COVID-19 Information
Update 1st April 2021
Passholders,
We are pleased to confirm that you can now once again make bookings for your epic summer adventures in July & August for 2021!
We thank you so much for bearing with us and can’t wait to welcome you back soon.
Update 31st March 2021
Passholders,
Earlier today we communicated that pre-book tickets for July & August were available from 12.30PM. Unfortunately, as some of you would have experienced, things did not go to plan and we experienced a technical issue with our pre-booking system, resulting in this not functioning as intended.
We have been working tirelessly to get this fixed as quickly as possible, however at this stage we are unable to state exactly when this will be. If you are still in the queue, we now recommend leaving as we continue to work to resolve these issues.
We know you’re all really excited to start planning your summer of awesome and we want to be able to give you as much information as possible to help you do this and therefore we will share an update when the system is fixed.
Based on what we saw from the first ticket release, there was still availability for all dates hours after this went live, so we are confident you’ll be able to make the bookings you need for your epic summer plans.
We thank you again for your continued patience and understanding.
Update 24th March 2021
Passholders – after carefully listening to your helpful feedback, we are pleased to announce that we will be releasing pre-book tickets for July & August 2021 from Wednesday 31st March!
We originally communicated a release date of mid-May for this second wave of tickets, however it is clear from your comments that you’re keen to start planning your epic summer adventures sooner, and we want to ensure you’re able to do that.
For Merlin Annual Passholders, before you go ahead and book, please be sure to visit our New Expiry Date calculator to check when your pass is now valid until. We have applied multiple extensions to account for time lost due to temporary attraction closures in accordance with Government advice throughout the past year, including the most recent period. This means that your new expiry date will be different to the one currently printed on your card. Extensions have been applied automatically and you do not need to do anything to activate this.
For our Merlin Membership wizards, we recommend ensuring that your card details and payments are up to date so that there is no delay in being able to start using your pass again as soon as possible. You can check this by heading to the Payment Portal here.
We’re so excited to welcome you for a summer full of awesome adventures!
Update 8th March 2021
We know you’re all really excited to start planning your year of epic with us, and we wanted to give you as much notice as possible before launching our pre-book portal which is why we let you know last week that this would be going live today.
Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, we will not be allowing you to pre-book your 2021 Passholder tickets from today as communicated. This will instead go live on Wednesday 10th March 2021 at 12.30PM.
We know the past year wasn’t what you expected as a Passholder, and it’s because of this reason we have decided not to launch today. We want our new pre-booking system to be absolutely perfect and a fantastic and exciting start to your 2021 season and unfortunately we’re not quite there yet.
We thank you so much for bearing with us whilst we put the finishing touches on our new pre-booking portal.
Update 26th February 2021
To allow for social distancing and additional cleaning in our Covid-secure venues, we have reduced the number of guests that we let into the our attractions each day and all guests, including Passholders, must continue to pre-book their tickets prior to arrival. It will also mean that some indoor rides or activities will still be closed.
On this note, we’re excited to share a date for your diary – the first wave of Passholder pre-book tickets will be live for our attractions from Monday 8th March via our brand-new pre-booking portal. Following your helpful feedback, alongside pre-booking your free tickets to your favourite attractions, this new system will also allow you to change the date of your pre-booked tickets or cancel your tickets if your plans change.
For Merlin Annual Passholders, before you go ahead and book, please be sure to visit our New Expiry Date calculator to check when your pass is now valid until. We have applied multiple extensions to account for time lost due to temporary attraction closures in accordance with Government advice throughout the past year, including the most recent period. This means that your new expiry date will be different to the one currently printed on your card. Extensions have been applied automatically and you do not need to do anything to activate this.
For our Merlin Membership wizards, we will be freezing payments for a further one month. This means that monthly payments will now recommence from 9th April 2021. We will send you reminders closer to the time, but we’d recommend ensuring that your card details are up to date for when this reactivates so that there is no delay in being able to start using your pass again as soon as possible.
Please scroll to the FAQs at the bottom of this page if you have any further questions.
Planning your year of epic starts now, and we can’t wait to welcome you back!
Update 25th February 2021
Let the countdown begin!
