Universal annual pass worth it ?

[wordie]

Hi,

Were visiting Orlando in September and was wondering if it would be worth it to buy 1 annual pass for parking, food and merch discount. We usually visit the parking 6/7 times during a 2 week holiday.We are also thinking of visiting next year also during the summer.

Also could you tell us the best way of purchasing 1 annual pass?
Thanks
Wordie

[deanobrown]

If you take a look on this forum you'll find quite a few topics on this (with various discussions).

If you're gonna visit 6/7 times then it is probably almost definitely worth it. You would pay for parking on arrival, but then the additional 6 visits would save you $162. On top of that, you get 10% off practically everything in the parks (minus alcohol).

If you're going in the summer too then it would be an absolute no brainer - The only thing to consider would be whether you want to go to Volcano Bay? If so, then you'd have to check the blackout dates over summer.
If not, then buying a 2 park AP for 2 visits is a bargain.

If you want to purchase one, it's pretty easy to do it through the Universal site (US). You just need your confirmation email & photo ID to pick up on arrival.

[fredflintstone]

And if your visits are just over 12 months apart, if you go for the monthly renewal option , it rolls over each month after the inital month, so if you are going over a 15 month period, if you take this option, after the inital 12 months , you get charged monthly and then you can just cancel it for after the 15 months. This can benefit not having to renew for a full year, if you will not be going more than once in the next 12 month period, but it is near the 1st year expiry.

[fredflintstone]

The free parking after first visit.
Be interesting if this is still the case with the option to hold the annual pass in your phone wallet. It may not work until the inital activation at the gate, but might be worth trying it and showing the barcode when arriving at the carpark. Nothing to lose, maybe something to gain.

[Floridarules]

If going twice yes, that’s what we have done.

Discount not really worth it for me, but maybe if you eat out a lot there?

It’s worth noting that the discount is not available in Hard Rock and Royal Pacific park market food store type shops, which is annoying as I understand they are accepted at Cabana, Surfside food courts for example.
If saving on parking, that’s also good, but as we stayed at RPR, this is not included.

Entirely dependent on your holiday plan 👍

[paullexus]

Originally Posted by fredflintstone

And if your visits are just over 12 months apart, if you go for the monthly renewal option , it rolls over each month after the inital month, so if you are going over a 15 month period, if you take this option, after the inital 12 months , you get charged monthly and then you can just cancel it for after the 15 months. This can benefit not having to renew for a full year, if you will not be going more than once in the next 12 month period, but it is near the 1st year expiry.

See more...

Can you do this? i.e. cancel after 15 months?

I thought you'd be "signed up" for the 2nd year and liable for the full amount even if you cancelled the DD?

Might be useful for people like me who go same dates every year (so need it for 1 year and 2 weeks lol)

[Loosecannon]

For those that have done an annual pass, have anyone done different passes for the group, so one maximises retail and food discounts and the others are cheaper?

[deanobrown]

Originally Posted by Loosecannon

For those that have done an annual pass, have anyone done different passes for the group, so one maximises retail and food discounts and the others are cheaper?

See more...

Many people have done that based on previous threads.
As long as you have one Preferred (or higher) pass, you can get free parking and discounts within your party.

The only thing you need to look out for with the cheaper passes is the blackout dates.

[Loosecannon]

Originally Posted by deanobrown

Many people have done that based on previous threads.
As long as you have one Preferred (or higher) pass, you can get free parking and discounts within your party.

The only thing you need to look out for with the cheaper passes is the blackout dates.

See more...

The only thing that might affect me is the blackout day for volcano bay. They seem to run until the second Sunday of august each year. So this year is the 14th, and next year I would predict the 13th. Does that seem right?

[Stokieuk]

Originally Posted by deanobrown

If you take a look on this forum you'll find quite a few topics on this (with various discussions).

If you're gonna visit 6/7 times then it is probably almost definitely worth it. You would pay for parking on arrival, but then the additional 6 visits would save you $162. On top of that, you get 10% off practically everything in the parks (minus alcohol).

If you're going in the summer too then it would be an absolute no brainer - The only thing to consider would be whether you want to go to Volcano Bay? If so, then you'd have to check the blackout dates over summer.
If not, then buying a 2 park AP for 2 visits is a bargain.

If you want to purchase one, it's pretty easy to do it through the Universal site (US). You just need your confirmation email & photo ID to pick up on arrival.

See more...

This.

Only thing I would add is that we have just renewed ours and went after 6pm as we were eating at City Walk so got free parking for the first visit too 👍