Exchanging/Upgrading AMEX Rewards Universal Orlando Tickets for Annual Pass

[DisneyMangoFactory]

Hey everyone! I've saved up lots of points on my AMEX Rewards account and have been looking for ways to best maximize redemption.

I got this idea to redeem my AMEX Rewards points for:

Universal Orlando® Two (2) Day Park-to-Park (One Adult Ticket)
23,500 POINTS

RESTRICTIONS

• Each adult ticket is valid for one guest aged 10+
• Guests must present proof of United States or Canadian residency at time of product purchase and/or redemption.
• The 2-Day Park to Park entitles one (1) guest admission to BOTH UOR theme parks on the same day for the duration of the base ticket.
• Ticket is valid for any two (2) calendar days during a fourteen (14) consecutive calendar day period which includes the first day any portion of the ticket is used.
• This ticket also includes fourteen (14) consecutive calendar days of admission to the paid entertainment venues of Universal CityWalk® (“CityWalk”) which commences and includes the first day any portion of the ticket is used.
• Tickets are non-refundable and not replaceable if lost or stolen.

I talked to Universal Orlando and they said I could bring the tickets up to the ticket counter and they could scan in the tickets to see what value the tickets have. Universal sells these tickets for: $228.97 Adult

So, depending on how much value are on these tickets, I would only have to pay $12 more to upgrade it to an annual pass.

Has anyone else tried doing this and had any success with it?

It would be so much easier if AMEX rewards just had gift cards for Universal Orlando and Disney!

 

[HM]

So, this will work.
You buy the tickets from UT (using your Amex for the cash back) and then go to the parks with your passes. Actually use the tickets the first day to enter the park and then you can upgrade them to AP (try the inside guest services counter, they aren't usually as busy as outside) at any time that day or the next.

 

[DisneyMangoFactory]

So, this will work.
You buy the tickets from UT (using your Amex for the cash back) and then go to the parks with your passes. Actually use the tickets the first day to enter the park and then you can upgrade them to AP (try the inside guest services counter, they aren't usually as busy as outside) at any time that day or the next.

Hi, I'm not sure what UT stands for?

Also, I was thinking of redeeming my AMEX REWARDS points to get the theme park tickets, not buying them.

I was just wondering if anyone has ordered these theme park tickets from AMEX REWARDS and tried scanning them at the ticket counter to see what value they have?

 

[HM]

Oh, dear. Sorry about that.
UndercoverTourist sells tickets and has a deal with Amex that you can save $30 on a purchase of $150 or more if you sign up on the Amex site. There's been some talk of this lately and I thought that was the question. (even the webpage didn't dawn on me).

So, it shouldn't be any different than any other way to buy them. Use your Rewards to purchase your tickets, they come to you in the mail and will be regular tickets that you can upgrade just like I said above. And yes, the cost to upgrade to a PowerPass will be a very small amount of $.

 

[damo]

We've used rewards tickets and upgraded them to APs no problem. We received full gate value for the rewards tickets.

 

[DisneyMangoFactory]

We've used rewards tickets and upgraded them to APs no problem. We received full gate value for the rewards tickets.

That is AWESOME NEWS, thank you Damo!! The people at AMEX REWARDS said that there will be NO VALUE attached to theme park tickets because of the contract AMEX REWARDS has with Universal Orlando. They said that the tickets have no actual value. When you redeem the ticket, Universal Orlando charges AMEX REWARDS and then AMEX REWARDS pays Orlando Universal for the redemption value. This is to ensure that if you lost your ticket, AMEX REWARDS didn't already prepay Universal Orlando for the cost of the ticket so they keep a lot of $$$ if people lose their tickets because they never paid Universal Orlando in the first place. Anyway, that's the info I got from a supervisor at AMEX REWARDS.

So, I was a little worried about doing this and was wondering if anyone else had tried it before. The thing is, we had just gone to Universal Orlando in Sept 2015 and used 47,000 points to pay for it and didn't even know we could upgrade to AP's at the gate! I wish I would have known about this back then so I could test it out myself and see if it worked.

I did lots of research on Google to see if anyone else had done this before or if it had be documented on any blogs but to no avail, so I thought about asking here.

Well...currently, to get 2 tickets from AMEX REWARDS would cost 2 x 23,500 = 47,000 points, which is the same as $470. Universal Orlando sells their cheapest AP's for $240. I didn't want to risk spending another 47,000 points on tickets if they weren't upgradable to AP's. I'd rather spend those points on restaurant gift cards where the redemption rate is higher and just buy the AP's outright.

Thanks again for the confirmation that this works!!

I'm going to order 2 tickets from AMEX REWARDS this weekend. I'll test it again in November when we're out there and report back!

 

[damo]

Our tickets were not from AMEX rewards but were from Air Miles in Canada. We had heard that they would be assigned no value from others as well but we had no issue at all exchanging them.

