Upgrading a Power Pass.

[Squirlz]

My Power Pass was due to expire in January and I renewed it last week before the price hike. It was around $189. My Wife has been looking at some nice jewelry here and I thought that 10% discount with a Preferred Pass might be worth it if it wasn't too costly. Guest Services told me it would be $210 to upgrade! The price for a NEW Preferred Pass is only $40 more than a new Power Pass! What gives?

 

[bumbershoot]

What gives?

That would be my question for the person who quoted you the price.

Are you on a payment plan? If so you have to pay off the first pass then pay the upgrade fee at that time.

 

[Squirlz]

That would be my question for the person who quoted you the price.

Are you on a payment plan? If so you have to pay off the first pass then pay the upgrade fee at that time.

Nope. Paid in full.

 

[damo]

I'd go to another guest services and ask.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Maybe they're quoting the cost to upgrade to the Premier Pass? That's about $207.67 including tax.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I was just quoted approx. $200 to upgrade from Power Pass to Preferred Pass. Apparently they are no longer price bridging and look up the price you paid for your pass and charge the difference between what you paid and the current price of the pass you want to upgrade to.

 

[bumbershoot]

I was just quoted approx. $200 to upgrade from Power Pass to Preferred Pass. Apparently they are no longer price bridging and look up the price you paid for your pass and charge the difference between what you paid and the current price of the pass you want to upgrade to.

That's not a ~$200 difference.

The OP said...

The price for a NEW Preferred Pass is only $40 more than a new Power Pass

So at most it should have been $40, but even before they started bridging (which was only common in the last few years) they would go from renewal price to renewal price.

It makes no sense.

yours makes no sense either.

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

Power pass is 345. Preferred is 385. Plus tax.

 

[damo]

That's really weird that they aren't going from renewal to renewal.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

That's not a ~$200 difference.

The OP said...



So at most it should have been $40, but even before they started bridging (which was only common in the last few years) they would go from renewal price to renewal price.

It makes no sense.

yours makes no sense either.

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

Power pass is 345. Preferred is 385. Plus tax.

I know it makes no sense. I pointed out that the difference in price between the power pass and preferred pass was $40, but they said they go by the price I paid for the pass, not what it's worth now "because there have been significant changes to the pricing structure this year". I called two different times and gave them a different family member's pass number in case there were notes on each pass. We were planning on staying on site and upgrading our passes, but we're just going to invest the money in APs at WDW and go there instead. (I know APs at WDW cost significantly more but we feel they're a better value than US/IOA APs especially at this new price point). We'll visit US/IOA again in the summer when our passes aren't blocked out, but we won't renew them when they expire.

 

[bumbershoot]

This was over the phone? That makes a difference.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

This was over the phone? That makes a difference.

It was over the phone. I called two separate times and spoke to two separate agents. My call was prompted by the OP's post. We were planning on visiting New Year's week and had 4 passes to upgrade so the difference between $175 total vs. $800 total + onsite stay is HUGE for our family. We've decided that if we're going to spend that much $ to upgrade passes, we'd rather spend it on WDW APs because we enjoy our time there more. And we certainly didn't want to wait until we got there to figure things out because of the hotel cancellation policy. We'll visit once again in the Summer when our Power Passes aren't blocked out, but we definitely won't renew them when they expire.