If you’re a parent or guardian, please connect with your SEN school, your healthcare provider, a charity or support group to make an application on your behalf. Before applying, please ensure that your child meets our eligibility criteria, listed below.

The child you are applying on behalf of will be eligible if they;

1) Are aged 2-18 years old, and

2) Are currently facing one of the below:

Serious/Long-term Illness

Registered disability

Living in a permanent or temporary care home

Living in foster care

Recently adopted

Impacted by domestic violence/abuse/bullying

Has a terminally ill parent/legal guardian/sibling

Has a recently deceased parent/legal guardian/sibling

Registered Young Carer

We ask all organisations to provide us with the following information:

• 2 registered organisation e-mail addresses (we do not accept @gmail, @yahoo etc)
• The organisation’s website
• (If applicable) Charity Registration Number

On occasion, to fully assess your application we may request additional documentation such as official hospital letters, Educational, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or letters from the local authority.

You can only experience a Magical Day Out once.

Due to the high demand for tickets, we only accept families that we have not previously supported. This is regardless of when tickets were received previously or if your family have additional children who meet our eligibility criteria.

Application processing times vary based on demand but typically take up to 4 weeks for an initial response.

Once you have applied you will receive an automated email from us, with a little more detail on the next stages of our process. We thank you for your patience as we carefully assess each application. We aim to complete eligibility checks within 10 days for Time-Sensitive applications – please see ‘What is a Time-Sensitive Application?’ FAQ below.

We will only ever email you.

When you apply through our website you will receive an automated response via email to let you know that we have received your application, this may go into your junk folder so please check there. All correspondence in relation to your application will come to you via email. We cannot accept any responsibility for any missed emails or missed days out because of missed emails, so please check your junk emails regularly.

You will not be able to pre-select a date until your application is successful. When this happens, you will be provided with information on selecting a date.

Here at Merlin’s Magic Wand, we provide tickets for children with life-limiting conditions. Should you need to apply for a Magical Day Out for a child with a 12 month prognosis or less, we would class this as a time-sensitive application.

Please note: applying for time-sensitive applications due to birthdays or anniversaries does not qualify as a time-sensitive application.

On the 25th of May 2018, new European GDPR regulations came into place. Due to the sensitive nature of the information and paperwork that we require to assess and process an application, we are legally required to obtain consent to terms and conditions and collection of personal information. For full information please refer to our Privacy Policy and Cookies. 

Ticket validity varies for each Merlin attraction and further information will be provided in your confirmation email if your application is successful. Please note that tickets are only valid for the calendar year you make the application in.

Remember to enjoy your Magical Day Out prior to the expiry date on your confirmation email. Expiry dates cannot be extended, and tickets cannot be reissued in the event you are unable to attend prior to this date.

Once your application has been accepted, we will send you a link to the official website for your chosen attraction, as well as gift codes. You will either need to:

• Use these codes and link to book a Magical Day Out on your beneficiaries’ behalf
• Send these codes, link, and booking guidelines to your beneficiaries to book their Magical Day Out themselves

We will also send you the accessibility information for this attraction as a link, so please share this information with your beneficiaries should anyone visiting have any accessibility requirements.

If you have any specific questions or queries about the attraction you are visiting, we advise you to visit their website or contact the attraction directly. 

Parking is included at the following attractions:

• Alton Towers Resort
• Chessington World of Adventures Resort
• LEGOLAND Windsor Resort
• Thorpe Park Resort
• Warwick Castle

The option to book parking will be available when you are booking your Magical Day Out – please look out for it during the booking process.

If you are visiting as a group and are planning on bringing a coach to any of the attractions listed above, please contact us ahead of your visit.

For all other attractions, information about parking will be on the individual attraction’s website.

For all Ride Access Pass information, please visit Merlin Entertainments’ accessibility website: Merlin Entertainments Accessibility

We often get asked if we can donate attraction tickets to individuals or charities who are fundraising. Please Note: we are gifted Magical Day Out tickets by Merlin Entertainments and we are unable to use these tickets for anything other than our beneficiaries. We cannot gift tickets for fundraising events or initiatives. 

We are unable to donate Merlin's Magic Wand merchandise or any donated merchandise from the Merlin Attractions for fundraising events or campaigns. 

While we work with Merlin Attractions to make our three Magical Programmes happen, we cannot support any external fundraising ideas or initiatives that you wish to create at a Merlin Attraction. Should you want to fundraise for Merlin's Magic Wand we have some great fundraising packs and year-round campaigns. 

We welcome ideas for fundraising, however, cannot plan events at or in attractions.