Tips to cut cost at US?IOA?

[josemed1999]

Just wanted to know everybody's ideas about cutting the cost on anything,

Thanks

 

[the Dark Marauder]

If you're an annual pass holder (preferred/premier) or an AAA member, show your card everywhere! APH's & AAA members get discounts at most food & merchandise locations.

Get a refillable, reusable souvenir cup. Not the meal deal one. That way you can use the same cup day after day, year after year, and refills will always be inexpensive.

You can get free water almost anywhere. Just ask.

 

[ChisJo]

We bring our own snacks....granola bars, pudding cups, trail mix, etc. We also bring our own water into the parks, freezing one the night before and having another one thats not frozen for the morning. You could always bring crystal light individual packets for the water if you don't like the taste of the water in the parks.
Like the Dark Marauder said, use your AAA card everywhere, a dollar here and a dollar there saved really does add up.
Purchase all your tickets online prior to arriving at the park. If you have people in your party that eat more than the average person, consider buying the all you can eat pass.
For souvenirs, we allow only a certain amount of money towards these, so you don't spend too much on things you will never use (for instance, on our upcoming trip, we are allowing my step son a max of $50 on souvenirs for our 3 day trip - he gets to choose what he wants with his money, but he knows that that $50 is all he gets).
We also share alot of the meals as they tend to always be so big....we get 1 appetizer and 1 meal to share between my husband and me. We do this more at supper time as meals tend to go up in price at the dinner hour. We try not to drink liquor when we are there - again, another item that is so ridiculously overpriced in a theme park. But if we do, we don't get more than 1.
And finally, we never purchase our breakfast in the parks either. We eat this in our room. We buy some milk and little packages of cereal and eat this before we head to the park. The thing that we find we waste our money on more than anything is food, so anything we can save is worth it to us.

 

[kangareaux]

We bring our own snacks....granola bars, pudding cups, trail mix, etc. We also bring our own water into the parks, freezing one the night before and having another one thats not frozen for the morning. You could always bring crystal light individual packets for the water if you don't like the taste of the water in the parks.
Like the Dark Marauder said, use your AAA card everywhere, a dollar here and a dollar there saved really does add up.
Purchase all your tickets online prior to arriving at the park. If you have people in your party that eat more than the average person, consider buying the all you can eat pass.
For souvenirs, we allow only a certain amount of money towards these, so you don't spend too much on things you will never use (for instance, on our upcoming trip, we are allowing my step son a max of $50 on souvenirs for our 3 day trip - he gets to choose what he wants with his money, but he knows that that $50 is all he gets).
We also share alot of the meals as they tend to always be so big....we get 1 appetizer and 1 meal to share between my husband and me. We do this more at supper time as meals tend to go up in price at the dinner hour. We try not to drink liquor when we are there - again, another item that is so ridiculously overpriced in a theme park. But if we do, we don't get more than 1.
And finally, we never purchase our breakfast in the parks either. We eat this in our room. We buy some milk and little packages of cereal and eat this before we head to the park. The thing that we find we waste our money on more than anything is food, so anything we can save is worth it to us.

While we were there, hubby said that the bag check guy was stopping people from bringing in bottled waters. (DH zips through the line while I wait with my bag. It wasn't my bag check guy so I didn't notice it myself.) Anyone else, and I'd have questioned what he saw, but we brought drinks and forgot them that morning. I KNOW DH would have brought them the rest of the mornings if there was any doubt in his mind about what he saw. I was a little bummed since I'd read here that they allowed juice and water and such....but hey, less to carry! LOL! (empty meal deal cups are MUCH lighter than bottled water! )

 

[ky07]

While we were there, hubby said that the bag check guy was stopping people from bringing in bottled waters. (DH zips through the line while I wait with my bag. It wasn't my bag check guy so I didn't notice it myself.) Anyone else, and I'd have questioned what he saw, but we brought drinks and forgot them that morning. I KNOW DH would have brought them the rest of the mornings if there was any doubt in his mind about what he saw. I was a little bummed since I'd read here that they allowed juice and water and such....but hey, less to carry! LOL! (empty meal deal cups are MUCH lighter than bottled water! )

Thats a new one on me cause every year we go we have taken in bottle water and bottle soda and have never been told we couldn't bring it in and have even stopped at citywalk and bought bottled water before we entered the park

 

[kangareaux]

Thats a new one on me cause every year we go we have taken in bottle water and bottle soda and have never been told we couldn't bring it in and have even stopped at citywalk and bought bottled water before we entered the park

I was a little surprised myself since everything I'd read here said otherwise. This was last week.

eta: Don't know if it makes any differance, but the bag check is before you get to citywalk. There's no bag check at the actual park gates.

 

[shoney]

We brought bottled waters into the park last week. No one questioned it. Quite honestly, they hardly looked in the bags, so maybe they didn't see them!

 

[ChisJo]

While we were there, hubby said that the bag check guy was stopping people from bringing in bottled waters. (DH zips through the line while I wait with my bag. It wasn't my bag check guy so I didn't notice it myself.) Anyone else, and I'd have questioned what he saw, but we brought drinks and forgot them that morning. I KNOW DH would have brought them the rest of the mornings if there was any doubt in his mind about what he saw. I was a little bummed since I'd read here that they allowed juice and water and such....but hey, less to carry! LOL! (empty meal deal cups are MUCH lighter than bottled water! )

That's bizarre....we've never been stopped or questioned about our water bottles. We don't like the tap water from the parks, so we always use water bottles and have never had problems. Maybe the bag check guy was having a bad day???

