Did you know according to studies Millennials value experiences over processions now? Well according to Google I’m a Gen X but I couldn’t agree more! Memories last forever and ‘stuff’ is easily forgotten. For this reason the Merlin Pass seemed like a perfect fit for us and three years in, we don’t know how we ever did without it now. The more you use it the more you obviously save so we try to use our at least once every school holiday. We like to keep track as much as possible on savings we've made so this is our run down on 2024!
Chessington World Of Adventures
Feb 2024
Saving Made - £128
So our first use of the year was Chessington in the February half term. They have brought out the new Capri Sun & the Oreo themed rooms this year and we just had to try one! We decided to try the Capri Sun first as it comes complete with a slide in the room!! I mean who wouldn’t want to try that out??
Had we booked through the website for the date we picked this would have been £334, which included breakfast and 1 day park tickets. Through Merlin Pass holiday club we were able to book the room for £220. This included breakfast and obviously didn’t need park tickets with our passes so we actually had two days in the park.
On top of this we received free hotel parking - which saved us £14 over the two days. We also received discount on food & drinks we purchased in both the park and hotel.
Next up was in the April school holiday! We realised it had been a couple of years since we visited Alton Towers so thought a vistit was over due! This is purely a location thing as all the other Merlin theme parks are all just over an hour away. This Merlin Pass deal was probably our biggest saving this year and it was brilliant! The website price for the room we booked at the splash landings hotel would have been £211 for the room with breakfast. On top of that would have been park tickets, so for three of us for two days it would have been £147. They have a fantastic water park at the resort which came at an additional cost which would have been £72 for 3 of us. We don't visit often so we wanted to do it all and this would of added up to a total cost of £430! However, with our Merlin pass we were able to book the room, which Included breakfast through the Merlin holiday club site for £128. On top of this we got free water park admission and we had two days in the park for no extra cost with our Merlin Passes. We also received free hotel parking which saved us a further £20 over two days.
We are HUGE Legoland fans!! We've tried every single themed room at the resort so when they opened their woodland village we couldn’t wait to try it. Our school had an inset day in June so we took that opportunity to book in! The website price for a one night stay in a woodland lodge with breakfast and 1 days park tickets was £328. It also gave the option to book a second day in the park on top of this for £45. By booking through the Merlin holiday club we got 1 night stay in a woodland lodge with breakfast for £185. This included free Legoland golf and we used our passes for two days entrance to the park at no additional cost. Hotel parking is free so we also made a saving there of £16 for two days.
We have family in Bedfordshire and as it's only a short train journey away we visited London during the summer holidays. We love to visit London and we can’t visit without using our passes at Least once! In previous years we have used our passes multiple times to visit Madame Tussauds, Sealife London, Shrek adventure and London Dungeon this time we only had time for one use that day though! We hadn’t been on the London Eye so we decided to go for that. Had we brought tickets it would have been a cost of £93 for three of us but because we used our passes we got the best views in London for no additional cost. On the day of our visit, when they saw we were Merlin Pass holders they actually sent us to the fast track queue at no extra cost. This was just a lovely gesture on the day so I haven't factored this saving because we wouldn't of paid for this anyway.
In October we headed back to Legoland for a day visit this time to celebrate Halloween! Their Brick or Treat event is always so much fun and we love trick or treating on monster street. Day tickets for this for 3 of us would have been £111 plus £8 parking. Both of which we received at no extra cost with our Merlin Passes.
Chessington Winters Tail Event
December 2024
Saving Made £82
One of our favourite Christmas traditions is visiting Santa at Chessington! We’ve done it since Mason was tiny because it really is magical! Our admission which includes visiting Santa and the Christmas village would have cost £105. Pass holders do have to pay a small cost for this event of £10 per person. So for three of us it was £30, which is still in my opinion fantastic value! Parking is free so we saved £7 on top of our main saving too!
Our Verdict
So taking out the cost of our Merlin Pass Renewal we made an overall saving of £369 this year! On top of this would be discounts we’ve received on restaurants, bars and retail so we are really happy with this saving! If we had just done day trips we wouldn’t have had to of paid anything extra but part of the reason we initially took out our passes was because we wanted access to the hotel discount. We pay for our passes all in one hit rather than monthly and I think the only difference is you have to renew your pass every year rather than a rolling contract. Our renewal this year was £179 each, which we think for us is totally worth it!
This year they have brought out so many perks from discount at TGI Fridays to Free skincare products! For more info visit the Merlin Pass Website Here
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