Merlin Passes

pollyanna24

My girls are 5 and 3, and I'm thinking that they are too young to have them yet.


We live close to London where a lot of the attractions are and I most likely will get them in the future, just wondered at what ages people though was suitable?


Have started looking into them as am planning on going to LEGOLAND in the Easter holidays and it looks like it is going to be an expensive day!

kacie

remember Kelloggs are doing Merlin passes on their cereals, so you can get a free(ish) ticket through them

SplanK

Merlin passes are good if you visit a large number of places that take them.


I know a few people who have them as they go Alton towers or Thorpe park several times a year and they easily save money over just buying tickets alone at the gate, even at discounted rates.


You will just have to work out how you would use them to see if they will save you money whilst having them.

pollyanna24

Ooh, didn't know about that! Will have to look into it, although I doubt I will be buying them this year.


I have Tesco Clubcard vouchers. Can they still be used against the cost?

claire16c

Whenever weve gone to Legoland weve used buy one get one free tickets off cereal boxes. Your kids are the perfect age for going there.

pollyanna24

claire16c wrote: »

Whenever weve gone to Legoland weve used buy one get one free tickets off cereal boxes. Your kids are the perfect age for going there.

I'm going to look at some cereal now when I get home!


Yeah, people have said that it is good to take them to LEGOLAND. Me and a couple of friends have decided to go as a special treat as we certainly don't go to places like this often (in fact my two have never been).


I was thinking of getting the pass maybe when they are 8 and 6 to get the most out of it, but I suppose if I went to LEGOLAND a few times, I'd make my money back. It's only about 1/2 hr drive from me.

susancs

pollyanna24 wrote: »

I'm going to look at some cereal now when I get home!


Yeah, people have said that it is good to take them to LEGOLAND. Me and a couple of friends have decided to go as a special treat as we certainly don't go to places like this often (in fact my two have never been).


I was thinking of getting the pass maybe when they are 8 and 6 to get the most out of it, but I suppose if I went to LEGOLAND a few times, I'd make my money back. It's only about 1/2 hr drive from me.

As you state, it is probably best to wait until they are older to get the most value out of the Merlin passes. They are too young to really enjoy places like Warwick castle, Thorpe Park, London Dungeons and Madam Tussauds.

Chessington is great for your children's age group as it not only has the theme park but has the aqarium, zoo and shows as well. They also do a good adult , plus child aged 5 and under for £19 but this has to be booked in advance and does not usually include the school holidays so unless your 5 year olds holidays are outside of the normal dates or you can go on an inset/occassional school closure day, it may not suit.

Agutka

My boys are 6 and 4 and we live in your area. We've had merlin passes for three years now. Legoland is great to hang out in after school (cool off in the water park, or just hang out in the play area), chessington is a fab day out, you don't even have to go on rides. We love Warwick, but they are boys and anything with a sword is fab. In the early days we made it up to Alton too. Oh and they could live in a sealife centre if you let them.
It's a huge amount of money, even in the January sale, but we fall for it every year.

Seanymph

We used to buy them with Tesco clubcard points.

pollyanna24

Think we've ruled out Legoland for now as my friend says queuing times for rides are an hour and we think kids are too young for that.

Now we are thinking Chessington, but won't queues be just as long there? But like a previous poster mentioned, there is the zoo to visit there as well.

I've also got the issue that my friends are going with their husbands. No problem with that as I get on great with them. I'm a single mum and was wondering if a lot of the rides stipulated one adult per child. And there's only one of me. I'm sure my friends will help me out and we will swap kids around so that my kids get on enough rides etc., but just wondered if there were loads of rides in these two places where it may pose a problem. Suppose I could beg my brother to come with me, but I'm guessing he'd make me pay his entry!

onlyroz

We had Merlin passes for a few years but they've shot up in price and now most places have started charging extra for parking so we're taking a break. We're thinking of getting a Chessington pass this year but I'm still not convinced they're worth the money.