In line with the latest Government guidance, we are delighted to say that our Resort Theme Parks and SEA LIFE Weymouth Adventure Park will plan to reopen from the 12th April 2021. Unfortunately, in line with Government guidance, our Resort Hotels and Midway attractions will remain closed currently. We can’t wait to welcome you back to make magical Merlin memories with us again!
Please note that some rides, indoor entertainment, actor led experiences, 4D cinemas or meet and greet entertainment may remain closed or have limited numbers when we do reopen.
A full list of which rides and activities will be open or closed will be published on our attraction websites and announced in due course once the Government regulations are published in full.
Like before, we have additional hygiene and safety measures in place throughout our attractions, including temperature checks on arrival, enhanced cleaning, one-way systems, and social distancing markers in our ride queues, shops, restaurants and more.
Our re-opening is in line with the latest UK Government guidance (Spring 2021) and we will continue to review and follow and local authorities and central Government advice. We ask that all our guests do the same to help protect themselves and each other.
We know that especially for you, our loyal Passholders, the past year hasn’t been what any of us expected or planned for. We’ve been so grateful for your continued helpful feedback throughout these unprecedented times which have been key in helping us to make the right decisions on what all of these changes mean for you. In light of this, and to ensure that you have all of the information you need following the latest Government announcement, we will shortly be following up with a dedicated Merlin Annual Passholder update soon.
We know you’re keen to start planning your year of epic adventures with us, and we’ve heard from many of you with regards to when Passholder Pre-book tickets for 2021 will be available. Please be assured that our 2021 Passholder allocation operates completely separately from our day guest allocation, and these currently being available will have no impact on Passholder availability for the coming season.
Furthermore, we’re very excited to soon be able to share everything you need to know about our brand new Passholder Pre-booking portal. Following your ideas and suggestions, alongside pre-booking your free tickets to your favourite attractions this new system will also allow you to change the date of your pre-booked tickets or cancel your tickets if your plans change. More information will be available about this really soon.
In the meantime, we thank you so much for bearing with us while we ensure we’re doing the very best we can for you, our Passholders. We can’t wait to welcome you back through our gates soon!
Update 8th January 2021 @ 3.15pm
Following the update from the UK Government in response to COVID-19 on Monday 4th January 2021, our attractions will now be temporarily closed until it is appropriate to reopen. If you have a pre-existing booking or hotel stay, you will be contacted via e-mail by your chosen attraction.
To account for the time our attractions will be closed, we can confirm that we will be adding a two-month extension to current expiry dates for all Merlin Annual Passes purchased or renewed after 31st May 2020. Pass extensions will happen automatically, and you don’t have to do anything to activate this. Please visit the New Expiry Date Calculator to check your new expiry date.
For Monthly Membership Passholders, all payments will be frozen for two months from Saturday 9th January 2021 and will resume from 9th March 2021. This will happen automatically, and you do not need to do anything to activate this.
Thank you so much for continuing to bear with us during these difficult times and we look forward to welcoming you all through our attraction gates soon to make magical memories with us in 2021.
Until that time, stay safe and we wish you all a very happy New Year!
Please read our FAQs at the bottom of this page.
Update 21st December 2020 @ 11.30am
Following the latest Government update on Saturday 19th December, we can unfortunately confirm that some of our attractions are now in Tier 4 and have therefore temporarily closed in line with Government guidance. We recommend all Passholders with bookings visit the relevant attraction website to confirm if it is affected, and to follow the advised next steps.
While we had been looking forward to welcoming you, our Passholders, for safe, festive fun at our affected attractions, the health and well-being of you and our staff is our top priority.
Any Passholders with hotel bookings at affected attractions should already have received an email from the attraction team regarding re-arranging your stay.
We very much look forward to the time when we can welcome our Passholder family safely back to our attractions and will be in touch with updates regarding this as soon as we are able. Until that time, stay safe and we look forward to seeing you again soon.
Update 1st December 2020 @ 9.30am
Following the latest Government update on Thursday 26th November, we are pleased to confirm that many of our attractions will reopen on Thursday 3rd December. We can’t wait to welcome you back!
Unfortunately, in line with Government guidance for regions in Tier 3, we are currently unable to reopen our resort hotels and accommodation. We recommend that all Passholders with hotel bookings in December at affected attractions please head to the attraction websites and follow advised next steps.
