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Our family was so blessed to visit Universal Studios in Orlando this year.  We’ve been to Disney World several times, but since the kids are getting older we wanted to try something new.  The trip almost didn’t happen — I had a very hard time when  I attempted to buy discounted tickets online.  Initially I went through an “Undercover” company that comes highly recommended for Orlando tourists, but hours after I’d placed the order, the credit card flagged the purchase as possible fraud.  While I was at work, the ticket company canceled my order (they said it was policy.)  Unfortunately, the bank held the funds for almost a week.  The ticket site’s customer service department was extremely unhelpful.   It was a terrible experience and I almost gave up on the trip!   I really wanted to save on the Universal tickets because they were so expensive at the gate.  Thankfully, Groupon had a good offer available.  After going through Ebates to get 3% cashback, I ordered our 4 day (2 days + 2 free days)  Park-to-Park tickets with absolutely no problems.  Hooray!

I paid $299 + tax for each ticket, and got back $9.55 cashback for each ticket — plus another 1% back from my credit card.

On our third day of the trip, my husband accidentally left his park ticket in the hotel room.  Instead of riding the water taxi back to get it, we went to the customer service window to get a replacement.  While there, I happened to ask the agent how much it would cost to add to our trip.  Our flight time had been changed, and we could go to the parks for one extra day.

It turned out that our tickets could be extended to season passes — just by adding onto the price we paid. I went with the “seasonal” annual pass. This option has some blackout dates, but we wouldn’t go during those busy periods anyway.   The total for 4 tickets was about $30.  We also got 3 extra months free on the season passes!

So, why didn’t I buy season passes in the first place?

You might wonder why I didn’t just get season passes instead of day passes.  The fact is, we wanted to make sure we would like Universal Studios at least as much as we love Disney World.  I’m happy to report that both of our kids declared that they like Universal even better.  They loved not having to wait for rides (we had the unlimited express passes), and that the attractions were more “grown up.”  My husband still prefers Disney World, although we all absolutely adored Harry Potter world!

Now that we have season passes, we’ll try to go visit at least one or two more times before the passes expire.  It will be so nice not to worry about buying tickets next time!

As they say, “your mileage may vary” with this plan.  If you decide to try it, please call Universal in advance to make sure they are still offering this option.  If things have changed, you don’t want to have a surprise and no tickets.  It worked for us, though, and I hope it works for you, too.