 

[keishashadow]

don't forget to check out the heavily discounted stores right before the park exits, some good deals to be found

if ur into pin trading, the Universal pins do pop up now & again on eBay, can pick up trade bait & find a TM w/lanyard to 'upgrade'

one of our local grocery stores sells the universal gift card; u can earn fuel perks for gift card purchases; check & see if sim program in your area. I've never bothered as i don't shop much @ that particular store. It states on back of GC that u can exchange the card for Universal $s @ guest services & use on food purchases, not sure re merchandise...im sure a TM here would know the details

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

We were at Universal May 25 & 26. They allowed us to bring in bottled water, but not our small soft sided cooler. The bag check guy told us nothing larger than a 6-pack cooler (we saw several other parties being told the same thing). I took the cooler back to the car, transferred the waters to a backpack and had no problem after that.

 

[troobabiee7]

Can anyone tell me about the souvenir cups?? I don't remember seeing them. How much are they, and can they be filled at any counter-service restaurant in either park? Thanks!

 

[denisegold]

Just wanted to know everybody's ideas about cutting the cost on anything,

Thanks

Don't know exactly what you are looking for, but here is how I saved some money:
Hotel: we are only staying in Orlando 2 nights. (we are actually staying mainly in Clearwater- but the two nights in Orlando). So we are staying at a Holiday Inn that costs $60 the first night (with free breakfast), then driving to Universal early the next morning, checking into Royal Pacific Resort (hopefully get there by 8:30am or so) we won't get our room that early, but we can get our key cars, which serve as our Express passes. We can also take a break during the day, if we want, since the hotel is right there. That hotel is $230 for the night (AAA rate)- might sound expensive compared to the Holiday Inn, but the express passes and location made it worth the $.

Universal/IOA tickets: I won a 7 day pass during the superbowl (you can't beat free) and I am going to buy an annual pass for my husband and daughter when we get to Clearwater at the AAA office- if bought in Florida, you can get the annual pass for $95 (and we are usually in Florida a few times a year, so if we use it again, great- if not, no loss, really).

As far as the water is concerned- I will bring in my bottle and refill it. You betcha!!

 

[mjohnson96]

We bought one AP since we were able to reduce our room rate in June from $172 a night to $149 a night. Since we are staying 4 nights that saved us almost enough to cover the pass.

We also purchased the other 2 tickets online to save money at the gate and the AP pass also has the discounts on food and merchandise that will be useful.

We are brining our little cooler and stopping by the store to pick up things for snacks and breakfast, since this usually seems to be the most expensive meal of the day.

Our DD 6 has been saving coins so after cashing them in she knows this is the only money she will get for Icecream, gifts, etc.

And of course the best money saver....we invited Grandma!

 

[Veronica Lodge]

Check the souviner stores for sales - there was a lot of stuff on discount when we were there in January. Don't pay full price for junk that will collect dust at home.

Some of the meals are quite huge. I know the half a rotisserie chicken at Roaring Forks (?) was HUGE and could have easily fed two people.

We also brought in some snacks - jerky and granola bars. It was probably a little better for us than ice creams and pizza.

If you plan on having a beer or three (like DH and I did) get the big plastic cups and take advantage of the happy hour specials.

 

[Miniefan]

A question about the refillable cups- Can you bring and use ones that you purchased last year?

Thanks

 

[the Dark Marauder]

If they're Meal Deal ones, probably not. If they're souvenir style (Shrek, Spongebob, Marvel Characters, etc) then yes.

 

[Miniefan]

I have two from last year, one is a blue Spiderman and says Islands of Adventure and the other one is hot pink and has a photo of Universal Orlando Resort and says stay refreshed with specially priced refills all day. Neither were purchased with the meal deal, should these be ok?

Thanks

 

[bubble_angel]

Hey, just for your reference I checked the website and bottled water is ACCEPTED - so if you ever have any trouble just state their own terms

 

[Disneyhappy]

Hey, just for your reference I checked the website and bottled water is ACCEPTED - so if you ever have any trouble just state their own terms

The only time our drinks were confiscated is when we brought the little bottles of soda from the club lounge at RPR. We wallked to CW to go to IOA. The security guard at the CW entrance told us glass containers are not allowed. Maybe that is what the PP's DH observed?

 

[patster734]

Hey, just for your reference I checked the website and bottled water is ACCEPTED - so if you ever have any trouble just state their own terms

I just saw that too. Here's the list from Universal's website as to what is and isn't allowed:

We offer a variety of fresh, delicious food for our guests to enjoy at restaurants and concession stands throughout our resort; however, we understand that guests may need to bring outside food and drink into our parks. Please note the following guidelines for bringing food and drink into our parks:

Acceptable items:


Bottled water
Small snacks that do not require heating
Any food required for medical purposes and medically–indicated nutritional supplements
Any food required for special dietary needs
Baby food/baby formula
Soft-sided insulated bags no larger than 8.5” wide x 6” high x 6” deep

Prohibited items:


Picnic lunches
Food that requires heating or refrigeration
Alcohol and glass containers
Hard-sided coolers
Soft-sided coolers larger than 8.5” wide x 6” high x 6” deep
Coolers, suitcases, and bags with wheels

http://www.universalorlando.com/hours-information/travel-information/trip-planning.html