Is my math correct re APH savings?

[ginkybiloba]

I have been crunching some numbers but want to make sure that my math is correct.

We would like to stay onsite the evenings of January 10 and 11th (we have a cruise booked out of Port Canaveral on Sunday, Jan 13th). We could also stay onsite the evening of January 12th, but would not be using the parks on January 13th, so I don’t see a lot of benefit from staying onsite that evening.

For a 2 night stay, the rate is $224/night at the RPR.

For a 3 night stay, the rate is $201/night at the RPR.

With an annual pass, the rate drops to $144/night, whether we stay 2 or 3 nights.

The cost of the annual pass is $225. We would save $55/night on the hotel, so either $110 or $165 depending on whether we spend 2 or 3 nights. Parking is also included with the AP, so that would save $15/day (although I notice the hotel charges $15/day for parking, so I am not sure that we gain anything from that).

We plan on buying 2 day park tickets which come with a 3rd day for free. We will use the 3rd day on our park ticket when we get back from the cruise. Since we need accommodation for the evening of January 20th, we may consider staying onsite again at RPR so that we can use our 3rd day park ticket on Monday, Jan 21. This is MLK weekend, so I expect the park will be very busy when we get back from our cruise. All the more reason to stay onsite

If I buy an annual pass for myself, that covers my admission into the parks. If we stay onsite, we would get the early entry plus express passes (question: would I have to pay for the express pass on top of my annual pass, or would that be included as an onsite perk?).

If I have an annual pass, that leaves us paying $409.97 for park tickets for my husband and children (2+1 day passes), versus $549.96 if we had to buy passes for all 4 of us.

So:

Cost of preferred annual pass: $225
Hotel savings: $165
Park ticket savings: $140 (*assuming my express pass is included because we are staying onsite)

Seems like a better deal to buy the annual pass. Am I missing anything?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[damo]

Parking is not included at the hotels...only at the parks. So add that $17 back in there.

The promo buy 2 get 3 doesn't have an AP discount. Looks like you already know that...but I'm just throwing that in there in case you decide to make any changes. When you are calculating the AP discounted price of tickets, make sure that you are discounting from the Gate Price and not the Online Price. Take the online price, add $20 and then do the discount. It is still cheaper getting tickets from undercover tourist than it is to use the APH discount.

Everyone's express pass is included when staying onsite. It doesn't matter where you get your tickets.


Oh, just noticed you have the cost of the AP at $225. Unless you are a Florida resident it is $259. http://www.universalorlando.com/Theme-Park-Tickets/Annual-Passes/Non-FL-Annual-Passes.aspx

 

[ginkybiloba]

You're right, I did use the Florida resident rate in error. Thanks for the correction. I didn't take 10% off the park passes for the rest of the family because I figured they were already discounted. I just used the prices from the Universal Orlando website. Too bad about the parking - the hotel parking fee is actually higher than I thought so that completely cancels out the free parking at the park benefit. The 10% off food is another consideration (although we try and bring most of our snacks in with us, we do eat lunch in the park).

Thanks for your help!

 

[bumbershoot]

Don't forget the AP discount on merchandise.

Free parking is good if you are staying off site and are visiting. You wouldn't move your car from the hotel to the park parking garage, so if you are onsite you just need to forget about that perk, lol.


I use totals. Total of all tickets. Total hotel cost at non AP rates. Then I use x tickets and one AP total. Compare to AP rate hotel total.

And then my decision is made, and so far it has been in the favor of the AP.

The unlimited express pass is a perk of staying on site, no matter what sort of admission you use. It is most excellent.



By you might also want to secretly budget upgrade money for the rest of the family, in case you all love it so much you want to come back in the same 365 day period! We did not budget that our first time, and so had to buy admission again when we couldn't help ourselves within the year. But then we upgraded those to APs and got a visit that wouldn't have fallen under the missed AP opportunity, LOL.