My family and I. Which consist of myself, wife, tween son, and teenage daughter. Will be going to Universal and Islands of Adventure for the first time on June 27th and 28th. We have been to Disney World many times and tour the parks comando style open to close. We are currently booked at Cabana Bay. Wanting to know if we should upgrade to Royal Pacific to get the express pass included. We want to do everything except for the small children's areas such as Seuss land and Woody woodpecker areas. I believe the parks will open at 8 am those days and will take advatages of the extra magic hour in the morning. We are not really interested in the shows unless someone really recommends one. Also how is the transportation to and from the parks? We are believers in touringplans.com however is a touring plan necessary at Universal? Lastly how are gluten free options in the counter service locations? My wide has celiac disease and has always had plenty of options at Disney. Thanks in advance for all the information.
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Do I need express pass?
- Thread starter mickeyfan1
- Start date
BubbaQuest
Well-Known Member
I would recommend Express Passes if you are going during the summer. I haven't heard if they will work for Kong yet, but if Kong is open and the passes work, that could be a huge time saver.
I think the cost/benefit might depend on how often you plan to re-ride. I could ride Hulk and Spiderman all day long. Since these easily have hour+ wait times, I like the Express Passes so I can just run back in line. If you just want to do the main attractions once, you can probably get by without them. Keep in mind the passes don't work on the Potter attractions, so those attractions should always be the focus during the early morning access.
I haven't stayed at Cabana Bay yet, but have heard the bus service between the hotel and park is great. The water taxi service from Royal Pacific is also good. I don't think we waited more than about 5-10 minutes.
I'm not sure about gluten free options, but I'm sure you could contact Universal for a list of options: https://www.universalorlando.com/Resort-Information/Food-Allergies.aspx
Hope this helps.
I think the cost/benefit might depend on how often you plan to re-ride. I could ride Hulk and Spiderman all day long. Since these easily have hour+ wait times, I like the Express Passes so I can just run back in line. If you just want to do the main attractions once, you can probably get by without them. Keep in mind the passes don't work on the Potter attractions, so those attractions should always be the focus during the early morning access.
I haven't stayed at Cabana Bay yet, but have heard the bus service between the hotel and park is great. The water taxi service from Royal Pacific is also good. I don't think we waited more than about 5-10 minutes.
I'm not sure about gluten free options, but I'm sure you could contact Universal for a list of options: https://www.universalorlando.com/Resort-Information/Food-Allergies.aspx
Hope this helps.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
We were at Universal June 21, 2015. We stayed at CBR and paid for EP out of pocket. Totally did not need it. It probably saved us an hour on Minion Mayhem, but other than that we saved at most 5 minutes per attraction. The lines were just incredibly short. In the afternoon, they stopped checking our EP in Seuss Landing and Marvel SH Island because everything was a walk-on.
Not saying you won't need it. Just saying we didn't. Results may vary.
Not saying you won't need it. Just saying we didn't. Results may vary.
It's a tricky question. With two days in the parks, you should be able to experience everything without using the Express Pass. If you take advantage of the Harry Potter attractions during the early entry and head to the parks' other attractions around the official opening time, you should have minimal waits. So it depends really on how much you hate waiting in line, how early you want to be in the parks, and how many re-rides you want (ignoring, of course, the difference in hotel rates).
As far as hotel experiences being a factor, I personally prefer CBBR, simply because I LOVE the lazy river, and to me there isn't a noticeable difference in room size (CBBR family suites excepted, of course). But for sure RPR is a deluxe hotel experience and based on the size of your party, this is the way to go if you want express passes.
As far as hotel experiences being a factor, I personally prefer CBBR, simply because I LOVE the lazy river, and to me there isn't a noticeable difference in room size (CBBR family suites excepted, of course). But for sure RPR is a deluxe hotel experience and based on the size of your party, this is the way to go if you want express passes.