When Does AP Make Sense ???

[tjlamphere]

My wife and I will be visiting Universal in March...and we will be returning in February of '12. We generally only spend 1 day at each Universal park, or a total of 2, and rarely, 3 days there. I know there are some perks associated with an AP, but if I would only be going about 4 - 5 days over a calendar year.

Does buying an AP make sense ???

Any thoughts ?????

 

[mjohnson96]

We purchase 1 AP for our family and visit a few times a year. The reason we go with the AP is becuase of the discounts on the hotel rooms as well as the discounts on food and merchandise while we are there. We have not used it for discounts on extra tickets because we have used the $99 tickets or FL Res tickets for everyone else in the past, but on the next trip we will use it also to purchase the extra tickets that we need.

Plus, after the first year the renewel rate was less than a multi day ticket in most cases.

 

[SnowWtch]

We use our AP mostly for the merchandise and food discounts. It saves us a lot in the long run. We only go a few times a year since we have AP for Disney as well.

 

[DCTooTall]

The free parking is also a nice benefit of the AP. I usually include the cost of parking each day in my comparisons since it's an easy way to compare actual costs.

So in example, the cost of a 2 day park-to-park pass, $135, plus the cost of 2 days parking, $60, would mean for 1 person the cost would be $195 for just one trip with "regular" tickets. which would give you a $35 cost difference between a preferred AP and regular tickets + parking.

So tack on your 2nd trip, and it makes sense since you can't get non-expiring tickets like you could with Disney.

Even if it's just 1 trip, IMHO it almost makes sense to get at least 1 AP since the $35 more you spend on the AP could easily be made up via some of the other discounts you could get on Merch and food..... or an onsite hotel, not to mention the % off you can get on a regular ticket for your wife.

 

[rnorwo1]

What percentage is the AP discount on hotels? I booked with a AAA rate, was wondering if it's better with the AP? We're also trying to decide if APs are worth it, we may just do 2 two-day trips in a year.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

If it saves you any kind of money, it does make sense.

 

[truck1]

Heres the way that we look at it. (Granted we live only 30 minutes from US/IOA)

Forget the perks for a minute.

At the current rate to enter the park,for 2 adult 2 park 2 day ticket is 270 for the March trip. The Feb 12 trip, assuming the standard roughly 10 dollar ticket price increase, makes it 290, for the same tickets. The price would be roughly 560 dolalrs give or take for both trips.That would make it roughly 70 dollars per day per person. To add a 5th day(1 day for 1 trip only) or a 6th day,(1 day on each trip) It would be another 112 per person,or 224, and 122pp or 244 (assuming the 10 price increase for 2012)for a total of 468 additional dollars, for 1 more day on each trip.(paying after you already buy the 2 day 2 park) Youre now at 1028 total for 6 days on 2 trips, or 85 per person per day.
For 2, 3 day adult tix its 145 pp or 290. For the Feb 12 trip it would go up (assuming 10 increase) its 155 pp or 310 total. Thats a total of roughly 600.(without knowing which trip youll do 3 visits if any)
For the 4 day trip its 75 pp per day
For the 5 day its 60 pp pd


For a Prefered AP its 220 per person or 440 for both of you (roughly). That would make it 55 per day per person. (At the current rate)

So in that case, if you were looking to save money on tix, youd prob be better off buying the prefered ap, as the better deal in cost per day. The prefered would also give you %10 on meals and merchandise, along with free parking. As an added bonus, if you decided to do more then 4 days, you cost per day drops even more. For 5 days it would be 44 per day per person.For 6 days its 36 pp per day.

The Premium Ap, unless you were coming down monthly, staying on property, going to HHN etc, isnt really a benefit for you in your situation.

 

[n2mm]

We are preferred AP holders (3 years now) and try to make sure we get there at least 3 days a year. Seems strange, but with the free parking, and sometimes other perks (which we seldom ever use) it's a no brainer for us. Last year we renewed for $109 for 15 months. This year the deal is not as sweet. I'm due to renew next month and am waiting to see if there's a better offer vs the no offer now. We like to go over to Margarittaville for lunch even when not visiting the parks, so that free parking is good. A couple of times a year they offer a discount for family and friends for tickets, normally 50% off, and that is a great deal. (No deals like this from Disney! -- and we're passholders there too.)