Please help me understand the advantages of the Annual pass.

[coastgirl]

We were planning on getting Orlando Flexpasses for our trip in August. I thought I'd look to see if an annual pass to US would have any benefits for us. I have done a forum search, but not seeing the details we are curious about.

--Parking is a benefit for us, that I get. But the flexpass gives us transferability in our parking between there and SW/Aquatica, so we do lose a little flexibility.

--10% discount in the parks/citywalk. BUT we also have AAA, so is it the same places/amount? Or does the AP get us better discounts?

--Hotel discount. Doesn't pay this trip, as we have booked off site. But curious about these, in case we decide to do a return within the year. (Unlikely but possible if prices are good and nothing unexpected happens to our finances!)

--We won't be around for any of the special events, so no benefit for us there.

Anything I've missed? We'd be looking at the mid-range pass, the one that gets you free parking but not valet parking.


Thanks!

 

[damo]

One of the major things is the discounted price for renewal. You'll save about $80. Last time I checked renewal was $179. It is probably different now, but it is still substantial.

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks Damo. That's significant. Unfortunately it's not a benefit to us as we are very unlikely to have it more than once running.

 

[hydrotony]

The annual passes are not a real benefit for people taking a short (14 days or less) trip once every few years, not staying on-site and going to non-Universal parks too. The Orlando flex ticket or 3-park tickets are great for that. It sounded like you knew that already. APs are best for people who visit many times a year or live locally and just want to show up for a few hours now and then. In fact, this is the same argument for and against APs for Disney, 6 Flags, Seaworld or any other park.

 

[Metro West]

The annual passes are not a real benefit for people taking a short (14 days or less) trip once every few years, not staying on-site and going to non-Universal parks too. The Orlando flex ticket or 3-park tickets are great for that. It sounded like you knew that already. APs are best for people who visit many times a year or live locally and just want to show up for a few hours now and then. In fact, this is the same argument for and against APs for Disney, 6 Flags, Seaworld or any other park.

 

[macraven]

the other thing that the preferred annual pass allows is the discount on tours and hhn tickets.
i always take advantage of that perk.


i also have the AAA card which gives the same 10% discount off of food and merch as the preferred ap does.

both cards/pass can allow discounted park tickets purchase.

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks Hydrotony and Metrowest, that's what I figured but good to have it confirmed, that I haven't missed anything.

Macraven thanks for confirming that the AAA discount is equivilent.

 

[macraven]

homies here are always glad to help with questions.

 

[bumbershoot]

APs are best for people who visit many times a year or live locally and just want to show up for a few hours now and then. In fact, this is the same argument for and against APs for Disney, 6 Flags, Seaworld or any other park.

Or even someone from afar who can vacation twice fully inside of a 365 day period.


OP, bookmark and play around on this site for hotel discounts. Put in APH in the code field, to check if there are AP rates. If there are, they will show. If there aren't, they won't, but they'll show you any other non-membership discount there is at the time. Sometimes an AP rate won't show up but later on it will, so it's definitely a site to play around on, not just check once and forget about it.

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks Bumbershoot, that looks like an interesting exercise. We did manage to take advantage of a Disney AP on our first "round" with two trips in less than 12 months, and the hotel discounts were the biggest benefit. Too bad the HP additions won't be opening within 12 mos of our August visit--then I'd be highly motivated to come back in the 12 mo window!

 

[hydrotony]

Or even someone from afar who can vacation twice fully inside of a 365 day period.


Yeah, I'm a big proponent of the 11 month apart "annual" vacations. APs make money sense on those.

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

We just renewed our AP's and I have the cheap AP and it was $150 with tax to renew mine and DH has the middle pass that gets you free parking and it was $170 with tax to renew his. It was $320 total to renew both passes. Just a little bit more than buying ourselves 3 day park to park passes. Great prices on renewals.

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks Minnie for that data point. It appears more likely that dh will want to try out the AP...with parking, it's pretty much a wash compared to the Flexpass.