Platinum Pass Question

[Tygerlilly]

My family is planning several trips for next year, including SW San Antonio, Sesame Place in Philly, and most likely SW Orlando. I'm looking into just doing Platinum Passes for all 4 of us and using ez pay. I know the pass will get us into every park with free parking and all the perks at each park, which I feel like will pay for itself in just the 3 or 4 trips we will take over a year.

My main question: we live closest to San Antonio, but will most likely be visiting Sesame in Philly first. Is there an advantage to buying it through the SW San Antonio vs Sesame Place site? I feel like we may have 2 trips to San Antonio versus just the one trip to each of the others.

TIA!

 

[macraven]

I don’t have an answer for you but hope someone will be able to guide you with help.

 

[bearzabout]

Sesame place passes have been for a calendar year and not 365 days, so it depends when you buy it. In the past the best deal was to buy it in October during a 20-30% off sale. It was good for the end of the current year and until Dec 31 of the following year.

Buying at Sesame Place has been cheaper than buying at other parks because the park is closed for months out of the year. We used to pay about $185 for our platinum passes when they went on sale, which was a deal.

There are certain perks you only get at your home park, like free extra day tickets if that matters to you. Perks can change from year to year, so check the web sites closely before you buy.

 

[bearzabout]

There is a 25% off sale on San Antonio’s platinum pass that expires 1/3. It is only $149 and includes an extra ticket. I am not sure if it activated upon purchasing it or upon activating it in a park.

 

[brad813]

My family is planning several trips for next year, including SW San Antonio, Sesame Place in Philly, and most likely SW Orlando. I'm looking into just doing Platinum Passes for all 4 of us and using ez pay. I know the pass will get us into every park with free parking and all the perks at each park, which I feel like will pay for itself in just the 3 or 4 trips we will take over a year.

My main question: we live closest to San Antonio, but will most likely be visiting Sesame in Philly first. Is there an advantage to buying it through the SW San Antonio vs Sesame Place site? I feel like we may have 2 trips to San Antonio versus just the one trip to each of the others.

TIA!

I have had a Busch Gardens Williamsburg Platinum Membership in the past, and if you want to do Ez Pay, you generally have to do it in the state you live in, in my experience. Something to bear in mind as you make your decision. For what it’s worth, I used the pass more at SeaWorld Orlando than I did at my home park, and at that time I got merchandise and food discounts at sister parks.

 

[brad813]

There is a 25% off sale on San Antonio’s platinum pass that expires 1/3. It is only $149 and includes an extra ticket. I am not sure if it activated upon purchasing it or upon activating it in a park.

For EzPay it’s on purchase usually.

 

[got4boys]

My family is planning several trips for next year, including SW San Antonio, Sesame Place in Philly, and most likely SW Orlando. I'm looking into just doing Platinum Passes for all 4 of us and using ez pay. I know the pass will get us into every park with free parking and all the perks at each park, which I feel like will pay for itself in just the 3 or 4 trips we will take over a year.

My main question: we live closest to San Antonio, but will most likely be visiting Sesame in Philly first. Is there an advantage to buying it through the SW San Antonio vs Sesame Place site? I feel like we may have 2 trips to San Antonio versus just the one trip to each of the others.

TIA!

I am looking at the cost of them. There is a sale at both right now. Right now Seaworld San Antonio Platinum Pass is less expensive and it is a year pass (12 months) $149 plus taxes versus Sesame Street Platinum Pass $211.50 plus tax (only good for 2021 - expires 1/2/2022). It really comes down to the 6 free passes. Would you use them at San Antonio or would you use them at Sesame Place in Philly. The 6 free passes are good only at the location you purchase the pass at. The sale is good only until January 24.

 

[Evita_W]

You actually usually get a few extra perks at whatever your "home park" for lack of a better term is. So, you should buy at the park you will visit the most, if closest to San Antonio, that is likely it.

 

[bloomcruisers]

I think you have to activate the pass by using it for the first visit at whatever home park you purchase it for. So the biggest factor is which park you might use the extra free passes at.
Unless you have extra people to use the free passes at sesame place, you should probably activate in Texas. The value of the free tickets should be more than the price savings on the pass at sesame.
We live in PA and have had ours at Busch gardens Williamsburg for years but definitely use them more in Florida. But we don’t need the extra tickets at all since it’s just the 2 of us. Most of the other perks carry to all the parks.

