AP Multi-ticket discount question (and a couple other AP ?s :) )

[nmrgrl55]

Hello all! My children and I are headed down to Universal this Saturday for a week long stay and I just had some clarifying questions.

I am planning on purchasing a Preferred AP for myself to get discounts on shopping, dining, and the hotel (I already booked Portofino with an AP discount). My main question is about the 15% off multiday tickets. I was planning on buying 3- 5 day park to park tickets for my kids. I am correct that I can get the 15% off of those, right? Where would the best location to purchase those be? We are driving down from Maine and should be in sometime late afternoon/early evening on Sunday, so will there be somewhere open that I can do that before we head to the parks on Monday morning?

My next question is about getting my AP. I plan on purchasing it online and then I would just "turn in" the voucher at the hotel to get the actual AP, correct?

Finally (I hope lol), is there a minimum spending amount to get the AP discount at the shops? From my research that doesn't appear to be the case, but I just wanted some peace of mind from actual people .

 

[georgina]

Hello all! My children and I are headed down to Universal this Saturday for a week long stay and I just had some clarifying questions.

I am planning on purchasing a Preferred AP for myself to get discounts on shopping, dining, and the hotel (I already booked Portofino with an AP discount). My main question is about the 15% off multiday tickets. I was planning on buying 3- 5 day park to park tickets for my kids. I am correct that I can get the 15% off of those, right? Where would the best location to purchase those be? We are driving down from Maine and should be in sometime late afternoon/early evening on Sunday, so will there be somewhere open that I can do that before we head to the parks on Monday morning?

My next question is about getting my AP. I plan on purchasing it online and then I would just "turn in" the voucher at the hotel to get the actual AP, correct?

Finally (I hope lol), is there a minimum spending amount to get the AP discount at the shops? From my research that doesn't appear to be the case, but I just wanted some peace of mind from actual people .

The only one of your questions I can answer is the shop discount. No minimum, I use it at the ice cream parlor on a cone! Also keychaines, Christmas ornaments, any little thing.

I would suggest you do some more research on the ticket discount question. Pretty sure the 15% on tickets is off the gate price, which is higher than the Universal online price. You may save more buying from one of the discount sites, or it may come out to about the same price. Maybe someone else can answer here. (Are you doing 3 park tickets including Volcano Bay, or just 2 parks?)

 

[nmrgrl55]

Ahh...I didn't think about the gate price being higher. Thank you. I will definitely look into that more! As of now I am just planning a 2 park ticket. I think Volcano bay would be a ton of fun, but I don't know how well if will fit into our plans. I might upgrade to a 3 park ticket for the kids if I feel like we would use it, but I don't want to buy it ahead of time.

 

[ajsamett]

I did the math once and found that the gate price is higher but the discount was still better. Something to look into is if you can buy them at the hotel. I was there over the weekend and had to do the guest services line 2x and they were super long. Took 45min-1hr both times to get through at different times (6pm on Saturday at US and noon Monday at IOA), so you'd either want to do it the night before or see if you can do it at the hotel. The ticket line was also ridiculously long at both parks

 

[KatieCharlotte]

15% off gate prices, which are higher but it's still a better deal when there are no special promotions online. But you can pay more for the convenience of buying online or in short lines at the hotels. At the hotels, you buy tickets at the online price and you cannot use your discount there. The ticket lines at the gates were very long and slow for most of the day and closed in the late evenings. They don't have all of the windows open, and some people took a long time purchasing -- maybe downloading the app and asking questions.

There is definitely not a minimum spending amount to get the discount, and almost always it just requires a quick scan. Remember to use it throughout City Walk.

We just got back from Portofino. It's beautiful, but plan to be patient waiting for boats. They were training new captains, so hopefully they will have more boats out soon, but they were sometimes only running one boat per resort and that was not enough. We waited 45 minutes one evening to go to the parks. If you're in a hurry, you can also walk partway down the path and take the Hard Rock boat.

 

[georgina]

Wow they can make it complicated! I did not know the resorts would charge the online price. So, a 5 day 2 park ticket online using 7/10 as a start date, is $381.26. Same ticket from an online discount place is $348.22, which says it is $54 cheaper than the gate price...

 

[Piglet99645]

To the OP: I have a similar plan for January so will be very curious to hear how it goes.

 

[dez1978]

From what I can find on Fromners and Orlando Informer gate prices are generally $20 more per ticket than online. https://www.frommers.com/destinations/universal-studios-florida/planning-a-trip/tickets

 

[dez1978]

Also from Universal: Save Up To $20 Off Gate Price On Multi-Day Tickets When You Buy Online. Buy Now & Save! Buy Online Today To Save Up To $20 Off The Gate Price On Multi-Day Tickets. Diagon Alley™. Hogsmeade™. Universal CityWalk. Hogwarts™ Express. Themed Hotels.

 

[nmrgrl55]

Thanks for the help all. I decided to just buy the tickets through the Mousesavers newsletter UT link. If the gate price is $20 more per ticket , then UT is very comparable to getting the discount. I also don't need to worry about waiting in line forever

 

[Deb1993]

We purchased the tickets for my in-laws at the guest services kiosk at City Walk (across from billabong) in the evening right before they closed for the day.

 

[anb]

We purchased the tickets for my in-laws at the guest services kiosk at City Walk (across from billabong) in the evening right before they closed for the day.

Were you able to get AP discount at this location? And, what time did this location close?

 

[Deb1993]

Were you able to get AP discount at this location? And, what time did this location close?

I picked up my 5 APs at that location - had the paperwork and my credit card that I used but forgot my driver's license. Husband had his license and showed that and she issued our passes. Used my AP to them purchase 5 day tickets for FIL MIL and SIL with the discount - which I think was either 10% or 15%, I can't remember. It was probably after 9p I think or maybe right before? They closed up after we left. I'm sorry I can't remember the time.

 

[wdwrule]

I picked up my 5 APs at that location - had the paperwork and my credit card that I used but forgot my driver's license. Husband had his license and showed that and she issued our passes. Used my AP to them purchase 5 day tickets for FIL MIL and SIL with the discount - which I think was either 10% or 15%, I can't remember. It was probably after 9p I think or maybe right before? They closed up after we left. I'm sorry I can't remember the time.

Thanks for this info. We’re hoping to pick up our APs at the hotel… if the hotels desk is still open early evening. Otherwise we‘ll probably try this spot. Curious… we’re a family of four and it sounds like just one of us needs to show a driver’s license? I didn’t know if all four of us should have our licenses on hand just in case.

 

[Deb1993]

Thanks for this info. We’re hoping to pick up our APs at the hotel… if the hotels desk is still open early evening. Otherwise we‘ll probably try this spot. Curious… we’re a family of four and it sounds like just one of us needs to show a driver’s license? I didn’t know if all four of us should have our licenses on hand just in case.

Thankfully DH took a walk with us to CityWalk that first night to show his ID because I didn't have mine - I did have the card I purchased them with and the confirmation page and my room key but hadn't set up my lanyard at that point and didn't have my license. We had gotten to the hotel late and the desk there was already closed. The person's whose card was used to purchase the tickets should have their license on them was what I got out of it.

 

[wdwrule]

Thankfully DH took a walk with us to CityWalk that first night to show his ID because I didn't have mine - I did have the card I purchased them with and the confirmation page and my room key but hadn't set up my lanyard at that point and didn't have my license. We had gotten to the hotel late and the desk there was already closed. The person's whose card was used to purchase the tickets should have their license on them was what I got out of it.

Ok thanks so much! This would make it more convenient then so my kids won’t have to drag their licenses around.