If you live in the U.S., admission tickets to Universal Orlando Resort theme parks are expensive. You can save money, a lot of money in fact, if you do some work ahead of time to find whatever discounts you can. Since you’re reading this article, you’re already on your way to finding cheaper tickets. Congratulations!
I checked out prices from websites offering discounts to see where the cheapest tickets were hiding. Turns out, the prices at one website were consistently lower than everywhere else.
What Type Of Ticket Should You Buy?
The Universal Orlando admission choices can be intimidating. There’s a few basic things to know which will make your decisions easier.
- How many days of admission do you want?
- Do you want to visit Volcano Bay water park in addition to the two theme parks?
- Do you want to be able to go between parks on the same day (A park to park ticket is needed if you want to ride on the Hogwarts Express)?
Here’s what I found out:
I looked at prices for non-Florida Residents (since residents get lower pricing and if you are really a resident, those are the prices you should be looking for anyway). I looked for prices for one adult ticket and all of the prices quoted in the article are BEFORE tax.
TWO day, THREE park with PARK TO PARK capabilities
UNIVERSAL ORLANDO WEBSITE
I used the official Universal website as a control to see what the base price was:
UNDERCOVER TOURIST
The Undercover Tourist website sells passes to many theme parks at discounted prices. They are one of the places where you can legally get discounts on the Orlando theme parks. They have also run specials with AMEX offers that would let you save even more on your tickets.
AAA
I’ve mentioned how an AAA membership is good for more than road service for a flat tire or towing. They also provide discount tickets to Universal.
TICKETS AT WORK
Tickets at Work is a program offered through many different employers. I’ve mentioned their website before, as they have great discounts on many types of tickets.
Here’s the final breakdown:
| Universal Orlando Website | Undercover Tourist | AAA | Tickets at Work | |
| 2 day | $319.99 | $307.95 | $306.99 | $284.00 |
Tickets at Work has the best price, saving $35.99 off the normal price from the Universal Orlando website and $20 less than the other two services.
I also looked for a ticket good for a longer stay:
FIVE day, THREE park with PARK TO PARK capabilities
UNIVERSAL ORLANDO WEBSITE
UNDERCOVER TOURIST
AAA
Tickets at Work
| Universal Orlando Website | Undercover Tourist | AAA | Tickets at Work | |
| 5 day for price of 2 | $389.99 | $371.50 | 318.99 | $299.00 |
Once again, Tickets at Work has the best price. If you don’t have access to their prices, AAA is your next best choice. Undercover Tourist’s price isn’t that much of a discount over the normal price from Universal Orlando.
HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS
Halloween Horror Nights, or HHN for short, is the most popular special ticket event that happens at Universal Studios Orlando. While it’s possible to get discounts, like the two nights for the price of one offer they had earlier this year, if you wait until last minute you’ll end up paying much more for your ticket.
I was surprised to see that discounted tickets for this event were available. Note that the ticket price varies depending on which day you want to go. Weeknights earlier in the season are less expensive and weekends are the most expensive.
UNIVERSAL ORLANDO WEBSITE
For comparison purposes, I checked on tickets for October 10th. On the Universal website, a ticket for that night costs $62.99
AAA
The AAA website had tickets for $60.99.
Tickets at Work
Tickets at work has tickets on sale for $57.00, a $6 discount.
| Universal Orlando Website | Undercover Tourist | AAA | Tickets at Work | |
| HHN Ticket | $62.99 | Not Available | 60.99 | $57.00 |
Final Thoughts
Based on this non-scientific sample, Tickets at Work consistently offers lower prices for Universal Orlando admission tickets than other websites. It might take some investigating to find out if your company participates with this program but the savings you find makes it a worthwhile quest. A good place to start is the human resources and benefits website of your employer. The links are often buried somewhere on that page.
Even if you don’t have access to Tickets at Work, getting tickets through AAA or Undercover Tourist is still cheaper than paying the prices on the Universal Website. Whatever you do, don’t walk up to the park gate to buy tickets or you’ll pay even more than on the website. Oh, and don’t forget to use a credit card that offers bonus points on theme park admission tickets when making your purchase.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
2 comments
Very informative post regarding Universal tickets. I’m a bit sad I didn’t find your post before I booked by trip but I feel good about it in the long run. I will however pass on your information regarding Tickets at Work to my aunt who is joining me in February , her employer may offer this. Thanks, Cheryl
Ticketsatwork has high taxes and fees so might not come out much cheaper than the other options.