According to BlogMickey.com sources, Universal Orlando has begun sending out surveys to Annual Passholders as they look to offer an Annual Pass for Epic Universe. The survey presented a wide variety of options, including discounted tickets, multi-year Annual Pass options, and more. Here’s what we’ve heard!
UPDATE: Since publishing this article, even more people have reached out with information, including new-to-us options. We’ve updated this article with additional information.
Epic Universe Considering Multi-Year Annual Passes and More
I’ll start with a caveat. This is a survey. Nothing discussed here has been officially announced by Universal Orlando Resort, and there is no guarantee that any of these options will be implemented. In fact, with so many different options, there’s a guarantee that most of these options will not be implemented. Here’s what we’ve heard of so far.
Multi-Year, Locked-In Annual Passes
Universal presented multiple Annual Pass type options, but some of the most interesting offerings were multi-year, locked-in Annual Passes. Universal asked guests about a 2-year, locked-in Annual Pass, a 3-year, locked-in Annual Pass, and a 4-year, locked-in Annual Pass.
This would be a massive departure from the current industry standard of an Annual Pass being for a single year. Universal says that multi-year, locked-in Annual Pass options would come with a lower per-year price. That said, it would require a multi-year commitment of either 2 years or 4 years. We haven’t heard of other timeframes for multi-year, locked-in Annual Passes, but it’s possible that Universal could be surveying guests about 3-year or even 5-year Passes.
Universal asked guests what they would be willing to pay for these multi-year Annual Passes. While the multi-year Annual Passes would be discounted versus a year-to-year renewal, Universal did consider adding further restrictions to visitation. One such restriction would be required theme park reservations.
Required Theme Park Reservations
With multi-year Annual Passes, guest would be required to make a theme park reservation. This sounds like it would be similar to how Walt Disney World requires Annual Passholders to make a reservation to visit.
While the Walt Disney World theme park reservation system is largely pointless, a reservation system for Epic Universe makes a lot of sense, given the long wait times and ride reliability issues that the park is facing.
At one point in the survey, we’re told that Universal noted that demand is still high and that they would need to take steps to manage capacity and crowds while still finding a way to offer an Annual Pass option.
In our opinion, theme park reservations are a massive wildcard. If Epic Universe has the availability of Disneyland park reservations (historically), an Annual Pass would be unusable. If, however, Epic Universe reservation availability is closer to Walt Disney World, it would be an acceptable trade-off. We imagine it will be the former, given the struggles that the theme park is facing.
Traditional Annual Pass Upgrade, but Price Doubles
Another option presented to guests was that Universal Orlando Resort is considering a more traditional Annual Pass option. With this option, there was still a theme park reservation requirement. The catch is that a traditional Annual Pass would be an upgrade to your current Annual Pass and that the total price would roughly double.
Multi-Day Add-Ons
Another option presented was multi-day add-on tickets. This would allow existing Annual Passhodlers the option to visit on multiple days during a specific visitation window. Some options that we were told about were single-day add-ons, up to 10-day add-ons. Visitation windows ranged from a few months to an entire year.
Again, multi-day add-on products would require theme park reservations. It seems like every option we’ve heard of includes a requirement to make theme park reservations to visit.
Weekend-Only Annual Pass
Yet another option was that of a weekend-only Annual Pass. As it turns out, both Saturday and Sunday have the lowest average wait times for any days of the week, traditionally. This weekend-only Annual Pass would allow Passholders to visit Epic Universe on the “slowest” days of the week, keeping in mind that the park is still experiencing some very long average wait times.
Our Thoughts on Epic Universe Annual Pass Surveys
As Universal Epic Universe approaches its 1-year anniversary of the grand opening, it should be looking at expanding ticket options. In fact, executives recently talked about the need to improve capacity at the theme park in order to expand ticket options. Right now, it seems like the biggest hurdle to clear would be ride reliability. If Universal is able to do that, we’re hopeful that this new survey indicates that Epic Universe Annual Pass options are around the corner.
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