Merlin passes - are they worth it?

[Em4owen]

We're thinking about spending our holiday in the UK and in order to get our theme park fix, are contemplating getting a Merlin pass to 'tour' the UK theme parks in the summer and across the year. We would stay at the theme park hotels and have been to them all over the years so know what to expect, in that sense. We live near to London so could make use of the pass on the various London attractions too. We're a family of 4 - two boys aged nearly 7 and 4.5.

Have any of you bought the pass in the past and found it worthwhile? How did you get your money's worth?

[JessBlu]

100% had them for a year and were well worth it, you only have to do a couple a times to make them pay.

Had lots of great Merlin adventures, booked cheap premier inns for weekends, did something most weekends for a year.

[caro]

We have the pay monthly ones and love them. We try and do at least one day out a month and a couple of times a year we book a travelodge and do all the London attractions. Warwick castle is closest to us and we often pop in there on a nice day.

[Guest]

I think so .
We’ve had them for about 5 years now and always get our moneys worth out of them .

[SuziQz]

We’ve had them for years and they’ve been great. We live in Surrey with easy access to Legoland, Thorpe Park and Chessington so we’ve always had value for money from them. We don’t have to worry if a park gets too busy as we can just leave and go back again another day. Also whereas we spent most time at Legoland when DS was small it’s all about Thorpe Park these days.

Warwick and Alton Towers tend to be a more planned trips and we’ve only been a couple of times. Likewise London, we’ve done all the places but they’re not something we go back to very often. Still haven’t made it to Blackpool yet - DS isn’t great on long car journeys. Need to plan a longer trip to both Alton Towers and Blackpool sometime

[PoohBears#1fan]

If you go regularly then yes, definitely worth it. We had them for years when the kids were small, back before Thorpe Park was part of the Merlin group. We only stopped buying them when we got our (now 9 year old) dog, by which time we'd been going most weekends for years and it was getting a little routine.

We had so many fun days and weekends with them, I'd recommend it.

[sam7]

We used to have them. One visit to London, go on the eye, into the aquarium, madam taussauds alone and you have got your moneys worth. We went to the South theme parks every school holiday (lived in Kent) and up to Alton Towers every halloween so more than had our moneys worth out of it. I used to part pay for mine using tesco club card deals not sure if they still do them

[boltyboy]

We have had Merlin passes for the last 5 years and used them loads. We only live 15 mins from Legoland, 30 from Thorpe and 45 from Chessington so make good use of them. I was on the Lego site to see how the opening was going to happen, even if you are a pass holder you will be charged £1 to book a slot to get into the park! I have already paid for my pass, I know it's only a £1 but when you go as often as we do it's going to add up.

[Em4owen]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. It sounds like it's definitely worth especially if you're in the South and close to London, Chessington, Legoland and Thorpe park, like we are 🙂

[mickeyspal]

My niece had them ,at the time she had a carers pass ( disabled hubby was free) and 2 kids passes ( other 2 kids were under age) for for 3 passes 6 of them got so much use out of them . They were never home