Universal's new ticket structure!

[Metro West]

ok, someone pat me on the back & tell me I did the right thing.

with all the new pricing , I may have panicked a little.

we had season passes last year, they expired in december , but I got one of the renewel cards for $99.
now I had not intended to renew these, since our planned trip was in oct & it still isn't writtne in stone. sooooooo I had thougth of waiting till much later to buy a 7 day pass ( lookes like that is not an idea much longer at those prices for new ones) & possibly a year pass that will let me get a discount on hotel there ,, if it gave a better rate than AAA ( which I do not have either).
had thought th 7 day tix would be a better bet since I could use them anytime, but the pass would be up this december.
now,, thought on that is.. what *IF* we could go more than one time this year ( unlikely,, but who knows ) so the yearly pass would be better.
now I was surprised I was able to get the $99 rate renewel even though the passes ended 40 days ago. & I was talked into getting ONE preferred one for $179 ,, which gives hotel discount & free parking which she rightly pointed out you can easily make that up in parking fees.
although::::::: to GET the free parking you have to go through the gates ONE time. so you choose paying parking fee,,,,, or spending 45 min round trip to get dropped off & into park & back again.. pretty stupid if you ask me!
now , as I asked _ someone ...tell me I did the right thing spending $300. tix for this year, that may not be a 100% trip......

( the NEW rates now for yearly passes are outrageous!!)

You did the right thing if you will have one Preferred AP for the discounts on merchandise and food in the parks. That will add up fast as well the free parking.

 

[sammielynn]

I haven't read this entire thread, but there is still a banner here for the $99 tickets. Think it will be gone soon? I need to get tickets for May.

 

[jenseib]

I haven't read this entire thread, but there is still a banner here for the $99 tickets. Think it will be gone soon? I need to get tickets for May.

Get them now

 

[Metro West]

I haven't read this entire thread, but there is still a banner here for the $99 tickets. Think it will be gone soon? I need to get tickets for May.

What are you waiting for?

 

[damo]

I haven't read this entire thread, but there is still a banner here for the $99 tickets. Think it will be gone soon? I need to get tickets for May.

The banner is from Dreams Unlimited, not the Universal Orlando website (although it is a secondary link). You can still get them while they are hot. I would not wait.

 

[ky07]

Like the others said I wouldn't wait I would buy them now cause I needed one more for our next trip and thought I would have to pay the new price hike but ordered from the banner and now I am all set for this year but next year will be another story

 

[Jonny_Duck]

Via Twitter - Orlando: A New Range Of Tickets Have Become Available And Will Be Posted On Twitter On January 14th, These Tickets You Just Cant Miss!

Kinda funny advertising as a good thing with a huge increase in prices.

Kinda shocked at the prices tbh. I might of expected price increase....even though rly it should of been done before Potter if it was to gain back the money spent on it rather then at opening to just take advantage of it.

From what I can tell it looks like a 70% increase in 7 day ticket?!?! Power pass for FL res is 40% ish increase. OUCH!

To answer I believe it was Damos question earlier...I would rather have them up prices a little each yr rather then all at once.

Idk...I have always liked Universal more then Disney but looking at prices right now I consider Disney a better "value" then Universal. Disney offers more even though it may not be my cup of tea it is def more for your money.(Like some pointed out 1 day prices kinda insane and for 1 day for either places wouldn't be worth the money they charge imo. But for 7 days Disney kinda wins hands down)

Other thing is I rly hope they IMPROVE rather then just increasing prices. If I can go ride MIB and both sides are running I may consider this pricing scheme ok.

Also believe last yr they had closing around 5 to 6 during offseason. Rly early to be closing imo. If they improve on hrs it may be worth it as well. I rly hope they just don't add a coaster(Which I didn't even like)and a small addition being Harry Potter as belief in its enough to raise the rates this high.

Also to the person that believes Potter to be a theme park...Idk you should see it before you make that judgement tbh. It may sound large in size but from what I seen its not highly impressive. Not to mention most of it is made up of already existing stuff with some slight modifications. One extra building/ride seems hardly worth it.

But I will wait till I see it fully finished to make that final judgement.

On a side note I have seen a few news type casts on TV saying Harry Potter getting its own theme park in Orl...Srsly if your gonna report news it should prob not be called its own theme park and just say its a sub division of Universal.

