EEEK! My 2-park Universal Orlando annual passes are about to EXPIRE!

I recently received an email from Universal Studios reminding me that my annual passes will be expiring December 29th and I can renew now for the special price of $150. This sparked some interesting conversation between my husband and I. We had already agreed, months ago, that this would be our last year using the Universal annual passes (at least for now). We've had the passes for a long time and don't really feel the same excitement we did when we first bought them. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE being able to visit Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure whenever I want. But we both feel that maybe it is time to move on. However, the thought of actually letting go of my preferred annual pass is not easy for me to accept!

My husband and I have had our Universal Orlando annual passes for 4 years. He bought them for me as Christmas gift right after we first moved to Orlando. I was thrilled! Here we were, newlyweds in a new city, with theme park annual passes! I was so excited to be taking advantage of the fact that we were living in Orlando, so close to the some of the world's best theme parks. After one year with the passes, we renewed with the special buy-one-year-get-one-free deal. After another 2 years with the passes, we were ready to take a break and wait until after the crowds for Wizarding World died down before going back. But then we got an offer for a $115 renewal rate, we decided to go for it. And now here we are again, deciding whether or not we should renew.

The 2-park preferred annual pass for Florida residents costs $220. It has no blackout dates, free parking, discounts on food and merchandise, and access to special passholder-only events and deals. In comparison, a one-day one-park ticket for Florida residents is $71. This does not include parking, which I'm pretty sure is around $14. So if we don't renew our passes but end up going to the parks twice in one year (which is very likely when guests visit from out of town), we will have spent more than this year's $150 price of the renewal annual passes.

So...after talking about it with my husband again, we decided that we will go ahead and renew the passes AGAIN! I mean, come on, it totally makes sense. Sure, the initial excitement of getting the passes for the first time may have worn off a bit....but I am still SO HAPPY to have the chance to get another fun-filled year at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.