These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern your membership of and participation in the ex-plor Research Community (“the Community”), operated at https://apbackstage.com (“the Platform”).
The Community is operated by Merlin Attractions Operations Limited (MAOL or Merlin) (“we”, “us”, “our”), a company registered in England and Wales, company number 06272935, registered address Arbor Building, 16th Floor 255 Blackfriars Road London SE1 9AX. The Platform is administered on our behalf by STRAT7 Researchbods (“STRAT7”) who act as processor.
By registering for the Community and accepting these Terms, you enter into a legally binding agreement with MAOL. Please read these Terms carefully before completing registration. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not register.
These Terms should be read alongside our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice, both of which are accessible via the Platform footer at all times.
To register for and participate in the Community, you must:
Registration requires you to complete an initial screener which collects demographic and household information for research segmentation purposes. Details of the data collected at registration are set out in our Privacy Notice.
By completing registration, you confirm that all information you have provided is accurate and that you meet the eligibility requirements set out in clause 2.1. We reserve the right to verify eligibility and to suspend or terminate membership where eligibility requirements are not met.
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must notify us immediately at hello@apbackstage.com if you become aware of any unauthorised access to or use of your account.
You must not share your account credentials with any other person or allow any other person to access the Community using your account.
Each eligible individual may hold only one account. Creating multiple accounts is not permitted and may result in termination of all associated accounts.
By registering for the Community, you acknowledge that MAOL will collect and process your personal data in accordance with our Privacy Notice, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference and is available at all times via the Platform footer.
Our Privacy Notice sets out: the categories of personal data we collect; the purposes for which we process it; the legal bases for processing; how long we retain it; and your rights as a data subject.
The primary legal basis for processing your personal data in connection with the Community is your consent, given at the point of registration. Your consent covers participation in surveys and research tasks, use of the forum, receipt of Community communications, and participation in incentive programmes.
Consent is voluntary. You may withdraw your consent at any time by deleting your account (see clause 9) or by contacting us at hello@apbackstage.com. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before withdrawal.
You have rights in relation to your personal data under applicable data protection law, including the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and port your data, and to object to processing. Details of your rights and how to exercise them are set out in the Privacy Notice.
Data subject rights requests should be submitted to STRAT7 on behalf of MAOL at hello@apbackstage.com. MAOL remains the data controller responsible for your personal data and for the handling of your rights request.
Where you are a resident of the United Kingdom, your personal data is processed in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. The data controller is MAOL. You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk.
Where you are a resident of California or another US state with applicable consumer privacy legislation, you have additional rights in relation to your personal data, including the right to know, access, delete, correct, and opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. These rights are described in full in the Privacy Notice.
We do not sell your personal information. We honour browser-based opt-out signals including Global Privacy Control (GPC).
The Community is not directed at individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe that a person under 18 has registered for the Community, please contact us at hello@apbackstage.com and we will take prompt action to close the account and delete the associated data.
Use of the Platform is subject to our Cookie Notice, which is available at all times via the Platform footer. By continuing to use the Platform, you acknowledge that cookies and similar technologies may be used in accordance with that notice and your stated preferences.
Participation in surveys and research tasks is voluntary. You are under no obligation to respond to any survey, complete any task, or provide any particular response. Your membership of the Community is not conditional on participation in any specific survey or task.
Where you do participate in a survey or research task, you agree to provide honest, genuine, and considered responses. You must not:
Certain surveys may invite you to submit video recordings, voice recordings, or photographs as part of your response. Participation in any media submission task is entirely optional. By submitting media, you:
Survey responses, including media submissions, may be analysed using AI tools operated by third-party processors on our behalf. This processing is described in the Privacy Notice. AI analysis is used for aggregated research purposes only and does not produce decisions directed at you as an individual.
The Platform includes an optional map task feature which allows you to drop a pin to indicate a location you have visited. Map tasks are optional and are not a condition of membership. The map feature is powered by the Google Maps API; Google’s privacy policy applies to the delivery of that service.
The Community forum is provided to allow members to discuss topics relevant to the research community and their experiences as park visitors. It is a moderated space intended for constructive, relevant, and respectful discussion.
You must not include personal data — yours or anyone else’s — in forum posts. This includes but is not limited to full names, contact details, addresses, financial information, or any information that could identify a specific individual. Forum posts are visible to other community members and to the Merlin research team.
If you accidentally include personal data in a post and wish to have it removed, contact us at hello@apbackstage.com. We will endeavour to action removal promptly, but we cannot guarantee that other members will not have seen the content prior to removal.
