Merlin pass - worth it?

[ImFree2doasiwant]

I've been looking into taking DC to legoland, and in the course if trying to find the best/cheapest way,came across the merlin pass.

I understand they can only be used on weekdays which shouldn't be an issue for us as I have a day off in the week.

If you've had one, do you recommend them? Anything else I should be aware of?

I'm thinking that I wouldn't need to use it too many times to make it worthwhile, abd we'd get to go to a few places rather than a couple

I had one last year but the premium one where you can go whenever (they aren’t for sale at the moment). I live close to Alton towers so used it there a few times, then we went to London and did the London eye m, sealift etc. We also went to Blackpool and did everything there and went down south and did chessington/Legoland! So for us they were totally worth it, but i decided not to renew due to the uncertainty of Covid and having to book everything in advance but overall I’d say they were well worth the money!

Best thing we’ve ever spent money on IMO. When Covid struck part way through ours they extended our membership. Also for the peak days that you can’t use it, you can still get significant discount off your entry. We used ours on Legoland, Thorpe park and Chessington quite a few times each. Also did x2 trips to London with it which I’d really recommend with the merlin pass as some of the attractions, whilst I’m glad I got to go to them and my daughter loved it, would not be worth the standard entry fee IMO! (Looking at you, Shreks Adventure!)

Oh and you also get discount off all your food and drink there! Which for somebody like me who hates lugging a picnic around theme parks, made a significant difference

When mine were small we always had one - at the time you could get cheap with Tescos Clubcard so just shopped everything on the Tescos card. We live very close, so used to go most days in term time when the older kids were at school, and also go after school much as one would go to a play park after school, we'd do a few rides and go home after.

I'd recommend going when it's wet as less queues and just wear raincoats, the kids do not care, and if you do the after school quite often on a wet afternoon where it's dried out late on the park has emptied and we'd be the only people on some rides while the sun shone till closing time!
The food discount means the restaurant prices come down to 'normal'

I don't think we live close enough for anything other than a full day out/overnight stay but thanknyou.

We have the Premium ones (still valid as we have the monthly payment option - they're not selling new annual Premium passes now). They're definitely worth the money, we pay £11.99 a month each and that gets us unrestricted entry (except obviously having to reserve entry slots now due to covid), free parking, discounts on food, drink and merchandise etc. Looking at the new passes, the Platinum looks to offer the same as the current Premium passes, but is twice the price so I'm not sure we'd bother with that if/when they do scrap the monthly payment scheme, and we'd probably go for the Gold pass as that's pretty decent in terms of restricted dates etc. and would be less of a price hike (although still more than we currently pay). I'd say if you're going to visit more than once, and use it at other attractions too, it's definitely worth the money.

They can be amazing value but people are finding it hard to book entry so worth baring in mind

Pre-Covid (and until October 2020) we had premium passes. Absolutely worth paying for but we didn't renew for this year. Having to book ahead meant the parks were fuller than they ever were pre-Covid and the queues were abysmal, it really made for a different experience. Such a shame. Would consider going for them again if restrictions are ever lifted.

The weekday pass is also term time only. I am not sure if you get many perks with it. We have old premium passes and probably don’t get our money’s worth every year but make up for it on other years