Further, we can confirm some of our Midway indoor attractions in areas moving into Tier 3 from Wednesday 2nd December, such as SEA LIFE and our LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres in Birmingham and Manchester, will sadly be unable to reopen. We recommend heading to the attraction’s website before visiting to ensure that the attraction or event you wish to visit is open and operating.
The good news is that we will still be able to welcome day guests to enjoy our outdoor Christmas attractions including Winter’s Tail at Chessington World of Adventures and LEGOLAND® at Christmas .Whilst some of the indoor attractions that guests would normally see at our attractions at this time of year cannot open, we are certain that we can still offer local Passholders some much needed festive cheer. Please head to our attraction websites for more details.
As we very much look forward to welcoming guests back to our attractions, the health and safety of our guests and staff remains our number one priority. We will continue with the additional hygiene and safety measures within our Covid-secure attraction, which can be found here.
Update 5th November 2020 @ 3pm
Following the recent update from the UK Government on its response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we will sadly be temporarily closing our UK attractions until 2nd December 2020 as a precautionary measure, in line with the latest legislation.
As much as we were looking forward to welcoming you all for even more fun and adventures at our attractions during November, including our Passholder Exclusive Days, the health and wellbeing of our guests and teams is always our top priority. However, we are happy to share that we will be operating Passholder Exclusive Days in 2021 and will confirm details of these closer to the time.
To account for the time our attractions will be closed, we will be adding a one month extension to current expiry dates for all Merlin Annual Passes active as of 5th November. Pass extensions will happen automatically, and you don’t have to do anything about it.
For Membership Passholders, all payments have now been frozen and will resume from 5th December. This will happen automatically, and you do not need to do anything to activate this.
We once again thank you for your patience with us during these strange times and look forward to seeing you all back again once we can reopen.
Please read our FAQs at the bottom on this page.
Update 16th October 2020 @ 1:45pm
Following the UK National Lockdown in Spring 2020, we gave Passholders a five-month extension on their passes and implemented a further extension for those passes due to expire in the Winter months to account for Theme Park closures. Please note all extensions are automatically added to your pass. Currently all UK Merlin Entertainments attractions remain open, except SEA LIFE Bray. We will continue to monitor Government guidance closely and will update guests as and when we have more information.
Update 30th September 2020 @ 4:00pm
2020 definitely isn’t the year any of us expected or planned for, especially when it comes to how you usually visit us for memorable and fun days out with your Merlin Annual Pass.
Navigating these unprecedented times has certainly been challenging. One of the most difficult parts of this year for us has been not being able to welcome you as freely as we’re used to for awesome adventures at our attractions. The ‘new normal’ has been something we’re all having to adapt to and there have been significant changes that have been necessary to keep both staff and visitors to our attractions safe.
We have greatly appreciated your patience and support throughout this year. Your feedback has been crucial in helping us make improvements that we hope will benefit you and your families, and for that we want to say a special thank you.
With this in mind, we want to highlight some of the changes we’ve made here at Merlin Annual Pass to ensure you’re getting as much fun and excitement as possible from your pass with us this year:
Over 50,000 more Passholder Tickets
From September to November 2020, we have allocated over 50,000 extra Passholder tickets across all your favourite Resort Theme Parks. We’ve done this by closely reviewing our capacities and introducing special ‘afternoon only’ tickets. This enables us to welcome more of our loyal Passholders to enjoy our theme park attractions whilst still adhering to strict social distancing measures to keep us all safe.
Exclusive Passholder Days
Throughout November we’re inviting our loyal Passholder family to enjoy Passholder Exclusive Days at all our Resort Theme Parks. Passholders can enjoy exclusive access to some of the UK’s best attractions as well as sneak peeks of seasonal events! Check out the Merlin Annual Pass Facebook page for full details.
Developing Our Technology
We know that one of your biggest concerns was some Passholders were makings bookings and not turning up –much like many other attractions and hospitality venues across the UK. There have been many no-shows, and this is frustrating for both us and you, which is why we’re excited to announce that we are reviewing and developing our current system. This will allow Passholders more freedom and control over pre-booked tickets, including introducing a cap on tickets bookable and the ability to cancel unwanted tickets so that they may be freed up for other Passholders to enjoy.
