)
https://www.edenred.uk.com/Scripts/MySavings/MySavingsHome.aspx
You then have to ring Merlin and quote this to book the pass over the phone. We only asked about family premium passes - others may be more expensive than the .sale for all I know

The odd thing is I've just noticed the merlin link has now been removed from eden website.....but they quoted this cheaper 125 price when we used the code, so??

However - if you can use cashback at 10% (via quidco) you are better off doing that ..

Good advice on London Eye, worth doing both night and day loop :smiley: Also worth leaving Sea Life if you find its busy and coming in again when its quieter, makes for a nice break during a long sight seeing day in London.

We live in London, so have got the passes a few times when the wife's family visited. Recently they've got just a little too expensive to make it worthwhile over the typical 2 for 1 vouchers, especially as most family have been to the attractions a couple of times now. We're only considering them again now as we have a little one who's reaching an age where she'll enjoy them.

Unless you go during the peak summer months (July/Aug) or Xmas, fast track isn't that important IMO. IME for all the London attractions you're better off timing it when they're quiet if possible. Makes for a far more pleasant experience. Madame Tussauds is the only one which is difficult in that respect as there's not much else to do nearby if you turn up and find its really busy. Whereas the South Bank you can go for a nice stroll down the river, houses of parliament, covent garden isn't far, or grab a drink at one of the bars (recommend Skylon or Oxo Tower, a little pricey but both offer great views, also if you get as far as Tower Bridge there's a nice Strada and DimT with great views). Invariably there's a Lull at the London Eye/Sea Life at some point.

If you plan to visit the Theme Parks one Premium pass is probably worth it, not just for the parking, but also for the 20% off food.

NB: Just noted you get 20% off on food for standard pass as well.

Yes. You only flash one pass at exit from the car parks.

Hi, I pay into the childcare vouchers scheme with edenred. Is there something I can do on their website to get the merlin passes cheaper? Thanks in advance, I'm new to all of this!! Kelly

Thanks, not on FB myself but will see if the Mrs wants to try and find us a third family member :smiley:

Hi,
Could you please explain me how did you manage to get extra 10% via cash back as i have never done this before

You don't have to have the same address or be family to get family passes so some people on the Merlin Facebook group are joining up into one cheaper blended family of strangers. X

We had Annual Passes for years with our Tesco Clubcard points - you only need to buy one Premium pass per family and just use that for the free parking (obvs dont get the other 'perks') - If you are in London, try and visit London Eye in the daytime, and the evening as it is different experience at night, especially as it's free to use the passes again!

Mentioned in case it helps anyone...wondered if it was same as " Gourmet society" 20% offer:

On the extra discount, my company use Edenred to provide employee discount schemes (incl purchase discount, etc). Their code usually gives 20% of Merlin Annual Pass

http://www.edenred.co.uk/

However during the sale their discount took the tickets down to 125 for premium family ticket. But it had to be done by phone so cashback via quidco. I went for it like this because the quidco offer at our pickup was only about 3% - so not much different...

If you get the 10% cashback then that's much better!

We had those passes for 4 years now (premium) we may give it a miss this year as the kids are a bit bored of it now as we live in London and we visit twice a week during the holiday terms and every weekend during school terms to a different park every time, we got our value back in just 6 weeks, this include multi visit to Shrek, London Eye, London Dungeon etc. this year the kids started refusing to go as they have more entertainment at home (Ps4, Ipads, sky Tvs etc). still it's well worth it.

We can still renew later on the year if the kids change their mind as there will be another sale until than we are giving it a miss this year.

BTW the parks are actually less busier than few years back as the renuals use to be at £73 only, now it's 109 still worth it. Like other said you need to add fuel cost and hotels sometimes.

Standard was £89 to renew last year. Don't forget the Bad Publicity this company has has due to its Health and safety

gourm

Yep, can confirm was told the same.