 

[gmdubois]

I've previously had the Sesame Place PA Platinum Pass for a couple of years as it was cheaper option than the VA or FL Platinum pass options and would occasionally go to PA or VA but mainly used it for the parks in FL. It was only good for the calendar year and not 12 consecutive months from purchase like the VA/FL/CA/TX passes. They do state on Sesame Place annual pass site: "Platinum Pass is not valid for purchase for residents of CA, FL, TX & VA." But I know it is only based on credit card billing address, so you could technically have an out of state friend purchase for you and list your name/info on the pass when checking out. I have previously redeemed the Sesame Place pass for first use in Seaworld Orlando. You still do get Food and Merchandise discounts and free preferred parking at the other parks, but you don't get the other home park perks.

I know Seaworld CA and TX previously had restrictions on 1st redemptions and had to be in the home park for 1st use in their fine print. Their Platinum options are typically much cheaper than VA or FL. But I can't find any of the fine print anymore on their sites stating this restriction. Does anyone know if this is still the case?

 

[New Mouse]

It used to.be that if you have your passes shipped for extra $ they come preactivated. Not sure that holds true anymore.

The big kicker is typically whether the guest passes for your home park will make that a better value or not for you, keeping in mind the ability to use the guest passes is typically limited.

 

[gmdubois]

I did get confirmation from SeaWorld San Antonio customer service that first use of the TX platinum pass can be at any park.

 

[clippers6]

I was reading the fine print on my San Antonio platinum pass and it says benefits only available for San Antonio, but it sounds like at least parking, food, and merchandise discounts are being honored at other parks. I’m curious what other benefits are being honored in Orlando. Do I still get the 1 time use QuickQueue, the discount on the full day QuickQueue, or the discounted (not free) guest tickets?

I bought the pass in San Antonio when I was there earlier this year since I knew I would be Orlando later in the year. San Diego is actually my home park, but was not yet open at the time. I understood the free tickets, Photokey, and free animal encounter would be in San Antonio only, but assumed the other benefits would be good at all other parks like with the Six Flags and Cedar Fair passes. Sounds like I might have been wrong?

 

[bloomcruisers]

I was reading the fine print on my San Antonio platinum pass and it says benefits only available for San Antonio, but it sounds like at least parking, food, and merchandise discounts are being honored at other parks. I’m curious what other benefits are being honored in Orlando. Do I still get the 1 time use QuickQueue, the discount on the full day QuickQueue, or the discounted (not free) guest tickets?

You will not get the 1 time use quick Queue. We have our passes from Williamsburg BG but our daughter and grandkids have theirs from SW Orlando. We all tried to use the kiosks to get the 1 time use QQs. She was able to get theirs, but ours said”No offers available “.
I didn’t try for any discounts using our tickets since she had hers to use for discounts. We did get the preferred parking using our passes.

 

[gmdubois]

You still do get Food and Merchandise discounts at other parks along with Free Preferred Parking (when available), the discount amount is listed on back of your pass. I do know that the different park Platinum Passes have different food/merchandise discount amounts. I had a 2019 Sesame Place Platinum Pass previously and food/merch discount was 25% at all of the parks, while my daughter had a 2019 San Diego Platinum pass that only offered 10% off food/20% off merch. So I would use the Sesame Place pass when purchasing food/merch for greater discount even when we visited San Diego Seaworld. As far as discounted tickets, you can also go to the kiosk at the park and scan your Platinum pass to purchase discount guest tickets. I have previously used my PA platinum pass to purchase half price tickets at Seaworld Orlando at the kiosk.

 

[brad813]

I was reading the fine print on my San Antonio platinum pass and it says benefits only available for San Antonio, but it sounds like at least parking, food, and merchandise discounts are being honored at other parks. I’m curious what other benefits are being honored in Orlando. Do I still get the 1 time use QuickQueue, the discount on the full day QuickQueue, or the discounted (not free) guest tickets?

I bought the pass in San Antonio when I was there earlier this year since I knew I would be Orlando later in the year. San Diego is actually my home park, but was not yet open at the time. I understood the free tickets, Photokey, and free animal encounter would be in San Antonio only, but assumed the other benefits would be good at all other parks like with the Six Flags and Cedar Fair passes. Sounds like I might have been wrong?

Discounts and parking are honored across all parks, but that is all. I bought the Florida platinum pass this year instead of Virginia because of the flexibility of four parks and I spend more time there than in Williamsburg. Check to be sure but I believe you also get 30% off Discovery Cove tickets, and I can highly recommend a visit.

 

[brad813]

It used to.be that if you have your passes shipped for extra $ they come preactivated. Not sure that holds true anymore.

The big kicker is typically whether the guest passes for your home park will make that a better value or not for you, keeping in mind the ability to use the guest passes is typically limited.

All passes are received electronically now, but you can print out a physical pass at the park from the kiosk if you like.