Season Pass Question

[the46zone]

Has anyone ever purchased a season pass (lowest level, non-Florida resident) just for the hotel discount? Looks like a major savings and I feel like I am missing something. You save like 30% HRH and that is greater than the extra for the pass. We are only going for 4 days in June and probably will not be back for some time. Anyway, anyone do this?

 

[MinnieMSue]

That is what we are doing for a 4 night stay in June. We booked the hotel but have not gotten our passes yet. Will before March ends to get the extension.

 

[greg9x]

Yes, lots of people get an AP for hotel savings. But you have to go in knowing that AP rate may not be available for your dates, and if it is, it's not necessarily going to be the 30% you saw. The percentage savings is not fixed and varies.

Also for 3+ days, the Savvy Traveler rate (think that's what calling now, used to be Stay More, Save More) may be cheaper than the AP rate . Know the AP rate was never close the SMSM rate when we went August before last (for 8 nights). AP rate is usually only a savings on 1-2 night stays.

Best bet is to book now and keep an eye on the different rates. Then rebook/adjust whenever you see a cheaper rate, and if need to get an AP if that rate is best.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Also realize you only need one AP to get the room discount, so you don’t need to get one for your whole party.

 

[puffkin]

We purchased B2G2 tickets from a third party vendor, but then realized there were AP rates available for our stay (we were staying at HRH regardless) and with the upgrade difference it was only $10 more to get a Seasonal but we saved hundreds of dollars on the room. We upgraded just one pass when we arrived just to take advantage of the room discount. However, halfway through our trip, my boys were loving it so much that we ended up upgrading all the passes to AP's. We are heading back next month for our third trip on them. We have been pretty flexible with dates and have been able to get AP room discounts each time.

 

[shawthorne44]

If you are going for 4 days, how much more is the seasonal pass? When we got our pass (pre-covid) 4 days was the break-even point to get a pass.
Also, you only need to show your pass before checkout.

One thing to be aware of is are you going during seasonal pass blackout days. They don't want you to do a downgrade when you switch to a pass, assuming you used what you are dropping. So, for example, someone buys a 3-park ticket and goes to the waterpark the first day. Then they decide that they want to switch that to the 2-park seasonal pass. They will be told that they will have to convert to the 3-parks seasonal pass.
Of course, if you do get hotel discount it will probably be enough to pay for an upgrade to a pass that isn't blacked out for your days.