Thank you all for your continued support and for being a part of our Merlin family – we can’t wait to welcome you for a magical day out at one of our attractions soon!
Update 24th September 2020 @ 10.45am
🗼 NHS QR Check-In: From 24th September 2020 you’ll find NHS QR ‘check-in’ code posters at key entry points around our attractions. We kindly ask that you and your group scan the NHS QR code with your smartphone on arrival at our attractions, hotels and when entering one of our Merlin restaurants. If Passholders choose to log-in using the official NHS QR code, you won’t need to provide your contact details by any other route.
🎡 Face Coverings: In the areas of our attractions where we require you to wear a face mask, any guests over the age of 11* without a valid exemption will not be allowed to ride or enter any enclosed buildings without a mask.*
* Children under 11, people with certain health conditions and people with a disability are exempt.
** Guests who simply do not wish to wear a mask will now be refused boarding or entry into enclosed buildings. In those areas such as F&B seated areas guests will be allowed to remove their masks to consumed food and beverages when seated.
🎢 Crowd Marshalls: To ensure you have a fun but most importantly safe experience when visiting us, several Crowd Marshalls will be on duty within our UK theme parks – during both peak and off-peak periods. These team members play a vital role in helping us to:
- monitor social distancing procedures
- ensure mask wearing is taking place in appropriate enclosed buildings/and on selected rides
- check group size formations are being observed
Guests who repeatedly refuse to comply will with measures will be asked to leave the attraction.
👬 The Rule of Six: From the 14th September we encourage all Passholders to not visit or meet in groups of more than six people*. This will help protect everyone when visiting our attractions. As a COVID-19 Secure venue we can still host larger numbers in total but groups of up to 6 must not mix or form larger groups. Our attractions already provide an extensive range of COVID-safe measures, designed to ensure a happy and safe experience for all Passholders and staff – more information can be found here. *Government exemptions our outlined here.
🍔 Restaurants and Food Outlets: For any of our licensed food premises where alcohol is offered, food and drink will now need to be ordered from, and served at, one of our dining tables. For our other food and beverage restaurants, Passholders will be required to eat and drink at an available table. Where food or drink is available for purchase to eat or drink away from the outlet, it's still possible for Passholders to order and be served at the counter/bar. Our restaurants and bars will now also close at 10pm.
Update 10th September 2020 @ 9.15am
In line with updated advice from the UK Government, from the 14th September we encourage all guests to adhere to the latest guidance and not meet in groups of more than six people* to help protect themselves and each other when visiting our attractions.
As our attractions are COVID-19 Secure we can still host larger numbers in total but groups of up to 6 must not mix or form larger groups. We will continue to monitor Government guidance closely.
*Government exemptions are outlined here.
Update 4th September 2020 @ 2pm
A big thank you to everyone who has reached out to us recently to offer suggestions on how we can improve your membership experience – we very much value your feedback!
We’d like to thank you for your patience during these unprecedented times and we are thrilled to see so many of you returning to our attractions to enjoy magical days out once again.
Following your feedback, we have decided to make the following change:
- All online Passholders bookings to UK Merlin attractions reserved from midnight on the 8th September 2020 will no longer incur the £1 booking fee
- Please note, any reservations that are made before 8th September 2020 will not have the fee refunded
As always, your safety is our number one priority. Therefore, Passholders are still required to pre-book tickets online before visiting Merlin attractions as this helps us manage capacity and adhere to social distancing.
Unfortunately, we are seeing Passholders pre-book several tickets and fail to turn up to our attractions. We kindly ask that all Passholders pre-book tickets for the dates you intend to visit us only. This allows more tickets to remain available for other Passholders to enjoy our attractions too. Please be reassured that we are continuously monitoring Passholder ticket allocation and we recommend checking back on our attraction websites in case more Passholder tickets become available.
To improve your booking experience moving forward we are also currently reviewing our ticketing system. Please keep an eye out for relevant updates and improvements in the near future.
Thank you for being a part of our Merlin family – we really value your continued support! Please know we are working harder than ever to deliver those memorable experiences you love, safely.
Update 15th July 2020 @ 10.30am
Passholders, we’d like to thank you for your patience during these unprecedented times - we are so excited to have you back!
