Being a Universal Orlando Resort Annual Passholder eventually becomes second nature. You know which parking deck row puts you closest to the escalators, which turnstile line moves fastest at rope drop, and exactly where to grab a coffee before the crowds arrive. After a year or two of regular visits, the resort stops being a place you navigate and becomes a place you simply move through on autopilot.
That is precisely why even small operational changes tend to hit passholders harder than anyone else. A first-time guest walks past a relocated store and never notices a thing. A passholder walks up to a door that used to be one thing, finds it closed or converted, and immediately feels the break in routine.
One of those changes just happened — and it involves a perk that plenty of passholders build entire trips around. The Universal Annual Passholder store, the exclusive shop where pass members and team members can browse discounted merchandise from across the resort, has officially moved. It has not been eliminated or scaled back. It simply has a new address, inside a storefront that longtime visitors will recognize under a completely different name.
Where the Passholder Store Has Moved
The passholder store previously operated out of the Brown Derby location. That space is no longer home to the perk.
The store has relocated to the former Custom Gear shop in the San Francisco area of Universal Studios Florida. If you have walked the stretch between the waterfront and the Hollywood section, you have passed the building many times. Custom Gear was the spot known for personalized, made-to-order items — and that storefront now serves as the exclusive passholder shop.
The new location is already open and fully operating. There is no waiting period or soft opening to plan around. Passholders visiting the park right now can walk over and start shopping.
Those 70 Percent Off Signs Are the Real Deal
Step inside, and the first thing that grabs your attention is not the merchandise — it is the signage. Signs advertising 70 percent off are posted throughout much of the store, a steep enough discount that shoppers have been double-checking whether it applies the way it appears to. Team members have confirmed that those items are marked 70 percent off their original marked prices, not off some inflated adjusted number.
For a merchandise perk that passholders already considered one of the better values on property, that is a significant markdown — and it explains a lot about the crowds that have already formed outside.
What You Will Find Inside
The inventory pulls from across the entire Universal Orlando Resort rather than from a single park, which is what makes this store worth a detour even if you only have an hour to spare. Merchandise inside comes from:
- Universal Studios Florida
- Universal Islands of Adventure
- Universal Epic Universe
- Universal Volcano Bay
That range matters. Epic Universe merchandise has been in high demand since the park opened, and finding it discounted at a single stop rather than hunting across multiple lands is a genuine time-saver. Volcano Bay items also tend to be seasonal and harder to track down once the weather turns, so seeing them included is a welcome bonus.
Shoppers have described a genuinely large amount of stock inside — not a picked-over clearance rack, which is not always the case with discount locations.
Who Can Shop There
This part has not changed, and it is worth stating clearly. The Universal Annual Passholder store is available exclusively to Annual Passholders and Universal team members. Standard park tickets do not grant access. A friend or family member traveling with you cannot shop the store on their own unless they hold a pass or work for the resort.
Plan to bring your pass and a valid photo ID, as that combination is the standard requirement for passholder perks across the property.
Plan for a Wait
Lines have already formed outside the new location — not surprising given the discount signage and the fact that word travels fast in passholder circles. Anyone planning to visit should build in extra time rather than treating it as a quick five-minute stop on the way out of the park. Mornings and later evenings tend to be calmer at merchandise locations, while mid-afternoon is usually the worst window for anything involving a queue at Universal Studios Florida.
Popular discount shops also move inventory quickly. If something specific catches your eye, the safe assumption is that it will not be sitting there on your next visit.
For passholders who built a routine around the old Brown Derby stop, the update is straightforward: same perk, same passholder exclusivity, new address in San Francisco.