So, everyone should know about this bu now, Since November this has been going on, and was sceduled to end 12-24-01. This deal has been doing so well, it has been extended until the end of January. If you do Buy a year and don't come back, it doesn't matter, thay are not going to come after you. come twice pay it off.:)

well...now if you buy a season pass...Universal can suck for an entire year of your time! I mean...no shows hardly...no "street" entertainment....atmosphere cut back to the bare minimum...why pay $43.00??

Originally posted by albondigas
well...now if you buy a season pass...Universal can suck for an entire year of your time! I mean...no shows hardly...no "street" entertainment....atmosphere cut back to the bare minimum...why pay $43.00??

That's easy. For the discounts at Citywalk.

Can someone give me an idea of what comes with an annual pass? I go to USH once ever 3-4 years, so at first I wasn't too interested in this promotion. However, I have a friend who might be interested in going soon, so I figure hey, I might as well get the pass as long as I go before the end of this month.

Are the discounts at City Walk that great?

The discount that I love at Citywalk is at the Sketchers store. It's 20% off all shoes. Most other discounts are only like 10%. I'm sorry I don't have the list that tells you everywhere in Citywalk that you get a discount, but it seems like a lot of them do, the restaurants too. Maybe the info is on their website?

Thanks, MickeyD! I'll probably check out their site...but it's so much more fun to get info from fellow MousePadders! Besides, if I can't make it there before the end of this month, it's a moot point....

Here's a Bunch Of Info...

Blackout Dates for the USH Annual Pass are usually weekends in Summer, and the BIG & Busy Holidays. there should be 30 blackout days for each year. Discounts are around 15-30% for park tickets, park merchandise, and citywalk merchandise, alond with food all over the place. inquire withing each restaurant for discount details.

Sorry albondigas, but....
WaterWorld, Rugrats, Animal Planet Live!, WildWildWildWest Stunt Show, Blues Brothers Revue, Jurrasic Park, E. T. The Ride, T2 3D, Tram Tour (Brand New), Backdraft, Back To The Future The Ride, Lucy A Tribute, (The New Cinemagic - Coming Spring 2002)
And there are ALWAYS characters and "Stars" walking around for pictures. It's always nice to go early in the afternoon, catch a show or two, walk down Citywalk, and catch a good flick. :)

Sorry albondigas, but....
WaterWorld, Rugrats, Animal Planet Live!, WildWildWildWest Stunt Show, Blues Brothers Revue, Jurrasic Park, E. T. The Ride, T2 3D, Tram Tour (Brand New), Backdraft, Back To The Future The Ride, Lucy A Tribute, (The New Cinemagic - Coming Spring 2002)
And there are ALWAYS characters and "Stars" walking around for pictures

Not quite.....Rugrats is gone..Wild West is gone as of Jan. 6th, CInemagic..as you pointed out is down for a while...along with Backdraft. So technically..there are two "arena seating" shows...Water World and the Animal Show". The other is the BLues Brothers.

FYI..BTTF is the exact same ride as Star Tours, only the movie is different, and as far as the "Stars" walking around..there has been a very deep budget cut. As opposed to earlier when there was entertainment such as Doo-Wop singers, roller skating waiters and waitresses at Mels Diner, Alvin and the Chipmunks show, Beetlejuice Review, and nightime summer entertainment and Christmas holiday themed events and music.

T2-3D is technically considered a "ride" by the management ( the floor shift is how they came up with that determination) so as to not pay the actors a per show rate as opposed to the other shows there (with the exception of the Animal Show. That is a flat rate payment to an outside contractor). That is why there are so liitle shows during a day, so as to not have to pay the actors.

SO technically you can see...Waterworld, Animal show, Blues Brothers as the only shows...the lower lot has ONLY the Lucy Exhibit ...rides are Jurassic Park..the Loop..because the ride is just that...one loop and ET.

Upper Lot has BTTF and T2-3D.

No other "street" type entertainment while waiting four hours for the next Water World to begin.

To be fair BTTF is not the same ride as Star Tours - there's a huge difference between being in an enclosed vehicle with the front "window" playing a movie while the vehicle moves and being in a moving open-top car while the movie surrounds you on a giant screen. I think BTTF is old and tired (and badly needs a new print of the film), but when it was new, it blew Star Tours out of the water.


David

I can't seem to get the info page from USH's website re: the special offer. I know that there was a coupon that was required for this deal (late last fall). Is that still required, or can anyone who walks up to the ticket booth get this offer?

I"m not saying that the rides(Star Tours and BTTF) look physically the same...what I am saying is....its the exact same motion...in other words...its the exact same program..only the film is different. Its got the exact same motion, the exact same dips..etc. To put it a third way...if you took the star wars feature and cchanged to the movie to BBTF it would be the same ride.

its the exact same motion...in other words...its the exact same program..only the film is different. Its got the exact same motion, the exact same dips..etc. To put it a third way...if you took the star wars feature and cchanged to the movie to BBTF it would be the same ride.

Uhhh... you're wrong again. While Star Tours and BTTF utilize the same technology, the ride "program" is completely different. They filmed the BTTF ride's "live motion" first and *after* they filmed what was to be the live motion part of the ride, they programed the cars to move to what was filmed. I'm sure to some people it may seem the same, but I assure you it's not.

