Universal's new ticket structure!

[mvansear]

Ahhh I think I am going to cry. I am buying my tickets tommorow. I leave in 6 days. I was going to buy the annual pass for 149.00 and go back in October when HP opens. Now that pass will cost me 350.00 more for my family. I did not care about the blackout dates on the old annual pass as it didn't affect the dates I was going. I wonder if I called tommorw if there is any way I could talk them into selling me the old annual pass? What do you think?

 

[Metro West]

Ahhh I think I am going to cry. I am buying my tickets tommorow. I leave in 6 days. I was going to buy the annual pass for 149.00 and go back in October when HP opens. Now that pass will cost me 350.00 more for my family. I did not care about the blackout dates on the old annual pass as it didn't affect the dates I was going. I wonder if I called tommorw if there is any way I could talk them into selling me the old annual pass? What do you think?

Good luck with that.

 

[Coach81]

Ahhh I think I am going to cry. I am buying my tickets tommorow. I leave in 6 days. I was going to buy the annual pass for 149.00 and go back in October when HP opens. Now that pass will cost me 350.00 more for my family. I did not care about the blackout dates on the old annual pass as it didn't affect the dates I was going. I wonder if I called tommorw if there is any way I could talk them into selling me the old annual pass? What do you think?

I'm gonna say.. ahhh NO. sorry!

 

[Purseval]

See I don't go for that logic at all. Places that have only one park still charge the same amount. I measure it by a time unit. If I am spending 1 day at any park, it should be relatively the same price, depending on the quality of the park. So many of the rides at each Disney park are for little kids that I am not even going to ride. They could easily make two parks out of it, like at Disneyland. Just because they spread it out over more space and add more filler, doesn't make it worth more, TO ME!

When my kids were between the ages of about 8 and 18 our normal routine was to do all 4 parks in 1 day, so even going by time units we could still see and do far more at WDW than US/IOA. You also rarely see a Universal park open past 9pm where at WDW we could go nonstop from 9am until 11pm and still leave with things undone. Comparing apples to oranges doesn't hold up no matter which way you try to parse it.

Yesterday Universal said that a visit to their parks was worth XXX dollars. Today they say that their park is worth significantly more because of 1 modified area of 1 park. For their sake I hope, in this economy, people agree with them. Personally I don't.

 

[Melanie230]

You are comparing 2 parks to 4. If I doubled each Universal/IOA ticket to make it even and said WDW was actually a much better value except for annual pass prices would you find that statement to be just as credible?

Actually the comparison is 3 parks to 4 parks. When Harry Potter opens Universal will have 3 parks.

 

[keishashadow]

That's because youngsters like you don't notice that kind of stuff It was a basic 2-park pass, about $90, with blackout dates that wouldn't have mattered to us. You had to be 55 or older to buy it.

i was planniing on purchasing for my mr this year

In reality...the ticket increase is still a good ticket price. Thank goodness for this site. I just read this thread today and went straight to our AAA office. I bought our family 4 of the $99 tickets. I told the rep about the rate hike. She was shocked. So as of today...AAA has not been made aware of the increased rate. So we will continue to buy a couple of tickets here and there to save for later visits.

guess they do nowbeans are spilled. No matter, our AAA continues to sell whatever current stock they have on hand @ the old prices anyway, even the disney tickets after price increase.

Seriously, other than the timing; was anybody here really surprised that U would raise tickets to 'make hay while the sun is shining'?

It's a business. U's tix prices the past few years were set exactly where they could obtain the best return. U has tweaked their tix prices w/various promos far more often than Disney over the past few years; leading me to venture that if the influx of crowds doesn't warrant the increase, they'll drop the ticket prices...may even see PAP/AP promos. Personally, I'd have liked to have seen them cut a break & reward current passholders by not raising the renewal rate this year.

You always have the option of voting with your feet & taking your business elsewhere. Naaaaw, how can the die-hard fans (especially the kiddos - who im sure will be deluged with a tv marketing campaign to surpass the one for free tix last year) possibly resist the siren call of Harry Potter when they are within ear-shot in orlando?

 

[Metro West]

Actually the comparison is 3 parks to 4 parks. When Harry Potter opens Universal will have 3 parks.

WWoHP is not a separate park..it's going to be an area in between Jurassic Park and The Lost Continent...another "island" if you will.