In line with the updated government guidelines, as our attractions start to reopen, we want to continue to keep you up to date, so you have all the information on enjoying the magic with a Merlin Pass and what to expect during your visit.
The health and safety of our guests and employees is always our number one priority so we’ve been working hard to make sure the attractions comply with government guidelines and we have everything in place for you to have a safe and enjoyable visit: https://youtu.be/PgkMoUmcebo
As we need to manage our capacity to ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable visit, all guests will be required to pre-book a ticket online. Our attractions review Merlin Pass allocation daily to ensure we have as much availability as possible for you. Please continue to check the attraction website for updates.
Please see below for more detail about advance bookings, pass extensions, refunds and other topics.
If you are staying on-site or at a partner hotel, please refer to the FAQs.
Standard terms and conditions for annual passes still apply.
Pass Extensions
**December Tier Updates**
Following several Merlin Annual Pass extension periods and Merlin Membership monthly payment freezes this year, we will not be extending passes or freezing payments on this occasion.
For Merlin Annual Passholders, if you are unsure of your New Expiry Date following previous extensions, please visit the New Expiry Date Calculator.
** UK national lockdown commencing 5th November 2020 **
To account for the time our attractions will be closed during the second national lockdown, we will be adding a one month extension to current expiry dates for all Merlin Annual Passes active as of 5th November. Pass extensions will happen automatically, and you don’t have to do anything about it.
For Membership Passholders, all payments have now been frozen and will resume from 5th December. This will happen automatically, and you do not need to do anything to activate this.
** UK national lockdown commencing 19th March 2020 **
Passes Purchased before 19th of March 2020
We know you have already missed making magic Merlin memories. To account for the time we have been closed in Spring 2020, as well as to acknowledge the new pre-book process, we will be adding a 5-month extension onto all original expiry dates for Merlin Annual Passes that expire after 18th March 2020 (for passes purchased before 19th of March 2020).
Merlin Annual Passes that expired before 19th March 2020 or purchased after 31st May 2020 and passes bought within the Summer Sale period will not be entitled to the extension period.
We understand that many of you purchase a Merlin Annual Pass to enjoy the full offering of Merlin, from rollercoasters to sea creatures. Therefore, if your pass extension falls during the winter period when some of our resorts are closed, we will further extend these passes.
Pass extensions will happen automatically, and you don’t have to do anything about it.
New Passes Purchased after 19th of March and Pass Renewals
New pass purchased within the Summer Sale (1st July) period will not be entitled to the extension period.
A new Merlin Annual Pass that was purchased during the closure period will be extended by the time lost during the closure period.
Monthly Membership purchased before 19th of March
Membership payments have been frozen for April, May & June and will continue to be frozen for July and August – to account for the months we have been closed, as well as to acknowledge the new pre-book process.
You do not need to action anything for this, we have automatically frozen payments for these months.
As we need to manage our capacity to ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable visit, all guests will be required to pre-book a ticket online. Our attractions review Merlin Pass allocation on a daily basis to ensure we have as much availability as possible for you. Please continue to check the attraction website for updates.
New Monthly Membership purchased after 1st of July
Any new Monthly Memberships purchased from 1st July on-wards, will be processed as normal with joining fee and monthly payments taken from date of purchase.
Summer Ticket Release
We originally communicated a release date of mid-May for this second wave of tickets, however it is clear from your comments that you’re keen to start planning your epic summer adventures sooner, and we want to ensure you’re able to do that.
No need to cancel! Find the email confirmation for the order you want to change, and click Manage Reservation to enter the Booking Portal. From there you can login and move your visit to any available date. You can also find a link to the Booking Portal here or on the attraction’s prebook page. You will need your order number and email address used for the booking.
Attraction Reopening
We are working through all our hotel bookings in stay date order, our team will be in touch with you with details about how to rearrange your stay. We are working as quickly as we can to make it available to all affected guests.
In line with the Government guidance and recovery roadmap we are looking to resume operations at our Resort Theme Parks on Monday 12th April 2021 with a number of rides, activities and experiences open. Please head to the attraction website for more details on this. Our Resort Hotels and Midway attractions remain closed at this time.
