Upgrading from 2 park 4 day Hopper Ticket to Universal Seasonal Annual Pass

[MJW01]

Good afternoon everyone - first time poster but have spent many hours over the years browsing the forum for useful advice!
Apologies if my question has been answered before but I've not been able to find the answer anywhere.
We are returning to Orlando next August and were originally intending to spend our whole holiday at Disney after visiting Universal many times previously. Kids have now decided they want to split our holiday between Disney and Universal so we are now spending 8 nights at Coronado Springs and 7 nights at Portofino Bay. As you can imagine budget has risen substantially so are looking to economise wherever possible!
We are not bothered about returning to Volcano Bay so were looking at the Universal Seasonal annual pass.
My question is if I bought a 4 day 2 park hopper ticket -$289 on Orlando Attractions compared to $319 on Universal website or 5 day 2 park hopper ticket -$302 on Orlando Attractions compared to $335 on Universal website, would I be able to upgrade to seasonal pass even though cost of seasonal pass would be less than both of the hopper tickets! Also would I be refunded any difference?
If the answer is yes, would I be able to upgrade before leaving or would it have to be done whilst at Universal? If at universal would they calculate difference based on the gate price?
Any help would be greatly appreciated - many thanks in advance.

 

[ruthies12]

I don't think you would be refunded, though someone can correct me if I'm wrong. The best way to do it is to buy the cheapest ticket possible, enter the gate on that ticket which then brings it up to the regular price in the system and then stop at guest services and upgrade to a seasonal pass before the end of the last day.

I know for my January trip my sister is purchasing a 2 day park to park plus 1 day free ticket at undercover tourist for 270.95. Once she enters the park on it, the system will read it as a regular 3 day ticket at the price of 303 which is the same price as the seasonal pass so she will then upgrade to the seasonal pass for free.

I'm sure you can upgrade to a pass if you've bought a more expensive ticket but I doubt you would be given any money back. As long as there are no blackout dates during your trip for the seasonal pass I would try to stick with just a 3 day park to park ticket for as cheap as you can find it, then upgrade.

 

[ruthies12]

I should add that I personally did this on my last trip- bought a 2 day park to park with one day free at Undercover Tourist, then upgraded it to a seasonal pass for free, that was in January of this year so unless something has changed since then it does work.

 

[siren0119]

I don't think you would be refunded, though someone can correct me if I'm wrong. The best way to do it is to buy the cheapest ticket possible, enter the gate on that ticket which then brings it up to the regular price in the system and then stop at guest services and upgrade to a seasonal pass before the end of the last day.

I'm sure you can upgrade to a pass if you've bought a more expensive ticket but I doubt you would be given any money back. As long as there are no blackout dates during your trip for the seasonal pass I would try to stick with just a 3 day park to park ticket for as cheap as you can find it, then upgrade.

So here's a question (because we're considering a trip down in January and I've been weighing tickets vs season passes). If I were to buy the tickets at UT or another reseller at a discount, how would Universal know what I paid for them? I have seen in other threads here that universal will reimburse for the cost difference if you upgrade to a season pass but that they did it via a Universal gift card (Which is fine, I'd be spending the money there anyway!)

 

[MJW01]

Many thanks for the help, ruthies12. Much appreciated.

I've read conflicting information on the 2 day park to park plus 1 day free with some people saying that as the third day is a promo Universal will only refund you the cost of the 2 day park to park ticket? Cost of a 3 day 2 park ticket on Orlando Attractions is $277 so would still be a decent saving.

One final question - it is ok for UK residents to purchase the 1,2, 3,4 and 5 day tickets rather than the 14 day tickets?

 

[ruthies12]

My understanding (and I am far from an expert so could be wrong) is that once you enter the park on that ticket their system sees it as a 3 day ticket regardless of whether one day was free or not. Once you've used the ticket to enter the park it is seen in the system as equal to the GATE PRICE of that number of days and type of ticket. If you try to upgrade BEFORE having used the ticket to enter the park, then their system sees it exactly as it is- a 2 day ticket with one day free.

So the key is to enter the park on that ticket before trying to upgrade it. Then it is worth gate price.

That is really cool if they will reimburse with a gift card, I did not know that.

No idea on UK residents, sorry!

 

[MJW01]

Many thanks ruthies12 for all your help and advice. One final question - is it a straightforward process and is it best to use guest services inside or outside the parks?

 

[ruthies12]

It is quite quick, just a few minutes to get your little plastic card for your seasonal pass. I have always used the guest services location back in Hogsmeade at the train station simply because there has never been a line when I've walked past. I don't know that any location is better than another but I will say I've been in guest services at the front of the park at the end of a night because I was looing for lost and found and there was a huge line at closing time so I would try to avoid doing it at closing if possible.

 

[MJW01]

Brilliant - thanks again for all your help!

 

[damo]

There are many factors to be considered here. All multi day tickets are not the same. Often, four day tickets are a buy two get two free ticket. In this case, you would only get credit for two days. If the ticket is a legitimate 4 day ticket (it will say so on the ticket) you will get credit for current gate price of the ticket. Some discount sellers will sell a 4 day ticket at a two day price. In this case you will get credit for 4 days. Universal does not care where you purchase your ticket. They will give you current gate value for it.

There have been cases of people downgrading their ticket to an AP and receiving the balance on a gift card but that rule is not cast in stone.

This question is generally answered on the main Universal board and not the Universal Hotels board. That may be why you couldn't find an answer.

 

[MJW01]

Many thanks Damo. New member on here and accidentally posted on the hotels thread in error but could find no way of deleting my thread so also posted on the main discussion board. Ironically, I've had more responses on the hotels board than on the correct one!!
The tickets from Orlando Attractions have no mention of any free days so hopefully would be ok when purchasing these.

 

[georgina]

I have within the past few months bought the buy 2 get 1 day tickets free from UT, and they came as plain old 3 day tickets. Then I returned 2 of them for the new promo buy 2 get 2 free and they came as regular 4 day tickets.