The Merlin Annual Pass

Sat Aug 02, 2014 6:19 pm

Oh just wondered if there are any benefits to having the VIP pass in respect of Splash Landings?

Sat Aug 02, 2014 7:03 pm

My VIP pass is 100% valid for 1 year, not sure were this extra 7 days have come from???

Have other people with the VIP pass been given an extra 7 days as I have NOT?

Sat Aug 02, 2014 7:07 pm

Our VIP boxes arrived 8 working days after I purchased them.

We went Thorpe Park yesterday and there were a few other VIP persons about, which was nice to see! We stayed for the summer nights, there was not many people in the park after 1900hrs making most rides walk on, even Swarm!

Sat Aug 02, 2014 7:26 pm

Lordmajestic01 wrote:My VIP pass is 100% valid for 1 year, not sure were this extra 7 days have come from???

Have other people with the VIP pass been given an extra 7 days as I have NOT?

Merlin actually state on there Web page that passes are issued with an extra week

If you look in the FAQs on the Merlin site in the how long is my pass valid for section. It states they add an extra week...

Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:09 pm

stageshoot wrote:
Lordmajestic01 wrote:My VIP pass is 100% valid for 1 year, not sure were this extra 7 days have come from???

Have other people with the VIP pass been given an extra 7 days as I have NOT?
Merlin actually state on there Web page that passes are issued with an extra week

If you look in the FAQs on the Merlin site in the how long is my pass valid for section. It states they add an extra week...

Is it different if you pay with club card maybe? I'm sure none of my 5 passes have had an extra week

Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:13 pm

My pass is valid for 1 year plus 7 days. Activated it on 19th July 2014, expires on 25th July 2015.

Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:49 pm

Our passes are also valid for 1yr + 7 days.

Another trip to Thorpe Park, second time in a row we got VIP wristbands, not sure if it's new or not but they insisted on writing down the pass numbers on a form (must be keeping a log of who is visiting?)

Only one negative and that was being told we had to pay for refills, he was insistent that no passes had free drinks apart from those with unlimited drinks wristbands. We just went elsewhere for our drink.

Also parked at hotel, so much easier to get out the park.

Going Legoland tomorrow (booked in via website on Thursday but so far no contact has been made)

Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:14 pm

Bit odd considering that all terms and conditions stress that refills are unlimited for VIP. That really shouldn't have happened: you didn't get the benefit of something that you're paying a lot of money for. Worth emailing VIP to let them know.

Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:39 pm

thedman31 wrote:Bit odd considering that all terms and conditions stress that refills are unlimited for VIP. That really shouldn't have happened: you didn't get the benefit of something that you're paying a lot of money for. Worth emailing VIP to let them know.

I'm putting it down to him just not knowing, he said he wasn't aware of VIP passes perks and as far as he was aware it was only free drinks with the daily wristband. I did pop into Guest Services on way out to let them know but I will email the team as well as they seem to get the message to the right manager at the park who is able to resolve the issues.

Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:53 pm

Cool. Have you tried the water park at Alton using VIP? Are there any advantages or do we have to pay for access?

Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:53 pm

Was also going to say has anyone tried the river cruise or any of the london attractions using vip yet?

Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:02 pm

thedman31 wrote:Cool. Have you tried the water park at Alton using VIP? Are there any advantages or do we have to pay for access?

We use the waterpark about twice a week. No charges and you get an all day wristband so don't have to worry about session times 10-2.30 and 3.30-8pm you can stay as long as you want

It gets quieter after 1.30pm as people leave the morning session and very quiet between 2.30 and 3.30 before afternoon session starts

We tend to go between 1pm and 4pm

Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:06 pm

thedman31 wrote:Was also going to say has anyone tried the river cruise or any of the london attractions using vip yet?

We're doing the Eye & River cruise on 25th August, but like you haven't seen any feedback on those yet. LEGOLAND tomorrow, Thorpe again on Wednesday and then Chessington on Saturday.

Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:46 am

Lordmajestic01 wrote:My VIP pass is 100% valid for 1 year, not sure were this extra 7 days have come from???

Have other people with the VIP pass been given an extra 7 days as I have NOT?

Although it says it on the website, when me and my friend picked up our VIP passes from Tussauds on Friday (01/08) the date on our passes says 01/08/15, not a major problem though for me.

Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:56 am

Went to Thorpe with the VIP passes yesterday with a friend and it was a decent experience, greeted promptly and given Merlin VIP MAP wristbands - it was a good day, we didn't stay for Summer Nights as we were exhausted.

