Hi - We’re planning a trip to Universal in late January or late February. I’ve priced tickets through Universal with an onsite hotel, and then tickets through Undercover Tourist with rack rate rooms through Universal, and then season passes through Universal.
Does the Universal Express Unlimited work at the specific hotels regardless of where I purchase tickets (meaning a third party)? It seemed substantially cheaper to not book a complete package through Universal, but I may be missing some critical piece that makes it worth the extra dollars.
We’ve been to WDW, but this is our first trip to Universal. It’s me, my spouse, and my two daughters, ages 11 and 7.
Any help or other third party ticket seller advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
The last time I checked the unlimited express pass worked regardless of where you got your tickets. However, there was no significant difference between direct from Universal ticket prices and third-party vendors, so something may have changed here. I suggest that you call Universal and confirm that you still get all of the on-site benefits with third-party tickets.
The Express passes are tied to your room at the on-site resort, so how you get your park tickets should have no bearing on them. For our last trip to Universal, I bought tickets through Undercover Tourist and booked our room at RPR through Orbitz, and had no problems whatsoever with UE. I’m doing the same this year and have no doubt that everything will be fine.
Our last trip to Universal I bought everything separately. We stayed at Portafino and I got the tickets via Undercover Tourist. Saved a TON and it worked out great. The Express Pass is separate from your ticket. You check into the hotel - you then go to a kiosk in the lobby - pop in your room key and it spits out your Express pass.
Going to the park - you use your park pass. Once inside - put the park pass away and then just keep the paper Express Pass handy.
So I would certainly purchase the tickets at a REPUTABLE 3rd party. Also take a picture of the front and back and ensure you get all numbers CLEARLY just in case you lose or damage your card - can make it a lot easier.
Word is that you no longer need to print separate EP’s from the resorts… you just use your room key now. Looking forward to having one less thing to keep track of on our trip!
on a separate note - the EP at US is AWESOME. Loved it - we did NO planning and it couldn’t have worked out any better. Only thing we did was make sure we hit HP first thing in the morning. However now it seems that EP can be used in Harry Potter as well.
That’s interesting, our room keys last year didn’t have an expiry date and we went back the following week when we weren’t staying there for day trips.
