A year ago, we took the plunge and bought annual passes to Walt Disney World. This week, we doubled-down and also bought a pass to Universal Orlando. I guess we are becoming fully-fledged Floridians now.
The Disney passes really paid out over the last year. We needed to use them at least 8x to payout the cost … and boy did we. We went to WDW 30+ times in the last 12 months. That averages out to visiting the parks 2x per week. Sometimes we would just zip over for lunch or a morning walk.
That experience – combined with our new ability to buy passes with a Florida Resident discount* – was enough to convince us to try the Universal Passes too. We’ve visited there many times but have always been more Disney-loyal. In fact, it kind of felt like we were cheating on our spouse to go there! 🙂
The Universal Orlando Parks are an extra 15-25 minutes drive for us, but the passes are a really good deal. They are about 40% cheaper than Disney’s and include premium (valet) parking, 1 hour early entry, and a skip-the-line pass after 4pm. (Of course, Disney has 4 parks to visit compared with 2 at Universal).
We have some friends visiting this weekend who wanted to try Universal, so we figured it was a good time to jump in. We only need to use them about 4x over the next year to have them payout. We’ll see how it goes.
What sports, theater, or museums do you have annual passes for? Other than our metro Zoo, these are the only ones we’ve done.
Image: (c) MrFireStation.com
*We’re still residents of Minnesota and have MN Driver’s Licenses, but both Disney & Universal consider you also a Florida Resident if you can show you have a permanent address here (with a lease, tax bill, or utility bill).
MrFireStation 
A gun club and the Reagan Museum.
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I bet the Reagan Library has some interesting speakers / events.
Are you back home yet?
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You are correct about the Reagan Library.
We just completed day 10 of being evacuated. Our next door neighbors just called after visiting their house and ours. We are still without electricity and the water has still not been checked out to be free of toxic burn byproducts. Our immediate neighborhood where everyone takes brush clearance made it through relatively unscathed. I tell new people that just move into the neighborhood that the time to worry about fires is long before the fires happen. Cut your brush and fire harden your home.
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Huntington Library and Gardens. Since we have a condo we refer to the wonderful place as “our backyard”, albeit a five minute drive away.
Klaus, I’m glad that your property remains. I know how much you work to keep the property fire resistant. My neighbors up Lake Avenue in Altadena prided themselves about the lush neighborhood with overhanging trees and extensive shrubbery (small trees). the look was warm and inviting but contributed to the spread of fire. I don’t blame them for that and even with good fire proof landscaping this would have been brutal as the fire began when the wind was at its highest.
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That’s great! I spent SO much time in libraries when I was a kid. I’d love to be in a Friends of Public Library group and see what they need help with.
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Not th
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