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Cost of entry to theme parks

alexdude98

alexdude98

Mega Poster
I renewed my Merlin Annual Pass for £100. So did my mum and dad. It was £100 per person, adult or child. So it was me (£100) and my mum and dad (£200)

But my mum had this idea, everytime we go to a theme park, add up how much it would've cost us when we went.

We went to Thorpe Park with our Merlin Passes, but, when I checked how much it WOULD'VE cost us, it came to...

£91

So much better having a Merlin Pass.

But I'm wondering if the cost of theme parks is going up.

Legoland are a bit more pricey now, and so are Thorpe.

Anyone else got anything to add?

To find out more about the Merlin Pass, go to: http://www.annual-pass.com
 
Yes, it seems theme parks have no idea that we are in a credit crunch.

Each year I've been into them parks and coasters the prices just seem to keep going up and up, and I don't see an end it it.

I wouldn't be surprised if next season they'll be £38 or even £40.
 
I think that the thing to bear in mind, is that Merlin have constant offers throughout the season which will offset the sctual cost of entry.
 
^This.

Also, you have to consider the cost compared to other things you can do.

How much does it cost, for example, to go to a Premier League football match? I'm not sure myself, but I bet it's more than the cost of entry to Thorpe, and even then, you only get 90 minutes (compared to the 7/8 hours you get at a theme park) and it's not even guaranteed to be entertaining - it could be a crap game!

Having said that, though, overseas parks of a similar calibre do seem to charge less. Ho hum.
 
^ £26 for matches against **** teams, £33 for matches against bigger teams... but thats at Boro so either way you look at it you're going to watch a **** team :lol:
 
Merlin owns half of the tourist attractions in the UK so you are in fact getting a very good deal with an annual pass. They accept annual passes on the London Eye, Madame Tussauds, London Dungeons and Sealife Centre as well as Thorpe Park, Alton Towers, Chessington, Legoland and Warwick Castle. To visit each of these attractions individually (without unlimited access) would cost you a few hundred, easily. I like Merlin. They might have hefty prices, but they always have great offers on for those who don't have passes. And if you think about it, if you book online you save up to £12 on ticket prices anyways. It costs £36 at Thorpe but only £24 if you buy online which is very reasonable.

As for prices rising, well...yes they most certainly are. I think if parks want to raise gate prices then they should give us something in return. Thorpe has raised its prices, but they have just opened Saw: The Ride which justifies that. Places like Pleasure Beach on the other hand are CLOSING their rides and shows and still raising prices (as well as introducing new prices) which to me is not acceptable and shows greed. Economic collapse should prompt parks to play fair with ticket prices. Merlin are always offering very reasonable packages, with or without the annual pass so its fair to say people are getting good and fair deals on their half.
 
It is very expensive.

I've just been looking at Parc Asterix, €39 each! That's loads. At first, all four of us were going to go in, but that comes to €156, excluding the €8 to park.

Now, I know it's not entirely fair because of the terrible exchange rate, but even still.

Theme Parks are getting far too pricey. I might end up with a season pass next year, even though I'll only go to Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Chessington once or twice each.

Ah well, nothing much I can do about it!
 
We went to Thorpe Park with our Merlin Passes, but, when I checked how much it WOULD'VE cost us, it came to...
£91
So much better having a Merlin Pass.
Click to expand...

But later on in the year you'll surely be going Thorpe again, and adding in possible trips to Legoland, Alton, Chessington, Sea Lifes, London stuff, add on the 15%(+?) to all snack purchases you have made, and you've soon saved a ton of money from the Pass.

Also, if you didn't have the Pass, then you probably would have been using an offer of some description, or even booking on the Internet would save some money...

Are park costs going up?
Yes.
Are theme parks still filling up with guests?
Yes.
 
Hixee said:
I know it's not entirely fair because of the terrible exchange rate
Click to expand...

It's total **** right now. I just paid 44 Euro for Port Aventura, 12 for the train, and 10 for food. It's not the park's fault that the exchange rate is crap, but it bloody hurts to shell out 66 quid for a day in a park.

Don't get me wrong, PA was a lovely park, but when 2 days at Tokyo Disney and DisneySea only cost me about 50 quid, it wasn't easy to part with that much cash.
 
^Exactly. I think that is part of the reason it feels so bad at the moment.

I'm doing mostly non-UK European parks this year. The exchange rate is making it expensive.
 
Even for me using Euro I still find some of the UK parks very expensive take Alton, Thorpe and Legoland for example. I know you can get BOGOF and internet deals but when you have to pay at the gate you get robbed. I found most of the parks in Europe were much cheaper than those the 3 big UK parts.

I guess what ever parks can get away with they will charge. Alton and Thorpe can get away with putting their prices up because of how popular they are but other parks needing to survive will probably have to freeze prices or cut them.

I'm loving the sterling exchange rate at the moment because over the past few years we have had to shell out alot of money for trips when the exchange rates were bad for us. I remember a few years ago paying €1 = £0.67p and it was only recently the rates shot up.
 
Annual passes are soo worth it in my opinion, like, for just over a hundred bucks over here we can get into any Cedar Fair park, when admission is usually about $40 per person alone, so if you visit maybe three or four times, it has already paid off. Also, there atre other perks like early entry and stuff included with the pass, which is another reason why it is worth it.

The UK is very overpriced though.
 
Emmett said:
Even for me using Euro I still find some of the UK parks very expensive take Alton, Thorpe and Legoland for example. I know you can get BOGOF and internet deals but when you have to pay at the gate you get robbed.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's what I think as well.

Also, in Linnanmäki a wristband costs 35€ (free entry) **** me, also considering last year, the only more expensive parks in Europe were ie. Disney, Parc Asterix, Liseberg, Tusenfryd, major UK parks, Port Aventura. But, those parks, well Tusenfryd is a bit close, are much better than Linnanmäki. Also the park stopped selling season passes 3 or 4 years ago...

Emmett said:
I'm loving the sterling exchange rate at the moment because over the past few years we have had to shell out alot of money for trips when the exchange rates were bad for us. I remember a few years ago paying €1 = £0.67p and it was only recently the rates shot up.
Click to expand...
yeah, it's nice (sorry Brits :p) , back in '05 it was 1.50€ for £1, now it's around, 1.10€ for a £1.
 
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