My only annoyance (not pass related) was the queue lines for The Swarm on the left side (not over the bridge), people didn't seem to notice the separate lanes for backwards and forwards which lead to delays each time we went on as people were blocking the queue and we wanted to go backwards most times whereas they were queuing to go forwards, not a major problem though.

The park wasn't that busy yesterday either especially towards 4ish.

Me and my friend had an issue with the barcodes on our passes not scanning upon entry by the Merlin Rep at the gates, is it worth contacting Merlin over this?

Sun Aug 03, 2014 4:02 pm

Legoland trip report.

Wow what an amazing day it was, arrived at priority parking where the attendent let the VIP host know we were there by radio. Promptly met at the "A" meeting point, was given our VIP wristbands, maps and then told to use the exit on all rides apart from Vikings river splash (use Qbot line).

All catering staff were aware of the free drinks refills, all ride staff were also aware of the VIP pass and every memeber of staff spoke to us asking how the day was going etc.

Got to stay on at the Boating school, "the Dragon" was asked if we wanted to sit at the front.

All in all a very VIP service, you could actually tell the staff and the park have put in the effort of embracing us VIP's and it just goes to show that those who believe all you've bought with this pass is an unlimited fastrack are wrong, just visit Legoland for yourself. The VIP wristbands even have a mobile number for you to SMS if you have any questions or issues and they call you back.

Highly recommend a visit.

Sun Aug 03, 2014 4:35 pm

Mayfly_ wrote:Me and my friend had an issue with the barcodes on our passes not scanning upon entry by the Merlin Rep at the gates, is it worth contacting Merlin over this?

If it happens again then certainly report it, usually they print a new card which has a new number and that gets pushes through the system.

At least that's what happened with our passes that wouldn't work at the car park barriers at Thorpe Park last year.

Sun Aug 03, 2014 7:29 pm

Mayfly_ wrote: Me and my friend had an issue with the barcodes on our passes not scanning upon entry by the Merlin Rep at the gates, is it worth contacting Merlin over this?

We spoke to the lovely girl who let us in at Thorpe yesterday about this issue, apparently it is a known issue an that they are aware needs sorting. Basically the passes only seem to scan correctly at your issuing attraction. We've done Thorpe, Legoland and Chessy this weekend and the passes haven't scanned at any of them as they were issued at Alton. Let's hope they fix it soon

Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:30 pm

Michelle wrote:
Mayfly_ wrote: Me and my friend had an issue with the barcodes on our passes not scanning upon entry by the Merlin Rep at the gates, is it worth contacting Merlin over this?
We spoke to the lovely girl who let us in at Thorpe yesterday about this issue, apparently it is a known issue an that they are aware needs sorting. Basically the passes only seem to scan correctly at your issuing attraction. We've done Thorpe, Legoland and Chessy this weekend and the passes haven't scanned at any of them as they were issued at Alton. Let's hope they fix it soon

It is strange. Mine works at AT as it issuing attraction, but it won't work elsewhere. It only works on the car parks.

Sun Aug 03, 2014 10:17 pm

Popped into Thorpe Park for an hour on the way up to London, and still really pleased with the pass. Got the correct VIP wristband, rather than the 'Ultimate' one. The park was PACKED (which ordinarily would be bad news, but rather pleased me thanks to my pass!).

I got on quite a few rides given the amount of time available (including two new ones for me - Flying Fish and Stealth (so both ends of the spectrum!!)).

The only downside was I dressed with a red t-shirt and dark trousers, so along with my VIP lanyard, quencher and the fact I was on my own meant I was mistaken for a member of Thorpe Park Staff by about 6 people (in one hour!) who asked questions! Funny the first few times but quite annoying after a while... won't be making that mistake again!

I can't imagine it was good for Thorpe's PR since my response to most of the questions was "I don't know" with no attempt to find out. Those people must have gone away thinking the staff at TP are a bunch of unhelpful idiots!

Most rides were pretty efficient, but Swarm was a bit of a nightmare - the posted queue time was 45 minutes, and the FastTrack queue was I'd say about 20 (I guess I shouldn't complain). It seems people get totally confused by the "left/right" split, and assume it is a fastpass/non-fastpass split.

I saw a family of 4 heading into "X" via the exit as I was leaving, wearing VIP lanyards - interesting to see others around. Imagine the mayhem that would be unleashed if a full-on TowersTimes "VIP Meetup" was organised! I didn't think Merlin would be too successful selling their 4xVIP Passes offering (£1600 is a lot of money to spend yearly), but there are clearly more than I thought there'd be.