Universal Annual Passholder Review
We love theme parks. We enjoy walking into a space where adult obligations leave the mind and where childlike giddiness fills our souls. We make it a point to try all the foods. Sometimes we ride all the rides, sometimes we just watch the shows. We like being able to take a short plane ride or a small road trip and end up in a place that provides a temporary escape from the ordinary.
My (Amber) love for Harry Potter was why our family visited the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, FL in the first place. Before the Wizarding World arrived in the South, we were primarily a Walt Disney World family. We had taken several trips to the Disney bubble with our children and extended family. When I learned about the ever-growing Harry Potter lands at Universal, we had to pop the bubble and try something new to us.
Our children were teens before we ventured out of the realm of princesses and mice to the universe of thrill rides and simulators. On our first visit, they were all captivated by the Wizarding World, and they each had their own favorite things around the park like the E.T. Ride, meeting Beetlejuice, and eating a Big Pink donut from Lard Lad.
The price difference between visiting Disney and Universal is vast. Universal is constantly offering deals for families. Disney offers discounts as well, but Universal tends to cost less money. It is a smaller property with fewer parks, and I have to admit the Disney standards of hospitality, theme park appearance and maintenance don’t quite exist at Universal with the exception of the Wizarding World, DreamWorks Land and Jurassic Park. However, we still really love visiting.
Universal ran an offer for new Annual Passholders of paying for a 12-month pass and receive 3 extra months for free! We debated back and forth and literally on the last hour of the last day that the promotion was offered, we decided to go for it. We took our first trip as Passholders in early June 2026. We were extremely pleased! We purchased the Premier passes. The perks include:
No block-out dates
Free parking
Early admission
Exclusive entrance at Islands of Adventure from 8am-12pm
Express Pass after 4pm
Free Halloween Horror Night ticket (which we’ll never use)
15% discount on dining and merch
10% off VIP experiences
Discounts on packages
Includes Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure
Passholder lounge in Toon Lagoon
Reserved parade viewing area
Discounted tickets to Epic Universe
Specialty menu items at certain restaurants
FlexPay payment plan is available
There are 3 other tiers of passes (Seasonal, Powered, Preferred) that have some of the same perks but do have blockout dates for use and not all offer free parking.
Our favorite things about being Passholders? The dining discounts and the after 4pm Express Passes. During our first Passholder visit, I was dealing with kidney stones. The money had already been spent, so I did not want to cancel the trip. We stayed on-property at Universal’s Aventura hotel. We would sleep late, lay by the pool and take it easy then go into the parks late. Having the Express Pass allowed us to walk into every show and onto every ride with no wait! We also wanted to test out some of the table service restaurants on our visit, and the dining discount was a huge win.
We did visit the Passholder Lounge and our honest opinion was that it is not what we expected. The Passholder Lounge is “…your place to feel the love. Chill out, manage your Passholder account, shop exclusive UOAP merch, and cool off with refreshing Coca-Cola beverages. Stop in every time you visit. (Universalorland.com)” In our minds, there would at least be a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine in the lounge; we have refillable Freestyle cups (that you can reuse and recharge each visit-with a discounted price for Passholders) and assumed the lounge would have a machine where we could refill and relax in the AC. Instead, there is a cooler with beverages for purchase. There is some comfortable seating, high-top tables, a charging station, coloring pages for kiddos, Passholder-exclusive merchandise, and older merchandise offered with a heavy discount. For example, while we were there, all Hello Kitty items were 75% off!
We are planning to get our money’s worth out of our passes and have 3 trips planned for the remainder of this year and one already planned for next year! If you have any questions about the Universal Orlando Resort, please get in touch with us!
