I am extremely pleased with the actions Legoland and the Merlin team have taken to improve accessibility for those with limited mobility.
My thanks and admiration go to a member of my constituency, Joanna, who brought the experience of her son to our attention and led the way on a campaign to improve disability access.
In support of Joanna’s campaign, we presented a 26,000-signature petition to parliament calling for better disabled facilities and hosted a debate in the House of Commons demanding theme parks do better.
In response, Merlin are:
⭐ Significantly increasing financial support to adapt current rides
⭐ Trialing new adaptations such as harnesses to help more people enjoy the rides
⭐ For new rides, manufacturers have been told rides will not be purchased unless they are truly accessible
⭐ Improving information in advance of visits to the parks
⭐ Creating a dedicated accessibility team
The challenge now, is for other theme parks across the UK to emulate the best practice and leadership Merlin has shown at Legoland and put better disabled access at the heart of their operations.
There is always more to do and the nature of providing accessibility means that there will be rides or areas that still do not work for some families, but I feel a lot more confident that the Merlin parks are in ‘listen, learn and act’ mode now.
Thank you to Helen and the team at Merlin, Legoland.