This One Simple Tip Can Save Money on your Entire Universal Orlando Vacation
Visitors to Universal Orlando Resort can save hundreds on even a short vacation with just one thing: a Universal Orlando annual pass. Even for a two-day trip it might pay for you to purchase a pass. Annual passholders receive discounts on hotels, additional park tickets, and more – all of which can add up to a lot of savings.
November 2018 Note from Maven: Click here for an updated post and podcast episode about how to use an annual pass to save money on your Universal Orlando vacation!
Since original posting of this article, Universal has adjusted annual pass prices and added a fourth pass option. Even with these changes, an annual pass may still save you money on your Universal Orlando vacation. As always, please do your own math to determine what’s best for your family. Get an updated analysis about using an annual pass to save on your vacation here.
If you’ve read my post, 33 Things to Know Before You Visit Universal Orlando, you’ll know that besides getting to the park early, my top tip is to stay on-site at a Universal Express Pass hotel. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about or why I advise this, take a minute to read that post first. We’ll wait here…)
Of course it’s not cheap to stay at one of the Universal Orlando Resort hotels, especially those that offer free Express Passes to guests – the Portofino Bay Hotel, Royal Pacific, and Hard Rock Orlando. But annual passholders qualify for discounts that can knock up to 30% off advertised room rates.
Before I go any further, let me note that I don’t sell Universal annual passes, nor do I receive anything from Universal for telling you about this. (Although if Universal wants to comp me some tickets or something that would be great. Hint, hint). This is a tip I first learned from the Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando. I think it’s brilliant, and it has worked for me.
One annual pass is all it takes
To get the discounts, only one person in your party needs to have an annual pass. And in fact, another benefit with the pass is that you can buy discounted tickets for the rest of your party. Annual passholders receive a 10% discount on up to 6 multi-day park admission tickets (note that these are single-park admission tickets).
You don’t need to have your annual pass yet to see and book the annual passholder rate
To get the annual passholder discount you’ll have to show your pass when you check in, but you don’t need it to make the booking. So you can make your hotel reservation now and buy the pass before you go.
Anyone can find out the annual passholder hotel rate. On the Universal Orlando hotels reservation page, just type APH into the “code” box. Then hit search. The next page will list the hotels and their rates – if an annual passholder discount is available you’ll see it.
Not every hotel will always have a discount, and Universal doesn’t always free up these discounts very far in advance.
If you’re planning your trip for a date that isn’t yet showing an APH discount, here’s my advice. Book the hotel of your choice now for the dates you want. This way you know you have a room. Then check back as your date gets closer, at some point the APH code should work. If you want to take advantage of this discount, make a new reservation using the APH code and cancel the original one.
The Math – How does this pencil out?
So, is the cost of an annual pass always worth it to get the other discounts? The short answer is it depends, but in a lot of cases it’s totally worth it. I’ll try to keep the geekiness to a minimum here, but at the bottom of this post you’ll find the spreadsheet I created to analyze the numbers.
For a family of 4 visiting Universal Orlando in July of 2016, based on rates I found in May, buying just one annual pass netted a savings of over $300. This is assuming a 3 night stay at Portofino Bay hotel – the least expensive of the Express Pass hotels for those dates, and the purchase of one non-Florida-resident Preferred-level annual pass, and three 3-day park-to-park tickets.
Here’s the numbers:
In fact, this family would probably save even more since the Preferred annual pass also includes shopping and dining discounts in the parks and at Citywalk.
A few notes about Universal Orlando annual passes
There are three levels of annual pass at Universal Orlando. I recommend purchasing the least expensive pass that will provide the discounts you need.
The cheapest pass option is the Power pass. This pass can work for you, and it is a great deal – only $30 more than buying a 3-day park-to-park ticket. BUT the Power Pass will not give you admission to both parks during most of the summer. The Power Pass has blockout dates – you can see the calendar at Universal’s site here.
If you’re lucky enough to travel outside these blockout dates, it will probably pay to get the Power pass even if you’re only staying at Universal for one or two nights.
The next level up is the Preferred pass. The Preferred pass has no blockout dates, so even if you travel in the height of the summer season or during the holidays you’ll have full park access. This pass costs more than the preferred pass, but as you can see in the numbers above, it can be totally worth it to get one.
Unless you’re a local, I don’t recommend the Premier-level pass. The extra benefits are mostly parking and mid-week special event access.
Speaking of being local, all the prices and assumptions I’m making here are that you’re a non-Florida resident visiting Universal Orlando for a few days. Florida residents, you lucky dogs, I’m sure an annual pass is almost always the right choice for you.
Are you planning a return trip to Universal Orlando in the next two years? Get a pass!
Obviously an annual pass makes a lot of sense if you’ll be visiting the Universal Orlando parks multiple times in the same year. But one of the biggest perks of the Universal annual pass is the renewal rate.
Universal annual passes renew at a big discount over the initial price. Here are the current (May 2016) purchase and renewal prices for Universal Orlando non-Florida resident annual passes:
Power Pass – purchase for $259.99, renew for $185.99
Preferred Pass – purchase for $344.99, renew for $259.99
For perspective, a 3-day park-to-park ticket currently sells for $229.99. And of course when you renew your pass you continue to have the APH hotel discount and any other associated savings.
When should everyone in your party get a pass?
In fact, especially if the Power pass works with your vacation schedule, you may wish to buy a pass for everyone in your party. It will cost a bit more than your park ticket this year, but if you renew for next year and visit again you will save money on tickets.
Purchase pass for 259.99 + $185.99 renewal = $445.98
Purchase a 3-day ticket this year for $229.99 + $229.99 for next year’s ticket = 459.98
And then you’ll have to go back, since you’ve got an annual pass!
