Room only plus tickets v package

[LuvOrlando]

So I booked three separate room only 2 room suites at Surfside for our family for 2026, 14 days each.

Did room only because it was the only way to secure a visit for 2026 a few months ago when I wanted to get things started, the packages weren't open at the time.

Now I'm looking to buy tickets for everyone to start and it all seems so messy.

For some reason Universal refuses to allow me to link any of the room only reservations to my existing account from last year. This is odd because I'm actually trying to sort out if it is better to do a package or not and I can't do any sort of side by side comparison. Is anyone familiar with the packages v room only? Is this just a weird growing pains glitch or do they not support anyone without package?

Seems an odd choice when they could be wooing me into a package. It looks like for tickets I can only get 1 day at Epic no matter what I do with the tickets, does this sound about right?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

For tickets for 2026, they should have the "1 day at Epic" restriction removed. I'm not sure if they have those tickets actually available yet. But they have them available through non-US websites, with tickets already available for 2026.

Why do you need to link the room only reservations to your account to compare?
There isn't a place to link them in the App, unless something changed. But there's also no specific benefit to having them linked in the App, other than that it lets you keep track more easily.

 

[LuvOrlando]

OK, I didn't see it mentioned anywhere this was a 2025 only restriction so thanks for that. Any idea when 2026 will show up on the scene? I feel like a notification would be helpful for people who have reservations at hotels. Now I'm thinking maybe I should double book at beaches and other brand amusement parks for days we might not get tickets

For the linking, yes, the ease of use was precisely what I wanted to accomplish as I am doing comparisons.

Do you have any idea why they don't have room only in the app? Do they have a third party vendor managing the app that only gets paid for packages which is why the feature is denied?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

No idea. Maybe because the hotels are Loews, Universal doesn't really care about room only?

If you're going 14 days, do you normally get an Annual Pass? Or the 10-14 day European tickets? The regular US tickets won't be nearly as cost effective for you, regardless when you buy them, unless they come out with longer duration tickets next year. I believe you can already buy the 2026 European tickets (with Epic included all days).