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Buy theme parks tickets months in advance?

Universal Orlando: Hi! I know you can buy the tickets online to save money and time the day you go, I was just wondering how many months in advance you can do that. Thank you!

From Faby D
Posted January 3, 2013 at 1:17 PM
Hi! My family and I are traveling to Orlando next September and we want to go to Universal Studios. My question is, as we have limited dollars to expend online, can we buy the tickets now and get retire and use them in September? Or is it too far?

I know you can buy the tickets online to save money and time the day you go, I was just wondering how many months in advance you can do that. Thank you!


Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

From Brian Emery
Posted January 4, 2013 at 12:35 PM
I usually buy tickets several months in advance. I do not believe there is an expiration date on them… You can call Universal to ask if you are concerned..

Have a great Trip.. Harry Potter is Awesome…

And thanks for visiting the USA.

From Don Neal
Posted January 7, 2013 at 6:41 AM
The Orlando parks don't typically offer any discounts for purchasing tickets in advance from my experience. The are however sales or promotions from time to time that can get you a discounted ticket but they are not usually time or date sensitive. Because tickets don't usually expire until used, there is no benefit to the parks in discounting advanced purchases. It is however usually cheaper to purchase on line as opposed to paying at the gate.

There are also ticket discounters like "Undercover Tourist" and "Orlando Fun Tickets" that offer slight discounts compared to purchasing from the parks themselves but it seems the past few years that discount has not been as great as in years past. I assume this is tied to the economy and not being able to sell at large volumes.

From Russell Meyer
Posted January 7, 2013 at 10:02 AM
Contrary to what Don has posted above, all of the Orlando theme parks offer some type of discount to visitors purchasing tickets somewhere other than the front gate. Now, the level of discount varries depending on if it is combined with a hotel stay or which park we're talking about.

Universal specificially discounts tickets about 10% for online pre-purchase. The tickets do expire, but not typically for a year or more. However, you must use all of the days within 13 days of the first day they are scanned at the turnstyles. There is typically no advantage to purchasing months in advance, but considering that admission prices can go up at any point (Universal raised prices twice last year), it's often advantageous to purchase your tickets once you've made a non-refundable purchase related to your trip like airline tickets or vacation rental.

From Don Neal
Posted January 8, 2013 at 11:59 AM
Me thinks Russel needs to re-read my post =D

We said the exact same thing ;)

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