I am conflicted. The news that Brean Theme Park has gone into liquidation, as well as all the controversy around Merlin’s ride access pass changes has me thinking. What is the solution to both of these problems?

Let’s address the ride access pass situation first. I’ll preface this by saying we haven’t used it or have a great deal of knowledge about how Ride Access Passes (RAP) work, but as an outsider looking in, it feels like there are simple solutions to the complex problem.

Also I do not intend to offend or upset anyone as I know this topic is a really touchy subject but there seems to be no one size fits all solution to the problem.

For those who don’t know, RAP has become a big problem at the Merlin Parks (Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Legoland and Chessington) as so many people need it, that’s it’s causing the RAP queue to sometimes exceed the regular queue on some attractions. Obviously this isn’t good for those who have it because they can’t queue.

To try and combat this a little, Merlin limited the amount of Ride Access Pass spaces that could be available for a given day, but this caused outrage as it meant that families were having to plan months in advance to be able to visit the parks as availability was soon booked up.

Now there’s a lot of confusion and anger about who’s to blame for the more recent changes where by neuro divergent guests are excluded from the pass. This means people who have ADHD, Autism or other conditions that make crowds and queuing difficult can no longer use the Ride Access Pass system. It seems like the general consensus is that Merlin are to blame, but Merlin are blaming the changes on Nimbus (the people who essentially sign off guests as being eligible for a ride access pass).

Who ever is to blame, and all the finger pointing and anger isn’t solving the problem!

So what is the solution to a very fine balancing act?

Once again, I’d like to reiterate we don’t have Nimbus cards or access to the RAP system, and no offence is meant. I would keep the old system in place where only a limited number of passes are available each day so that queues don’t get astronomical for those who need the help. Include physical and mental disabilities once again so those with difficulty in crowds can still visit the parks.

This would be supplemented with a couple of days each season, maybe 2 full weekend and a few weekdays where the park is only open to those with a ride access pass. Make it incredibly strict so that only those who need the assistance can get in on those days to stop the those without a ride access pass from spoiling it for those who do.

Obviously improving operations to the best of their abilities would help massively too but I don’t feel that operations at the Merlin parks are awful, so that wouldn’t change too much in the grand scheme of things. Maybe limiting the number of guests into the park on any given day may help too.

I don’t know how they can stop the abuse of the system though. I’ve been told by friends who have ride access passes that there are people out there who have them because they fit the criteria, but don’t need them. This compounds the issue further! I don’t know how that can be addressed either, but there are people out there that are cleverer than me that can come up with a solution to limit the amount of people abusing the system which would lower the number of people using it, therefore making the system faster for everyone.

It’s a difficult system to fix and I can only say as an outsider looking in, and use information from what I’ve seen in other places. Supermarkets for example have quiet hours to assist those with neuro diversity, air ports have a similar system to help those most needy through lengthy security and check in queues, though a lot of these are paid for upgrades too, which I really do not think Merlin should attempt to copy!

I was intending to make this into a single blog post, but I didn’t realise there was so much to talk about, so I’ll address the Brean issue in the next post!