Also if anyones wondering family passes have to be 3 people, even if you have a child under 3 (who therefore doesnt need a pass). Bumps up the price quite a bit unfortunately :disappointed:

It is indeed well worthy if you are willing to visit them all. I got a family pass nearly 2 years ago and didn't care to renew it as we spent basically the whole year (except Winter as they're closed) on theme parks, almost every weekend. Premium pass is the best option: Parking is free on theme parks, plus all the perks (Summer Nights and Halloween at Thorpe Park are awesome and bringing friends along for £10 and sometimes £5!). Don't forget 20% off on food, and they are already cheap! Be prepared to spend a lot on fuel and hotels. Also, long queues on the attractions, specially on school holidays / Summer. Madame Tussauds (London) was super busy in August, so avoid! Heat added

​Mine are under 7 so was planning on going Legoland Windsor again. I live near Manchester so even Alton Towers and Warwick can be a pain getting too (though not as bad Legoland).

Last year was the first time I've bought them. I'm thinking of renewing this year and then missing a few years as my little one will be over 3 then and will need a pass too.

We've had these many times over the years, but almost always factor in a year break minimum inbetween, because by the end of the year we tend to get a little fatigued and the kids a lot bored (Alton Towers is under an hour from us, Warwick just over).

Unless you've got very young ones Legoland, in my opinion, is a bust. Everytime we went queues we're horrendous, with it's accessibility to London it was always packed and more often than not understaffed / poorly run (relative to other venues).

​That's true - we went in the summer holidays and had a return train booked for 6pm, so didn't want to take a chance with the queues.

​I can confirm that we used the fast track lane for the London Eye last summer. For Shrek world you have to pay £1 for each ticket to pre book your entry slot. Same for Sealife London.
Didn't get round to Tussuasds but think there is a fast track option there too.[/quote
You only need to pay £1 if you want to book a slot online. You can just turn up and book a slot without paying.

​I can confirm that we used the fast track lane for the London Eye last summer. For Shrek world you have to pay £1 for each ticket to pre book your entry slot. Same for Sealife London.

Didn't get round to Tussuasds but think there is a fast track option there too.

I was talking about the fastrack entrance for London attractions on Premium annual pass. There is no mention of this anywhere on the website.

Was waiting for this sale to come around. We haven't had passes for a couple of years but - with saving up for Florida in 2018 - thought they would be a cheaper option than a 2017 holiday.

Luckily we live about 30 minutes from Chessington, Thorpe Park and Legoland and 45 minute train journey from London so they will get used a lot.

One thing I did hear recently - which would make it more expensive for us this time - Blue Peter badge holders no longer get in free. Is that correct?

No, you purchase standard passes and collect from your local attraction. On collection you upgrade one to premium for £50, however it's not much more to get all premium in the sale.

Hi
I am trying find out where it says so in their T&C. I can confirm some of the other forum members have also claimed they have been able to do so. Is it something you got lucky with?

Recommend join the merlin pass holders group on Facebook. Over 19k passholders in there. People are very helpful with tips and hints to get the most of the days out and there are flies with recommendations of local hotels to help you save on cost so don't have stay on site

https://www.facebook.com/groups/433978570084130/

Looks like you can upload your own photos and have your passes posted to you now anyway, which would make it better to just get them from wherever is offering the most cashback.

No you have to collect from the attraction you select as they are then known as your home attraction so if you lose your pass you have to return there to sort it out so bear that in mind if you have to travel a distance to pick it up.

What we tend to do as a family of four is buy 3 standard passes from merlin and use our Tesco Clubcard points for another pass. We then pick up the Tesco pass from one of the merlin attractions with a voucher then we pay £50 to upgrade the pass to a premium pass so we get the free car parking at some of the attractions. There is restictions in the school hols on the standard pass but remember that's only mainly the central London attractions which means you can still visit Thorpe, chessington and legoland without problems in the blackout time.

can you buy online from sealife (with cashback) then collect from another venue, when you go for the first time?

Yes you can however sea life, London eye and waxworks have fast track for premium so the standard pass holders would have to wait in line

It's well worth it - this year we've done Blackpool attractions x2
Manchester attractions x4
Alton towers x2
Warwick castle x 2
Chessington x3
Lego land x2
And London in 2 weeks
Then the discount on the chessington hotels and the drink cups

Doesn't work, it applies on full price;(.

