Universal Orlando celebrates annual passholders with Passholder Night and Appreciation Days

Universal Orlando Resort is once again celebrating its annual passholders with over a month of exclusive experiences and discounts.

Passholder Appreciation Days kick off on Aug. 15 and run through Sept. 30, and the after-hours Passholder Night takes place Aug. 26.

More details are expected soon for both the Appreciation Days and Passholder Night, but previous years include giveaways, exclusive and priority entrance to the parks, limited time dining options, exclusive merchandise and discounted resort rates.

Last year’s UOAP Appreciation Days included an exclusive menu of items from Lombard’s Seafood and Grille, Mythos Restaurant, Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, Voodoo Doughnut, Antojitos Authentic Mexican Food, Strong Water Tavern, Trattoria del Porto, Islands Dining Room and more.

Universal is also aiming to bring in more annual passholders by bringing back its special offer of three months free with the purchase of a new pass or a renewal.

The deal is available for Florida residents and those around the U.S. and Canada — though non-Florida residents pay a bit more per pass.

The three free months deal also applies to all annual pass tiers — Premier ($789), Preferred ($529), Power ($374) and Season ($324).

The deal and passholder celebrations come at an auspicious time for movie fans, as Universal Studios Florida will soon fully open the new Minion Land — featuring Minion-themed food, drinks, merchandise, character experiences and the new Villain-Con Minion Blast gaming attraction.

Universal Orlando’s wildly popular Halloween Horror Nights also returns starting Sept. 1 with haunted houses themed after The Last of Us, Stranger Things 4 and Chucky.

At the same time Universal adds perks to its passholder program, Disney World has caught flak in recent years for the things it offers — and doesn’t — to its passholders.

Disney World has had an annual pass program since the early 1980s, and pre-pandemic the passes were broken up into tiers based on Florida residency and blockout dates.

Like other theme parks, Disney paused sales of annual passes during the pandemic. Then it introduced a new tiered system of passes that include Pixie Dust ($399), Pirate ($749), Sorcerer ($969) and the Incredi-Pass ($1,399). The Incredi-Pass is the only pass available to non-Florida residents.

Disney World only recently resumed the sales of annual passes after doing so temporarily a couple of times when the new tiered system launched. The passes include up to 20% off merchandise, savings on some dining options, free standard parking and occasional passholder exclusive freebies like magnets.

These perks, however, have remained largely the same even as pass prices have steadily increased. Add to that the frustration and confusion felt by all Disney World park guests trying to navigate the current reservation system and new Genie+.

But even before the pandemic hit, longtime passholders complained about not feeling prioritized in the Disney parks. From a business standpoint, that is true.

It’s no secret or stretch to say that passholders — especially those who live in Orlando (or Anaheim) — spend less money when visiting. So, it made sense for Disney World (and Disneyland) to temporarily pause sales of new annual passes in an effort to “mix up” the types of guests at the parks.

Passholders also stay at resorts less often and are less likely to spend money for extra experiences like Genie+ and individual Lightning Lanes. While Universal’s skip-the-line program has always been an extra cost, the arrival of the Genie+ program was still salt in the wound for Disney guests after years of getting free FastPasses.

Back in May, Disney World announced a few changes to “improve guest experience” at the parks, including loosening the reservations policy, adding “good to go” passholder days and bringing back the Disney Dining Plan.

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This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2023.