IF your summer days out were a bit of a damp squib thanks to the wet weather, now's the time to check whether you could go back free.
Lots of attractions offer a rainy day guarantee, but it does depend on
remembering to check the list of eligible wet weather days provided by the site.
If your original visit date is on the list, you could use the rainy day guarantee for a second visit in the coming months.
It's particularly good for helping to fill October half term if you're
looking for cheap days out as we head towards Christmas.
We spent a drizzly day at Warwick Castle, which has a rainy day
promise of a free return visit within 60 days if it rains continuously
for an hour or more.
Even better, at Warwick Castle, you don't have to rebook, you just show your original tickets when you turn up on your return visit and they check them against the rainy day list provided by management.
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The main proviso is that the tickets have to have been bought through the Warwick Castle website as tickets bought through
third parties aren't eligible.
We often use Sunsavers tickets, which don't fall under the rainy day guarantee, but this year, we had an adult and toddler midweek ticket, which did qualify.
Warwick Castle isn't alone in the Merlin group in offering a free
return visit if managers record that it rains continuously for more
than an hour on the day you visit.
Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures and Thorpe Park do the same, with 12 months to book your return visit, but Legoland Windsor doesn't.
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Unfortunately, if it's wet on your return trip, you can't use the guarantee to get another free visit.
I actually don't mind going on a day out when it's a bit damp and drizzly as it keeps the crowds away and you often don't need to
queue much to get on your favourite rides.
The only time the weather really puts a dampener on things is if rides and attractions have to close because of heavy downpours or high winds.
This year, we ended up at Legoland on the hottest day of the year and I can honestly say it was a bit too warm. I would have been grateful for a little bit of rain!
And last year I had to alter the date for our Warwick Castle
tickets as they fell during the heatwave, when temperatures were
hitting close to 40 degrees and everyone was trying to keep cool.
So maybe there's call for the rainy day promise to be replaced by an
extreme weather guarantee that covers both wet weather and heatwaves?
There's lots of other places that also do a rainy day guarantee, like
Chester Zoo and the Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire, which takes a bit of
the pressure off if you're booking in advance and worried that the
weather will spoil your day out.
At Drayton Manor, you can pay ยฃ2 per ticket to cover rainy days, which are defined as 4mm of rainfall during operational hours, but your return visit has to be within 30 days and needs to be booked on the day of the original visit to be valid.
With 23 rainy days recorded so far this year at Warwick Castle, 17 at
Alton Towers and Chessington and 11 at Drayton Manor, it's well worth
taking a moment to check if you visited on a day that's valid for a
free return visit, hopefully without the wet weather.
Who doesn't love two days out for the price of one?
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Meanwhile, these are the best free days out in the UK.
And you could save extra money by taking your family away in October.
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