Can just one of your party buy the premium pass to get car parking free? and the rest buy the standard.

We just bought the premium for 3 adults and 1 child, how we looked at it was:
Chessington - 4 visits + 1 zoo visit (winter)
Thorpe Park - 2 visits
Legoland - 4 visits
Alton Towers - 2 visits
Sea Life centres - 3 visits
Warwick Castle - 1 visit
London Eye - 1 visit (maybe)
Shrek Tour - 1 visit
Anything else a bonus
That's 18/19 visits so under £30 per family visit, plus includes parking, can take other family members for £15 (3 times) or half price otherwise and 3 x £5 fast track vouchers each etc. Likewise this is the sort of minimum number of visits we expect to do, but trying to be realistic too.
I think that is quite good value! Dinner for the 4 of us cost more than that out!

Heat given. I got 10% cashback from quidco purchasing from York Dungeons. Tracked within 5 mins :smile:

​Yes, everybody has their own pass. We have a family pass and sometimes the kids go with their aunts and uncles

from midnight every Sunday till midnight Tuesday you can go to
http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/united-kingdom/index.shtml
use Monday in PREFERENTIAL CODE - you should be able to find £25 per night family room around heathrow for Friday through to Monday (works for the next weekend and the weekend after that) maybe £40 in London if you want to do some of those attractions (this trick works every week for the next fortnight)

what headache?

​Well the plan is to book a hotel around Heathrow, which is central to both parks. But since my little one is now >2, hotels etc are more expensive, especially for 2 or 3 nights.

And last time we went to Windsor we only managed to sit on about 4/5 rides in one day, which was quite annoying, especially after a 3.5hr drive down!!

I was planning on driving down the night before this time, but that adds an extra night, another expense. Sigh.

Main headache is the additional costs of overnight stays/ food, and we can't predict how busy it will be!

(I really want to go again but my OH is firmly against going to Legoland Windsor again. :disappointed: )

ive gone for the 11% tcb cashback via york dungeons. will let you know if it tracks for the annual pass purchases.

I'm having the same issue. Have gone most places apart from a few down south. I would never have dreamt of going Warwick Castle if I hadn't bought the passes last year and the kids loved it too!

Now in two minds whether to renew. Have two trips planned to Alton Towers already and probably Legoland discovery centre, but the thought of planning to go to Legoland Windsor/ Chessington is a headache!!

Does the gourmet society 20% discount combine?

you can get 5.5% casback on legoland through tcb

£436 for two adults and two children. Seems crazy expensive

Think its only Sealife London which usually does. Not living in London anymore I've tried doing mine through Chessington at 3.45% TCB.

Does Sea Life cashback work with these?

Yes if you choose collection it activates on day of collection.

Do you know if there are any deals on family tickets? Will I need to buy 5 premium passes at £119 or a family deal? Is it the merlin website I go to on 1st January? T
Thanks in advance :-)

​

Afraid not.

Great if it is...source?

it is going to be £99 for standard or £119 for premium

​I do it every year through the SeaLife website and always get the full TCB.

​fantastic. that's great. we can use it Easter this year and next Easter as well, as Easter is earlier in 2018 lol. ta for your help.

​thanks that's great

It's valid from whenever you collect it from an attraction or it gets dispatched via postal application.

The prices already went up in October time I believe. Always worth looking into using clubcard vouchers or Nectar points too

It's not a deal yet as it isn't live

I want this offer personally but it's only me and my wife with a 1yr old. It never works out anywhere near £109pp.

Thanks for that.

Will have a look when they are released and hopefully the renewal prices are even cheaper. :wink:

The January prices won't be as low as June. They will be the "sale" discounts on the 2017 prices. They do this every year but people kept complaining when the Boxing Day Sale started with "discounted" 2017 prices and not 2016 prices!

Expect a price hike which will be higher than the previous summer sale!