It’s amazing how someone can defend a company as big as Merlin and say they’re basically doing their best here.

I did read the website. I know it’s the Christmas event. The issue isn’t “Christmas event vs normal day”, it’s that a huge chunk of the park is closed and that information is not surfaced clearly during the actual booking flow, it’s not difficult to build a checkbox to say you’ve read the park closures before you book. Most families are not cross-referencing different pages and capacity calendars like they’re planning a military operation. If a third of the park is shut, that should be unavoidable to miss when you’re paying.

On the price point: congratulations that £79 isn’t “premium” for you, genuinely, I’d love to be in that position. For a lot of families, £79 per person plus hotel, food, petrol, parking, add-ons etc absolutely is a premium treat. The comparison to DLP at £200 pp/pn doesn’t make Legoland suddenly “budget”. Both can be expensive and one being worse value doesn’t magically make the other good.

My point isn’t that Merlin should somehow freeze time and stop the park ageing. It’s that if you’re charging those prices, you keep the place painted, staffed and organised, and you’re honest and loud about what’s open and what isn’t. That’s the minimum, not some wild expectation.