USH Price Increase!

[DonRaf]

Get the Costco pass first then work your way up if you need to, the "GOLD PASS" is a total rip off if you have a job to pay for it.

 

[RyanTTD]

Universal has now introduced a new 2016 Season Pass for $109.

Valid for 140 days of admission. First visit must occur by 2/26/2016 and the pass is valid through 12/15/2016.   

 

[Jon Fu]

^ Pass holders are receiving online offers of $99 for the same pass.

 

[Allen The Actor]

^ yeah, just got that email!

So happy I don't have to worry about this pricing clusterfudge this year.

 

[Wesker69]

Just checked my email... yea I got the offer as well. Honestly, its tempting to get this new pass.. I don't even care about saving $10 by doing it online. The only negative would be not getting the exclusive AP preview events (like Potter)..

What kills me the most about these passes they have created is that I don't think anyone has noticed that all of them get screwed out of being able to attend Grinchmas (haven't double checked the blackout dates) this year. I know the holiday season gets busy, but come on.. either make Grinchmas an everyday event like Orlando, or allow APs to attend the first 2-3 weekends as well as the final weekend (or at least the final day).

 

[Jon Fu]

Some more information on where the 2016 Season Annual Pass stands in Universal's current annual pass structure: http://insideuniversal.net/2016/01/universal-studios-hollywood-introduces-2016-season-pass-with-140-days-of-admission/

 

[RyanTTD]

Blackout Day Tickets have been eliminated.

 2. How do I upgrade my Season Pass?

There is no upgrade from a Season Pass to an Annual Pass.

 

 

 3. How can I get into Universal Studios Hollywood if I come on a Black-Out date?

To come on a Black-Out date, you may upgrade to a higher level Annual Pass, available at any ticket booth.  Based on availability.  Restrictions may apply.  Higher level Annual Passes may share the same Black-Out dates, so be sure to check before upgrading.

 

 

[chris.g]

^ Now thats absurd... by god, I will love and defend Universal by all means every day but this is getting ridiculously preposterous. Seriously? I predict that once the Wizzarding World crowds starts to die off a bit, they'll start removing blackout dates. There are just too many to keep up with...

 

[Freak]

USH's ego is getting worse. They think they can get away with murder with Harry Potter. When the crowds die down, I think the majority of the locals will renew with Disney once they realize it's a better value. Then Universal will realize their big mistake of shooing off the locals. I could be wrong and maybe Potter heads will give their life savings for these passes. I mean, I see people at USH blow their $23 on just two beers. 

 

[Wesker69]

I love how those two questions have contradicting answers... One says you can't upgrade, the other tells you to upgrade. Oh Universal...

I really don't think Universal has any idea what they're doing. I honestly think that they just in the office with a wall of sticky note "ideas" & randomly throw darts at the wall & whatever sticky note gets a dart in it, that is the idea they go with.

 

[Jon Fu]

^ To be fair, Universal is differentiating between annual passes and seasonal passes with their answers. Upgrades do not apply to seasonal passes.

 

[Wesker69]

I don't see how there is no upgrade from one to the other. If you get a seasonal pass at Disney & suddenly come into money to upgrade, you are still upgrading that seasonal pass to an annual pass... which is the same thing you do with the passes at universal. Eitherway, you're willingly giving them more money, I don't see why they would act like they'd object to that or say you can't. -shrugs-

 

Eitherway... considering how many blackout dates are involved with their current passes, I wouldn't consider any of these to be an annual anyway.

 

[Armadillo4]

^ To be fair, Universal is differentiating between annual passes and seasonal passes with their answers. Upgrades do not apply to seasonal passes.

That's my interpretation as well.

Annual Pass = expires 1 year from date of activation

Season Pass = expires at a pre-determined date, regardless of when the pass is activated

Why they don't allow upgrades from a Season Pass to an Annual Pass is strange and I'm curious as to why they made that decision. But they can set different policies to the pass types as they wish.

 

[Jon Fu]

^ I don't think Disney offers seasonal passes, do they? Universal's the only park that offers both.

 

[Wesker69]

Well to be fair, I'm more familiar with the passes in Orlando for WDW & Universal... Than I am with Disneyland. so yea. And as for the seasonal passes, they expired the same day it was activated a year later. Things could have changed now, but I haven't looked because I usually had a friend get me into the park because a WDW AP was pretty damn pricey haha.

Now there are the "year long" passes (buy a day, get the rest of the year free deal), which Sea World Orlando offers... You'd get it as early as sometime in December to enjoy their holiday stuff for that year & it didn't expire until Dec 31st the following year. The best part was, it did NOT have blackout dates.

 

[Ryan]

Disney has never offered a season pass. It's always been APs.

Knott's and other Cedar Fair parks offer season passes. Not sure about Six Flags.

 

[RyanTTD]

^ I don't think Disney offers seasonal passes, do they? Universal's the only park that offers both.

Sea World and Busch Garden parks offer both Season Passes (Fun Cards) and Annual Passes.

Those parks allow you to upgrade your Fun Card to an Annual Pass within 60 days from purchase. I'm surprised that Universal doesn't have a similar policy.

 

[Wesker69]

As I said, its been so long since I've actually looked into Disney's passes, I don't know what they offer nowadays. I just know that I had a seasonal pass back in the day, while my mom had the annual pass for the free parking.

Didn't USH offer a "buy a day, get the rest of the year free" funcard pass at one point? I was pretty sure they did.

 

[Ryan]

Yes, for almost its entire existence as a theme park.

 

[Red Carpet]

I heard that pass sales have dropped 30% since the restructure! It looks like their greedy move is coming back to hurt them.