Stage 1: Excitement

It started simply enough. I got a text message from an old friend. She was asking for any tips I could share about Universal Orlando Resort. She and her son were going to skip a Spring Break trip this year, but she got a great deal on, “3-day express tickets” at a warehouse club store. They already had a place they could stay, so they decided to make a low-budget road trip of it. They were excited to check out the new Epic Universe and for the road-trip adventure. She was just looking for any suggestions I might have for a budget trip like this. When she told me exactly what the “great deal” was on those tickets, the first thing I said was, “at that price, are you sure that you actually bought park admission?”

Stage 2: Panic

She texted me a screenshot of the product she had purchased. Sure enough, in the very small print that could only be read by zooming in on my smartphone screen were the plain-text words, “Theme park admission is not included.” If she hadn’t texted me for suggestions, this issue would not have been discovered until they were literally standing at the gates, waiting to enter a Universal Orlando theme park. (I couldn’t help hearing John Candy in my head saying, “Sorry folks, park’s closed – for you!”). But this was a totally solvable problem. Within minutes I’d helped her purchase 3-Day Park-to-Park Universal Orlando Theme Park tickets that included admission to Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Universal’s Epic Universe, and (after I mentioned the option) Universal’s Volcano Bay water park.

Stage 3: Relief

With admission tickets now purchased, to go along with those bargain Express Passes, I helped my friend get the Express Passes and tickets linked to her Universal Orlando smartphone app. As a bonus, buying admission through the travel trade meant that they qualify for Early Entry to whichever of the parks Universal designates for Early Entry during their visit. (And I reminded her that just because they have the option, they don’t have to use it or use it every day. If they need a sleep-in morning, don’t stress about early entry that day)! We’ll go over some other tips and suggestions over the next few days as they prepare for their road trip. But now, at the end of a very long drive, they will be relaxed and poised to enjoy their experience. If she hadn’t sent that text message, or if I hadn’t thought to ask about what she’d purchased already, it would have been an entirely different kind of vacation story.

We’re in this together

Don’t avoid calling your travel agent because, “this is just a budget trip” or because you think it’s too small to merit a travel professional’s attention. First, we’re happy to help you get the vacation experience you want at the best possible price. That’s always our goal. But too often, we see travelers who think that they’re keeping their costs down by going the DIY route spend money on things that don’t really matter to them, while “saving” money by giving up things that are important to them about the trip. I’m a travel professional. It’s my job to know that Universal Orlando sells standalone Express Passes that do not include park admission (and to be familiar enough with their pricing to be suspicious of a deal that sounds too good to be true). As a consumer, you don’t know what you don’t know. And that’s OK too – why would you expect to know all of these things that are outside of your areas of expertise? At Fantastic Memories Travel, we have only one goal – to help each guest have as close as possible to their own ideal vacation experience. If the ideal won’t fit within the budget, we’ll help you manage the tradeoffs to stay as close to your ideal experience as possible. And if the trip you’re envisioning really is “too small,” or something that we can’t add value to for you, we’ll let you know. Because standing at the gates of a theme park being told that you don’t have admission tickets, and you need to go stand in the Will Call line during spring break to buy them isn’t anyone’s ideal vacation experience. Here’s to making Fantastic Memories instead!