Power Pass!!!

[Cmbar]

WaHOOO!!! I just got AP rate at Royal Pacific for $119.00 a night. Of course that is standard room but who cares!!! I get to use front of the line access! AND I cheked and double checked and asked TRAVIS if the Power Pass would get me the correct rate. He laughed after the third time I asked him. He said but you have to make sure you go to the park and get the pass and picture first!!

Does anyone know what time the parks open up to get a picture taken. It would be cheaper for us to come in the night before but I want to make sure I can get into the park and get that picture taken early so I can check in.

Since we are staying at the hotel we have to scratch the car. Also Does anyone think that we will NEED a rental car if we are staying on site at Universal??? Can we get to the different parks and City walk easy enough? How about the movie cineplex. Thanks, I really would rather get FOTL access than pay for a rental car!!

OH by the way does anyone know how much a cab costs to Royal Pacific?? How about a shuttle or towncar??

Thanks!

 

[damo]

Hmmm. The website says that Power Pass doesn't give you any discounts. I would call and ask someone other than Travis before you just buy the power pass. But buying one Annual pass and the rest power passes really isn't that big a deal.

We just came back from having APH rates. We were never asked for the card but had been told (by the reservation person) that as long as we purchased it before we left it would be fine. We did have power passes though.

 

[AllieKat]

You can check www.universalorlando.com for the park hours for the dates you'll be there.

In my opinion, you won't need a rental car if you're staying onsite and all you plan on doing is Universal related stuff. The 3 hotels, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, City Walk and the movie theater are all within walking distance of one another. There's also boats at each of the hotels that'll take you to City Walk and back. On top of that, there's also a shuttle. There's no additional charge to ride the boats or the shuttle. When you walk out of Royal Pacific towards the parks, you'll come out right next to Margaritaville in City Walk.

I know you'll have a wonderful time!

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Ditto the no rental car vote. One of the great things for us when we go is that we can park the car and never move it until we leave. I think it would be cumbersome to try to take your car from one venue to another. The area is set up so you can walk it pretty easily and if that is too much, there are the water taxis and shuttle busses. Have a blast! so glad you will have an AP! I can see return trips in your future!

 

[zaxmom]

On our last trip, we were there for 5 days and never went to our car once. There are so many dining options at City Walk we did not need it.

I heard someone else got the APH rate with just a power pass. Please post when you get back and let us know if this really worked.

 

[Cmbar]

Well of course we are thrilled about getting the great rate at Royal Pacific, but my husband isn't quite as trusting that we won't get there and be denied, so he called reservations again and got a different person who said to call the AP people, who of course said that the policy is not for a Power Pass. SO we then called the actual hotel and spoke with the front desk manager and he said BOTH passes were accepted and that he would put a note on our account that we bought an annual pass and that all we would need to do is show them at some point during the stay. WE asked him like three times "its ok if we buy just the power pass with the blackouts" and he said "YES" any annual pass will do. He even said we can just check our luggage and go get the pass and enjoy the park and come back later. My husband said to him "i guess since your the guy checking us in you should know." He laughed and said "that would be right". He also thanked us for calling and giving them a heads up that we were buying the pass. So now our reservation has a note on it, which makes me feel alot better! They were very nice.

That being said, has anyone ever used the AP rate and been denied with a Power Pass. (I don't know if I really want the answer to that question! )

 

[damo]

Thanks for calling. I'm still going to buy one Preferred Annual pass just because you get 10% off of food and merchandise in the parks. The Power Pass has no date on it. I wonder how the hotel knows if it is still valid or not?

If you are denied the rate with the power pass, you can simply go to the park and upgrade one pass to the Preferred pass. It really is not a big deal. I know what you mean though. I panicked about it when we went this week but they didn't even ask for it!!!

 

[lilkitty819]

Hi

You can use the power pass...I had the girl who took our resevations check with a supervisor, and she said that was fine...So if you don't really need the regular aph then save your money....

 

[Eclpz314]

Just to add fuel to the fire, I sent an email to both RPR and Loew's asking which rates (Pow.AP or AAA) would allow for the Loew's benefits including "qualified stay" to reach platinum level on Loew's. I was advised to go with the AAA room rate since it is "a published rate". The AP rate was about $30 cheaper than AAA but I'm afraid to take any chances now.

 

[Tigger Woods]

Just to further confuse the issue, I stayed at PBH twice last year (10 days total) using the ENT rate, and was sent my Platinum card a couple of months later. I booked through 800-Loews-11 both times.

 

[Eclpz314]

Wow, I had to fax copies of my 7-night "Universal Vacations Package" paperwork to Loew's last year for Loew's to review. They did decide to allow it to count towards becoming a gold member. I had wrongly assumed that the pkg. was sponsored by both Univ. and Loew's since it included a stay at the onsite hotels (RPR in this case) I hadn't even used any of the special ent., aaa, ap rates but evidently the pkg didn't really count as a "qualified stay". They should open a side attraction at US. You go in, and there would be 50 or 60 "discount option" booths to visit. Within a specified time you would have to run around and pick up tokens for what you thought was the best deal for your vacation stay. The only rule? You can't exchange any of your tokens once you pick them. Then you would deposit your tokens into some sort of machine. If your choice matched one of the listed combos. then you would win a prize of some sort.......like a t-shirt that said "I survived planning my US vacation" If it didn't match, a buzzer would go off and all these people would start laughing and pointing at you........... oh my, I think I've been planning my vacation for too long.......

 

[n2mm]

OK, this is funny. I just came to this board to post this exact question. We both have power passes and thought that NO we could not get the AP rate. Well what came in the mail just recently but a postcard telling us about the new rate discounts for AP holders. Why would they advertise this to us since we are just power pass holders. So now I will also change my room ressie to APH rates which are $11 cheaper than the FAN club rate I have. Thanks for answering my question. Maybe this is new for 2004.

I called last night and my reservation was changed from FAN rate $157 to AP rate $146. No problem.