To ask your advice about Merlin Passes?

[Whatsername7]

Shamelessly posting for traffic, sorry.

Im in the midst of a declutter and have decided that my kids have too much stuff. Im thinking ahead to Christmas (AIBU - its August - I know!) and I really need to try and find a way to cut down. Im considering Merlin Passes or similar. Can anyone offer any advice? Are they worth the money? Is there a better option? My kids are 8 and 2 (3 in Jan). DH and I are both teachers so we have school holidays to use them. Does everyone in the family have to have a VIP pass to qualify for free parking or could just dh have an upgrade?

I think its a really good idea. I haven''t had one myself though so can't advise.

What attractions are near you and you can use often and easily?

What about English Heritage, they have a lot of interesting places for 8 year old, and possibly better outdoorsy stuff for a 2 year old?

They have them on offer in January so do not buy for Christmas!! www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/travel/uk-ireland/merlin-launch-massive-new-years-11784569.amp

Join the Merlin groups on facebook for tips. As someone up thread said, look out for the sales. There is usually one around Xmas. Yes you can have one premium pass for the parking and the rest as standard. You will have to buy them all at the family rate and then pay extra to upgrade one of them. Be aware though that you can't use the standard passes in august at the London theme parks, check out the terms and conditions.
We had premium passes a couple of years ago. I worked out that even with 2 for 1 vouchers it would have cost 1200 quid to do all the stuff we did with the passes. We planned lots of trips and holidays around them that year to make good use of them. So yes, they can be worth it. We went to Legoland, Chessington, Alton Towers several times, 6 seaside centres, blackpool tower, 2 x madam tussauds, the London Eye, Shrek Adventure and Warwick castle. Kept us busy that year.

P.s. the passes are standard or premium. They have ended the VIP passes which were very expensive.

Thanks that is really helpful!

if you live near the attractions they are great. depending on your kids age. we used them loads and now just have Thorpe park passes as have a 13 year old that goes with mates!

We near one....we got access the the one we near by for the year for £7.50. Seriously that cheap. I wouldnt bother otherwise. It came up on local site they selling tickets cheap and ever mum bought it. Saying that once been three four times..kinda not been again.

We had them one summer when the children were 10,8 and 5 and they were amazing. We had a year when we did everything Merlin related (except the dungeon), but we are in the SE and most things are close by.

3 years on, only I have the pass and get the free parking and then friends and family tickets when I want to take one of the children as now their interests are different.

We bought Premium merlin Passes 12 months ago which run out this weekend. We live near Alton Towers (1 hour away). Over the past 12 months we've stayed overnight at Alton Towers in one of their hotels, been to London twice where we did Madame Tusauds, Shrek, Sea life Centre and the London Dungeon. We went to Surrey for a long weekend and went to Legoland Windsor, Thorpe Park and Chessington over 3 consecutive days stopping at Warwick Castle on our way home. We also went to the Legoland Discovery Centre and sea life centre in Manchester. And we went to Blackpool for a weekend where we went to madam Tussaud's, Sea life Centre, Blackpool Tower and Blackpool Dungeon. Its been really good value but we are not renewing.

I had them for one year and I think we probably saved money but I bought them just after DH died intending to go to Lego Land. We live in Yorkshire and although most of my family live in the South East I think I did not think about if we were really going to get to all the attractions and the added costs.
I bought in the January sale, not sure if they would have been good value otherwise. I stayed with a family member in London and we did the London Eye three times because we could (and she lives on Thameslink so the Southbank was pretty easy) and all the other attractions included in London. I am not sure we would have bothered without the Merlin Pass. We also did Blackpool (hideous) but the Tower etc were included.
We did not get to Legoland but managed Chessington and Thorpe Park.
There was a calculator on the website which helped you work out if it is cost effective. If you live by the major theme parks or plan your holidays around them then I think it is a massive saving as long as you are able to get there easily and not have to book hotels etc. And also if you love theme parks! The attractions in London and the provinces are an added extra if you happen to be there.

Only one needs premium for parking

Depends where you live - its worth it for us we are 30 mins from Southbank by train (so London Eye, Shrek, Aquarium, Dungeon etc) 15 mins drive from Chessington (where we go a lot at the moment as DS is animal mad), 30 from Thorpe Park and 45 mins from Legoland so its easy for us.

We have also done a 2 night break at Alton Towers which was good value and DH is running a 1/2marathon near Warwick Castle so will go there

Be aware that there was a new rule this year and for standard passes, there are now a lot of attractions (Chessington, Thorpe Park, Legoland etc) that you cannot visit on Friday,Saturday or Sundays during the summer holidays.