PowerPass?

[Mfarquar]

Has anyone every purchased the Universal PowerPass - the lowest level Universal annual pass?

We will be staying onsite for 1 week and will bounce back-and-forth between the pool and parks. We may venture off to Disney for 1 day, but would like to have the option of visiting Universal more than the 4 days offered by it's "biggest" multi ticket. I will not take advantage of the annual pass discount for the hotels, because we were sent a code for a room discount which is greater than the APH discount.

I understand there are blockout dates for the PowerPass and they are currently listed as follows:

2014 Blockout Dates:
Universal Studios Florida:
January 1 - 3, 2014
April 12 – 25, 2014
June 14 – July 31, 2014
December 19 - 31, 2014

Islands of Adventure:
January 1 - 3, 2014
April 12 – 25, 2014
December 19-31, 2014


All benefits and blockout dates are valid on a calendar year basis and are subject to availability and to change without notice. Not valid for the Hogwarts™ Express during blockout dates.

So, my questions are:

1) The part about the blockout dates being "subject to availability and to change without notice" makes me a little nervous. Currently, we are absolutely fine with the dates we would like to visit. However, does anyone know of Universal ever switching around/changing the previously posted blockout dates for this pass?

2) Has anyone ever upgraded their pass? I'm thinking if I buy this pass only to find out that blackout dates have been added, is is possible to simply upgrade our passes to the next level so blockout dates are not an issue? I would be OK with doing this and just make sure we book next year's trip 1 week earlier (and utilize the APH discount if I wasn't provided a better offer code). I may also meet family down there this November outside of the blockout dates...

Has anyone had any experience with this pass and can speak to how often (if at all) Universal fiddles with these dates?

[dragon73]

Hi There!
I hold a Preferred Pass, but my husband has a Power Pass. We did it this way because at one time, only the Preferred could get the hotel discounts. Not any longer, however, as they have opened the discounts up to all passholders now. I will be opting for the Power Pass at renewal time as the hotel discounts were the only reason that I used to have the Preferred.

To answer your questions - the only date changes that they pulled on us were when the opened up more dates for the Power. Example - up until recently, August was blocked out until the 14th for Universal Studios park. However, late July, my husband received an e-mail that they were lifting the ban for August. Of course, it made us want to jump the next plane for Diagon Alley, but we're sitting tight until our pre-planned trip in December. I don't recall them ever increasing the blockout days once the calendar was published.

And yes, it is very easy to upgrade your pass if you find the need to do so. You can do it at any Guest Relations window.

Hope this helped - let me know if you have any other questions.

[Mfarquar]

Thank you so much! This is immensely helpful and very good news that they seem to reduce the number of blockout dates, rather than add them

It also give me piece of mind that I have the backup option of upgrading the pass while we're there. Even if we need to do an upgrade, it will still be less expensive/break even than purchasing one of the 14 day Orlando passes that include SeaWorld, Wet N' Wild and Aquatica (we're not interested in these parks).

Thanks so much for sharing your personal experience - it makes me a lot more confident in purchasing the PowerPass!