Why would I NOT but annual power pass?

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

Looking to go to universal for 2 days in September. We will stay onsite. Cost for 2 day ticket from undercover tourist is $200 and power pass is $215. I assume I would save at least $15 on hotel room with discount, so why would I NOT by a power pass just incase we decide to go back? Am I missing something? If we do go back and it is within the blackout dates, can I upgrade to the preferred pass at that time?

 

[kohlby]

With tax, it's almost $229, while UT includes taxes. Also, the $215 pre-tax rate is only for FL residents during the off-season and not everyone falls into that category. But if you live in FL, then I'd do either get the power pass or get the buy 2 get the 3rd day free from UT and then upgrade it to an annual pass in the park if you decide you want one. You can upgrade to preferred pass later on if you want too. As for saving on the hotel, the APH rates sometimes get booked up quickly. Though I found APH rates for our dates both last trip and the upcoming one, I found better rates elsewhere, so it didn't save on hotel.

 

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

I was looking at the Florida resident prices. Oops...I don't live in Florida, so total cost is about $255. So I guess I would need to be fairly sure we would return before buying. Where do you find the best hotel rates?

 

[kohlby]

I check many places for hotel rates - and check often. Just make sure you can cancel easily and then book ASAP.

I've checked quite a bit through the Universal website. The SMSM rate is usually pretty good - but that won't work for just two nights since you save more the longer you stay. To check annual pass discounts, type in APH for the discount code. You do not need the AP in hand to book the APH rate. You will need to show your AP during your hotel stay if you use that rate however. Get on mailing lists - we've lucked out with PIN codes. Also, if you book directly through Universal and their rate goes down, all you need to do is call them up and ask for the lower rate to be applied - and they'll do it! I've done this many, many times for RPR.

Also check expedia and orbitz. When checking these, don't put any children as I know orbitz will charge extra for them though they're not supposed to. (I'm not sure about expedia, but I didn't want to chance it). When I did Orbitz, there was a code on the page for an extra 15% off as well. Check often - as the rates change daily. There was another general hotel search engine I used, but I can't remember what it was off-hand. It didn't find me any amazing deals though. Be careful with cancellation policies when using anything other than Universal. I think Orbitz allows me to cancel 5 days ahead and get my money back - I did need to pay the entire amount upfront though - which is very different than going through Universal.

 

[bumbershoot]

I was looking at the Florida resident prices. Oops...I don't live in Florida, so total cost is about $255. So I guess I would need to be fairly sure we would return before buying. Where do you find the best hotel rates?

If you're looking for APH rates, you have to go through Loews. You can just go through the main Loews site, but I like looking here: http://uo.loewshotels.com/en/booking/uo?hotel=UEPBH,UEHRH,UERPR

Put in "APH". There is no generic AP discount; if there's a discount for your dates at the time you check, it will show up. If it doesn't show up, then there's no rate for your dates at that time. Check later. Right now I think AP rates are only out into March.

You do not need the pass to book an AP rate. So only commit to buying the pass once you have a pass.

You could buy the UCT tickets and then if you get an AP rate and/or if your family falls in love with Universal (as mine did), you can simply upgrade at the parks from the tickets to the AP (including Power Pass with "AP").

 

[Cuchman]

We went on a trip last Sept - 3 day passes from UT - and found out we can upgrade to annual passes after the fact for the price difference. It was such a good deal that we are going back in Feb - and we'll be upgrading to annual passes then. Yes, they will have a start date of our first park day from back in September, but it is still worth it.

 

[haydeecm]

I was under the impression from some other posts (for example this) that if you get the $200 2+1 day Park-to-Park pass from UT and upgrade them at the park once you have used it once, you would get credit for the full ticket gate price ($225), making the upgrade to PowerPass ($240 for non-residents) only $15 + tax. So in the end it would cost the same $215 as the resident pass, but no taxes on ticket portion.

 

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

I was under the impression from some other posts (for example this) that if you get the $200 2+1 day Park-to-Park pass from UT and upgrade them at the park once you have used it once, you would get credit for the full ticket gate price ($225), making the upgrade to PowerPass ($240 for non-residents) only $15 + tax. So in the end it would cost the same $215 as the resident pass, but no taxes on ticket portion.

Well that's awesome information to have. Thank you very much!

 

[jjas]

That is true. When we were there in July my daughter upgraded a 2+1 day Park to Park to a Power Pass for about $15.

 

[kohlby]

Yes, when upgrading, they do it from whatever the ticket is for to the price of what you want. So, if you have a buy two get the third day free ticket, it counts as a three day ticket. (Because it is a 3 day ticket!) The cost will be the difference between a 3 day ticket and whatever you are upgrading too. We did the buy 2-get-3 tickets for my nephews and there's a chance we'll upgrade to 4 days while there so we would pay the difference between 3 and 4 day. (They won't be back within a year, so that's why there's no reason for us to upgrade theirs to Power Passes).

 

[keishashadow]

Looking to go to universal for 2 days in September. We will stay onsite. Cost for 2 day ticket from undercover tourist is $200 and power pass is $215. I assume I would save at least $15 on hotel room with discount, so why would I NOT by a power pass just incase we decide to go back? Am I missing something? If we do go back and it is within the blackout dates, can I upgrade to the preferred pass at that time?

