Theme park deals

Alton Towers, Legoland, Thorpe Park & Chessington

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 a 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.

“If you’re able to visit midweek on your first trip and redeem a weekend ticket for free for your second visit, then this is the best way to use this promotion. But because this offer falls inside term time, visiting midweek won’t be possible for most families.”

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 first booking to generate that barcode.

Not a theme park fan? Check out our cheap days out round-up for other boredom-busting ideas.

Selected packs only. Includes Alton Towers, Chessington, Legoland & more

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

The amount of discount 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 (a school inset day for example), that’s when you’re likely to get the biggest discounts.

Here’s the full list of eligible Cadbury chocolate:

• Dairy Milk Freddo multipacks

• Dairy Milk 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 any specific branding for the offer, so you'll need to make sure you've picked up the correct chocolate.

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

Once you’ve bought your chocolate, enter the barcode and batch code (found on the back of the packaging) at the Cadbury website. You’ll be asked to enter some personal info, including your name and email address. MSE Hope submitted her details and received an email one minute later, which contained a booking link and a unique code.

Go via the link in the email and then select your attraction and visit date. Once you’ve picked your date, you’ll be asked to enter your unique code before paying for your entry tickets. The deal runs until Tuesday 30 June, and the discount can be used on up to four tickets.

MSE Hope spent 99p on her 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.

Via Blue Light Card. Includes Alton Towers, Legoland, Chessington & more

If you have a Blue Light Card (it costs £4.99 for two years), you can get up to 15% off entry to Merlin attractions, including Alton Towers, Legoland, Chessington, Thorpe Park and Warwick Castle. No code is needed, the discount is automatically applied when visiting an attraction's site via Blue Light Card's app or website.

Tickets must be booked at least 24 hours in advance, so you can’t book them on the day. Merlin says it carries out spot checks for proof of employment/membership, so make sure to have these details to hand, if needed.

Don't assume 15% off will always be the best deal. Check it against other offers to make sure you're getting the best saving.

If you work for the NHS or emergency services, see our NHS discounts guide for more ways to save. If you're a teacher, we've got a guide full of teacher discounts.

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.

For example, £32 Alton Towers advance vs £68 on the day

Theme park tickets aren't cheap, but you can often make big savings by planning ahead and buying tickets online in advance, rather than buying on the day at the gate. The ideal time to book varies by theme park, but as a general rule, it's best to book more than two days in advance to get the best price.

Below, we've outlined how much you could save by booking in advance at several major theme parks, based on the cost of an adult day ticket. Since online prices are demand-based (you'll often pay more on weekends and during the summer), the savings you make may vary depending on when you want to visit.

Including 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.

Via cashback sites or certain bank accounts

It's often possible to get cashback when buying theme park tickets. Check the following:

Topcashback. When we checked, you could get 2% back at Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventures.

Quidco. When we looked, you could get 1.6% back at Alton Towers and Thorpe Park.

Bank accounts & credit card offers. Certain banks and credit cards offer cashback deals, and we've previously spotted theme parks included. For example, in June 2025, Halifax had 10% cashback on Merlin attractions such as Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventures. Of course, you shouldn't open an account, or sign up to a credit card, just for these offers – see our Best current accounts and Credit card rewards guides first. Always read carefully before choosing a card to make sure it'll work for you, and pay it off IN FULL each month to avoid getting hit with interest.

It's important to note that cashback is never certain, as things can sometimes go wrong, such as your purchase not tracking properly. Always see cashback as a bonus, not a guarantee. See our Top cashback sites guide for full info.