Universal Studios Hollywood Starts Rolling Out Date-Specific Pricing on One-Day Tickets

December 25, 2015, 9:20 PM · Universal Studios Hollywood is rolling out the nation's first dynamic pricing structure for one-day tickets to a major theme park, according to multiple reports from readers.

The new pricing structure discounts the price of a one-day ticket purchased online from $5 to $15 off the front-gate price of $95. The amount of the discount — $5, $10, or $15 — depends on the day of the visit, with the biggest discounts typically falling on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It appears that the price of buying a one-day ticket at the park will remain $95, regardless of the day you visit.

New dynamic pricing

Not all Internet users are seeing the dynamic pricing option, however. Inside Universal reported the change earlier today, but we could not confirm it when we visited Universal Studios Hollywood's website.

We asked our followers on Twitter, and some reported that clicking on Universal's "Buy Tickets Now" link directed them to a page on https://store.universalstudioshollywood.com/, where the dynamic pricing discounts are available, while others were sent to the old pages on https://tickets.universalstudioshollywood.com, where the dynamic pricing is not offered.

Universal has made no announcement about a pricing change, so we can't tell if there's an error in some readers getting the dynamic pricing option, or in some readers not getting that option.

Either way, if you were planning on buy tickets to visit Universal Studios Hollywood after Jan. 1, we recommend waiting until you can see the dynamic pricing option — or just clicking directly to https://store.universalstudioshollywood.com/ — so you can see if you can get a bigger discount for the day you wish to visit.

Earlier:

Replies (8)

December 25, 2015 at 9:26 PM · I was there today,this park has changed so much for the better. Had more Christmas decorations than DCA! Excited for when WWOHP opens!
December 26, 2015 at 3:04 AM · Am not surprised that dynamic pricing has arrived at theme parks. MLB, hotels and airlines already use it, it was just a matter of time before theme parks would use it to maximize capacity on less busy days.

December 26, 2015 at 10:34 AM · It could be an A-B test to see how dynamic pricing effects the purchase rate.
December 26, 2015 at 10:43 AM · Didn't expect that Universal would implement this before Disneyland/DCA would. All the talk has been about how Disney had surveyed its annual passholders in California and Florida about this type of price structure, and when they would adopt the dynamic pricing structure.

(By the way, this morning I was able to get to Universal's dynamic pricing discount page on my laptop with no problem, but not on my smart phone. Last night, my smart phone was able to get to the dynamic pricing discount page somehow.)

I wonder if this will lead to Disney bringing in its dynamic price structure sooner than they would have otherwise. It would be interesting if Universal adopts a price structure/price increase first, and then Disney is the one to follow (usually the other way around?).

I also think that this type of price structure, where there are discounts available to consumers for visiting on less crowded dates compared to the full-price ticket, will go over much better than what Disney had been considering, i.e. surcharges for visiting on more crowded dates over the (former) full-price one-day ticket.

December 26, 2015 at 3:30 PM · I'm not surprised to see this happening in the industry, but I am surprised to see USH implement it first. That said, this isn't truly dynamic pricing but is instead offering varying discounts based on the date of visit. It will be interesting to see how this works, and if it proves successful I'd expect to see it at USO within a year as well.
December 26, 2015 at 7:39 PM · As a Premium Pass Holder (yes, we are a dying breed. My PAP dies on March 20th. and I'm not renewing to an SP.), how will this affect the AP/SP discounted "companion" ticket we get for a non-passholder friend who joins us for a day at the park? Universal gives us a $12.00 discount on companion tickets when we show our pass. This new online discount ticket potentially gives the "Muggles" a better discounted rate than someone who accompanies an AP/SP holder for the day.
December 27, 2015 at 10:28 PM · Surveying your annual passholders about dynamic pricing for one day tickets seems pretty stupid. What would a passholder know about buying a one-day ticket?

If passholders were surveyed it was an error.

December 28, 2015 at 2:25 PM · Take a look at Robert Niles' article from late May about the survey Disney sent out about introducing a dynamic price structure for park tickets: ttp://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201505/4581/

I can only assume it was sent to annual passholders, since Disney doesn't normally collect contact info from people who buy day tickets. Possibly from people who booked Disney vacations in the past?

Robert probably knows best who those people were who sent him the survey screenshots.

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