The Merlin Annual Pass

General theme park and attraction industry chat, along with the world of theme park gaming.
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Hazard
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Fast track is one of them where its also depending on how busy the park is and when everyone uses fast track, if everyone by chance decides to go on Oblivion then the queue will be much longer.

Out of interest how many fast track passes are sold daily at AT? And what do we think it will be like at Scarefest with fast tracks or will people not buy them because the park is open longer?
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Danny
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I think It's about 200 an hour per ride, but it obviously depends on the throughput of the ride
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Dom
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In the past when i've attended Scarefest/Fright Nights i've always had fast track. The fast track queues themselves aren't normally as busy as normal. But that is only when i have gone. Can't say for certain though. I wonder if the VIP Pass will give you any Halloween perks?
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thedman31
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Would be good if it did.

Just wondered, I'm not a huge roller coaster fan although I so enjoy one from time to time. Would this mean the VIP annual pass wasn't worth having or do people think its still a pretty good investment.

Just noticed on the Merlin Facebook that someone is "holding out buying VIP until the Deluxe VIP goes on sale next year". Is this for real? If so, anyone know anything?
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stageshoot
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It was tongue in cheek, a reference to the fact Merlin tend to move the goalposts from time to time. From the way I read it.
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thedman31
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Ah okay, that would make sense. : )
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Lordmajestic01
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I finally received my 6 passes yesterday and they are around the 705 mark. Oh and what is the point in of the PIN badge, I mean it s so small you can hardly see it, it needs to stand out, if they are going to use, well, lets do it properly?



We went Chessington World of Adventures yesterday, upon arrival we were greeted by guest services who had the VIP fast track wrist bands all ready, he informed us that we were to q up on the rides in the fast track, as opposed to the exit.

Having quee'd in Dragon Falls, the ride attendant told us that we should have come straight to the Exit?!, there needs to be much more clarity.

Many of the quees merge with the main line, I don't think VIP pass holders should have to q in the fast trackas there needs to be some differentiation between fast track and VIP???? thoughts
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Burniel
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No, there shouldn't, VIP gives you "unlimited fastrack", not "no queuing whatsoever".
Burniel | Great at theme park knowledge, not so great at designing signatures.
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markfranklin
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True... although in the blurb it says "queues are in your past, not your future"!
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stageshoot
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I really cannot see why this keeps coming up

In what you get it clearly states you get unlimited fastrack. Why are people expecting more than that?

Some fastrack lines are great others are not. If the Line is not open the use the exit, but if the fastrack is open us that. Why should someone using one of these passes be expecting more than a guest who buys a one day unlimited fastrack, as in the what you get on the pass page it's unlimited fastrack.

Not an all day front of line or front row ticket. If you want that you need to be buying one of the £200 a day packages that state they include it.

Not just making up your own terms and conditions and saying I have a VIP pass I am entitled to more than was on offer

Yes at AT they have gone above and beyond offering row of choice etc but is up to them to offer and not for the pass holder to demand.

All this needy attitude is just likely to get the heckles up of the staff and management and curtail the extras we are offered from time to time

Eg. As has already been posted many people would like to use a golden ticket to get a daily fastrack pass for friends coming with them using the free vouchers we get. I emailed the VIP team a couple of days ago making the suggestion and also commenting on the positives so far with the pass. And they emailed back saying it was being looked at but if I wanted to use friends tickets soon then to email them and they would sort something out for me regards fastrack.

It's this sort of goodwill that will be lost if people constantly badger for more than was ever promised with the passes
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Lordmajestic01
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"queues are in your past, not your future"!

At the minute, it's hardly what it says on the tin???
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chrish
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Lordmajestic01 wrote:"queues are in your past, not your future"!

At the minute, it's hardly what it says on the tin???
Sorry, where does it say that? I can't find it.
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Lordmajestic01
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It was on there website last I checked........
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Dom
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On the Merlin VIP Page it does say the following under the VIP Perks
Unlimited Fastracks
Your V.I.P Merlin Annual Pass is your Magic Wand to enter the Fastrack Queue.
That quote their answers everything.
Hope this helps.
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markfranklin
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That bit about queues being in your past, is on page 2 of the booklet that came in the VIP pack sent in the post.
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markfranklin
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markfranklin wrote:Good idea nuttyslack, I will email the VIP team later on, and will post the response when I get it.

On Saturday at Chessington, I asked for a non-fizzy drink for my daughter as she doesn't like the fizzy ones, and they said no problem and filled it up with Oasis. They did say I could also have tap water.
I wrote:
"I also wanted to check a couple of points regarding the drinks capsules. Whilst we’ve had Premium annual passes for the past few years, I have never opted for the drinks capsules mainly as I cannot bear to carry them around the park all day. Apart from breaking for a meal, we tend to only require a small drink once or twice (about 20% of the capsule would be sufficient!).

On that basis, is there any opportunity of going to the drink refilling stations without the capsule, showing the annual pass and asking for just a small drink in a paper cup perhaps?

Also, my wife does not really like the fizzy drinks or Oasis but prefers a cup of tea on occasion. She commented to me that a tea bag and some hot water would in fact be cheaper than an unlimited volume of Coke, and whether there could be provision to have one cup of tea per visit included in the VIP package, in lieu of the sugary drinks, if the customer prefers?"

Merlin's reply:
"The capsule can unfortunately not be left at any kiosks whilst guests explore the attraction and we are unable to offer a plastic cup that you can collect at each kiosk at your own leisure. We are unable to do this as it shows inconsistency throughout the parks and can become quite wasteful If we introduced this system. We understand that not all guests may not want to carry their capsule around with them however it Is part of the product you purchased to collect plastic cups at different kiosks. The hot drinks is something that we have suspended and has not been communicated that it will be returning again for the same reasons we are unable to offer this."
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Paul_richard
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As has been said, if you get told you can use the exit / request seating then that's park and / ride dependent, it shouldn't be expected at every visit or at every other attraction but must say we've been told every time at Thorpe Park if we want certain seats to request it with the ride host.

It was posted pages back that attractions had been told to make spontaneous VIP treatment, it might be a case that those getting exit queues / seating are getting an act of spontaneous treatment...

The drinks capsule, on our first VIP trip I asked the VIP host if we could pick them up later and they left them at Guest Services with a note. You could always leave them in a locker although costs money.
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Paul_richard
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markfranklin wrote:We understand that not all guests may not want to carry their capsule around with them however it Is part of the product you purchased to collect plastic cups at different kiosks."
What does that mean then, you can get plastic cups at different kiosks?
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markfranklin
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Paul, there are a couple of sentences in the reply that I've read over a few times and not 100% sure I understand...
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Paul_richard
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markfranklin wrote:Paul, there are a couple of sentences in the reply that I've read over a few times and not 100% sure I understand...
It's as if the person has answered it and then decided to answer it again and then creates confusion.

It's clear that you can't leave your capsule with them, also that the hot drinks is a no. And it was clear that no you can't use disposable cups until they said "collect plastic cups at different kiosks"

I'd reply back asking what that actually means, it's certainly not clear to me either.

Thanks
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