Merlin Entertainments introduce Discovery, Gold and Platinum passes for 2021!

Merlin Annual Pass introduce 3 brand new pass options for 2021 - Discovery, Gold and Platinum!

With Merlin recently announcing that they had three brand new pass products on the horizon (the first of which was revealed last month as being the brand new weekday Discovery Pass) it was inevitable that the existing pass products were set to undergo significant changes in time for the start of 2021.

Late this morning (Monday December 7th) we finally received the news that a further two new passes were also set to be introduced in the form of the brand new Gold and Platinum options.

The introduction of these new passes means that the old pass products (Standard and Premium) will therefore become defunct as of today, giving way to these two (very similar in our opinion) options.

Whilst Merlin have recently allowed alot of pre-existing annual passholders to renew their current annual passes, the Standard and Premium pass products were officially removed from sale back at the start of Fall 2020 in order to make way for the introduction of the now brand new revised pass options.

In total three brand new passes have recently seen introduction.

These are as follows;

The Discovery Pass (primarily a weekday pass aimed at those wishing to visit the parks and attractions through the week instead of at the weekends) priced at £69 (£89 post sale period)

The Gold Pass (essentially very similar to the Standard Pass with restricted access to parks and attractions set over 345 days of the year and the brand new inclusion of parking at all attractions) priced at £199 (£219 post sale period).

Finally the Platinum Pass (again essentially very similar to the former Premium Pass with completely unrestricted access throughout the entirety of the year as well as the inclusion of parking and the inclusion of share the fun vouchers) priced at £239 (£299 post sale period).

To get a much better idea of what each individual product offers we have collated the following screenshots to better show just how the three different options differ!

As you can tell from the above images the more you pay, the more you are able to enjoy as a whole (which to be honest is exactly what you would expect in all fairness).

As much as we feel the price increases are fairly substantial, consider this!

The financial toll that Merlin have suffered this season has been extremely substantial due to having to close their attractions for nearly a third of their normal annual season.

This therefore means that not only will these new prices ensure we still have parks and attractions to visit as the company recovers from the hardships placed on them this season, however it also means that we will be able to expect new additions in the years ahead too (hopefully not just upcharge attractions and walkthroughs however haha!).

Merlin have also confirmed that at present those who are currently part of the monthly membership scheme will remain unaffected by the introduction of these new options, however the companies website does also state in the FAQs that they do intend to introduce brand new pay monthly options in 2021 which we would expect to be inline with the new products introduced and the price increase that comes with them.

It’s not unreasonable to assume therefore that we will very likely be seeing the introduction of these new options within the next two months at the latest, and it will more than likely be at that point that Merlin will invite all current pay monthly customers to enroll in the schemes or face being evicted from their memberships without choice or alternative.

Below is another look at the three brand new passes in circulation as of December 2020.

What are your thoughts on the new pass options introduced by Merlin? Do you think they present good value for money? Or do you think the prices are far too steep for what each pass offers?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!