I had Merlin Membership (standard) when it first came out and it was really handy as I wasn’t able to fork out a lump sum in one go. I’m guessing in the past, people signed up for it (which was meant to be minimum 12 months) and maybe cancelled after a couple of months of lots of park trips
They never had the sign up fee before so I’m thinking perhaps this is to deter it happening again?
I do think it’s a great idea for people on a budget - especially families who can’t afford to whack out a few hundred quid on passes in one go