The opening will be in line with the latest Government guidance set out in ‘Step 2’. We have been in contact with the Government and relevant local authorities and our phased reopening plans are in accordance with recent updates from the Government in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus and in line with the reopening of local schools, non-essential retail spaces and attractions with parkland and gardens reopening.
We will reopen under limited capacity which could be subject to changes or reduced hours of operation and will continue to look at these measures on a daily basis.
We are looking forward to welcoming guests back to our attractions and the health and safety of our guests and staff is always our number one priority. We will continue with our additional hygiene and safety measures which guests will see throughout the attraction and which were successfully introduced and used through summer of last year.
Our attractions will continue to provide an extensive range of safety measures, designed to ensure a happy, safe and healthy experience for all guests and staff. Please note that in addition to previous measures, all guests (over 11 years old) will now be required to wear masks on all our rides* which may be different to your previous visit.
*Exemptions apply including no mask wearing on water/splash rides
Unfortunately, in line with Government guidance we are unable to open our Resort Hotels at this point.
We are working through all our hotel bookings in stay date order, our team will be in touch with you with details about how to rearrange your stay. We are working as quickly as we can to make it available to all affected guests.
Please be assured that would work in close co-operation with the local health authority to support any direct enquiries to them and will act immediately upon their advice. The safety and wellbeing of our guests and staff is our priority and we will continue to monitor the situation at our attraction closely, taking all necessary precautions.
At our attractions we have reviewed every part of our operations and have implemented an extensive range of safety measures to ensure we adhere to government and local authority guidelines to create a safe experience for all guests and staff, and this includes our rides.
Visitors may notice spatial separation markings and other similar operating adjustments around the attraction, including floor markings at our rides queue lines to ensure our rides adhere to the social distancing measures recommended by local governments and health authorities. On the rides, there will be reduced capacity and batching to maintain social distancing that can include empty seats or rows and where possible, grouping within household units.
Our staff will also be encouraged to observe social distancing where practical and we will be providing additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and clothing for our guest facing staff which will include ride operators where appropriate.
As part of our enhanced cleaning protocols ride hand grips will be cleaned regularly and hand sanitiser will be available to guests throughout the queue line before and after rides and throughout the attractions.
We ask all those who visit our attraction to observe closely our strict guidelines on maintaining a safe distance between each other and to maintain good hygiene practices including utilising the hand sanitiser located around the attraction and if they or any family member displays any symptoms of COVD-19, that they postpone their visit.
Pass Extensions/Payment Freezes
Yes, we have applied multiple extensions to account for time lost due to temporary attraction closures in accordance with Government advice throughout the past year, including the most recent period. This means that your new expiry date will be different to the one currently printed on your card.
The length of the extension applied to your pass depends on what your original expiry date was, and therefore how much time you missed out on due to temporary attraction closures. These have been applied automatically, and you do not need to do anything to activate these.
As there have now been various extensions applied to passes at multiple times throughout the past year, we recommend using our New Expiry Date calculator to check what your new expiry date is.
Yes, we can confirm that Monthly Membership payments will automatically be frozen for a further one month and will now resume from April 9th 2021.
We will send you reminders closer to the time, but we’d recommend ensuring that your card details are up to date for when payments recommence so that there is no delay in being able to start using your Pass again as quickly as possible.
Going forward into 2021 there will be no further extensions to annual Digipasses that have expired during the months of November 2020 - March 2021. This is because during a usual operating season, most of our attractions accepting Digipasses would be closed to Passholders during these months of the year.
Any Annual Digipasses that expire past these dates are active and available to be used, but will also not receive any further extensions under this same premise.
If you have any further questions or queries, please contact Picsolve directly to discuss.
New Pre-Booking System
Passholders will be able to pre-book tickets to select attractions here from Wednesday 10th March at 12.30pm. Just head to the pre-booking page on the Merlin Annual Pass website or head straight to the website for your attraction of choice and follow the instructions there.
Please note that Passholder pre-book tickets are available in line with the latest government advice and are subject to availability. Remember to check the attraction website for the latest updates on ticket availability.
We are now able to safely re-open some of our attractions in accordance with government guidelines, but to do that we must adhere to strict social-distancing measures to help keep us all safe. In order for us to do that our attractions operate with capped capacities and Passholders need to pre-book a ticket to present with their valid Annual Pass to help us manage this.
