Universal Orlando on Monday introduced a new ticket pricing structure designed to capitalize on an attendance surge expected this spring when the resort opens The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Universals changes included eliminating a long-running promotional offer for weeklong passes and raising the price of standard two-day tickets. But it also introduced new three- and four-day ticket options.
Under the new structure, which Universal dubbed U Select, the base price for a one-day, one-park ticket will remain unchanged at $79.
But the per-day price drops for some longer stays. A three-day ticket, for instance, will cost $125 when purchased online or roughly $42 per day. A four-day ticket bought online will cost $135 about $34 per day.
Guests can also add park-to-park upgrades to their tickets allowing them to visit both of the resorts theme parks, Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, on the same day. The longer the ticket package, the cheaper the upgrade price: from $30 to add the feature to a single-day ticket to $10 to add it to the four-day pass.
The approach is modeled after Walt Disney Worlds Magic Your Way ticket pricing strategy, which attempts to steer guests toward longer stays by making lengthier packages more affordable on a per-day basis. Disney adopted the structure in 2005.
Some prices are rising. A two-day, two-park pass will now cost $135 when purchased online, an increase of 36 percent from $99.
Whats more, Universal ended a discount offer of a weeklong pass for $99, which had been in place since 2007. A spokesman for the resort said that was a only a temporary offer that had been extended over time and that guests who bought that pass typically used it for far less than seven days.
A comparable seven-day pass good for both parks will now cost $170 a 72 percent increase.
By raising the price of two-day passes but lowering them for three- and four-day visits, Universal hopes to maximize the impact from the Wizarding World, which industry experts expect will draw big crowds.
Many of those visitors were already likely to spend two days at the resort to ensure visits to both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. But now they will have to choose between adding a third day at that resort for an extra $15 per person versus single-day passes approaching $80 at rival resorts Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando.
Though Wizarding World is not a standalone theme park, Universal is marketing the project as more something more than a typical park addition a theme park within a theme park. That message, coupled with the new ticket-price tiers, might help the resort convince more customers that they need three days, said Ady Milman, a professor at the University of Central Florida.
It might be that they really want to advise customers that they need more time if they really want to see everything and this will be the role of the vacation planners, whose major goal is to upsell, Milman said.
In a written statement, Universal Orlando President Bill Davis said the pricing overhaul comes just in time for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
It will be the theme park event of a lifetime and we are giving guests the flexibility to experience it the way they want to at better values every day, Davis said.
just waiting for my tesco vouchers to arrive so I can book, I'm looking at next Christmas, been wanting to go at that time for ever!!! Hope they get here soon 
now I'm torn on whether to take the risk of buying them or not, wouldn't like something to go wrong with the holiday booking and getting stuck with the US tickets 
