Universal tickets when no one rides anything

Tough situation. I remember back in the day (I'm talking the 1980s) Disney used to have a retail pass if a guest had wanted to go into a park to purchase a specific piece of merchandise. They'd pay for a ticket and would get a refund if they returned in a set amount of time. But I'm not sure if that's a thing at UO ... Or even if it still exists at Disney.

Try reaching out to Universal. It doesn't hurt to take a swing at it.

I agree with TH Creative. Maybe try reaching out to Universal directly, or someone within their communications or corporate divisions. Hopefully they will be able to do something or offer a solution that ends up working :)

Thanks. I chatted with a rep on the website and was told no. I didn’t have a lot of hope. Thought it would be worth an ask.

I’m not one to go begging for handouts so it’s a no for now.

Sorry to hear that lujab2004.

The only other suggestions, is to maybe look into one of the 5K Races? I know they have special discounts for park admission (at least Universal Hollywood does). Speaking of which, I'm sure this probably isn't an option, but what about a trip to Universal Hollywood? Would that cheaper than Orlando? (USH also has the Studio Tram Tour which could something the entire family could do)

If your family for the most part won't be riding anything, it's technically not a theme destination trip, so you could do other general SoCal / LA things & still see Wizarding World.

Otherwise, maybe look into something like Rock The Universe (it just happened last weekend), that's a Christian music fest that happens at Universal, but the tix get you access to the parks)

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately we live in South Carolina. About a 7 hour drive to Orlando. We wouldn’t save anything.

I think this is a question you might want to send to a different part of UO than the reps on the website. In my experience, the social media channel staff have more authority or flexibility than the average customer service staff member...

If you don't get joy there, perhaps a nice respectful letter to the appropriate executive's office might get you luck.

Unfortunately, with destination parks offering so many non-ride attractions and no way to police what visitors actually do inside, your chance of getting any sort of special discount is slim to none. It is unfortunate for those who cannot experience everything the park offers, but that's the nature of pay one price admission.

If you're needing to do the trip on a budget, my advice would be to buy two-day, one park per day tickets and see one side of the Wizarding World on each day. Unless you plan to ride the Hogwarts Express, the two park ticket isn't necessary. Combining that with staying off site and driving down should enable you to do a 3-night trip to Universal for under $1,500, which is about half of what you're estimating.

I would highly recommend not taking Chad H's advice and contacting anyone else. Places like Disney, Universal, Busch, Six Flags, or wherever constantly get flooded with requests for discounted or free tickets for whatever circumstance. Try working in one of the call centers, it happens constantly all day: "My husband died last week and I can't afford to take my kids, can I get discount/tickets?" "I have terminal cancer and I can't afford to go, can I get discount/tickets?" "I can't ride anything because of x health reasons, can I get discount/tickets?" "I just want to go shopping I promise not to ride anything, can I get discount/tickets?"

It is the most annoying thing on the face of the planet for the people that work there and they get so many requests all day every day there's no way they can accommodate.

They do give or sell discounted tickets to various charities that deal with things like that, but they won't give anything to an individual. This is Orlando you are talking about, the place is packed all the time, they don't want or have the space for all these people who want to go there who aren't going to pay.

I can confirm that the Retail pass at Universal Orlando was also a thing at least back when I worked there in the late 90s and early 00s. The way it worked at the time was you'd pay for a one day one park ticket at Guest Relations and then would have one hour to go into the park, do your shopping and return to the Guest Relations window outside of the park. At that time, you would have your admission purchase refunded.
I don't know if this is still a thing, but with all of the online shopping opportunities and the merchandise available at CityWalk now I kind of doubt it.
Like others also mentioned, there are a lot of attractions that are not ride based or have any health restrictions at all, so I must say, your party would still find many ways to enjoy a day in any of Central Florida's theme parks without going on any attractions that might cause an issue based on your health conditions.