First time visitors

[rteezgirl]

My son and I are going to be in Florida for 6 days in April and plan on spending 4 of those days at Universal. We have booked a vacation package though Universal and are staying at an off-site partner hotel. We chose the 4 day park-to-park ticket option. We are renting a car for the duration of our trip because we basically have 2 full days where we won't be at the parks and plan on doing some other Florida attractions.

Should I print our tickets at home or at the kiosk at Universal? What's the difference between the tickets? Are the ones at the kiosk on studier paper?

Can you go to Universal and print your tickets from a kiosk the day before you plan on visiting without having that count as a day off on your ticket?

Thanks so much for your help and this board has already answered soooo many of my questions already And we don't care about how crowded it is going to be. We rarely take trips (this is the second trip and the first was a freebie we won in a contest to Disney) like this and we will enjoy the warm weather and people regardless

 

[361DP]

We were there last weekend and flew in on Friday night, checked into HRH and used the kiosk in the hotel to print the tickets. They don't start counting the days until they are used the first time. Our tickets actually says "This ticket is valid for one (1) Theme Park admission per day for the length of the ticket." and under that "Ticket expires 13 days after 1st use."
The paper is a little better than normal paper. I would wait and get the tickets there and make sure to put you name or initials on the back of the ticket for each of you. Each ticket goes with your finger print.
I hope this helps, we had a great time. The detail of WWoHP was amazing, you will love it.

 

[rteezgirl]

That helps out a lot! I had no idea you had to use a fingerprint with the tickets! That is interesting

I know we are really excited to be going on this trip. We planned the trip because we are such huge fans of Harry Potter. BTW, We are staying at the Fairfield Inn and Suites on Canada Avenue. I wish we could have afforded to stay on-site. That would have made it that much more amazing.

 

[Metro West]

Should I print our tickets at home or at the kiosk at Universal? What's the difference between the tickets? Are the ones at the kiosk on studier paper?

Can you go to Universal and print your tickets from a kiosk the day before you plan on visiting without having that count as a day off on your ticket?

When you choose the print at home option, you can go right to the gate...no waiting in ticket lines. However...the full sheet of paper is your ticket. You can however go to Guest Services once inside the park and exchange for the "real" tickets. If you decide to use the kiosk, you will get the regular tickets but you will need to have the credit card used and the confirmation number. The kiosks don't usually have lines so this would be a good option if you wanted the regular tickets right off the bat.

You can use the kiosk anytime they are open so yes...you could stop by the day before and print out your tickets. The tickets are not activated until you go to the gate and yes...fingerprints are pretty standard now even at Disney.

 

[rteezgirl]

Thanks! That good to know that I will need the confirmation number too. I wouldn't have known that!

 

[dengirl]

When you choose the print at home option, you can go right to the gate...no waiting in ticket lines. However...the full sheet of paper is your ticket. You can however go to Guest Services once inside the park and exchange for the "real" tickets. If you decide to use the kiosk, you will get the regular tickets but you will need to have the credit card used and the confirmation number. The kiosks don't usually have lines so this would be a good option if you wanted the regular tickets right off the bat.

You can use the kiosk anytime they are open so yes...you could stop by the day before and print out your tickets. The tickets are not activated until you go to the gate and yes...fingerprints are pretty standard now even at Disney.

what is kiosks ?

 

[Metro West]

what is kiosks ?

Kiosks are ticket machines where you can pick up tickets you've already purchased. They are located outside the main gates of each park and will have a sign that reads "electronic ticketing". You can't purchase tickets there but rather you can only pick up tickets.

 

[dengirl]

thanks for the ticket info.. now how does the fingerprint thing work? if we buy tickets online and print out ... the biggest park we been to was six flags and that was about 10 or 15 years ago

 

[damo]

When you go through the gates the first time, you put the top pad of your finger on a scanner and it connects it with the barcode on your ticket. Each subsequent time you enter a park and they scan your ticket, they will also scan your finger to make sure that the two match.

 

[NPD]

Just a note, I know the original poster isn't from Florida using Florida Resident discounts, but if anybody else was wondering about that... if your picking up Florida Resident tickets from the kiosks, you will be directed to the ticket windows anyway to show proof of Florida residency.

 

[dengirl]

When you go through the gates the first time, you put the top pad of your finger on a scanner and it connects it with the barcode on your ticket. Each subsequent time you enter a park and they scan your ticket, they will also scan your finger to make sure that the two match.

thats neat. so is this how we then enter the park throught the day and days? we scan our finger instead of a ticket, or both?

 

[Metro West]

thats neat. so is this how we then enter the park throught the day and days? we scan our finger instead of a ticket, or both?

Yes both...Universal and Disney have different machines but they work the same basic way. At Universal...a TM will take your ticket, scan it and you will place your finger on the touch pad. Once the ticket is validated, you will proceed into the park. At Disney...you insert your ticket into the machine and then place your finger on the pad. Your ticket is then validated and you proceed into the park.

If the parks are very crowded or there's a long line to enter a park, sometimes the TMs will use a hand held scanner so you don't have to do anything with your fingerprint but that's the exception...not the rule.

 

[merlot3202]

That helps out a lot! I had no idea you had to use a fingerprint with the tickets! That is interesting

I know we are really excited to be going on this trip. We planned the trip because we are such huge fans of Harry Potter. BTW, We are staying at the Fairfield Inn and Suites on Canada Avenue. I wish we could have afforded to stay on-site. That would have made it that much more amazing.

This is my first time as well....did you consider buying the annual pass & then getting the annual pass discount for the hotels on site? I just booked mine for March for 189.00/night. Just a thought.

 

[Metro West]

what is kiosks ?

This is what the kiosk looks like:

 

[rteezgirl]

Just a note, I know the original poster isn't from Florida using Florida Resident discounts, but if anybody else was wondering about that... if your picking up Florida Resident tickets from the kiosks, you will be directed to the ticket windows anyway to show proof of Florida residency.

Oh but I really, really, really wish I was

 

[rteezgirl]

This is my first time as well....did you consider buying the annual pass & then getting the annual pass discount for the hotels on site? I just booked mine for March for 189.00/night. Just a thought.

No, I didn't even know that was available. I would love to go more than once a year, but that is not an option at this point.

But I have come up with a plan and the money to book one night -- a Saturday -- at the Royal Pacific Resort for my son and I. That way we can have the benefits of staying on-site for the 2 busiest days of our trip. Yay me!