Upgrade tickets or buy Annual Pass before we go

[gismo1554]

Originally Posted by Floridatilly

Thank you so much for braking all that down for me.
In 2020 we will be visiting universal so it would be great if we got the AP that gave free parking for the parks. Hopefully that will still be in use when we visit 2021 to get more benefits
Thanks again x x

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Just remember if you only have one car you only need one annual pass with free parking. This can save a bit of money as you can get cheaper passes for the others in the party.

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by gismo1554

Just remember if you only have one car you only need one annual pass with free parking. This can save a bit of money as you can get cheaper passes for the others in the party.

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True

we've been passholders for 5 years now. When we went for the passes (got them from the start, not upgraded tickets) there was no seasonnal, so that was not even an option

but we went for one preferred pass for me, for parking and discounts, and 2 power passes for DS and DW

now, the big issue will be with the blockout dates.
Getting one preferred and the rest seasonnal, will get free parking at citywalk, but may cause issues if visits fall inside blockout dates.

so, when making the decision, you have to know when you intend on returning. If you just go by the "we might come back within a year"but not sure when, then you might realise that your APs are not valid and you need to upgrade all of the low tier APs, hence negating the savings.

actually that's what happens to us this year. We have preferred and power, and this year we found out that we'd all be blocked out of VB before 4pm until august 18
last year, we did not have blockout dates for VB at the same period.
that's not a biggish issue, since we love VB at night, and we'll be arriving at universal for 10 days after the end of the blockout period. but this just sheds light on what could happen

now there is also another thing to consider, even if you don't come back within the 1 year validity period, but rather in just under 2 years

AP renewals are cheaper than AP purchase.

a Seasonnal AP renewal (3 parks) runs $324 + tax
compared to $369 + tax

that's £271 for the seasonnal 3 parks AP renewal

a 2020 14 days explorer 3 parks ticket is £291 on ATD UK

this means that, even if you don't use the AP for a second visit during it's first year, you can renew (online) for less than the price of a new ticket (prices will be higher for higher tier APs)
so if you consider discounts and perks, it might be worth upgrading a ticket if you only intend on visiting in the next 2 years (stay must end less than 2 years after the date of first use of the ticket that was upgraded) and renew your AP instead of getting a new ticket for the second year.

see what I mean ?