Merlin annual pass

A question about : Merlin annual pass

I am thinking of buying 3 Merlin passes. These would be for 3 friends.

I would liek to buy them asap in order to still have time to go to amusement parks while it's still not too cold.

The best deal I could find is a family deal on their website. I am however confused if all 3 people would need to be a family members or can be just friends.
Would we also always have to go together or we would get 3 separate passes that can be used separately.
Finally would it be wise at all to wait until September? Do they normally do a better deals after the summer ends?

Many Thanks

Best answers:

• I have no idea whether you have to be 'family' but we have three seperate passes with our photographs on them, so we could go seperately if we wanted to.
• I was thinking of getting these myself next year. There are two of us so cost would be Ј318 however I could get the family price of three for Ј357. I would rather pay the extra for 3 so I could take a friend each time (but it would not be the same friend)
  In light of the answer above that they have photos on, looks like this is not possible However OP i can't see anything that says you have to be a family.
• My friends and I have bought our passes with the family option. We just had them all delivered to her address. As they are all individual passes we can use them with or without each other. Hope that helps.
  The best deals seem to be in January when they have offered a discount for the last two years at least.
• They checked at the London attractions where you had to hand them to a real person. Not so much at Alton Towers.
• They've checked at Alton Towers the last three times we've been. Of all the places we've been, the only one who didn't check was Warwick castle. It states on the t&cs that if someone is caught using your annual pass then it will be confiscated.... I personally wouldn't risk losing my pass for someone else.
• Update - we went to Warwick though the priory entrance at the weekend and they did check the pictures on the cards as we entered.
• You probably already know but if buying online, remember to buy from sea life, going via quidco and get 10% cash back on whatever deal price you get.