Merlin deals

Via £1-£4 Kellogg’s snack & cereal packs. Valid for up to two people per pack

If you buy a Kellogg's promotional snack pack or box of cereal, you can get 25% off the price of up to two online advance entry tickets for 20+ Merlin attractions including Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, the London Eye, Chessington World of Adventures, and Legoland – see the full list. It's for visits until 30 June 2027.

How good is this deal?

In previous years, Kellogg’s offered 2for1 entry, but this 25% off promotion is actually a stronger deal. The discount applies to the cheaper online advance price rather than the more expensive gate price used by the old 2for1 vouchers.

You may be able to save a little more if you're travelling by train as you can get 33% off with National Rail's Days Out Guide. However, if you aren't already taking the train, buying a ticket just for the discount rarely pays off. For example, an Alton Towers ticket is £3 cheaper via National Rail, but a single train ticket from the nearest station costs about £4 off-peak. The Kellogg's deal is far simpler to claim for most people.

Check our full Theme park deals & MoneySaving tips guide for all available offers.

How to get 25% off:

1. Buy a Kellogg's promotional snack pack or box of cereal (98p to £4.35 when we checked) and scan the QR code on the pack with your smartphone (the site doesn't work on desktop). You'll need to register/sign in to a Kellogg’s account.

2. Enter the 10-digit code on top of the pack (starting with a K). You'll be emailed a discount code within 24 hours, although when we tried we were given a code instantly. It's valid for one visit until 30 June 2027.

3. Go to the offer claim site to enter the code and book your tickets. One code is valid for up to two people, and includes both adult and child tickets. You need to book by 11pm on the day before you want to visit.

Some dates are excluded, and tickets are limited during peak times.

Which Kellogg's products are included?

If you're just after the 25% off, snack packs are the way to go. The cheapest we found was 98p at Asda.

Here's the full list of participating snack packs:

• Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bar (37g)

• Rice Krispies Squares: Marshmallow (28g, 4x28g, 8x28g), Chocolate (36g, 4x36g, 8x36g), and Caramel & Chocolate (36g, 4x36g, 8x36g)

• Rice Krispies Cereal Bars (4x20g)

• Frosties Cereal Bars (4x25g)

• Coco Pops Cereal Bars (4x20g)

• Special K Bars: Red Berry (6x21.5g) and Milk Chocolate (6x20g)

• Corn Flakes Cereal & Milk Bar Chocolate Cereal Bar (4x24g)

• Winders Strawberry Fruit Snack Roll (5x17g)

Here's the full list of participating cereals:

• Krave: Chocolate & Nut (410g, 750g) and Milk Chocolate (410g, 750g)

• Corn Flakes: 450g, 670g, 1kg

• Coco Pops: Original (300g, 420g, 650g) and Chocos (430g)

• Rice Krispies: Original (310g, 430g, 660g) and Multigrain (350g)

• Crunchy Nut: 300g, 460g, 720g, 840g, 1kg

• Clusters: Chocolate (400g) and Honey & Nut (400g)

• Special K: Red Berries (330g, 500g) and Original (440g, 750g)

Important: Make sure you check the Kellogg's cereal/snack you're buying for the '25% off great days out' messaging, as it's only these ones that are valid.

Includes Alton Towers, Legoland, Thorpe Park & Chessington

For a second time this year, Merlin is running a ‘Twice the Fun’ promotion at several of its theme parks, where if you book to visit Alton Towers, Legoland, Chessington or Thorpe Park, you can visit another of the attractions, or the same one again, for free.

You'll need to have completed your first visit by Monday 27 July, and your second visit by Friday 25 September.

Important: Bizarrely, Merlin says you can book up to 11.59pm on Monday 27 July, even though you also need to have completed your first visit by that date. So don't get caught out – make sure you can still do your first visit by the deadline.

You’ll need to book your first visit and use the unique barcode number from your first ticket to claim your second 'free' ticket. You can either return to the same attraction or visit one of the other attractions mentioned above.

Tickets must be booked under the same name and attended by the same guests. The lead booker may be asked to provide proof of identity too.

How good is this deal?

This is essentially a 2for1 deal that's only good if you’re definitely going to visit two attractions (or the same attraction twice) by 25 September. If you only plan on visiting one time, use our cheap theme park tickets guide to find other ways to save on entry.

