Universal Price Increase - 2014

[sierrak5]

News like this makes me very happy to be a local with an Annual Pass :thumbs:

 

[Kevin38]

I think they are trying to move people to preferred pass.Out of state is now 279.00 was 289.00
Power Pass went up from 179.00 to 199.00 .And now the day rate went up.
Out of state renewal of preferred is cheaper than power pass .(169.00)
So what I have been doing is renewing my pass (preferred) and buying one power pass for those who come with me
Do not normally go on blackout days anyway (too crowded) when power pass is up for renewal renewing as preferred at cheaper renewal rate.

 

[agentj]

The rate for preferred renewal is 159.99(+tax) I also live out of state, but come down about 3 times year, so its a real bargain for me. Just coming down once a year
still makes it worth it when you factor in the discounts on food and hotel rates. Especially compared to the day rate.

 

[tiredoldspook]

Well lets see I bought a 2 day ticket to Kings Island for 54 dollars..So Get ready for a Disney, Busch and Sea World price raises....

 

[Jymmymack]

Your 1-Day, 1-Park ticket is higher than DLR... but our 4-Day park-hopper destroys your petty $167. $275 beeshes.

 

[tiredoldspook]

How many of you have kids? How many of you would like to spend 400 or 500 dollars to take your family to a theme park for a day? Oh wait and then add food, parking and Hotel? So $700 dollar for a day at park makes sense to you? I am sorry Everything is insane in regular pricing , I refuse to go to concerts that cost 100 dollars or more a ticket. With the price everything going, Orlando parks continue to raise prices and regional parks try hard to make things reasonable for families. I promise this next year another raise will come to because of Potter. so 100 basic is sooner....

 

[PWT]

Related note, tickets are still being sold at gift card stands at Publix for the lower price. That is unless they try to change the price on you at the register, which I doubt since the lower price is printed on each card individually.

 

[Jakemeister]

The average Orlando vacation cost $3-7k. Families know this and plan accordingly. People save up for years to come to Disney and Universal. The amount of ticket sales speaks for it's self.

 

[RonaldsModernLife]

How many of you have kids? How many of you would like to spend 400 or 500 dollars to take your family to a theme park for a day? Oh wait and then add food, parking and Hotel? So $700 dollar for a day at park makes sense to you? I am sorry Everything is insane in regular pricing , I refuse to go to concerts that cost 100 dollars or more a ticket. With the price everything going, Orlando parks continue to raise prices and regional parks try hard to make things reasonable for families. I promise this next year another raise will come to because of Potter. so 100 basic is sooner....

Hmm, maybe because I lived in New York my whole life where a lot of money gets you nothing, but $100 for a concert? Our mass transit system offers an unlimited monthly MetroCard that costs $112. That's $1,344 a year just to get to work. $100 seats at Madison Square Garden? Good luck.

I don't see the ticket prices being unreasonable and yes, the prices are going to keep going up and up, the cost of living all around the world is going up. Things don't really get cheaper.

 

[Miketheboss]

Is the premier pass actually worth it. They should have a deal like when you buy one pass the other one is $60 less. I know some people go by themselves but if you buy one pass, your probably gonna buy a second one for a friend/spouse, so thats already $900 in tickets.

And about prices going up. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is strugling to stay afloat. Overall, people got to make wiser choices on how to spend their money. If I can't afford to go to a park then I would only go once every 3 years. I see people whinning about how they don't have money to pay the bills but then they have an iPhone or a BMW. And those same people have food stamps and government help. Not saying this is anyone here, this is just what I see on an everyday bases.

Remember that your money is like a vote. If you continue to spend it, they'll continue to deliver and increase prices.

 

[King_K.]

Let's not make this conversation political. I think everyone can agree on this.

 

[freediverdude]

Well Miketheboss is right about one thing- our dollars are our vote. If Disney or Universal is raising prices too high or not treating us right, we shouldn't go. Not just keep going and say "oh I hope it gets better" or "it's not that bad yet", like some of the pixie dusters over on the Disney-focused forums. Right now I think the Universal passes are a better value than the Disney passes, but that's just a matter of opinion.

 

[UNIrd]

Remember that your money is like a vote. If you continue to spend it, they'll continue to deliver and increase prices.

As long as they continue to deliver, I will continue to spend it.

 

[Hockeyman55]

So what price do you guys think it will have to hit before you say enough and stop going? Some people have to have some type of limit before they are priced out right.

