So everyone see the price changes and additional blackout dates on tickets?

[Dax]

Guess this is the news we were all waiting for...

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201101/2260/

I am glad I do not have a power pass...

 

[Mikelly1221]

I knew about the blackout dates, but I didn't think Universal was raising prices on their power passes. Of course, 5 days before I buy mine...grrrr.

 

[palmtreegirl]

We have 3 power passes and one preferred, got them just before the increase. We knew about the blackout dates before we purchased the passes and they don't bother me since we rarely go to the parks during them anyway and in the summer we can still go to the Studios.

 

[ducky_love]

I won't renew my premier for $60 more with no added benefit. I enjoy the valet, but not that much. Plus I gave away my HHN ticket so that is no value to me.

We'll have to see what renewals are going to be.

 

[Metro West]

I won't renew my premier for $60 more with no added benefit. I enjoy the valet, but not that much. Plus I gave away my HHN ticket so that is no value to me.

We'll have to see what renewals are going to be.

Yeah...a $60.00 increase is pretty insane when you aren't getting anything added. You should just stick with the Preferred which is what I have and am happy with. I think the Premier AP has run it's course now. More and more people are going to the Preferred...especially if the renewal cost stays the same as last year.

 

[DCTooTall]

How much are the HHN tickets normally? I was planning on splurging on the Premier when I was planning my trip since the cost difference wasn't much and the few extra perks almost seemed worth it. now I'm not so sure with the $60 price increase.

Though didn't the preferred include citywalk admission last year? noticed that it doesn't now.... and that the premier just includes citywalk for the holder, and not a guest like last year.


Dammit.... So now I gotta decide if I want to spend the extra or not.... and if a seperate trip down for HHN which I was thinking about doing is actually a legit possibility or risky enough that the potential added value isn't worth it.

 

[DumGuestTricks]

I won't renew my premier for $60 more with no added benefit. I enjoy the valet, but not that much. Plus I gave away my HHN ticket so that is no value to me.

We'll have to see what renewals are going to be.

No added benefit? Um, in the last year, didn't the biggest deal of all biggest theme park deals just, um, I don't know.... OPEN?

 

[Metro West]

How much are the HHN tickets normally? I was planning on splurging on the Premier when I was planning my trip since the cost difference wasn't much and the few extra perks almost seemed worth it. now I'm not so sure with the $60 price increase.

Last year, general admission HHN tickets were $74.99 plus tax for all dates. The AP discounts varied anywhere from $34.99 to $64.99 depending on the day of the week. The best deal...especially if you want to go twice is the Frequent Fear pass which was only $59.99 for 13 nights. The FFP includes all Thursdays and Sundays plus the first weekend. I opted for the FFP with Express access and it was a life saver especially towards the end of the month when the lines were crazy.

 

[phamton]

No added benefit? Um, in the last year, didn't the biggest deal of all biggest theme park deals just, um, I don't know.... OPEN?

Yes, it did. But you can see the Harry Potter area with any annual pass. Ducky Love was talking about the benifits of a Premier AP.

As far as the discussion on blackout dates, I am not surprised at all. Until just a few years ago, the traditional blackout dates on the Power Pass were almost the exact same backouts as Disney had on the FL resident passes. For the last 5 years, Universal has lifted those blackout dates but now that Harry Potter is open, they have reinstated them. I think many were just lucky that there were so few blackout dates for the last 5 years. They are now back to what the original blackout dates used to be for many years.

 

[DCTooTall]

Last year, general admission HHN tickets were $74.99 plus tax for all dates. The AP discounts varied anywhere from $34.99 to $64.99 depending on the day of the week. The best deal...especially if you want to go twice is the Frequent Fear pass which was only $59.99 for 13 nights. The FFP includes all Thursdays and Sundays plus the first weekend. I opted for the FFP with Express access and it was a life saver especially towards the end of the month when the lines were crazy.

Hmmm.... Based off that...

Previously i could justify the price difference between the preferred and the premier AP's with my existing plans for the next year. I'm out of state, but was planning a week in Florida in March, and another come November. I didn't quite know if I would make it any other time in the year the pass would be valid, so I was just using those 2 trips to work out cost/benefits.

If I tried to make a quick weekend trip down to HHN since I was REALLY wanting to try and check it out based off what I'd heard/seen this year and included the cost of the free HHN ticket w/ Premier vs the discounted AP ticket, it sounds like it may be getting closer to POSSIBLY being able to justify the cost increase again.

