Thorpe Park deals

Includes Alton Towers, Legoland, Thorpe Park & Chessington. Visit both attractions by 15 May

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.

Tickets must be booked by 11.59pm on Sunday 19 April, and you’ll need to have completed both theme park visits by Friday 15 May.

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 Friday 15 May. This promotion can’t be stacked with any other offers, so make sure you have two visits in mind. If you only plan on visiting one time, use our cheap theme park tickets guide to find other ways to save on entry.

MSE Hope says: “Tickets to each of the four theme parks in this deal start from £32 for a midweek visit. Prices across the theme parks are broadly similar. However, the cheapest weekend entry I spotted was at Chessington for £34 on Sunday 19 April. Book your cheapest theme park first, and get entry to a more expensive theme park, such as Alton Towers (£37 to £39 on weekends) for free."

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.

Selected packs only. Discount's off the online price for Alton Towers, Chessington, Legoland & more

If you buy selected packs of Cadbury chocolate, you can get 10% to 50% off the online price of an entry ticket to Merlin attractions, including Alton Towers, Chessington, Legoland, Thorpe Park and more.

The discount amount depends on when you visit, so peak tickets typically get a 10% discount, while off-peak tickets will get up to 50% off. When we checked, 20% was the biggest discount we saw for a weekend ticket. If you can go midweek, that’s when you’re likely to get the biggest discounts.

Here’s the full list of eligible Cadbury chocolate:

• Dairy Milk Freddo multipacks or Freddo Caramel multipacks

• Dairy Milk Buttons multipacks

• Fudge multipacks

• Dairy Milk Little Bar multipacks

• Curly Wurly mutipacks

• Mini Animals 99.5g

• Mini Fingers 96.5g

Unlike in some previous promotions, the packs don't have specific branding for the offer, so you'll need to make sure you've picked up the correct chocolate.

MSE Hope got a four-pack of Freddo bars from her local Farmfoods for 99p:

How to get the deal

• Buy one of the eligible chocolates listed above and enter the barcode and batch code (found on the back of the packaging) at the Cadbury website.

• You’ll receive an email with a booking link and a unique code. Go via the link in the email and select your attraction and visit date, then enter your code to get the discount.

The deal runs until Tuesday 30 June, and the discount can be used on up to four tickets.

MSE Hope says: "I spent 99p on chocolate but racked up a discount of up to £7.20 per ticket for entry on a Saturday, taking a £39 ticket down to £31.20. For a family of four, this would mean a saving of £28.80. Midweek visits proved to have the biggest savings, with a Thursday ticket for £16 per person, normally £32."

Set in Surrey, Thorpe Park has more than 30 rides and attractions, including Hyperia, the tallest rollercoaster in the UK. Other popular rides include Nemesis Inferno and Colossus.

Day Ticket

• One-day tickets: Start from £32 per person when booked in advance online.

• Remember: Guests under 120cm visit for free, so don’t pay if your child is under this height.

Annual pass

• Start from £64 per person, which means you’d need to visit the theme park at least twice in a 12-month period. Our calculations don’t factor in the cost of discounted tickets, so you’ll probably need to visit more than twice for an annual pass to be truly cost-effective.

Overnight stays

• Thorpe Park has themed onsite accommodation (its Shark cabins) and access to nearby hotels too. We’ve seen midweek breaks starting from £71.75 per person based on four people (two adults and two children) sharing a room. Weekend breaks are likely to cost more. Breaks include breakfast, free parking, free Wi-Fi, 10% discount in gift shops, two days of theme park entry and an hour of fastrack on the second day of visiting.

Other need-to-knows

• Queues: Thorpe Park has a free app (Google Play/iOS), which can be used to check queue times on the day of your visit.

• Fast passes: From £9 per person (valid for up to three rides).

• Car parking: From £12 when booked in advance online – it’s more expensive on the day.

• Leaving & returning: You can head back to your car to pick up items for free, but you’ll need to get your hand stamped by a member of staff first.

• Refunds: Tickets are non-refundable. If you need to change/amend a ticket, you’ll need to go through the Account Portal, which may incur a fee.

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.

For up to six people with a valid train ticket (we've a trick if not travelling by train)

If you register with Days Out Guide and buy a National Rail ticket, you can get 33% off the online advance ticket price for Merlin theme parks and attractions, including Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures, Legoland, and Thorpe Park – see 'More info' below for the full list.

How to get 33% off

• Choose which theme park you want to visit at Days Out Guide and you'll be given a 33% off code.

• Go via Days Out Guide to the theme park's own website and use the code to book advance tickets online. You can book up to a maximum of six tickets per code. You'll need to do it by 11pm the day before you want to visit.

• On arrival at the theme park, you'll need to present your tickets alongside a valid train ticket (one for the station nearest the attraction) dated for the same day. Each person needs a valid train ticket.

Some dates are excluded, and tickets are limited during peak times. See full terms & conditions.

What if I live near the attraction/am travelling by other means?

If you're not travelling by train but this deal would still work out cheaper for you, you can buy a cheap single ticket (usually for a couple of quid) to the nearest station to your attraction – just get a train ticket from the next station along.

Including Alton Towers, Eden Project, Longleat Safari and many more

Convert Tesco Clubcard points into Tesco Reward Partners vouchers and on many attractions you get two-times the vouchers' face value to use on tickets, for example £5 in points converts into £10-worth of vouchers. They can be used at theme parks, wildlife parks and more.

Here are some of the popular theme parks you can choose:

• Alton Towers

• Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort

• Chessington

• Drayton Manor

• Legoland Windsor

• Thorpe Park

And some of the other attractions:

• Eden Project

• Blackpool Zoo

• Longleat Safari

• National Sea Life, Birmingham

• Cadbury World

For how to fully maximise Clubcard points, see our Boost Tesco Clubcard guide.