New to Universal - A few questions.

[EnchantedRoses]

Hi All!

We are a Disney Family - having gone almost yearly for the past 8 years or so. We went last year in September, and took a day off from the Mouse and headed over to Universal (We had to say farewell to The Terminator ride/show) We hadn't been having the best trip at Disney, and I must say that one day at Universal saved our Vacation. With that said, we decided to book a full trip to Universal and enjoy everything it has to offer.

Through the working advantage site, I found a deal with Hotel, 2 breakfast meals at a WWOHP, a $100 gift card and 3 Park Unlimited Tickets. I priced matched with Universal themselves, and with the included breakfast meals, gift card and a few other perks, we got the best deal. We will be staying at Cabana Bay from August 17-24. We know we don't really need that many days at Universal in general, but we plan on taking advantage of Volcano Bay, the pool at the hotel, and may even make a trip to Lego Land (my youngest is dying to go) We are a family of 4, 2 adults, 10 y/o boy, 5 y/o boy.

Now my questions are - for those that have used these tickets (3 park unlimited), have you ever used them to upgrade to an AP?!? I am debating upgrading one (all depending on cost) to AP passes to take advantage of the discounts that come along with the AP.

Do all AP's include Express pass after 4pm?

Thanks!

 

[sandam1]

Through the working advantage site, I found a deal with Hotel, 2 breakfast meals at a WWOHP, a $100 gift card and 3 Park Unlimited Tickets. I priced matched with Universal themselves, and with the included breakfast meals, gift card and a few other perks, we got the best deal. We will be staying at Cabana Bay from August 17-24. We know we don't really need that many days at Universal in general, but we plan on taking advantage of Volcano Bay, the pool at the hotel, and may even make a trip to Lego Land (my youngest is dying to go) We are a family of 4, 2 adults, 10 y/o boy, 5 y/o boy.

Now my questions are - for those that have used these tickets (3 park unlimited), have you ever used them to upgrade to an AP?!? I am debating upgrading one (all depending on cost) to AP passes to take advantage of the discounts that come along with the AP.

Do all AP's include Express pass after 4pm?

A few answers:

- Only the premier (top level) annual pass includes the Express Pass. But with that amount of time at Universal, you really don't need the Express Pass.

- To get merchandise and food discounts, you will need to bump one pass up to the Preferred Level (10%) or Premier Pass (15%)

- I've never upgraded this specific ticket, but was able to upgrade tickets from Undercover Tourist and Visit Orlando with no problem.

Re. the package deal - did you price out the hotel with the Annual Passholder discount? (You can find the link to do this in the forum's "stickies" at the top of the page). If you want everything included in the package (specifically the HP breakfasts), it might still be a better deal. But I have never found the breakfasts particularly appealing (we tend to want to use the low crowd, early morning hours to our advantage and then do lunch or dinner at the HP restaurants) so it might just be me.

Also, usually August and September usually have annual passholder appreciation specials. In the past, they have included two "passholder only" nights in the park (must pre-register) and specials on the photo package and buy one, get one 1/2 off on the quick service dining plans.

 

[Disney Ron]

Hi All!

We are a Disney Family - having gone almost yearly for the past 8 years or so. We went last year in September, and took a day off from the Mouse and headed over to Universal (We had to say farewell to The Terminator ride/show) We hadn't been having the best trip at Disney, and I must say that one day at Universal saved our Vacation. With that said, we decided to book a full trip to Universal and enjoy everything it has to offer.

Through the working advantage site, I found a deal with Hotel, 2 breakfast meals at a WWOHP, a $100 gift card and 3 Park Unlimited Tickets. I priced matched with Universal themselves, and with the included breakfast meals, gift card and a few other perks, we got the best deal. We will be staying at Cabana Bay from August 17-24. We know we don't really need that many days at Universal in general, but we plan on taking advantage of Volcano Bay, the pool at the hotel, and may even make a trip to Lego Land (my youngest is dying to go) We are a family of 4, 2 adults, 10 y/o boy, 5 y/o boy.

Now my questions are - for those that have used these tickets (3 park unlimited), have you ever used them to upgrade to an AP?!? I am debating upgrading one (all depending on cost) to AP passes to take advantage of the discounts that come along with the AP.

Do all AP's include Express pass after 4pm?

Thanks!

You're going to love UO. For years we went to WDW then 2 years ago we decided to try UO for 8 days and didn't set foot on WDW property and we loved it. We loved it so much that we became Preferred AP holders and went to UO last year for another 8 days. This year we are doing a 10 day trip with the first 3 at UO and then 7 days at WDW, but we've already decided that next year it will be just UO again for 1 or maybe 2 trips.

 

[DISNEYSQUIRRELS]

My family will be at Cabana Bay over those exact dates! I will look for you