The Spreadsheet
As promised, here’s the spreadsheet I used to analyze some sample rates. It’s big, so you’ll have to scroll to see it all. Or you can click where it says “download” to view it full-size.
Along the right side you’ll see the discounted hotel rates, and the ticket and pass prices. Along the left are some samples of savings for a family of four. In these examples, I chose the least expensive Express Pass hotel for the specified dates, and the least expensive pass that would give full park admission for the same dates.
Of course the hotel rates change all the time, and ticket and pass prices change too. Here’s where you can find all this information in real time on Universal Orlando Resort’s website:
Universal Orlando Resort hotel reservations: https://www.universalorlando.com/Hotels/Theme-Park-Hotels.aspx
Universal Orlando theme park tickets: https://www.universalorlando.com/Theme-Park-Tickets/General-Admission.aspx
Universal Orlando non-Florida resident annual passes: https://www.universalorlando.com/Theme-Park-Tickets/Annual-Passes/Non-FL-Annual-Passes.aspx
Have you used an annual pass to save money at Universal Orlando? Comment below and let me know how it worked for you.
More Orlando Theme Park Tips from goinformed.net
33 Things to Know Before You Visit Universal Orlando
55 Things To Know Before You Visit Disney World
Weather at Universal Orlando: 5 Cool Tips for the Heat and Rain
Is the Harry Potter Ride Too Scary? Use Universal’s Child Swap to Find Out
Listen to the Go Informed podcast here.
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I am on a website called, best of orlando, and they have park to park tickets. Will I be able to go to both parks on the same day and ride hogwarts with that ticket?
Thanks!
Yes, Universal’s park-to-park ticket gives you access to both the Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida parks on the same day. You can hop between the parks as many times as you want with this ticket, on Hogwarts Express and using the front park gates.
I just did the whole spread sheet on this right now, with current data, and quite honestly, it comes out to be the same rate as what I’m getting from this Costco deal with Sapphire falls. Actually, that’s not true, it comes out to be more expensive. See, the multi-day ticket that is provided for discount is only a ‘1 day at each park’ ticket. That means while me and my gf would be able to visit each park, we wouldn’t be able to hop around, and get on hogwarts. I also didn’t see an option for a 4 day ticket for non park to park, so 3 day seems to be the only option and we wanted 4 day. So, for me, it’s cheaper to go through costco to get the same exact value. However, if you don’t have access to costco, and/or want something more than Sapphire, I suppose buying a season pass can have it’s perks. I noticed that Portifino seems to be the best savings between all of them. Not the cheapest, but the best savings. Also, it gives the express passes. So if you’re looking for those, and staying multiple days, I would then indeed get the season pass to get the discount on Portifino. But realize that there is no discounts on the multiday PARK TO PARK tickets, just single park tickets. And if someone wants to ride hogwarts express, they won’t be able to. I suppose if I hadn’t ridden it before, I wouldn’t care, but I nor my girlfriend has ridden it and besides, we wanted to stay 4 days at the parks which would not be discounted. Anyways, if you have costco, go through there, big savings on Sapphire and they have a vacation package with mulit day tickets too that also come with early admission for staying at sapphire. I do wonder if the harry potter reservations at the 2 breakfast places come too with the deal given it’s an onsite hotel…
Thanks for sharing your data @reza_zandi:disqus . It definitely pays to shop around and do your own math when planning a trip to Universal. The annual passholder discount on the hotels really can depend on when you travel and how far in advance you plan. And sometimes a deal through a place like Costco can be better than getting a pass. Thanks for sharing these tips. Have a great trip!
Hello,
How long is an annual pass purchase good for? Would it expire at the start of each calendar year?
Thank you
Good question Lainee. A Universal annual pass is good for one year from the first day it is used for park entry (not the date of purchase). So, for example, if you purchase an annual pass on April 1st and the first time you use it to enter a park is April 20th, it will expire at the end of the day on April 19th of the following year.
Great information! We are going to Universal in April 2018. If I buy a Season Pass in 2017, can it first be used in 2018?
Thanks Much!
I’m not sure about the answer to this one @amy_beaman:disqus
I know that you can wait before first using/activating your annual pass, but I’m not sure if there’s a limit on how far in advance you can purchase. Certainly a few months is OK, but a year might be too long.
Best advice is to call the friendly folks at Universal’s passholder support: 1-866-727-7438 . And if you have the chance, please let us know what you find out. Happy planning!
If you’re traveling end of July or August 2016, big news – Universal has lifted the power pass blackout dates for the rest of this summer! So if your trip will take place during these dates you can now pay for the cheaper power pass, have full admission to both parks, and get the APH discount on your hotel. Be sure to do the math to see if this option can save you money on your Universal Orlando vacation 🙂
Hello! You recommended an APH purchase. We plan to visit Universal in July. We have already purchased our tickets as part of our vacation package thru Funjets vacations. We have the 4 day base ticket package. Will buying 1 APH allow all of us to transit from park to park? As I understand it now, we can only enjoy 1 park per day on our tickets. Love your tips and thanks!
If you already have a hotel package, and you already have a park
tickets, I don’t think an annual pass is worth it for you. The pass
would only be good for admission for the passholder – the benefit for a
group is that it offers you a discount on your hotel room, but that’s
already been booked through your package, I doubt you’d want to re-book
at this point (or if you even could). Plus you’ve already paid for a park ticket for everyone – you’d be paying twice for someone’s admission if you bought an annual pass.
However, I think it would be worthwhile to contact Funjets and ask about upgrading your park tickets to get the park-to-park option for everyone in your group. I wouldn’t be surprised if you can do this by paying a bit more, either now or at the park. Have a great trip!