It’s really easy – from Wednesday 10th March 2021 at 12.30pm, just go to the ‘Pre-book Your Ticket’ section of the webpage here and follow the instructions.
Yes you can! From Wednesday 10th March, just add in all the pass numbers for your group when prompted and you can pre-book your tickets at the same time so you can visit together. Please note that only groups using the same pass type may book together, different passes must book separately.
When booking as a group please ensure you are adhering to the latest Government guidelines and continue to stick to the rule of six/two family rule. Please note you may book for a maximum of 6 people at one time.
Yes you can! If your plans change, simply log back in to the booking portal and select to cancel your booking. This means another Passholder will have the chance to use this ticket and nobody will miss out.
Yes you can! To cancel, please complete and submit this form. Your booking will then be cancelled and tickets will be released back for other Passholders to enjoy instead.
For Under-3s tickets, this depends on which attraction you are looking to visit:
- For Chessington World of Adventures, Alton Towers Resort, Warwick Castle and Midway attractions you can book a free ticket for Under-3s when prompted during your booking journey.
- Thorpe Park Resort and LEGOLAND Windsor Resort do not require Under-3s to pre-book Passholder tickets.
Unfortunately, in 2020 a few Passholders took advantage of our system and pre-booked more tickets than they needed, meaning that other Passholders sadly missed out. By capping pre-books to 3 at any one time per pass, per attraction (or 6 if you’re a Platinum Passholder) this will help to prevent this from happening again and means a safer, fairer system for all.
All this means is that you can only have your limited number of pre-booked tickets per attraction at any one time.
For instance, you could have x3 Thorpe Park, x3 Alton Towers and x3 SEA LIFE London at one time, however you would have to wait until you’ve used or cancelled one of your Alton Towers tickets before going ahead and booking another for that particular attraction.
Yes, in order for the new system to work and be fair for all Passholders, all pass types will be required to pre-book through the same system.
We’re very proud of our new pre-booking system and are confident that this easier way of managing tickets combined with capping the amount of pre-book tickets Passholders can have at any one time will lead to much more availability for all throughout the 2021 season.
We will also be releasing tickets in waves throughout the year to prevent our most popular times from being immediately booked up.
No, Passholders with a Resort hotel booking do not need to pre-book, entry is automatically guaranteed with your stay alongside a valid Annual Pass.
Yes, you will be asked to present your pre-book ticket with the date of entry alongside your valid Annual Pass, which you will scan as normal.
As a VIP Passholder, your barcode will work with the Platinum Pass booking links.
Pass Extensions and Membership Freezes: 3rd National Lockdown
Yes, we can confirm that if you purchased or renewed your Merlin Annual Pass after 31st May 2020 you will receive a two-month extension to your expiry date. This will happen automatically and you do not need to do anything to activate this.
If you are unsure of your New Expiry Date following previous extensions, please visit the New Expiry Date Calculator.
Passes purchased before 1st June 2020 will not be extended again, as these passes have already received extensions due to the disruption last year. All passes have received a minimum six-month extension to account for the time our attractions have been temporarily closed to comply with the latest government safety updates in response to COVID-19.
This ensures that all Merlin Annual Passes have received extensions to allow for access to our attractions for the months of Merlin magic they have paid for, during periods when our attractions are able to open safely in accordance with government guidelines.
Yes, we can confirm that Monthly Membership payments will automatically be frozen for two months from Saturday 9th January and will resume from March 9th 2021.
No, all extensions are applied to your current expiry date, which in the case of the 15 months for 12 offer would take into consideration your extra three months. Passes purchased during this offer will have a 21-month total validity, which accounts for the 15 months original validity period plus the extra six months to account for the various lockdown periods throughout 2020 and now into 2021.
Refunds & Cancellations
If you would like to receive a pro-rated refund and cancel your Merlin Annual Pass, please email info@merlinannualpass.co.uk.
If you would like to cancel your Membership please email info@merlinannualpass.co.uk.
Short Breaks
- If you had booked a short break and were due to arrive from 05 November to 2nd December 2020, we have automatically converted your booking into a monetary voucher. The voucher will be for the full cash value of your original booking and will be sent to you by email. When you’re ready, you will be able to use this to book a new short break in 2021.