 

[freediverdude]

Well I know a lot of people who typically just buy a one day pass each year or so are already saying they're priced out, because of it being $400-500 to get the family into the park for one day. For me, as a single passholder who just does monthly payments, the situation is a little different. For one person like myself, it would probably have to get upwards of $100/month before I would step back and say whoa (which equates to a $1200 annual pass price, lol). But I know I'm the exception, and for most families, making an investment of like $2000 for theme park passes for everybody is a big decision. I sometimes wonder if the theme parks might actually make more money if they lowered the ticket prices, and then people would spend more money inside the park on food, photos, souvenirs, etc. But I'm sure they've worked all that out on spreadsheets, lol.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Well I know a lot of people who typically just buy a one day pass each year or so are already saying they're priced out, because of it being $400-500 to get the family into the park for one day. For me, as a single passholder who just does monthly payments, the situation is a little different. For one person like myself, it would probably have to get upwards of $100/month before I would step back and say whoa (which equates to a $1200 annual pass price, lol). But I know I'm the exception, and for most families, making an investment of like $2000 for theme park passes for everybody is a big decision. I sometimes wonder if the theme parks might actually make more money if they lowered the ticket prices, and then people would spend more money inside the park on food, photos, souvenirs, etc. But I'm sure they've worked all that out on spreadsheets, lol.

Im in the same boat sorta of. My wife and I currently have APs and do the monthly payment plans for Disney, Universal and SW/BGT and with our oldest daughter on the verge of turning 3 in August we may have to rethink our situation if things get to out of hand. Right now I pay $125 for all of those each month but for us its worth it, especially with little ones and that is down from last year since we downgraded our Disney passes to take off the waterparks. My wife is already talking about Legoland APs next year :bang:

 

[freediverdude]

Oh boy, you ARE in deep, hehe. Well, if that's your outings, your thing that you do on most weekends, it's probably still worth it for you. I guess it depends how much you go, too. Are you really going to use all 4 of those passes enough to justify having every theme park pass available, lol. I dropped the SW/BGT a while back, because I just wasn't going to those locations enough. I'm starting to wonder if the Disney premium is still worth it, like you, especially when us Florida residents can get the seasonal or weekday select at far less, and then add on a waterpark pass if needed.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Im in deep x 3 in a few years. My oldest is 3 in August this then next year our middle daughter will be 3 in July. Our youngest is a month old so we have plenty of time for her to get in free still Right nos see actually doesn't have a Uni pass and we didnt plan on getting her one again until next year, ive made a few solo trips to make it still worth it. Right now Disney is worth is since we go a lot with the kids being so young. They love the animals at BGT and SW so would be hard to let go of those, although BGT seems to be an every other year park for us. SW we tend to hit on the last day of our trips since we can get done with most of what we want to see in half a day.

We had the premium Disney passes the last 2 years but in Feb when it was time for us to renew we downgraded to the regular annual pass since she was pregnant and I knew we wouldn't be going to the water parks this year. Ill probably bump them back up in a year or two depending how thing are for us financially.

 

[Kevin38]

Disney Passes have already exceeded my price point @775.00 ea the most I can go in a year is 21 times.
That is $40.00 a day.Universal passes are 300.00 and (renew is only 159.00) so for the same days
that is $15.00 a day for a new passholder (or $8.50 a day for renewal)
Busch Gardens ,Seaworld and Aquatica are $350.00 for 2 years so 42 visits for $8.50 a day.
I have to get 2 @ a time (myself and the GF) our Universal passes renew different months so it is not a big hit in one month.
As soon as I can afford it going for the BG,SW,and A.passes(next trip is for tranformers so probably get them in august)

 

[IzzyB]

Like Hockeyman, I have kids that will be turning 3 soon (December), but we go to a park almost every weekend and sometimes more than once a week if family or friends are in town. So for us the price point is reasonable at all the parks. We don't do monthly (isn't monthly slightly higher than renewing and paying all at once?) and we have Disney (normal 4 parks no blackout), Uni middle pass, and SW 2 year pass. We don't go to BG enough to get that one. We did it once and ended up only going once, so it was not worth it at all. We may end up adding Aquatica at the next SW renew because our daughter will be old enough to go. We *think* we will get away with not paying for our on right away when they turn three because he is much smaller than our daughter and no one thinks they are twins. Is that wrong? lol

It will hurt us when we are paying for the kids, but for a family that goes probably 45+ times a year to one of the parks it is worth it.