The Annual Passholder night at Universal Orlando is a fun night at the park. In this post I am sharing what to expect at the AP night at Universal Orlando and how to plan for a great experience.
With unique character meet and greets and a night at the park dedicated to Annual Passholders it is no wonder this event sells out quickly.
Annual Passholder Night is free to annual passholders but you do need to make a reservation and once they are sold out, they are gone. There is no walk up the night of availability.
This fun event felt like a big party to celebrate and enjoy the park. We have experienced Annual Passholder Night twice. Once in 2017 at Islands of Adventure and the other in 2024 at Universal Studios Florida.
This year it will be held at Universal Studios Florida again. We found the entire experience to be a lot of fun and would go again if the dates aligned with our trips to Universal.
Annual Passholder Night at Universal Orlando 2025 Dates
2025 Passholder Night at Universal will be August 15 and August 16, Tickets are free but you must reserve them, and they sell out quickly. Reservations open June 26, 2025 after 12:00pm. I suggest trying to enter the queue and being ready by at least 11:45.
Know Before You Go
- Have your passholder ID ready when you registered along with everyone in your group. I registered my family of 5 and had to input everyone’s passholder ID number.
- Check-in begins before the official event begins. It was located at the soundstage near Universal Studios Florida.
- You will receive an email before the event. Read through it to be aware of the check-in procedure.
- When you arrive there will be a QR code to scan that will list all the events and perks of the night. This includes specialty menu items, meet and greets, and entertainment.
- Check out the VISA lounge for freebies and stop at the UOAP lounge to get your button and/or magnet for the night.
My Experience at Universal Orlando Annual Passholder Night
Check-in for our event started at 4:00pm but we had rope dropped Islands of Adventure that morning so we arrived around 5:30pm. We took the bus from Aventura Hotel and walked over to the soundstage where they were handing out wristbands.
There was a line but it moved quickly (around 15 minutes) and we had a meet and greet with Guy Diamond from Trolls. After there we made our way inside Universal Studios Florida for the Mega Movie Parade at 6:00pm.
The parades and shows were running according to the times on the Universal App. We saw the parade and the CineSational Night Show. After the parade we did dinner at Louie’s and walked through the summer tribute store.
The Annual Passholder Event didn’t officially start until 7:00pm so we walked around and went on a few rides. There was a really fun energy in the air during the event.
At the grass/stage area in New York there was a DJ with music, free samples of Sprite, photo-ops, and dancing. The event ran until 11:00pm and the music could be heard at the end of Hollywood Blvd. It was such a fun vibe.
Everyone was walking around and having a good time. The wait times for the rides were average, we really didn’t wait a long time to ride anything. We also spent most of our time walking around and taking it all in.
At 9:00pm we found a spot to watch the CineSational Lagoon Show, it is so good!! If you have a chance to see it you definitely want to.
There was a meet and greet with Men in Black including the dog, this line was the longest in the park! We also met Gunter and Rosita from Sing. You never really know what characters you might meet. Universal keeps the actual characters a surprise so you will have to walk around and discover characters for yourself.
Going into the Annual Passholder night I had low expectations. I had heard the previous year was a bust. We had gone to one in 2017 and loved it but the last few years we had heard it was not great.
We are also out of state APs and it is rare that the dates line up with a day we could visit, last year it did so we figured we had nothing to lose by going.
The event exceeded our expectations. We had such a blast. The park is not empty but it is full of guests that love Universal as much as we do and that makes for a fun night.
If you have an opportunity to attend the event I suggest you do! It is free and it is a fun night to celebrate the parks amongst theme park fans like yourself.

Leah has been planning and writing about Universal trips since 2016. She loves finding the best places to eat and stay during her visits to the park. Leah enjoys the little details that make visiting the parks so immersive and special, and sharing that with her readers.