May 13, 201510 yr comment_209054 I hope it's £2000. People would still buy at that price. Would only take around 12 visits to Alton Towers and you've broke even.
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209055 Last time I checked a visit to towers doesn't cost £166 a time :L Edit: Forgot about unlimited fasttrack. Really hope the price goes up to a stupid amount really to try and limit the amount.
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209056 £50 for the entry then £95 for the unlimited fastrack plus free drinks and the 20% discounts and the free parking and then you are easily at £166.
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209079 Last time I checked a visit to towers doesn't cost £166 a time :L Edit: Forgot about unlimited fasttrack. Really hope the price goes up to a stupid amount really to try and limit the amount. The pass is currently limited to 1000 so it is restricted (didn't even sell out). As we've discussed before on the thread, people will value the pass like I did - you work out the cost per visit and the amount of trips you'll make and if you break even or exceed the amount then it's great value. It's also worth reiterating that you get 4 tickets included per pass which have the value of around £140 each (park entry and unlimited fastrack)
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209081 It did sell out. There is currently a waiting list for the pass. Or there was at least when I last looked into buying one. (That was before Merlin annoyed me.)
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209083 It did sell out. There is currently a waiting list for the pass. Or there was at least when I last looked into buying one. (That was before Merlin annoyed me.) If I remember correctly they stopped selling in August and rumour has it there were around 700 paid passes (disabled pass holders get one free for the carer) they may have offered the remaining via the corporate customers though. How'd they annoy you?
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209085 How'd they annoy you? There is not enough hours in the day for me to explain why I no longer like them. And the fact if I did someone would argue with me and I just cba to deal with that at the moment.
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209096 £5000 then. Lol now don't be giving them ideas! For £5000 whilst there would be a smaller amount of pass holders you'd probably be more likely to be inconvenienced by them. For that price we'd be talking ride access via the exit, seating preference, re ride without getting off....... Better the devil you know
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209097 Lol now don't be giving them ideas! For £5000 whilst there would be a smaller amount of pass holders you'd probably be more likely to be inconvenienced by them. For that price we'd be talking ride access via the exit, seating preference, re ride without getting off....... VIP passholders do all of these things anyway.
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209099 VIP passholders do all of these things anyway. Some of them might but there are a few of us who do as we're told, honest!
May 13, 201510 yr comment_209100 Not true. I visit chessington regularly and can say I've seen VIP holders turned away for walking up the exit (bubbles and vampire). I've also seen people told they can't choose their seats (on vampire (unless they want front row)) and the amount of times I've seen arguements on bubbles for them wanting to reride from the queueline is too large... The VIP holders always lose. So no. They don't do all these things. It;s unfortunate to think they can squash the rules they are set because they have paid loads of money though. As paul said, most of them seem to be ok. I've even seen VIP holders queue up normally and when I asked why, they simply said it was too stupid to use the fastpass with a reasonable queue (it was 15 minutes on bubbles).
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209533 Renewal prices , single pass is £599 per person & family of 3 £499 per person. New pass price 2015 Single pass £699 (£199 increase) family of 3 £599 per person Still only 1000 passes and no added extras, so a full on £200 increase from last year. To soften the blow LEGOLAND have an exclusive ride time event for VIP's this Saturday, 8:15 - 10am full entry to Heartlake City.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209551 As predicted they raised the price because of high demand. A £200 price rise is a crazy increase but I guess it does make business sense.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209559 As predicted they raised the price because of high demand. A £200 price rise is a crazy increase but I guess it does make business sense. Exactly but the problem for Merlin will be the higher price will now mean when things don't live up to what is sold then passholders will rightly be more vocal about the issues. There's no more hiding behind the "it's a new pass things will improve" excuse
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209561 It's a premium product and should be priced accordingly - if they sell out, it's too cheap.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209562 Kind of feel bad for any current VIP holders who were thinking of renewing. I know renewal prices aren't guaranteed to be cheaper than the regular price you paid, but to have the prize increase by £100 with no extra benefits in comparison is quite steep in my mind. Would have been nice if they could have at least fixed it at £500 for them, but hey ho.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209566 Kind of feel bad for any current VIP holders who were thinking of renewing. I know renewal prices aren't guaranteed to be cheaper than the regular price you paid, but to have the prize increase by £100 with no extra benefits in comparison is quite steep in my mind. Would have been nice if they could have at least fixed it at £500 for them, but hey ho. After this year's renewal price freeze from Merlin nothing is surprising...
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209567 I would rather that merlin make massive amounts of money from it, good for them. I'm sure the VIP holders can bear forking out another £100, or just waiting in some lines like "normal" people. By making the renewal price £100 more than last year, instead of, say, fixing it, they're making at most £100,000 more than they would. Given that not all 1000 people will renew and how much Merlin make, the amount of extra money they're making is minuscule.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209570 No real loyalty to the customer (never is this day and age) but given all the issues the pass had last year, as a passholder I would of expected some token gesture, even if it was just throwing in an extra golden ticket per renewal but to now value the pass £199 more and add nothing but access to Shrek is a bit poor.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209571 It's potentially a lot more than a £100k increase on last year, as anybody who doesn't renew means another pass is available for a new customer, each of which is an extra £200 to Merlin compared to last year. As it's £95 for platinum fastrack at Towers the VIP price last year was far too low for what they were offering, they're now going some way to addressing that. People will pay almost ANYTHING for fastrack, and it seems Merlin are only just starting to realise this.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209580 It's potentially a lot more than a £100k increase on last year, as anybody who doesn't renew means another pass is available for a new customer, each of which is an extra £200 to Merlin compared to last year. Fair point that it could be more than £100k, but whatever amount it is, it's still surely only a negligible amount compared to how much the UK parks must make? I'm not surprised by the increase, as the pass was under-priced for what it gave really, but it just feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth to what are in theory Merlin's most loyal customers (an argument I hate using usually, but is true in this case really).
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209582 Operational profits were projected to be north of £400Million for 2014 last I heard, so yeah, a grain of sand on a beach comparison overall.
May 26, 201510 yr comment_209583 £200 for VIP is a massive increase, but for the almost celebrity treatment these things offer, one could argue hey were too cheap to start off with. I wouldn't consider buying Merlin VIP at the moment as I'm happy enough with premium at the moment and £700 could be a hearty chunk used on a big trip to somewhere like Europa for a few days in one of the onsite hotels with left overs to spare.
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