Makes sense to me, although note that the AP discount on the hotels isn't offered for all dates and it is capacity controlled. Additionally, there is no guarantee of the perk being continued or necessarily being offered on all the pass types.

haydeecm - Unless something has recently changed, Universal does not follow Disney's policy on bridging a ticket (give you full value as opposed to the price you actually paid for the ticket from a discounter) towards AP upgrades.

 

[bumbershoot]

In the last year or so I've seen trusted people say that bridging is happening at Uni now.

 

[keishashadow]

In the last year or so I've seen trusted people say that bridging is happening at Uni now.

really? Talk about a total reversal in policy, very surprised to read this.

If true, wonder how they'd go about handling 'bridging' the 7 day park to park tickets I still have on hand? Paid under $70 for them from AAA years ago, which is the exact amount that i've been offered towards DH's AP renewal each time i ask.

I checked during our May trip in 2015 inside Guest Services @ Studios and heard the same reply. Didn't bother when it was my renewal in October though.

 

[kohlby]

really? Talk about a total reversal in policy, very surprised to read this.

If true, wonder how they'd go about handling 'bridging' the 7 day park to park tickets I still have on hand? Paid under $70 for them from AAA years ago, which is the exact amount that i've been offered towards DH's AP renewal each time i ask.

I checked during our May trip in 2015 inside Guest Services @ Studios and heard the same reply. Didn't bother when it was my renewal in October though.

It would be hard to bridge tickets of a type they don't sell anymore though. They don't have 7 day park-to-park tickets at the gate anymore. (Or offered anywhere to U.S. residents as far as I know). I'm also not sure if there are any time limits on it. All the people I've heard of doing it buy one type of ticket, then go on their trip in under a year, and then bridge while there.

 

[keishashadow]

It would be hard to bridge tickets of a type they don't sell anymore though. They don't have 7 day park-to-park tickets at the gate anymore. (Or offered anywhere to U.S. residents as far as I know). I'm also not sure if there are any time limits on it. All the people I've heard of doing it buy one type of ticket, then go on their trip in under a year, and then bridge while there.

Thanks for the input Have you bridged tickets @ Universal?

don't believe there are expiry dates on the park tickets, will have to pull them out of safekeeping & look. The citiwalk tix they gave free as a bonus with the purchase do have an expiry date.

I am well aware they no longer offer those wonderful tickets. Some posted here they were able to convert the tickets to individual day ones, but I've consistently been told when i ask that option isn't available and only able to upgrade them for $ amt orginally spent.

 

[damo]

Universal definitely bridges tickets that they have ticket equivalents for. We've personally been given gate prices for 3 and 4 day tickets purchased from UT and the others were loyalty tickets from Air Miles and then applied that towards the purchase of a new AP. We just paid the difference in the current gate price and the AP price. This was in 2014.

 

[macraven]

keisha, the tickets i have that i think you are talking about, expire 2030.

i was always told that tickets never expire when i started buying them in the 1990's


i switched to buying the preferred ap in 2002 but still bought the special 5 or 7 day park tickets.

they had them so cheap i couldn't resist.......some were $79 for a 7 day pass.
i've renewed my ap the past 14 years but if i ever decide to stop doing that, i'm set for a long time with my surplus of passes.

finally cashed one in for son year before last and had no issues at all doing so.
they don't register at the gate so had the change over done at inside the park guest services.

 

[keishashadow]

Thanks mac & damo, sure is a nice option for many.

It's likely the fact that the tix was an old one that was throwing a wrench in the upgrade as to the low value. Will make a point of taking one along for the ride next time and talking to GS inside to see what they can offer.

OP sorry to hijack your thread but glad i stopped by to learn something new today.

 

[kohlby]

Thanks for the input Have you bridged tickets @ Universal?

don't believe there are expiry dates on the park tickets, will have to pull them out of safekeeping & look. The citiwalk tix they gave free as a bonus with the purchase do have an expiry date.

I am well aware they no longer offer those wonderful tickets. Some posted here they were able to convert the tickets to individual day ones, but I've consistently been told when i ask that option isn't available and only able to upgrade them for $ amt orginally spent.

No, I have not. But I know many people who have - even people I know in real life! We may end up bridging tickets on our April trip, so I've been paying attention to when others do it. But - if we are charged the extra, it won't be a huge deal since we're just going from a 2day-get 3rd free to a 4 day ticket for two people in our group. But, based on other's experiences, I doubt we will be charged the extra. Somewhere - I'm not sure where - I remember someone having an issue with it and the tip was given to upgrade inside the gate instead of outside the gate.

We had $99 for 7 day tickets that we used for our trip in 2014. We bought them several years before that though. I'd be inclined to want to hold onto those and use them when you don't have AP's or can only make one trip in a year.

 

[dixonsontour]

Just to add in case anyone from UK is interested in upgrading we were able to upgrade 3 UK 14 day park to park tickets to AP in October. Bought from a UK ticket seller Floridatix. We used them then upgraded at guest services inside the park.

To upgrade 2 adult and 1 child ticket to 2 power annual passes and 1 preferred annual pass cost $250 or £165.

We went for 1 preferred as it gives free parking at Universal and we weren’t sure if we would stay offsite in 2016. The preferred also gave 10% discount in most shops and restaurants.

To just upgrade to 3 power aps would have been $150 or £100.

I'd paid £125 each ($180) to Floridatix for the adult 14 day tickets and a bit less for DD.