Ticket prices seem insane?

Chimaera

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
We're going to be in WDW for 10 days in August and I wanted to take a 2 day jaunt to Universal as we haven't seen Diagon Alley or the Hogwarts Express yet, so I'm looking at tickets for my wife and myself (no kids). A 2 Day P2P ticket is $254 per person (wow) but it's even more crazy when you see that a seasonal 2 park Annual Pass is only $284 per person! That can't be right, can it? I don't plan on going back to Universal any time soon so APs make no sense but if those prices are right they certainly gouge the casual tourist vs those who can go more frequently! I know a 2 day Park Hopper for Disney is $259 but that's for all 4 parks, not just 2.
 
While the prices sound high, as you noted -- seasonal and annual passes are cheaper than Disney. They are just front loading the ticket prices -- putting most of the cost on the first 2 days. For short term tickets, prices are still comparable to Disney. This weekend, my family went to a Broadway show and a Mets game -- More expensive than 2 day universal tickets.
So in the grand scheme of things, ticket prices really aren't that bad.
 
I mean you're right, and I guess Universal's target with the front-loaded prices is specifically the Disney vacationers who want a couple of days at Universal. Just sucks to be in that position, and it's really going to cause us to skip Universal altogether rather than pay $500+ for 2 people for 2 days. I know with UndercoverTourist we could get a 3rd day free, but we don't want/need a 3rd day.
 
2 Day P2P ticket is $254 per person

2 day Park Hopper for Disney is $259 but that's for all 4 parks, not just 2

I don't see your argument because to me each ticket is not measured in number of parks, but rather, number of hours of theme park experience. If I was staying at Uni for 10 days, I could say, that going to WDW for two days is outrageous.
 


For 1 day in the whole of the Wizarding World, our family is shelling out $980. That's IF I can manage to do our Universal ticket before the Sunday of Thanksgiving Week. If not, it's $1,100. Which is insane.
 
The one that got us is the Park2Park cost. We are doing 2 days at Universal in November (one at each park). The wife and children are big Potter fans but I just can't justify spending $60 per person to ride the Hogwarts Express. I told them we'll just experience it on Youtube (and we did).
 
I mean you're right, and I guess Universal's target with the front-loaded prices is specifically the Disney vacationers who want a couple of days at Universal. Just sucks to be in that position, and it's really going to cause us to skip Universal altogether rather than pay $500+ for 2 people for 2 days. I know with UndercoverTourist we could get a 3rd day free, but we don't want/need a 3rd day.

Disney front-loads too. They want to make it much cheaper for you to spend your 3rd-7th days at Disney, instead of venturing out to other parks.
That's why I either make it a Disney trip OR Universal trip... doesn't make sense for me to do both resorts on the same vacation.
 


If I was staying at Uni for 10 days, I could say, that going to WDW for two days is outrageous.

Yep!

Disney totally does it too.

On a bicoastal trip we had Disneyland APs (and started there) and Universal APs (ended there), and had one night in a one bedroom villa (using dvc points) between mainly to do laundry. Our dryer unit didn't work so we had to spend a couple hours the next day drying clothes in the laundry room at BWVilla, and thought about heading to Epcot. But even a few years ago a one day ticket to wdw was truly bananas compared to what we were paying for the other two places.

It's all in your perspective.

It's too bad the OP is letting this stop her from having fun at universal.
 
For my youngest son's 10th bday we spent over $1,000 for one park to park day for the four of us...it was actually cheaper for us to get a room (even though we didn't stay in it) for the free unlimited express pass and early entry than it would have been to buy tickets and express pass separately. For a Friday in July, those passes were worth it.

The parks just front load those tickets like other posters have said, and it's painful! But I understand why...they want you to stay longer and spend more over time. It makes sense, but doesn't make it any more fun for those of us paying, lol!!

All that being said, we'd do it again! (although if we ever do go back to US/IOA, we'll probably do two days...cramming it all into one was EXHAUSTING)
 
Yeah I feel the same. Bought my Universal Hollywood season passes a year ago for $109, vistitng Orlando in September and a singe day hopper is $60 more than my annual pass in Hollywood was....
 
