- Jun 23, 2015
- 16
- 3
Hi everyone. I just registered for the forums, though I've been reading the main site, Twitter feed, and forums for a few months. My family and I are new passholders since November, though I grew up in Los Angeles and have been going to Universal since I was a child.
We've been looking forward to seeing the new Harry Potter area and attractions, and it was a rude shock when Universal stopped selling the annual passes past March 2016 (although we should have seen the writing on the wall).
I think everyone is expecting a big jump in pricing for the annual pass when Harry Potter opens next year. But how much (what is the maximum amount) you would be willing to pay for a no-blockout annual pass good for 12 months from first use?
Would you be willing to pay something comparable to a Disneyland annual pass (no blockout = $779)? What about $500?
Here's my calculus: we definitely want to go see Harry Potter next year. If the one-day price stays around $100, we'd probably be willing to pay that, but we'd rather get annual passes if the per visit price would come down to around $35 to $50. Of course, we may not want to go 20 times in a year, especially with how crowded the park will be after Harry Potter opens. Maybe five or six visits over one year would be good for us, so we wouldn't even need a no blockout pass, just one that would let us visit five or six times and not just on weekdays during the school year.
So for our family of four, I'd say no more than $250 for a pass that can have plenty of blackouts, as long as there are enough times that we can visit during the year. A no-blackout pass for significantly more than that? Not worth it, since we won't want to visit that often. We'll probably get our fill of the existing Universal attractions during this year, and taking a year or two off wouldn't be too much of a burden, but we'd like to see Harry Potter a few times.
If I had thought about it, I should have realized that the days of the $90 "buy a day, get the year free" deal were sure to end on the day the Harry Potter expansion was announced four or five years ago.
We've been looking forward to seeing the new Harry Potter area and attractions, and it was a rude shock when Universal stopped selling the annual passes past March 2016 (although we should have seen the writing on the wall).
I think everyone is expecting a big jump in pricing for the annual pass when Harry Potter opens next year. But how much (what is the maximum amount) you would be willing to pay for a no-blockout annual pass good for 12 months from first use?
Would you be willing to pay something comparable to a Disneyland annual pass (no blockout = $779)? What about $500?
Here's my calculus: we definitely want to go see Harry Potter next year. If the one-day price stays around $100, we'd probably be willing to pay that, but we'd rather get annual passes if the per visit price would come down to around $35 to $50. Of course, we may not want to go 20 times in a year, especially with how crowded the park will be after Harry Potter opens. Maybe five or six visits over one year would be good for us, so we wouldn't even need a no blockout pass, just one that would let us visit five or six times and not just on weekdays during the school year.
So for our family of four, I'd say no more than $250 for a pass that can have plenty of blackouts, as long as there are enough times that we can visit during the year. A no-blackout pass for significantly more than that? Not worth it, since we won't want to visit that often. We'll probably get our fill of the existing Universal attractions during this year, and taking a year or two off wouldn't be too much of a burden, but we'd like to see Harry Potter a few times.
If I had thought about it, I should have realized that the days of the $90 "buy a day, get the year free" deal were sure to end on the day the Harry Potter expansion was announced four or five years ago.