When using the forum, you must not post content that:
We reserve the right to remove any forum post that we consider, in our sole discretion, to be in breach of these Terms or otherwise inappropriate, without prior notice. Repeated or serious breaches of the acceptable use provisions may result in suspension or termination of your membership.
Forum posts represent the views of individual members and do not represent the views or positions of Merlin. You should not rely on forum posts as accurate, complete, or up-to-date information.
All intellectual property rights in the Platform, including its design, content, software, and branding, are owned by or licensed to Merlin or STRAT7. Nothing in these Terms grants you any rights in or to the Platform beyond the limited right to use it in accordance with these Terms.
You retain ownership of any content you submit to the Community, including survey responses, forum posts, and media submissions (“Member Content”).
By submitting Member Content, you grant MAOL a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual licence to use, store, process, analyse, and reproduce that content for the research purposes described in the Privacy Notice and these Terms. This licence does not extend to commercial exploitation of your individual content or to use of your name or likeness in any public-facing material without your separate consent. This licence lasts only for as long as MAOL retains the Member Content in accordance with its retention schedule and the Privacy Notice. The licence will automatically terminate once the Member Content is deleted following account deletion, withdrawal of consent or expiry of the applicable retention period.
You confirm that any content you submit is your own original work or that you have the right to submit it, and that it does not infringe the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or any other rights of any third party.
We may, from time to time, offer incentives to members in connection with participation in specific surveys or research tasks. Incentives may include discounts at Merlin parks or attractions, or other rewards. The nature and value of any incentive will be communicated to you at the time it is offered.
Incentives are discretionary. We are under no obligation to offer incentives in connection with any particular survey or task, and the availability, nature, and value of incentives may vary between surveys and campaigns.
To be eligible for an incentive, you must complete the relevant survey or task in full and in accordance with these Terms, including the requirements in clause 4.2 (honest and accurate responses). We reserve the right to withhold an incentive where we have reasonable grounds to believe that responses have not been provided in good faith.
Unless expressly stated otherwise at the time of offer, incentives have no cash equivalent and cannot be transferred, exchanged, or combined with any other offer.
We will use reasonable endeavours to make the Platform available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free access. The Platform may be unavailable from time to time for maintenance, updates, or reasons outside our control.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Merlin and STRAT7 exclude all liability for:
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for: death or personal injury caused by our negligence; fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under applicable law including your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (for UK consumers).
If you are a consumer resident in the United Kingdom, your statutory rights under applicable consumer protection legislation are not affected by these Terms.
If you are a consumer resident in the United States, applicable state consumer protection laws may provide you with additional rights that cannot be waived by contract.
You may delete your account via your member profile page. This will archive your account and unsubscribe you from receiving emails. For full account deletion, you can email hello@apbackstage.com.
Account deletion constitutes withdrawal of your consent to the processing of your personal data for Community purposes and termination of these Terms as between you and MAOL.
We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your membership and access to the Platform at any time, with or without notice, if:
On termination of your membership for any reason:
We reserve the right to discontinue the Community at any time. Where we decide to do so, we will provide reasonable notice to members by email where practicable. On discontinuation, your personal data will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Notice.
We may update these Terms from time to time. Where changes are material, we will notify you by email and/or via a notice on the Platform. Continued use of the Platform following notification of changes constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you should delete your account before the changes take effect.
We will always make the current version of these Terms available via the Platform footer.
These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes) are governed by the law of England and Wales.
Subject to clause 11.3, the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms.
If you are a consumer resident in the United Kingdom, you may bring proceedings in the courts of the country in which you are domiciled. Nothing in these Terms affects your right to rely on any mandatory provisions of the law of the country in which you are resident.
If you are a consumer resident in the United States, nothing in these Terms affects any mandatory consumer protection rights available to you under applicable federal or state law. To the extent that any provision of these Terms conflicts with applicable US law in a way that cannot be waived by contract, that provision shall be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to comply.
If you have a complaint about the Community or the Platform, please contact us in the first instance at hello@apbackstage.com. We will endeavour to resolve complaints promptly and fairly.
Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice, constitute the entire agreement between you and Merlin Entertainments in relation to the Community and supersede all prior agreements and understandings.
Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.
Waiver. Failure by us to enforce any provision of these Terms will not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce it subsequently.
Third parties. These Terms do not confer any rights on third parties under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise, except that STRAT7 may enforce provisions of these Terms that relate to its role as platform operator.
Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign our rights and obligations under these Terms to any successor entity in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, provided that your rights under these Terms are not materially diminished.