While you can’t stack this promotion with any other offers, you can pay for all or some of your ticket using vouchers accrued with Tesco Clubcard or Sainsbury’s Nectar.

It's worth noting that children under 90cm go free at Alton Towers, Legoland and Chessington, and guests under 120cm go free at Thorpe Park. While you won’t have to pay for any guest who is under this height, they will need to be added onto the booking.

The deal coincides with the UK government’s temporary VAT reduction on attractions (Merlin says it's dropped prices by 15%). See which other attractions have passed on the VAT cut.

Eg, £5 of Nectar points = £10 towards entry to Alton Towers, Legoland, Madame Tussauds & more

Got a bunch of Nectar points saved up? If you have at least 250 points in the Nectar app (Android/iOS), you can get two-times the value when using them towards tickets for 20+ Merlin attractions such as Alton Towers, Legoland, Madame Tussauds, and Warwick Castle.

When spent in-store at Sainsbury's, one Nectar point is normally worth 0.5p – so 1,000 points gives £5 off your shopping – but with this deal, one point is worth 1p, so those 1,000 points become £10 off a Merlin attraction, doubling its value.

Here's how to do it:

• Go to the Nectar app and search ‘Merlin’.

• On the Merlin page, tap ‘Spend points’ to be taken to the Merlin website, where you can choose an attraction and add the number of tickets you want to your basket.

• When you enter your personal details, you'll be asked for your Nectar number and password to link the accounts.

• Tell it how many points you want to convert from Nectar to spend at the attraction – it's a minimum of 250 points (normally worth £1.25, but gets you £2.50 in this double-up deal), and there's no maximum.

You can do this until Monday 14 September or when 100,000 double-up redemptions have been made, whichever’s sooner.

The 20+ theme parks and other attractions include:

Theme parks: Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures, Legoland Windsor, and Thorpe Park.

Sea Life centres: Birmingham, Blackpool, Brighton, Great Yarmouth, Hunstanton, Loch Lomond, London, Manchester, Scarborough, and Weymouth Adventure Park.

Other attractions: Cadbury World, London Eye, London Eye River Cruise, Madame Tussauds London, Shrek’s Adventure! London, The Dungeons (Edinburgh, London, York), The Gruffalo & Friends Clubhouse, and Warwick Castle.

How good is this deal?

There are fewer strong (2for1, 50% off) theme park deals around these days, so if you have a decent number of Nectar points banked, this boost could be a winner.

You’ll effectively need just shy of 3,000 points to get a ‘free’ entry ticket into theme parks such as Alton Towers and Legoland, but even if you have as little as 250 points, you can still get some money off your ticket – though check our full round-up of theme park deals to make sure there isn't a better offer for you.

If you have Tesco Clubcard points instead, then it's worth considering its very similar ongoing Merlin Reward Partner deal.

What about the recently announced VAT cut on attractions?

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a temporary reduction in VAT from 20% to 5% from Thursday 25 June to Tuesday 1 September for attractions such as theme parks, zoos, museums and soft-play venues.

In a statement, Merlin's CEO Fiona Eastwood said: "Merlin will be applying this VAT cut to both admission tickets and children’s meals, adding more value to days out and short breaks at our 20 UK attractions."

Merlin wasn't able to tell us when the VAT cut would be updated into its pricing, but if you're planning to visit from end of June to September, it may be best to wait for the price cuts to take place.

Read our guide on how to boost your Nectar points.

Includes entry to over 20 UK attractions

Merlin Annual Passes start from £139 and come in three tiers: Essential, Gold and Platinum. Each pass includes entry to over 20 attractions such as Alton Towers, Legoland, Thorpe Park, Warwick Castle, Madame Tussauds and more, though the cheapest pass has several blackout dates.

With the cheapest £139 pass, it’s only cost-effective if you’re planning to visit five or more attractions within a 12-month period.

If you’re planning to visit just one of these attractions more than once in a 12-month period, you’re better off buying an individual Annual Pass – these are usually £64 for the major theme parks such as Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Legoland, and are worth considering if you're visiting more than twice in one year.

Are Merlin Annual Passes ever discounted? Yes, while passes start from £139 normally, we’ve seen them sold from £79 during Black Friday in November. If you’re after a pass, and can wait, it may be worth holding out until later in the year, though of course that does miss out on this current season.