- Please keep checking our website and social media channels as we will announce when 2021 tickets are available there.
- If you wish to discuss your options regarding your Short Break, please head to the attraction’s Help Centre.
- Vouchers can be used to book short breaks throughout 2021. Simply go through the booking process as usual and enter your voucher code as a payment method at check-out. The balance of your voucher will be deducted from the total cost of your break.
- Please keep checking our website and social media channels as we will announce when 2021 tickets are available there.
- Your voucher code will be sent via email and must be redeemed by 30th June 2021.
- Any short breaks bookings for stays beyond the Resorts reopening date will, at this time, be subject to regular terms and conditions, if you wish to cancel, you will be subject to cancellation charges as per the terms and conditions. If you purchased the cancellation protection, you can cancel and receive a full refund for the cost of your booking, excluding the cost of the cancellation protection. You can also move your booking to another date.
- If you wish to discuss your options regarding your Short Break, please head to the attraction’s Help Centre.
- We have listened to your feedback and decided to remove the pre-booking requirement if you are staying at one of our onsite or partner hotels.
- In order to enter an attraction, please bring your annual pass as well as hotel booking confirmation to present at the admissions turnstiles.
- This is only available for overnight stays booked through one of the Merlin attractions or Merlin Holiday Club.
- If you booked your overnight stay at a different hotel, please pre-book your visit online before arriving at an attraction.
Pass Renewals
Sit back and relax! We will deliver your brand new renewed Merlin Annual Pass to you by post. It will be with you really soon! In the meantime, you also have your digital Annual Pass which you can use instantly.
As per standard terms and conditions, our passes are non-refundable. The passes will be valid for full 12 months from the collection date.
Pass Renewals for Children Aged Three
Yes. Please see details on how to purchase a pass below.
- To purchase a renewal for your three-year-old, please head to the Renewals Page.
- Please use an active Merlin Annual Pass and provide your 18-digit card number when prompted.
No, we are not selling new Merlin Memberships. However, if you wish to buy your child a Merlin Annual Pass, you are welcome to do this using the above steps and entering your Merlin Membership number.
We are currently not issuing passes at attractions, these will be posted to you instead.
No. We are only introducing passes for three-year-olds to enable current Passholder families to visit the attractions with their child who is no longer Under 3. We are not currently selling Merlin Annual Passes and therefore older individuals will need to currently have a pass in order to renew.
Removal of Merlin Annual Pass From Sale
As we want to provide the very best experience for all of our Passholders, we are currently not selling new Gold & Platinum passes at this time whilst social distancing is expected to remain once our attractions reopen. This is to keep all of our guests and staff safe, in line with Government advice.
We are currently working on our Merlin Annual Pass product offering and we will share updates on our social media channels and website as soon as passes go back on sale.
Yes, all current Passholders can continue to use their pass. Please remember that in line with Government guidance to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, our attractions are currently operating at reduced capacities. Therefore, pre-booked tickets are required to visit all of our attractions to help us adhere to social-distancing measures and keep us all safe.
We are aware that some Passholders have not been able to book their preferred slots for our attractions, and have taken a number of steps to address this, including adding availability for Passholders and creating afternoon passes.
Yes you can! Please follow the usual renewal process to process this.
Please remember that to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 our attractions are currently operating at reduced capacities. Therefore, pre-booked tickets are required to visit all our attractions to help us adhere to strict social-distancing measures to keep us all safe.
During this period of reduced capacity please be aware that Passholder pre-book tickets are limited and it may be difficult to get reservations on certain popular dates.
Yes. After carefully considering feedback from our Passholder family we will continue offering renewals. Please follow the usual renewal process to process this and enjoy your discounted Short Break alongside your renewed pass.
No, Merlin Annual Pass Membership will not be affected by any of these changes.
Other FAQs
We are currently working hard to bring you a new booking system that will allow Passholders more freedom and control over pre-booked tickets. Please be reassured that we will be sharing details of how you can use this new booking system as soon as we have an update.
Picsolve is now owned by PomVom UK who will operate Merlin’s photography services at Chessington World of Adventures Resort, Alton Towers Resort, LEGOLAND Windsor Resort and Thorpe Park Resort from the 4th of July 2020.