Ticket/AP help - do I have this right

[Mama Lo]

I have been reading this thread incessantly since I booked our trip which is now just 19 days away. Woohoo! Thank you for all of the wonderful information!

We will be arriving at RPR on 11/12-11/14. We will be spending 2.5 days in the parks.

Ultimately I would like to purchase AP's since I know that we will be back in February and possibly August.

I was thinking of getting a Preferred Pass for myself and 3 Power Passes for the rest of my family. I picked this since don't see the point in paying more for what seems like no gain. I will get the free parking for all of us and we can use my pass for the food and other discounts too, right?

I've looked at all the blocked out dates and there aren't any we would consider visiting during. I do see that there are early hours blocked for more of the days but if we are staying onsite we would get those anyway, right?

Now, my only question is, should I buy my tickets from a discounter and then upgrade in one of the parks? I see UT seems to have good discounts.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I have been reading this thread incessantly since I booked our trip which is now just 19 days away. Woohoo! Thank you for all of the wonderful information!

We will be arriving at RPR on 11/12-11/14. We will be spending 2.5 days in the parks.

Ultimately I would like to purchase AP's since I know that we will be back in February and possibly August.

I was thinking of getting a Preferred Pass for myself and 3 Power Passes for the rest of my family. I picked this since don't see the point in paying more for what seems like no gain. I will get the free parking for all of us and we can use my pass for the food and other discounts too, right?

I've looked at all the blocked out dates and there aren't any we would consider visiting during. I do see that there are early hours blocked for more of the days but if we are staying onsite we would get those anyway, right?

Now, my only question is, should I buy my tickets from a discounter and then upgrade in one of the parks? I see UT seems to have good discounts.

That's exactly what we do for our family. One preferred AP (for free parking and discounts) and the rest power passes. We have always bought directly from Universal, but many here use UT. Have a great trip.

 

[TommyJK]

I would be careful with trying to upgrade tickets from UT to AP. I have heard that the 2 + 2 days free ticket on UT is not upgradable, but I could be wrong. Or perhaps you would upgrade from a 2 Day to the AP with that ticket (i.e. the 2 free days don't make it an Upgrade from a 4 day ticket to an AP cost-wise).

 

[damo]

I would be careful with trying to upgrade tickets from UT to AP. I have heard that the 2 + 2 days free ticket on UT is not upgradable, but I could be wrong. Or perhaps you would upgrade from a 2 Day to the AP with that ticket (i.e. the 2 free days don't make it an Upgrade from a 4 day ticket to an AP cost-wise).

I believe your latter hypothesis is most likely true. We haven't had anyone come back and report about it yet, though.

Purchasing the buy 2, get 1 free from UT has no expiry dates on it, though, so it is totally upgradable and would give 3 days credit towards an AP.

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

We just upgraded the 2+1 tickets from UT and only got credit for price paid. I thought I had read we would get 3 days credit but only 2 :-(
It was still worth upgrading for us though as a return ticket for 2-3 days would have been more.

 

[damo]

We just upgraded the 2+1 tickets from UT and only got credit for price paid. I thought I had read we would get 3 days credit but only 2 :-(
It was still worth upgrading for us though as a return ticket for 2-3 days would have been more.

Did you use them first or upgrade before entering the parks?

 

[pigletto]

We just upgraded the 2+1 tickets from UT and only got credit for price paid. I thought I had read we would get 3 days credit but only 2 :-(
It was still worth upgrading for us though as a return ticket for 2-3 days would have been more.

That would be a departure from how they used to do it. We are upgrading those tickets next week. Also curious if you used them first? That used to lock in the current gate price for the upgrade.

 

[Patch'sD]

Did you use them first or upgrade before entering the parks?

You can use them first. According to guest services they must be upgraded before you leave the park on your last day the ticket is valid. Also free parking with preferred is Valet which is at the entrance to CityWalk. Rather than pull into the garage on the right you go left to the Vallet. Great Perk.

 

[pcstang]

You can use them first. According to guest services they must be upgraded before you leave the park on your last day the ticket is valid. Also free parking with preferred is Valet which is at the entrance to CityWalk. Rather than pull into the garage on the right you go left to the Vallet. Great Perk.

Pretty sure only premiere gets the perks for parking at citywalk.

