Buy tickets in UK or USA??

[janine29]

We are going to Orlando next week (yippee!!) and have got 10 day world passes for disney. I was wondering whether to buy universal and sea world tickets before we go. We don't want to get the Flex ticket as we won't have enough time to do everything. Can someone please advise me??

 

[matty624]

You don't say how long you're going for? If it's 2 weeks then personally I'd still perhaps buy the flex tickets (the 4 park one maybe, unless Busch Gardens is important to you) if finances allow. (it's probably overkill really though!)
Personally, we've gone for Power passes (universal/IOA) which work out at about £62/person. They give you a full years access and are great if you are planning on returning within the time. We've combined them with one Premium Annual Pass which is a little more expensive but gives us free parking (saving $8/day)
If you only want day passes, although I've never bought them, I think there are some good deals to be had where you buy a day pass and then get a free second day, perhaps someone else will know more? (I am definitely no expert on these...)
Ian

 

[janine29]

Thanks
We are going for 2 weeks. The reason why I wasn't going to get the flex is that we aren't that bothered about visiting Wet & Wild as we will have access to the 2 disney water parks on the 10 day pass. What do you reckon??

 

[matty624]

Strangely the first few trips I hated Wet & Wild, I'm not a massive fan of having water jetted up my nose at high speeds so I'm not fantastically keen on any of them actually. However, last year we really liked W & W because the toddlers area had slides which were perfect for my 2 and 3 year olds.
BB and TL are undoubtalby better overall, but W&W for toddlers was great (I know BB and TL have toddler areas, but we prefered lazing around at the bottom of the two little slides at Wet & Wild!). If you don't have offspring that age, I'd probably stick with Disney's parks, they have more to offer and to be honest, I'm slowly warming to them!
Ian

 

[janine29]

Thanks again for all this help. If I decided to buy sea world and universal tickets seperately, am I best to do it in the UK or when I arrive ??

 

[DisneyDes]

We too are going in just over a week's time

We've already sorted out our Disney Annual passes and have now too, set our sights on the Universal tickets, after much research came up with the following:

Available in UK only special until end of June (I think)

2 Day pass (7 consecutive days) adult £70 children £59
3 Day Pass (14 consecutive days) adult £78 children £70

Available online only through Universal

5 Days consecutive adult US$ 89.95+ tax children US$ 76.95+tax

Or annual Passes
Preferred (no black out days, free parking and merchandise discount) US$169.95+tax
Power Pass (not valid for Summer Weekends June 28 & 29, 2003
July 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, & 27, 2003
August 2, 3, 9, & 10, 2003

Christmas December 24, 2003 - January 1, 2004) US$109.95+tax




So with much thought I was thinking of going for the Power Annual Pass as works out at approx £80 and maybe stretch to one Preferred (for the discounts) £120.

As its so close to going it was the delivery of tickets/vouchers that was a slight concern, but Universal offer something similar to Cinema tickets i.e. put the card used in a machine at the entrance.

Don't know if this helps but this was my thought process.

 

[matty624]

That's odd, I paid $99.95/power pass and $149.95 for the single premium pass (for the free parking!) +tax on all...
web address: https://tickets.universalstudios.com/USRG/us_store_secure2.jsp
Ian

 

[Disbabe]

Personally, I compared prices and found that there wasn't much price difference when converting from dollar to pound, so, to save time I purchased ours here and got a great deal so it actually worked out cheaper.
You do have to shop around though.

 

[DisneyDes]

Ian,

Yhat is interesting as they are showing up as US$169.95 and US$109.95 now, maybe we missed out

Des

 

[matty624]

Des, it'd be a first for me to actually beat a price increase!
It still seems pretty good value at the higher price, just not quite as good!
Ian

 

[JayneL]

Hi Jannine

Just got back and although we didn't do universal this time on the TV they were advertising 3 days universal pass for the price of 2. the third day has to be used within 7 days

Hope this is of help

Jayne

 

[janine29]

Thanks very much for my replies. Just to let you know that I've got a really good deal on my tickets - 7 days universal for the price of 2 (£72) and a one day admission to Sea World (£35) from www.themeparkland.co.uk. They have even guaranteed that they will be delivered Tuesday morning for no extra charge. So am all set now