 

[damo]

When my kids were between the ages of about 8 and 18 our normal routine was to do all 4 parks in 1 day, so even going by time units we could still see and do far more at WDW than US/IOA. You also rarely see a Universal park open past 9pm where at WDW we could go nonstop from 9am until 11pm and still leave with things undone. Comparing apples to oranges doesn't hold up no matter which way you try to parse it.

Yesterday Universal said that a visit to their parks was worth XXX dollars. Today they say that their park is worth significantly more because of 1 modified area of 1 park. For their sake I hope, in this economy, people agree with them. Personally I don't.

Universal hasn't raised their $99 prices in at least 4 years although they have added many more attractions. Their parks were worth more each time but they didn't change that price. Time to catch up.

 

[Melanie230]

When my kids were between the ages of about 8 and 18 our normal routine was to do all 4 parks in 1 day, so even going by time units we could still see and do far more at WDW than US/IOA. You also rarely see a Universal park open past 9pm where at WDW we could go nonstop from 9am until 11pm and still leave with things undone. Comparing apples to oranges doesn't hold up no matter which way you try to parse it.

Yesterday Universal said that a visit to their parks was worth XXX dollars. Today they say that their park is worth significantly more because of 1 modified area of 1 park. For their sake I hope, in this economy, people agree with them. Personally I don't.

ALL 4 parks in one day? I can't imagine trying to do all the parks in Disney in one day. We went for the first time this past Sept and the crowds were very low. There is no way we could have done all 4 parks in one day and had any time to do much of anything in those parks. Your family must be able to move quickly. How did you ride anything or catch any parades?

 

[Melanie230]

WWoHP is not a separate park..it's going to be an area in between Jurassic Park and The Lost Continent...another "island" if you will.

It may be inside IOA...but it is 20 acres in size. The is close to the size of Epcot. That is indeed another park.

 

[Melanie230]

Universal hasn't raised their $99 prices in at least 4 years although they have added many more attractions. Their parks were worth more each time but they didn't change that price. Time to catch up.

I agree. For us...when we go again and have to buy the higher priced tickets...we will just modify our trip by one day. The ticket increase will cost us an additional $280...our room usually runs $175 a night. If we shave a day off we made up most of that ticket cost. No big deal.

 

[Metro West]

It may be inside IOA...but it is 20 acres in size. The is close to the size of Epcot. That is indeed another park.

I think of a park having it's own entrance, tickets, etc...not just a 20 acre area...but if you say so.

 

[Rip]

I agree. For us...when we go again and have to buy the higher priced tickets...we will just modify our trip by one day. The ticket increase will cost us an additional $280...our room usually runs $175 a night. If we shave a day off we made up most of that ticket cost. No big deal.

It will now cost us an additional $150ish to renew our APs. I'd rather pay the extra $150/year and have the new attraction than keep the old prices and not have it.

 

[Melanie230]

It will now cost us an additional $150ish to renew our APs. I'd rather pay the extra $150/year and have the new attraction than keep the old prices and not have it.

I agree 100%.

 

[traceycooper]

i went online to book the $99 tix on monday and was gutted when i found out the offer ended the day before!!!
But thanks to the disboards i got them from DU today - printed at home - sorted

 

[Coach81]

Grats to you!!!

 

[keishashadow]

jik DU dries up

just got this offer via email

http://www.kgstickets.com/universal-orlando-tickets.html

thru January 14th noon EST, the adult, 7 day tix (w/code applied @ checkout happy123 or ret123 ) is $115.20, either free pickup or $10 to mail.

site sez they r licensed, no experience with them, use @ ur own risk

 

[ky07]

Yeah I think the price hike may have put a end to my Universal trip this year

 

[damo]

I just went to the local Krogers here in SC and picked up two $89 passes. There were lots of them there!

 

[Planogirl]

the disney ticket is for 2 more parks though and disney offers more shows/attractions/fireworks/parades(universal parades are only seasonally) so it's not really equal. Lets say you are big HP fan but aren't into roller coasters..that really just leaves 1 attraction.. when I first heard about this harry potter thing, I thought they would have more that the whole family could do and also a HP show..

I might have missed a response but I don't get the logic here. Universal only has a few roller coasters. The vast majority of attractions are not roller coasters at all.