APH Preferred Pass Discount Question

[dr0970]

Trying to decide if the Power Pass or Preferred Pass is best for our family. We are visiting in Feb 2016 and currently have the 2 + 1 day free park-to-park tickets from UT and are going to upgrade to annual pass inside the park when we are there. We booked the APH rate at Cabana Bay and now we are trying to decide which annual pass is best for us. I am thinking the 3 of us will get a Power Pass and hubby will get the Preferred Pass. However we do not have a car so we do not need free parking (although I do notice it says after first visit). What I do want to know is if the extra cost of approx. $100 for the Preferred Pass is worth it just for the 'Food, Merchandise and Specialty Items' discount? How much is this discount? What stores or restaurants can we use this discount at? Is there a list somewhere that I might have missed (I did a search on the Disboards as well as other places)? I will say that we might come back for another visit at the end of summer (not for sure on this) and we are also thinking we'll get another trip in before the passes expire so around Jan 2017.

We will be there for 5 nights/6 days and will plan to get at Leaky Cauldron, Three Broomsticks and Mythos among other places. We do plan to get the interactive wants and other Harry Potter merchandise. That is about all I know for sure now. We are generally a 'quick service' type of family so not sure how many sit-down restaurants we will do however this is our first visit so we want to experience some of the food places for the experience as well.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[damo]

10% off at Universal Orlando® owned and operated merchandise stores and carts (restrictions apply on select merchandise)
10% off at select restaurants (excluding food & beverage carts and alcoholic beverages)
The restaurants are pretty much all of them. There are a few privately owned ones that don't take it---I think Bubba Gump's doesn't take it.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We are generally a 'quick service' type of family so not sure how many sit-down restaurants we will do however this is our first visit so we want to experience some of the food places for the experience as well.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

The discount applies to quick service eateries as well.

 

[ShelleyLovesOrlando]

We got the preferred AP because it came also with a 20% discount on most merchandise, free parking and most importantly free express pass after 4pm. Totally worth it in my opinion. Even if you aren't parking, I still think it was worth the extra $$.

PLEASE DISREGARD ABOVE****So sorry, I'm so wrong. We actually purchased the premier pass so I am totally wrong***

 

[bumbershoot]

The parking benefit is for the citywalk/parks structure. If you are onsite you will not be using this structure (you would park at your hotel and be charged per night). So the parking benefit is only for offsite people.

Discounts help out but I'm not sure they will add up to the difference. Does your family eat a lot, and/or buy lots of souvenirs?

 

[dr0970]

Thanks so much for the responses. I am not sure the Preferred Pass is for us. We'd have to spend $1,000 in food and merchandise and my boys are 8 and 9 and don't eat as much and hubby isn't a big eater either. And we generally don't buy alot of souvenirs. We do plan to get the interactive wands and a few butterbeer and will mostly stay with quick service dining so I think we'll go over the menus and see what we come up with. I have been looking in to the quick service dining plan but that might be a bit much for us too. Maybe if we got it a few times when the meals we are getting are more expensive but then again I guess we have to run the numbers (oh, and to think about coming a few more times with in the year of our pass and adding those costs in too).

 

[dixonsontour]

We got 1 quick service plan each 19.99 adults and 12.99 child. Well worth it if you are having breakfast in one of the two potter restaurants - kids breakfast alone is that much plus you get a drink with breakfast and an extra drink and snack per card. The snack covers a big pink donut or butter beer. Doesn't have to be used all in one day.

 

[dixonsontour]

We got 2 power and a preferred for the parking as we may be staying offsite in May.

 

[kohlby]

Though we're doing 4 Power and 1 Preferred, it doesn't sound like it makes sense for your family. We also likely won't be spending enough to make the discount worth it - but we'll be off-site for a couple of the days and we plan to come back at least once within the year and will do a split stay, on and off site, once again. We'll likely come out even with the free parking, so the little bit of extra savings on food/merchandise will make it worth it. (Though we're not big shoppers. Also, I'm thinking that having AP's might make us plan more trips than we are currently thinking).

As for the quick service dining plan, we only get that some days - like the day we eat at Three Broomsticks and get butter beers. You don't have to buy it for your entire family though. Since three of the five of us eat less than the average person - with two of those being kids under 50lbs - we don't buy the plan for everyone. The chicken and ribs plate at Three Broomsticks is plenty for sharing for us. (We have found that the plan for the kids is not worth it for us however. But we bring food from home and get some groceries and eat breakfast in our room. It saves money and is much more relaxing for us).

 

[dr0970]

Thanks kohlby. We are planning a grocery stop (using Tony Hinds as suggested by many on here) so we'll be picking up breakfast items as well as snacks. We have a suite at Cabana Bay so I think this will work out great for us. Then we are thinking we'll do quick service in the parks for lunch and head back to the hotel to swim/relax (really hoping weather this coming Feb is decent - this is our 5th year going on Feb and each year has gotten a little colder) and then head to City Walk for a nice dinner. And we do plan to go back before the pass expires (maybe even twice) so in the end it might make sense to get the Preferred Pass for one of us. We really just need to run the numbers.

Thanks to everyone for great information. I really do love this board and have used it for 5 Disney trips and now our first trip to Universal.