One Universal Studios resort has increased the cost of its Annual Pass, but it still comes out on top of Disney when it comes to value for money.
Annual Passes have changed massively in the past few years. With the onset of COVID-19, many theme parks took the temporary closures as an opportunity to reset their pass systems.
For example, Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort temporarily paused sales for their respective programs before introducing replacements in 2021. While Disney World debuted a rather convoluted tiered system composed of the Incredi-Pass, Sorcerer Pass, Pirate Pass, and Pixie Dust Pass, Disneyland opted for a system known as Magic Key.
Both systems rely on park reservations – at least, for the most part. This has made both equally unpopular with legacy pass holders, with Disneyland Resort even sued by holders of its since-axed Dream Key.
They claimed that Disney had breached its contractual promises to Dream Key purchasers and violated the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act by not providing park reservations as promised to pass holders, with Disney ultimately offering to pay approximately $67 to guests who purchased a Dream Key pass from August 25, 2021, to October 25, 2021.
In comparison, Universal Annual Passholders – whether they hold passes for Universal Studios Hollywood or Universal Orlando Resort – can enjoy unlimited visits to the parks, totally reservation-free, plus the odd Passholder Appreciation Day and random offers such as free extra months.
However, they have increased in price. That’s not limited to Universal’s U.S. theme parks; Universal Studios Japan also unveiled a price increase on its official website this week.
As of November 5, its Universal Prime Annual Pass Standard – which comes with a variety of blackout dresses – will increase in price from ¥20,000 ($140) to ¥21,000 ($147).
This is assumed to correlate with the upcoming opening of the park’s new land, Donkey Kong Country, which was delayed earlier this year. This serves as an expansion to the park’s SUPER NINTENDO WORLD and will also feature at Universal Orlando Resort’s Epic Universe when it opens in 2025.
Other lands at the Osaka park include Hollywood, New York City, San Francisco (which boasts no attractions), Minion Park, Jurassic Park, Amity Village, Universal Wonderland (complete with three sub-areas: Snoopy Studios, Hello Kitty’s Fashion Avenue, and Street Fun Zone), WaterWorld, and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
In the grand scheme of things, the price increase of this Annual Pass is relatively small. The resort still offers better value for money in terms of cost per visit than Tokyo Disney Resort, which made the most radical change to its pass program of any Disney park post-COVID: it axed it completely.
While the resort’s owner, the Oriental Land Company, has teased potentially bringing them back at some point in the future, for now, guests must purchase individual day tickets or Multi-Visit Passports for Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea.
Much has been made about Japan’s theme park tickets costing significantly less than theme parks in the U.S. Earlier this year, the Japanese yen fell to its lowest against the dollar in decades, spurring plenty of tourists to make the long-distance trip to finally check out Tokyo Disney Resort, Universal Studios Japan, and other tourist attractions.
Which theme park’s annual pas do you think offers the best value for money?