Costco Connection

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Costco’s ticket programs
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LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY

By T. Foster Jones

ADMISSION to everything is going up. Movies have crested the $10 mark. Seats for live theater can easily cost $100 apiece. Go skiing or to a theme park with your family and get ready to shell out hundreds of dollars.

For the last few years, Costco has been on the march to address this, applying the principle of selling in quantity to get discounts on quality and to this end has developed two ticket programs. What’s the difference between the two? Let’s take a look.

Discount ticket packs

You can find these on pallets in the warehouse, or go to costco.com and click on “Gifts & Tickets,” then on “Tickets & Gift Certificates.”

This program provides open-ended discounts on movie passes; baseball, soccer and hockey games; golf; ski packages and lift tickets; spa and hot springs visits; stays at bed-and-breakfasts; wine tours; theme parks such as Disneyland and Universal Studios; restaurants; music gift cards; and attractions in select cities in Southern California as well as Chicago and New York. A lot of flexibility is built in, as they are typically good for a year after purchase.

For example, the Southern California pass, which costs $217 for adults and $174 for children, provides admission to five attractions, including a three-day Disneyland Resort Park Hopper Bonus Ticket valid for admission to both Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure Park.

And the new Universal Orlando Resort pass provides seven days of unlimited access to three parks (Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure and Wet ’n Wild Waterpark).

Event Tickets program

( costco.com only)

The distinction between this program and the other can be distilled to two words: reserved seats.

Rather than the open-ended, general-admission nature of the other ticket program, this one is designed to provide reserved seats on specific dates for specific events with substantial discounts. Members can get up to 50 percent off on theater, such as Broadway

shows; sporting events, such as NBA games, NASCAR Cup races and the Kentucky Derby; and family events, such as the Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil. The benefits often extend to packages, such as a weekend for two for Broadway shows, the Super Bowl or the Pro Bowl. As an example of savings, premium seating to see Wicked at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles is offered to the public at $150 to $175. Costco members can get a comparable seat for $65.

The process is pretty straightforward. Go to costco.com and click on “Services,” then “Event Tickets.” Select the event. Verify your Costco membership. Buy your tickets.

“We continually look for high-interest and wow-type events at great prices,” says Gayle Brask, manager of Costco’s Event Tickets program. “With our buying power, we can help our members see events that are usually hard to get into or too expensive.”

“The beauty of the two programs is how much they complement each other,” says Claudia Augello, buyer for Costco’s warehouse gifts and tickets program. “It’s a great way to get the most value out of your vacation.” C