Universal AP or the standard 14 day ticket?

[OP95]

Hi all ,

I am planning on going to universal next year for two weeks and have been recommended on here to purchase the AP. Would this be a wise investment just for the one visit? I’ve heard that they have some good rates on hotels etc but after comparing it with a British airways package for this year it doesn’t seem to be that much cheaper maybe more expensive. Has anyone from the uk purchased an AP for one trip, if so was it worth buying? Also can one person just have the AP or would it be better for the whole party to have one ?

Many thanks !

 

[nursejackie]

I don't know too much about AP for Universal, but from what I've read over the years about the Disney equivalent, there are different levels of AP and each can have dates you cannot use it, e.g. holidays etc, so if you go down that route I would recommend looking at the limitations of the pass and not just the price.

 

[JackosinDIS]

The AP isn’t really with it unless you are going 2 years running. It’s lasts for 15 months so can cover 2 years worth of visits if you time it right

 

[Dingdingding]

We opted for the AP. The discounts in the parks and citywalk alone made it worth it for a longer stay and we could get a lower rate on hotels which also helped. I don't really see how the tickets could be the better option.

 

[tony67]

The AP is a great deal for if it works for you.
The less expensive APs have blackout dates and don't give you discounts in the park.
You also don't get early entry (unless you are at a Universal Hotel). The top two APs get early entry.
They all get room discounts.

We don't typically have access to a 14 day ticket for Universal and Disney - at least not officially.
If the package is a good deal it might be worth getting the package and then seeing what it would cost to "upgrade" to an AP.
I recall doing this once with a Universal Length of stay ticket in a package and actually got $10 back.
I think I probably should have got more back - but it was not worth arguing at the time.
Some of the more usual tickets the seem to have a tough time valuing.
For the discounts you really only need to upgrade one of them to an AP.

 

[lorryw]

We have AP's although we fell foul of the black out dates in March. Also unable to get into Universal Sat/Sun because of Mardi Gras concerts.

 

[tony67]

We have AP's although we fell foul of the black out dates in March. Also unable to get into Universal Sat/Sun because of Mardi Gras concerts.

Probably not helpful to you at this point - but maybe someone in the future:

You can usually pay to upgrade to the next level which is not bad for seasonal to power for dates where the power pass i s not blocked.

You can get in with the power pass later in the day on concert days - which makes little sense to me but - "Power Passholders are blocked out of Universal Studios Florida only until 5pm on concert dates if there is a concert on a blockout date. Concert dates are subject to change." This was a new change for 2024 that caused a fair amount of confusion. I think they updated the working to make it clearer.

 

[lorryw]

Probably not helpful to you at this point - but maybe someone in the future:

You can usually pay to upgrade to the next level which is not bad for seasonal to power for dates where the power pass i s not blocked.

You can get in with the power pass later in the day on concert days - which makes little sense to me but - "Power Passholders are blocked out of Universal Studios Florida only until 5pm on concert dates if there is a concert on a blockout date. Concert dates are subject to change." This was a new change for 2024 that caused a fair amount of confusion. I think they updated the working to make it clearer.

 

[lorryw]

Thank you for the info!
We had an annual pass suspended from 2020 due to Covid. Universal allowed us to reinstate the pass for a further year. It has been several years since we visited Orlando and it was all a bit overwhelming. So much reliance on iPhones (don't have one) but we managed to have a brilliant time.
We arrived home on Tuesday an are now thinking about a trip in November.