Merlin passes - standard or premium?

donna1979

The Merlin pass sale is back on and we plan on getting them but I can't decide whether its worth going for the premium! Anybody had them and can give me the heads up? There are 3 of us so will be getting the family tickets - £109 each or £129 each. Is the extra £60 worth it?

dave030445

donna1979 wrote: »

The Merlin pass sale is back on and we plan on getting them but I can't decide whether its worth going for the premium! Anybody had them and can give me the heads up? There are 3 of us so will be getting the family tickets - £109 each or £129 each. Is the extra £60 worth it?

Read up whats included on each pass and see what suit you best only you can make the decision which is right for you

Rileybaby

It depends where you live when you will use the, with premium passes you get free parking. Use of the passes in London during August and bank holidays and premium packs which include friends & family tickets etc. I wouldn't buy the standard passes to be honest x

Brighty

As above, main difference is free parking. I live near legoland, so go there often. With a standard pass it's £5 a time to park, with premium it's free. I went for premium as we're sure to get £60 worth of parking in a year.

SimonD316

As mentioned you can't use the standard passes in London during August or other bank holidays. It's well worth the extra £60.

_steve66

Obviously as others have said, it will depend on when you visit and how often.

My personal experience was that it was definitely worth the extra for parking and not having to work around restricted dates. We made sure we visited the theme parks as often as possible and I kept a record of how much it would have cost us each time for entry, parking etc and it's amazing how quickly the parking adds up if you visit often. We are quiet close to London so used to pop to Chessington or Thorpe Park for the morning or afternoon quite often, it just suits us better not having to pay for parking each time.

HTH

maggot_drowner

Not sure about if it altered but we got 3 x standard passes and just 1 premium pass and this qualified for the free parking which probably would cost £5 or £6 each visit if just standard passes.

TwinMummy

Do you get fast track entry to the rides with the premium pass?

donna1979

We decided to go for the premium. Glad we did as it allows for fast pass on the London eye etc but it doesn't give fast passes for the the theme parks TwinMummy. You can get a discount though!

Onmyway2

We've always gone for premium, free parking and big discounts on food/photos/gifts adds up. Also, you can get in on special occasions - we go to the Alton Towers fireworks display (usually about £27 a head).
Last year we also got 3 £10 passes for friends to be used on our birthday weeks and also got invites to previews.


Either way if you use it 3/4 times you will save money, they usually have a calculator so you can figure out how much you will get for your money. We filled it out last year and had over £1400 worth of tickets for our £129, not sure how much we saved on parking and food but was well worth the cash as I couldn't afford a holiday and kids had loads of amazing days out. We also did a cheap weekend in Blackpool, last minute hotel and all the Merlin attractions and a £29 travel lodge break near Chessington & Thorpe Park.


PS - I do live close to Alton Towers so remember to factor in petrol if you don't live close to an attraction you like.

takman

TwinMummy wrote: »

Do you get fast track entry to the rides with the premium pass?

You need the VIP pass for that which are £699 each.