How to cut the cost of theme parks!

Enjoying a rollercoaster or three is getting ever more expensive, but following these tips will help you avoid spending a fortune.

With the continued rise in living costs, it is no surprise that the cost of entertainment has risen too, with theme parks and attractions leading the way in the most expensive stakes.

However, there are still ways to make a day out with the kids a little less costly.

The Merlin Pass

If you are a dedicated theme park enthusiast and plan to go four times or more over the course of the year, then it’s worth looking at a Merlin Pass. The Merlin Pass grants you 12 months entry to the UK’s top attractions, such as Thorpe Park, Madame Tussauds, the London Eye, the Alton Towers Resort Theme Park, Chessington World of Adventure and Legoland, among others. The Pass also entitles you to various other perks.

But it doesn’t come cheap. Individual Standard Passes cost £140.40 each. If you are buying more than two passes you can buy a family group pass for three, four or five people for £96.12 per person.

Related blog post

Marghaid Howie writes:
Gas prices set for 19% rise

ScottishPower announces shock 19% gas price rise as the next round of price hikes look set to kick off.
Read this post

This seems a lot, but if you compare these prices to the cost of a daily theme park entrance fee, you can see that it doesn’t take many visits to get your money’s worth. Costs on the gate at Chessington are £37.20 per adult and £27 per child (unless the child is under one metre when they will be free as they can’t access many of the rides). A family of 3 costs £78, a family of 4 costs £102 and a family of 5 costs £124.20.

The Merlin website claims that an annual ticket will pay for itself in just three visits. So if you are a family of 3, you would pay £288.36 for an annual Merlin Annual Family Group Standard Pass purchased online. If you visited Chessington three times, paying £78 each time, you would pay £234 in total, so you would actually have to visit a theme park ‘three –and-a-bit times’ to break even!

Use Merlin’s Savings Calculator to decide whether it is worthwhile for you.

Extra costs

As well as expensive food and £1.50 surcharges on cash machines in the venue, there is now a parking charge to contend with. Standard Pass holders used to get free parking, but this perk has been withdrawn this year. Parking costs range from around £2 to £6, depending on the attraction. It is a drop in the ocean when you have already spent a fortune but you may still feel very bitter as they squeeze those last couple of pounds out of you on the way out!

The Premium Annual Merlin Pass costs £27 more than the Standard Pass but has no restrictions at all, and offers free parking at all venues.

Restrictions

Although the tagline for the Annual Pass is ‘Enjoy 12 months fun and freedom’, don’t expect complete freedom to come as standard!

There is an ever increasing list of exclusions with the Standard Pass, including no entry during the month of August at the London Eye, Sea Life London Aquarium, the London Dungeon and Madame Tussauds and no entry to Legoland Windsor before 2pm during August.

Related how-to guide

Cut the cost of going out

Letting your hair down doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg.

See the guide

This is NOT an exhaustive list, so check the restrictions before you decide to buy your Pass.

Tesco Clubcard and Nectar offers

Tesco Clubcard used to have fantastic deals on Merlin Passes, but these have depleted over the years.

Instead of the usual Clubcard deal where each voucher is worth three times its value, you simply pay £50 in Clubcard vouchers per Pass. You cannot buy a group or family pass through Clubcard, only individual tickets. This is a big increase in the £37.50 per pass that was required a couple of years ago, but could still be a good way to use your vouchers up.

You can use Nectar points to purchase a Standard Individual Merlin Annual Pass. 500 points gives you £5 off a £145 Pass (even though the full price on the Merlin Website is actually £140.40.)

Other money-off deals

The only way of getting any further money off a Merlin Pass at the moment is to buy it online via the Merlin Pass website. Here you can get a 10% discount, which you won’t get if buying at the venue.

If you are only planning one or two trips and a Pass isn’t worth it for you, then look out for Free Entry vouchers. These are regularly given away by Tesco and Sainsbury's and other companies frequently run promotions: Kelloggs and Fanta are currently offering the chance to win a Pass and giving away two for one entry tickets on promotional packs.

Also, remember to check your cashback website. There are not currently any deals around on Merlin Passes, but Quidco offers deals for individual attractions, such as 6% cashback when you book a stay at an Alton Towers themed hotel and up to 15% cashback at Sealife.

You can also book tickets on a site like Lastminute.com at a reduced price, such as £9 off an adult ticket to Chessington, and £6.60 off a child ticket. If you access the Lastminute.com website through Quidco you can also get 4% cashback on deals!

More: Taxman clamping down on Inheritance Tax! | 2,385 savings accounts and they're nearly all rubbish!