Originally posted by Someone You Dont Know


Uhhh... you're wrong again. While Star Tours and BTTF utilize the same technology, the ride "program" is completely different. They filmed the BTTF ride's "live motion" first and *after* they filmed what was to be the live motion part of the ride, they programed the cars to move to what was filmed. I'm sure to some people it may seem the same, but I assure you it's not.

Whoa.....wrong...again?? Please tell me the first time....in fact...i made some corrections to the other post. I dont want to argue any points or start a flame war here....The point is...that those of us living in southern California take for granted that these theme parks are in our back yard. (And some of "us" take this waaaay too seriously).

What I am saying is that for those who might read this, who have saved a lifetime to come out here and experience these theme parks, is that Universal has in the last few years taken away more and more entertainment without replacing them and yet they dont drop their prices to compensate. Sure, some people who have never been there and will never be there again will never know. Again...for those of us who experience going tho these places often...it really makes no difference. But for those, who have saved and may only make it out here once in their lifetime or once every ten years, their dollar is better spent elsewhere.
I'm not going to even address the Star Tours/BTTF topic....It will only serve to enflame and again..this is all about opinions. Facts don't seem to make a difference to some.
So when you say..."wrong again" I backed up my first post. I wont bother backing up this one since it wont matter anyway.
Please choose your words carefully...thank you

My "wrong again" comment was in response to your comments about the BTTF/Star Tours rides. It wasn't in response to your other comments (which I happen to *agree* with). Universal is going downhill fast. You didn't mention the removal of Halloween Horror Nights last year. Doing so was quite shocking because Universal practically invented the Horror genre. It's also funny that Knott's - a local theme park not geared towards tourists, although they gladly accept them when they do stumble upon the park - has managed to become the Halloween event leader in the world even with its lack of movie studio power and money.

You mention the Rugrats show being gone. I thought they decided to save the show for weekends instead of getting rid of it all together?

Universal did present the Rugrats show on the weekends but discontinued that. I did, however, forget that they put in the "Blast Zone". Its an area where kids (but everyone gets in) can shoot water at each other and also get wet through a giant water bucket dumping gallons and gallons of water every few minutes. Inside the Blast Zone is a playground area where kids can wing and shoot plastic balls out of air cannons at each other.
You are also correct about the Halloween Horror Nights.
It was meant to be a five year plan but after 4 Universal gave up. After the third year, Universal canceled it (and most of the Halloween staff kept working anyway) and then decided to have the event.
This past year, although Universal may officially cite budget and the 9/11 incident, Universal lost two very key creative people who had been the force behind the event and could not or would not come up with others who would take on such a role. Hence....no Halloween. However, since KBF has been at it for 30 years now, any others are just imitations. KBF certainly has it down to a science and probably makes more in profit from the month of October than their entire year.

You also forgot about the Mummy maze.

David

The mummy maze has been scheduled to come down (several times) for a while now. As of this writing I dont know if it is up or not..therefore I didnt comment on it.

It was there on Wednesday, and since there's a new Mummy film due out this spring, I wouldn't expect to see the maze depart any time soon.

David

The Mummy Maze was never meant to be a fulltime attraction. It was supposed to close in August but was kept open so Universal could keep its name in the local papers that advertised theme parks that had Halloween events. Though I doubt the maze will stay open for much longer, even with the new Scorpion King movie coming out. Since the maze holds so many props from the second Mummy movie I'm sure they're going to be raiding it so they can fill up the old Cinemagic soundstage for their "new and improved" special effects show. If the maze is indeed still open, it's because it's cheap to operate and staff. Universal won't be able to attract customers if they close yet another attraction. Though they're already doing horribly as attendence and the look of the park clearly shows.

Originally posted by Dlandmom
Can someone give me an idea of what comes with an annual pass? I go to USH once ever 3-4 years, so at first I wasn't too interested in this promotion. However, I have a friend who might be interested in going soon, so I figure hey, I might as well get the pass as long as I go before the end of this month.

Are the discounts at City Walk that great?

Hi Dlandmom!

I'm reposting my analysis that I posted in an earlier thread:

1. There are two levels of passes: the Regular and the Deluxe.
2. The Regular is $43; the Deluxe is $69(?).
3. The Regular has 30 blackout days (Thanksgiving, Christmas week, Memorial Day weekend and summer weekends mostly). The Deluxe is good any day USH is open (closed on Xmas).
4. Various levels of discounts on Citywalk restaurants, plus 20% on food in the park and 25% off merchandise.
5. 15% discount on admission for up to 6 add'l guests.
6. Here's the kicker: parking is NO LONGER part of the annual pass. You must pay an additional $30 for parking.

After thinking about it, the BF and I decided that this so-called discount is actually a price increase -- not a discount. The "old" regular pass was unlimited admission and free parking until 4:00 p.m. I believe it sold for about $70 or so.

So basically, we believe the Deluxe pass has had parking removed, and they added a cheaper restricted pass.

We used to use our USH passes in order to go to matinees at Citywalk -- we probably paid for our annual passes just in saving the $7 parking fee alone.

We decided we probably will go ahead and purchase the Deluxe passes and have one of us buying the parking add-on. Unless someone here can confirm that parking is still included as part of the Deluxe pass (we couldn't tell).

Hope this helps,
Sheila

P.S. The BF and I decided to not buy the annual passes after all. There was really no compelling reason to do so as we burned out on visiting there from having APs from two years ago....

well, word has it that it's going to be extended again. i'm not sure though, i've only heard that rumor.