 

[DisneyMangoFactory]

Our tickets were not from AMEX rewards but were from Air Miles in Canada. We had heard that they would be assigned no value from others as well but we had no issue at all exchanging them.

Thanks for the clarification. We might order the theme park tickets from AMEX REWARDS anyway and see if they will be upgradable at the park.

 

[KProuty]

I'm torn! Mousesavers says ticket prices are likely to go up. I would LOVE to confirm that these were upgradeable! Although, they already had a ticket price increase this year.. I can't imagine them doing it twice in the same year. Have they ever done that? Will you please, please post that you have been able to upgrade successfully?

 

[DisneyMangoFactory]

I'm torn! Mousesavers says ticket prices are likely to go up. I would LOVE to confirm that these were upgradeable! Although, they already had a ticket price increase this year.. I can't imagine them doing it twice in the same year. Have they ever done that? Will you please, please post that you have been able to upgrade successfully?

Another option is to buy an Universal Orlando pkg from Costco and see if you can upgrade the Costco tickets. Since the Costco package is something you have to pay for versus redeeming AMEX REWARD points, there's probably a higher chance that the Costco tickets have an actual value attached to them.

 

[KProuty]

Thanks for the thought, DisneyMango, but we are staying offsite and only staying onsite for one night. We would like to go for potentially three days to Universal, but it could only be two. All of it depends on cost. I already used Amex points to pay for the onsite room for one night.

 

[DisneyMangoFactory]

NP KProuty. We're staying onsite for Disney but are contemplating doing a Costco pkg for Universal Orlando because it'd be a better value than spending 47,000 AMEX REWARDS points on 2 x Adults UO passes. I'm willing to take the risk but DG is having second thoughts about about risking 47k points because the redemption value would be better spent elsewhere if it doesn't work.

If we end up trying this, I'll definitely report back.

 

[squirrel]

Our tickets were not from AMEX rewards but were from Air Miles in Canada. We had heard that they would be assigned no value from others as well but we had no issue at all exchanging them.

What tickets did you have from Air Miles? I have a 7-day, 2 park adult ticket. I called and was told that it might be possible to upgrade to an annual pass but they wouldn't be able to tell me until I arrived. If it is possible anyone know approx. what the cost will be to upgrade to an AP (planning on Sept.2016 after the Labour Day holiday). Do you upgrade before entering the park or after?

 

[damo]

What tickets did you have from Air Miles? I have a 7-day, 2 park adult ticket. I called and was told that it might be possible to upgrade to an annual pass but they wouldn't be able to tell me until I arrived. If it is possible anyone know approx. what the cost will be to upgrade to an AP (planning on Sept.2016 after the Labour Day holiday). Do you upgrade before entering the park or after?

We had a two day ticket. They credited us with gate value. We upgraded inside the park.

The question with yours is probably because they don't sell 7 day tickets anymore. It is difficult to give you a gate value because there is no gate value.

 

[squirrel]

We had a two day ticket and a three day ticket. They credited us with gate value. We upgraded inside the park.

The question with yours is probably because they don't sell 7 day tickets anymore. It is difficult to give you a gate value because there is no gate value.

I noticed that, not sure how they are going to handle it. So did you just upgrade to the power pass AP?

 

[damo]

I noticed that, not sure how they are going to handle it. So did you just upgrade to the power pass AP?

Yes we did.

 

[honeysuckle_rose]

We just did this in August. We got a ticket from AMEX rewards for my husband and upgraded to an annual pass inside the park. I called Universal beforehand to see if this would be an issue and they assured me everything would be fine. I was still nervous, but everything worked like a charm.

Have fun!

 

[DisneyMangoFactory]

We just did this in August. We got a ticket from AMEX rewards for my husband and upgraded to an annual pass inside the park. I called Universal beforehand to see if this would be an issue and they assured me everything would be fine. I was still nervous, but everything worked like a charm.

Have fun!

Thanks for reporting this HSR! That's great news!

 

[NYHeel]

I purchased 5 3 day park to park tickets from Undercover Tourist and was thinking of upgrading one of them to an AP to get the hotel room savings. Can I do that over the phone with universal as I have the tickets in hand now or do I have to wait until I get there? It would be easier to do it now as I believe you need to show the annual pass upon check in to get the lower rate.

 

[DisneyMangoFactory]

I purchased 5 3 day park to park tickets from Undercover Tourist and was thinking of upgrading one of them to an AP to get the hotel room savings. Can I do that over the phone with universal as I have the tickets in hand now or do I have to wait until I get there? It would be easier to do it now as I believe you need to show the annual pass upon check in to get the lower rate.

AFAIK, you can only upgrade at the gate. Their computer systems are connected to the system that can read your ticket's value (for the exchange).

If you're able to do this, please report back on how much you originally bought the tickets for and how much they scanned in for. It would help everyone a lot!