How early do they release the HHN dates for the year? Being able to see the dates would really help with my ability to determine if I could realistically plan a quick trip, and if for that quick trip i could be there for a valid AP ticket night.

 

[Metro West]

How early do they release the HHN dates for the year? Being able to see the dates would really help with my ability to determine if I could realistically plan a quick trip, and if for that quick trip i could be there for a valid AP ticket night.

The dates will be released sometime this summer but you can plan on every Thursday-Sunday in October for HHN but there has been a Wednesday night thrown in too. That's usually towards the end of the month. I've had the Preferred AP for almost eight years now and have no plans to upgrade to the Premier. The extra benefits are nice but I don't feel it's worth it to me.

 

[DCTooTall]

The dates will be released sometime this summer but you can plan on every Thursday-Sunday in October for HHN but there has been a Wednesday night thrown in too. That's usually towards the end of the month. I've had the Preferred AP for almost eight years now and have no plans to upgrade to the Premier. The extra benefits are nice but I don't feel it's worth it to me.

Oh trust me I understand. To each their own... different expectations and different interests. Everybody uses their AP's differently.

In my cost analysis, I'm looking at the possibility of going down for a single HHN. Since I'm not local, the Fear Pass which sounds like an amazing deal wouldn't really do me much good. So worst case... figure about a $60 difference there in case my trip happens to be during one of the more expensive AP nights.

Then there is the City Walk admission. Another $24 (party pass x2) if I just make it down once in each of my 2 planned trips... But there is always a possibility I may want to go more than once since I would be on vacation.

So based off that, I've already figured about $84 i'd spend extra if I just got the preferred. Throw in the extra discount on food and goodies (5% extra on food, 10% on other crap), and I could possibly make up the extra amount in savings.

Then as added perks, since my vacation time is finite, the after 4 express could be helpful if I find there are things I wanted to ride towards the end of my day that either I missed or just wanted to ride again.....

So ultimately... I'll have to determine if I could realistically see the extra $40 in savings to hit the break even point.

(and I'm not including the preferred parking/valet vs regular parking cost difference since parking is parking. nice little extra perk, but it's not like Id be likely to pay the difference otherwise.)

 

[NYDisneyKid]

theres an admission for citywalk? is that the same as an admission to dtd?

 

[DCTooTall]

theres an admission for citywalk?

To get into some of the bars/clubs... yes.

You can walk thru citywalk or go shopping w/o any additional charge. You can eat at the restaurants w/o having to pay to get into them. But most of the bars/clubs have a cover charge to get in during the evening hours.

I think from what I saw, single club cover charge is usually about $7, but you can get a "party pass" which allows club hopping for $12.

Also, most park tickets (and blue man group tickets) include admission into the clubs, so if you go to the park, you can go party afterwards.

The problem is that on the AP level, the preferred pass no longer includes that citywalk admission from what I can see, only the premier does, so since a AP makes financial sense for me over getting a regular multiday/multipark ticket which would give me club access, I need to include my potential evening party plans into my cost analysis between the 2 passes.

 

[DOOM1001]

Good thing I have a Preferred pass which is the only one that hasn't had any changes.They did raise the renewal price $40 last year up to $149,which I could understand with Potter opening and after almost 10 years that I was paying $99 or $109 to renew the pass.I just hope Universal doesn't go insane and start jacking up the prices every year,the Potter area is great but even a Universal fan like me would agree that it's too overhyped,now if they somehow found the room somewhere and built an actual third park I would have no problem if they raised my renewal price to $200.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

To get into some of the bars/clubs... yes.

You can walk thru citywalk or go shopping w/o any additional charge. You can eat at the restaurants w/o having to pay to get into them. But most of the bars/clubs have a cover charge to get in during the evening hours.

I think from what I saw, single club cover charge is usually about $7, but you can get a "party pass" which allows club hopping for $12.

Also, most park tickets (and blue man group tickets) include admission into the clubs, so if you go to the park, you can go party afterwards.

The problem is that on the AP level, the preferred pass no longer includes that citywalk admission from what I can see, only the premier does, so since a AP makes financial sense for me over getting a regular multiday/multipark ticket which would give me club access, I need to include my potential evening party plans into my cost analysis between the 2 passes.

post #12 says nothing about bars/clubs. just says "admission to citywalk".