 

[pcstang]

You can use them first. According to guest services they must be upgraded before you leave the park on your last day the ticket is valid. Also free parking with preferred is Valet which is at the entrance to CityWalk. Rather than pull into the garage on the right you go left to the Vallet. Great Perk.

I think the ticket use question Damo asked was because some have reported not getting the ticket prices bridged if upgrading before first use.

 

[Patch'sD]

Pretty sure only premiere gets the perks for parking at citywalk.

Yes that is true, I miss read the OP. Thanks

 

[bumbershoot]

We will be arriving at RPR on 11/12-11/14. We will be spending 2.5 days in the parks.

...I will get the free parking...

Free parking is at the citywalk/parks garage and only comes into play when you're staying offsite. You will pay for hotel lot parking during your RPR stay and it makes NO sense to move your car to the park garage because it's more walking than from RPR and you can't leave it overnight and will still pay to park at the hotel overnight.

But for follow up visits, if you're staying offsite, the parking benefit will be there for you.

 

[damo]

You can use them first. According to guest services they must be upgraded before you leave the park on your last day the ticket is valid. Also free parking with preferred is Valet which is at the entrance to CityWalk. Rather than pull into the garage on the right you go left to the Vallet. Great Perk.

I meant did they use the UT tickets first before they upgraded to APs.




oops...sorry...didn't see the other posts and didn't mean to beat a dead horse, lol.

 

[Mama Lo]

We are upgrading those tickets next week.

@pigletto I would love to know if this works. I could buy the 2 day 1 free. Not a giant savings but I will be buying 4 tickets so maybe it will cover a snack!

 

[WVMomof3]

I am looking at the Sams club tickets because I think they are a little cheaper than UT. Does anyone know if they are upgradable?

 

[pigletto]

@pigletto I would love to know if this works. I could buy the 2 day 1 free. Not a giant savings but I will be buying 4 tickets so maybe it will cover a snack!

It has always worked in the past for us, as recently as 2015. We would buy the 2 day get one free tickets and then bridge them (use one day to lock in gate price and then take them to guest services and upgrade). I don't know if it's changed but because we haven't heard an outcry around here, I am suspecting the poster in this thread didn't use them first to lock in gate price before upgrading.

It's important to note that tickets with expiration dates or certain promo tickets can NOT be upgraded and that is why we didn't get the Buy 2 get 2 days free ticket, it has an expiry and can't be upgraded.

I'll report back how it goes. We will be there starting on the 29th and plan to upgrade by mid week. If I forget to post back here feel free to pm me to see how it went.

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Did you use them first or upgrade before entering the parks?

We upgraded at the end of day 2.
I thought I had read it should give me credit for 3 days gate price. It when I asked she knew how much I had paid for the tickets. This was as we were leaving USF at close one night a guest services to the left as you are walking out. The team member was Anne.

 

[georgina]

@pigletto I would love to know if this works. I could buy the 2 day 1 free. Not a giant savings but I will be buying 4 tickets so maybe it will cover a snack!

It worked for me in Sept. Had the buy 2 get 1 day free from UT, upgraded it on my second day to Seasonal Pass for $35, which is the price difference between the gate price of a 3 day ticket and the price of the Seasonal Pass. Did it at guest services inside US. (Seasonal Pass is $284.99, 3 day ticket is $249.99)

 

[WVMomof3]

It worked for me in Sept. Had the buy 2 get 1 day free from UT, upgraded it on my second day to Seasonal Pass for $35, which is the price difference between the gate price of a 3 day ticket and the price of the Seasonal Pass. Did it at guest services inside US. (Seasonal Pass is $284.99, 3 day ticket is $249.99)

The seasonal pass is only $259.99, right? That would only be $10 so thinking it did not work out as you thought. Or am I missing something? Are the seasonal passes more at the gate? I see that the multiday passes are.

 

[damo]

The seasonal pass is only $259.99, right? That would only be $10 so thinking it did not work out as you thought. Or am I missing something? Are the seasonal passes more at the gate? I see that the multiday passes are.

You're looking at Florida Resident prices. Seasonal passes are $285 plus tax.

https://www.universalorlando.com/Theme-Park-Tickets/Annual-Passes/Non-FL-Annual-Passes.aspx