Universal ticket upgrade

[brem]

Hi can anyone tell me if it’s possible to upgrade a universal 3 park ticket to a preferred annual ticket at the gate?i have heard that it is possible and is worth it as you get free parking every time you go,has anyone any experience of doing this?if so how much did it cost?

[Procrastinator]

We did ours there last week. I would suggest using your tickets as normal to gain entry. Enjoy your day. Then upgrade at customer services as you leave. No queue that way. Though you can't use your AP discount on the day if you do this.

3 of our family upgraded 14 day 3 park tickets to the seasonal annual pass. 1 ticket was upgraded to preferred. It cost $50 ish per seasonal and $150 ish for the preferred.

Only have to visit 4 times for the parking to pay for the preferred and you also save on food and merch. So we think it was worth it.

[Loulou127]

Similar question, but what would it cost to upgrade a 3 park 3 day pass to an annual pass?

[brem]

Hi procrastinator I quess you are planning going back within a year then?how much is the daily parking $27?i was looking at upgrading mainly for the free parking don’t think I’ll be lucky enough to go back within the year.i didn’t think it was as much as $150 to upgrade that would mean we would have to go at least another 5 times not including the initial visit to basically break even (not including the food discount etc)I may have to rethink my strategy

[Procrastinator]

Yes, got some cheap flights and so have a budget trip planned in feb.

It will depend on how many visits and how much you will spend on food and merch whether it is worth it. You might as well ask them for a price, but my guess is unlikely to be worth it for a single trip unless you have a lot of universal time planned.

[brem]

Thanks procrastinator

[Orlandoguy]

Guest services are the best place to go for upgrade , thou prices can vary from location to location, we upgraded our 3 park tickets to annual pass in May this year, as we had originally planned to go back in April/May 2020 and it worked out so much cheaper to upgrade than buy 3 park tickets again for next year, we were able to use the card straight away to get discounts in the parks shops and restaurants and used the coke a cola lounge which was a nice respite from the heat but u still pay for drinks n snacks. Having the annual pass also means we got a chance to go back for a cheaky week at end of Oct

[Shooby doo]

The Free Parking is a bit ambiguous as it states free after first visit, which I take to mean that you will have paid for your parking before picking UAP up? Preferred is the first level to include Free Parking.
How much to upgrade? In the simplest form it's your pass taken from the cost of the UAP, a straight transaction as you don't get any "discount" just because you already have a pass IYKWIM
BUT just to complicate things, your pass may not be "worth" what you paid for it in as far as Universal are going to give you what they would pay for it (Wholesale price) then that is multiplied by "their" exchange rate on the day but to give you a general idea based on $1.20/£
3P Preferred = £448
3P Premier = £652... so subtract your pass from that = Upgrade cost
SD