The cost of tickets is making it hard to justify a trip there for me and the people I travel with. None of us can ride the simulator/3D rides or the rollercoasters. Makes for an expensive day as there isn't much left over and definately not enough for a week long trip!
 
Disney front-loads too. They want to make it much cheaper for you to spend your 3rd-7th days at Disney, instead of venturing out to other parks.
That's why I either make it a Disney trip OR Universal trip... doesn't make sense for me to do both resorts on the same vacation.

I'm trying to convince my family that it makes sense to do this. We were surprised at how much we really enjoyed all of Universal, and not just the Harry Potter side of things (the primary reason we went there). I felt like we gave the Universal parks short shrift. Taking two trips instead of one doesn't really increase the total that much.
 
Yep, this is why we are all AP holders. Now we just pop over to Universal for a day each time we go to Disney. Made no sense not to be AP holders.

Especially when you see how much they discount their hotel rooms. I think we've paid for our AP just off hotel discounts
 
Yes, they both do it. It didn't used to be so bad. We would do both Disney and Universal on a single vacation. Then we had to switch to just doing one. We then had the bright idea to get Universal AP's and come back just under a year later for our next Disney trip so we could do both. We ended up doing universal a lot more than expected since it was paid for.
 
We recently took son, daughter in law and granddaughter to Universal and Disney, split stay with three nights on-site at each and two days in each park. Yes, this is definitely the most expensive way to do it since you aren't getting discounts for longer multi day tickets, but it definitely beats doing one trip and then wanting to come back for another trip to do the other!

Universal is definitely worth it especially if you have Harry Potter fans. For us with a shorter stay, staying on site at Universal at a resort that included express pass allowed us to maximize what we could do.
 
Ok, so you guys have inspired me to look at AP, for our upcoming trip. I'm confused though, the blockout dates listed I'm assuming those are the dates you're blocked out? I realize this is asinine to ask, but I know we'd wind up being THOSE people at the gate with my DH totally hacked off at me and me going but I bought APs to save money, I don't know why they won't let us in!

On the hotels, the current rate is listed for summer dates. How often do those change? Our trip would be at the end of May, if we booked right now there would be no discount. Historically, are there blackout times for AP hotel discounts?
 
Yes, the blockout dates are the dates you can't enter, with the passes that have blackout dates. Not all do. We have the Preferred and it does not have them. We pay $15/month (roughly) for it. That way, DH and I can go whenever we go to Disney, no worries about blackout dates. DGD we got the Seasonal pass, which only blackouts a few weeks, because we know we aren't taking her those dates.

Their AP prices are a bit wonky to figure out. They don't have the same rhyme or reason that Disney does on theirs. They tend to release them with much less notice and for a much shorter window. There is a thread in the Universal Resort area that tracks when they are released for.

We had one for our stay for the first weekend in June this year, and for Jan and for April. Still waiting to see what they may have for late August or early Oct. So all in all, we don't find them hard to find, just can't plan too far in advance.
 
Yes, the blockout dates are the dates you can't enter, with the passes that have blackout dates. Not all do. We have the Preferred and it does not have them. We pay $15/month (roughly) for it. That way, DH and I can go whenever we go to Disney, no worries about blackout dates. DGD we got the Seasonal pass, which only blackouts a few weeks, because we know we aren't taking her those dates.

Their AP prices are a bit wonky to figure out. They don't have the same rhyme or reason that Disney does on theirs. They tend to release them with much less notice and for a much shorter window. There is a thread in the Universal Resort area that tracks when they are released for.

We had one for our stay for the first weekend in June this year, and for Jan and for April. Still waiting to see what they may have for late August or early Oct. So all in all, we don't find them hard to find, just can't plan too far in advance.
Not sure if you saw yet, but AP discounts are out for late August. Only online through the old link or by calling from what I have seen.
 
Not sure if you saw yet, but AP discounts are out for late August. Only online through the old link or by calling from what I have seen.
Thanks. I knew it had come and gone for a few properties and for suites. I'll check back again. Still trying to decide if we'll stay a night or just buy Express Pass. Probably a wash
 
I felt like we gave the Universal parks short shrift.

We stayed three nights and had two full and two partial days at Uni the first time and left wanting MORE! :)

Only the fact that we had a hotel and dining reservation over at wdw made us leave.
 

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