The Universal Orlando Resort is testing a new “token experience” with a small group of Annual Passholder for Universal’s Mardi Gras International Flavors of Carnaval 2023. The experience is only available to randomly selected Universal Orlando Resort Annual Passholders, and we were lucky enough to get selected. After we received the first e-mail notifying us we were selected, we registered to participate in a second e-mail. What’s the “token experience” all about? Let’s check it out!

Here’s how the official Discover Universal Blog described the experience: “The Mardi Gras Test Experience is for a select number of UOAP super fans to enjoy the Resort in a whole new way! You can earn points from home, buy points, and find points in Universal Orlando Resort to redeem for tokens. Each of the three tokens available for redemption offer a unique experience.”

There are three token types in the game:

My Say: You tell us!

• The My Say token lets us hear from you. We’ll ask you to vote five times to influence UOAP benefits at the Resort.  These include exclusive entrances, swag, experiences, and more. We want our super fans weighing in!

My Way: Leave your mark! 

• Ever wish you could create your own souvenir? The My Way token let’s you create and customize a digital Mardi Gras button which you can drop in the Resort! You can also view and react to other users’ buttons in the AR-viewer. 

My Day: Just for you!

• The first 150 super fans to redeem the My Day token will unlock access to a special Mardi Gras party in the Resort – for the token holder and one guest only! 

Wondering how to earn points? There’s three ways, here’s how each works:

Play to Earn at Home

• Complete tasks like watching a video, taking a survey, or posting on your fave social media handle.

Buy Points

•  You can purchase packs of 5 points or 25 points from our store. Purchased points will need to be used or will expire when the test ends on March 5.

Find Points in the Resort

• Points have been hidden around the Resort for you to collect! Use the map to get close and the AR-Viewer to capture points!

One of the easiest ways to earn points from home is by watching a video clip for Universal’s new “Checked In” vacation planning video. We watched the clip and earned points. How easy was that? You can also earn points for following Universal Orlando Resort on social media, posting photos, and joining the Discord community. Don’t forget you can always purchase points to redeem for tokens if aren’t able to make it to the parks to pick up more points.

Personally, our favorite way to earn points was the survey. Universal Orlando truly values their passholders and their opinions and you can feel the love throughout the survey questions. We always participate in surveys in the park, and we encourage you to do so as well. Who doesn’t want to influence the future of the parks? We’re going to share with you the survey questions just because we want to show you how well Universal Orlando Resort listens to their passholders!

What’s been your favorite UOAP Experience?

They’re listening! They know how we felt about the end of the monthly buttons! If you’re a new UOAP, you might not know, but monthly buttons were a big thing for passholders and many people were disappointed when that perk ended. Maybe we could see this return sometime in the future. The survey inquires about what perk you miss the most and would like to see brought back, including UOAP entrances and Passholder Appreciation Days.

Buttons or magnets? This question isn’t fair! There should be a “why not both?” option! This was the most difficult decision for us to make. Let us know in the comments which one you would have picked.

A few questions about the official UOAP Facebook page. If you haven’t joined, we would highly suggest it.

Another difficult question. With the UOAP Lounge moving to Toon Lagoon, it looks like Universal Orlando is trying to make some important decisions. We love being included in this process. Would we like to see more experiences, exclusive meet and greets, food options, or weekly contests added to the lounge? Why do they make us choose only one? This survey is so exciting. It’s a great time to be a Universal Orlando Annual Passholder.

We’re going with “10+” on this answer.

Everyday. All day. Who’s with me?

That was easy. Now we’re collecting our points from the survey. This is off to a great start. Everything has been very user friendly so far.

If you want to try to attend the exclusive party, be sure to save up for the “My Day Token” at 75 points. If you want to be able to create your own virtual button or vote for future UOAP benefits, you can trade points for the “My Way” or “My Say” tokens. We want to get into that Mardi Gras party, so we’re going to go off and try to collect points around the resort next.

When you open the map, you’ll be able to see your location. Your current points are displayed in the top right corner of the screen. This was before we had done any of the activities.

We opened the map in Seuss Landing and spotted some points in the Lost Continent. There was a marker indicating a group of 4, so we tapped the “view in AR” button and went on a quest.

An arrow will help guide you towards the bouncing star where you can tap to collect a point. We’re off to a good start. We quickly picked up 4 points in the Lost Continent. Nothing will require you to go backstage or go into any restricted areas, so be sure to stay in guest areas while collecting. Even if it looks like the star is somewhere you cannot get to, you should be able to tap it and pick it up anyways.

There was a small star next to King Julien, but we didn’t have to get very close to the meet and greet area to pick it up.

We’re going to go out and collect some points! Once we have a chance to redeem our points for tokens, we’ll be sure to give you all an update on our experiences. This is only a test experience, so keep in mind only a few randomly selected passholders were chosen to participate. We’re looking forward to seeing what new opportunities this testing experience may bring to the parks in the future, so be sure you stay tuned to Universal Parks News Today for all the latest information.

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