Could Merlin Annual Passholders Be Excluded from Minecraft World? New Terms Raise Questions
Merlin is updating its Annual Pass terms, with new wording covering restrictions on individual rides and lands, more exclusion dates and reduced booking allowances.
3 min read
Could you enter Chessington with your Merlin Annual Pass, but be prevented from experiencing its brand-new Minecraft World?
That’s one question raised by changes to Merlin’s Annual Pass Terms & Conditions, taking effect on 11 November 2026.
Merlin has notified passholders about the updates but hasn’t provided a clear breakdown of what’s actually changing.
So Turnstile Times has compared the current terms with the revised terms. And we’ve found several changes worth knowing about.
New Wording Allows Restrictions on Individual Rides and Lands
Perhaps the biggest discovery is in Clause 2.5 of the revised Platinum terms, which explicitly gives Merlin the contractual right to:
“restrict, defer or exclude access, or booking of access, to attractions, rides, lands, areas, experiences, events or other additions to an attraction”
The previous terms already allowed Merlin to close attractions and manage admission, but did not explicitly extend access restrictions to individual rides, lands and new additions in this way.
These restrictions can be applied for several stated reasons, including operational reasons – a phrase broad enough to raise questions about how Merlin could manage exceptionally high demand for new attractions.
With the £50 million Minecraft World opening at Chessington in 2027, could passholders potentially be admitted to the park but face additional restrictions on accessing the new land or its Escape the Nether roller coaster?
Crucially, Merlin has NOT announced plans to restrict passholder access to Minecraft World. Nor is there evidence these changes were introduced specifically because of the new land.
Nevertheless, the wording raises questions about what annual passholders can expect from future developments.
56% More Exclusion Dates — and Fewer Bookings
Our comparison also uncovered significant changes for Essential, Discovery and Silver Pass holders.
The published 2027 exclusion calendars increase from 25 to 39 dates – a 56% rise.
Fifteen dates have been added, including dates around Easter, summer and Halloween, while one previously excluded date has been removed.
Additionally, the number of active advance bookings permitted under these passes drops from three per attraction to one.
The revised wording is less clear about whether that single booking limit applies per attraction or across multiple attractions, something Merlin should clarify.
It also remains unclear how the updated exclusion calendars will affect passes already purchased under the existing terms.
New Restrictions on Commercial Use
Another addition appears in Clause 7.1(f) of the revised Platinum terms, which now explicitly classifies commercial use of an Annual Pass as misuse, including promotional activity and other unauthorised business use.
Could this affect independent theme park reviewers, journalists or creators producing monetised videos? The wording doesn’t specifically mention these activities, but clarification would certainly be welcome.
The TT Take
There are perfectly legitimate reasons for restricting attraction access, particularly during busy periods.
But there’s a difference between managing capacity and potentially restricting paying passholders from enjoying major new developments.
And with substantial changes to exclusion dates and booking allowances also appearing in the small print, we think Merlin should have provided customers with a clear explanation of precisely what’s changing.
Passholders deserve to know exactly what they’re buying – without having to compare pages of legal wording to find out.
We’d welcome clarification from Merlin, particularly regarding Minecraft World, the new booking restrictions and how existing customers will be affected.
What do you think? Should an Annual Pass guarantee access to every permanent ride and themed land, subject to normal operational restrictions?
