Our Merlin Annual Passes

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Recently I have been receiving lots or messages and emails about our days out at Merlin attractions, the cost of visiting them and why we go so often so I thought I'd write a post on why we bought our passes and some other info.

 We have been Merlin Passholders for a few years now and the reason we decided to make the purchase was simply because of the amount of day trips and short breaks we take. 
We are quite an active family and love a day out but even after all my bargain hunting and coupon cutting, as a family of 5(Sofia was free at most attractions back then) entrance fees, travel, food, snacks, drinks etc a day out was costing A LOT more than our big monthly shop.

 One of my cousins had previously been Merlin annual passholder and suggested that we look into getting them as we were visiting lots of the Merlin attractions anyway. The Merlin Annual Pass website is pretty straight forward. It breaks down the different types of passes available(standard, premium and VIP), the cost and what is and isn't included with each one.

 We looked through all the terms and conditions and thought that the premium passes best suited our needs. We opted to wait for the January sales to purchase ours and as we were buying 3 or more we qualified for the family rate which made them £119 each instead of £169. That is quite a lot to spend in one lump sum and so soon after Christmas BUT even with the theme parks closed until March we made back what we spent within the first 8 weeks of having them. Standard passes are cheaper than the premium ones but for us, the ability to use them during the Summer holidays, free parking and £15 entrance vouchers for friends and family were worth paying the extra, just the car parking costs alone over the year would have cost us more than the extra £30. Also, if you buy them using Topcashback you can save even further or ask your employer if they get a corporate discount with Merlin as you can save yourself some more money there.

Because we live in London and are quite close to Westminster, we are able to hop on a bus for just a 20 minute journey and make the most of the London attractions along the Southbank(The Coca Cola London Eye, The London Dungeons, Shreks Adventure and The London Sealife Centre) pretty much whenever we want to. We have great transport links locally so are able to get to Chessington, Legoland, Thorpe Park and Warwick Castle that are also well served by public transport with ease(and our railcard makes this even cheaper!) Many of the attractions put on special events for Easter, Christmas , Halloween and Summer so it's worth subscribing to newsletters to keep up to date with all the latest news and offers.

 There are some great benefits to our Merlin Annual Passes like up to 20% off food, drink, merchandise and more, exclusive passholder discounts on short breaks through the Merlin Holiday Club, discount on attraction tickets for friends and family and more.

There are 32 Merlin attractions to enjoy and with so many to choose from there is something to suit every member of the family(even if I do struggle to get my teenagers out on a day trip with their 'uncool' mum) and if like me you have a disability don't think you have to miss out. On production of appropriate evidence, disabled guests can get a carers pass free, there is disabled access at pretty much every attraction and help whilst you are there.

 So as the theme park seasons winds down and comes to an end we know that there are still so many opportunities to get out and enjoy ourselves with our Merlin annual passes.
Emma xoxo


*I was not sponsored or paid for this post. We are Merlin Annual Passholders and I have received many questions recently about our passes and days out.

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