Is there 1 that’s a better value than the others? Do they ever get discounted? Is there a minimum point to make it ‘worth it’?
I’m planning a 2 day park to park trip in April and the tix are so pricey I didn’t know if an AP would be worth it for the discounts (1 or 2 hotel nights). Or if I only had to squeeze 1 more day in there to ‘break even’ or something. I’m a Disney diehard, but I’m also cheap and want to visit Universal with friends.
Seasonal’s have worked for us for a few years. We dont visit during block-out days and have usually flown.
Good SWA fights are getting harder to come by so it makes short spontaneous trips tougher now.
I think the flex in your schedule should help you plan accordingly. Good luck and come have fun with us!
Unless you can visit the parks at least twice for a minimum of 5 days each time, an AP is NOT worth the cost. There are ticket packages out there all the time. On the AP side, if you should purchase one the renewal price is a lot cheaper. The better the AP the cheaper per park with some fringe benifits
The least expensive AP, the Seasonal Pass, pays for itself on the fourth visit to Universal.
If you are only going for two days then an AP isn’t going to help you save in one trip.
APs don’t get discounted. However, renewing an AP does! You get 20% off your AP price for renewing.
Universal does offer discounted dated tickets though. Right now they have a buy 2 days get 3 free deal. No hotel package or anything else needed. You do have to tell them your travel dates though.
If you don’t know your exact dates now, this offer does happen regularly so keep your eyes open as we get closer to 2024
@brerbeer - There’s a sale RIGHT NOW until TOMORROW! If you want to grab a spontaneous trip this is a great time!! It’s 40% off!! I managed to save about $20 off the flight I already have booked. IF I could’ve found a good hotel rate for Grinchmas I’d have booked both today!!
I have two weekend trips booked this year so I decided on the Power Pass. I know I will be traveling for a weekend March/early April to activate my son’s Disney AP and the Power Pass allows me more flexibility. I also will try to book HHN 2024 while this pass is still active, but I most likely will renew them.
I have had a premier pass in the past but with the recent price increase, I just can’t make that work.
I disagree because you have to consider the perks you are getting. I had an AP pay for itself one trip because of the discount it gave me in booking an onsite hotel room.
This is not entirely true: Don’t they sometimes offer 15 months for the price of 12?
I currently have a Premier Pass. This made sense for me because of my trip in December. It has no blackout dates, I used it to score a discount for two rooms at the Hard Rock, and I made heavy use of the discount it offers for food and merch for four people.
I also got a great deal on it because I was upgrading from a much lower tier, yet still got the full discount on the top tier pass.
I’m a big fan of UOR APs.
Good to see you!!
So discounts are just on hotels with the lower level passes? Nothing inside the parks?
Discounts are also on merchandise and food.
Do all of the 4 passes have those discounts? I’ve read conflicting things online.
Just the preferred and premium.
I got the preferred pass, and the rest of the family got the seasonal pass. This allowed me to get the 10% discount on most food and merch places, allowing me to pretty much break even with the seasonal pass cost. Preferred also gets you free parking, if that matters…although since we were staying on property (Dockside) we didn’t take advantage of that. We did save on the AP hotel room rates.
We found that if you were going 5 days or more in a year, it makes sense to buy an AP. Figuring in AP room discounts can make it worth it sooner than 5 days. Just watch the blackout dates.
I bought seasonal passes for DD12 and myself last year. As @sanstitre_has_left_the_building said, it paid for itself in the hotel discount (we were always going to stay at one with ExpressPass) in that single 3 day visit. If we’d planned to stay at a less expensive hotel, it would have been pretty close but I think a package would have been less.
I’m doubly glad we did it that way. I’m upgrading the two of us to Power passes in July just weeks before they expire… because it’s July and a single day ticket is more than the upgrade. I didn’t expect to be back during any blackout period. I’ll buy multi-day tickets for DH and DD8 at the gate.
They’ve only done this once. It was during the pandemic to encourage business. I wish I had bought it though!!
Could I book 2 rooms with my 1 AP? Even though I’m obviously not staying in 2 rooms the same nights?
Yes! They don’t check or verify in anyway at the hotel desk. I’ve always booked the AP rate online and then just checked in. All they care about is if you have the credit card that was used to book the room.
(You can probably book an AP rate without even having an AP, if you do it online. I’ve never done it b/c I have the AP. However, I check rates all the time & often go right to the check-out screen without ever having signed into my Universal account)
So I would have to pay for both rooms with my cc as the AP holder?
Whomever books the room and is the credit card holder is the person that needs to be there at check-in. AP status does not apply. (IME)
(Am I not understanding what you are trying to do??) 
Anyone can book & pay for a room, IME, using an AP rate found online. Universal “should” ask to see an AP to avoid people from exploiting it, but IME they never do
Oh ok. You edited your original post while I was replying. I guess what I want to know is can I as an AP holder book a room for myself and a separate room for a non AP holder traveling with me and if so, do I have to book and pay for both rooms with my CC or can the non AP holder pay for their room using their CC with my AP discount attached. Assuming we are 100% rule followers.
Just a heads up that I have been asked to show my AP when checking in more than once, so it can happen.