Edit: To the person mentioning the Costco tickets...they were $89.95 for 3 Months. I haven't been back to Costco to see if they are still there but thats what it used to be. I didn't see them as a good deal as it was $99 for a full yr. But yah there it is.

 

[Pikester]

I ordered my tickets from Dreams Unlimited and was really excited about it until a few had mentioned that you could only use them for this year and that they may expire. I would be totally screwed as the reason I ordered them was to use them next year when we go in 2011. That's $400 down the tubes. I had the tickets sent to me via email and I read every bit of writing on the whole ticket. The only thing I found was that the ticket was good for those 7 consecutive days after the first use. Didn't say when I had to use it.

Fingers crossed that I am reading it correctly.

 

[damo]

I ordered my tickets from Dreams Unlimited and was really excited about it until a few had mentioned that you could only use them for this year and that they may expire. I would be totally screwed as the reason I ordered them was to use them next year when we go in 2011. That's $400 down the tubes. I had the tickets sent to me via email and I read every bit of writing on the whole ticket. The only thing I found was that the ticket was good for those 7 consecutive days after the first use. Didn't say when I had to use it.

Fingers crossed that I am reading it correctly.

The only people who said that were people who bought the tickets from ticketmaster. If you bought them from Dreams Unlimited, there is no expiry. You are fine.

 

[ky07]

I ordered my tickets from Dreams Unlimited and was really excited about it until a few had mentioned that you could only use them for this year and that they may expire. I would be totally screwed as the reason I ordered them was to use them next year when we go in 2011. That's $400 down the tubes. I had the tickets sent to me via email and I read every bit of writing on the whole ticket. The only thing I found was that the ticket was good for those 7 consecutive days after the first use. Didn't say when I had to use it.

Fingers crossed that I am reading it correctly.

Like damo said these tickets never expire until 6 days after the first day used.
which means if you buy them now and hang on to them until next year they will still be good cause I bought the same ticket and have one from last year that is still good

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Someone may have posted this already, but I went to Costco yesterday and they did not have any more of the Universal 3-month tickets for $89. I don't know if they sold out or if they pulled them from the display. Very glad I got mine when I did, even though we won't be going until summer.

 

[Pikester]

Like damo said these tickets never expire until 6 days after the first day used.
which means if you buy them now and hang on to them until next year they will still be good cause I bought the same ticket and have one from last year that is still good

The only people who said that were people who bought the tickets from ticketmaster. If you bought them from Dreams Unlimited, there is no expiry. You are fine.

Thank you for the confirmation. Makes me feel better.

 

[torinsmom]

Someone may have posted this already, but I went to Costco yesterday and they did not have any more of the Universal 3-month tickets for $89. I don't know if they sold out or if they pulled them from the display. Very glad I got mine when I did, even though we won't be going until summer.

I think the 3 month tickets expired in Dec. 2009 anyway, so they wouldn't be selling them anymore. I could be wrong on that though.

 

[Planogirl]

Maybe Universal will add a lower priced ticket later on? Or maybe something extra if you stay at one of the hotels?

They won't even announce when HP is expected to open so maybe they're not done with other things. One can hope anyway.

 

[m.urbanian87]

i think the 3 month tickets expired in dec. 2009 anyway, so they wouldn't be selling them anymore. I could be wrong on that though.

well let me tell you that u wrong cause i have that same ticket from costco and it clearly says that the ticket expired in 2020

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I think the 3 month tickets expired in Dec. 2009 anyway, so they wouldn't be selling them anymore. I could be wrong on that though.

I hope that's not right - I haven't used ours yet! I was told that they do not expire until you use them, but that could be wrong. Hope not, since we are going in July.

Edited to add: I just checked the back of the ticket. There is no expiration date printed on it - just the date I bought it. Anyone else think this might be a problem?

 

[torinsmom]

As I said, I could be wrong. I thought there was a thread on here where that was pointed out(expiration date). I would think if that was true, it would be on the tickets though, so you are probably fine.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

As I said, I could be wrong. I thought there was a thread on here where that was pointed out(expiration date). I would think if that was true, it would be on the tickets though, so you are probably fine.

I hope so. I know there were posts about the Ticketmaster tickets expiring 12/31/09. I haven't budgeted for buying tickets twice, so I hope they are OK!