Is the Express Pass Worth it?

[kimberlymautz]

During my trip in September we will only have 1 day to do both Universal parks. My SO and I will be taking our 5 year old with us so I know that will already slow things down a bit, so is it worth getting the express pass to miss as little as possible?

 

[JoeCamel]

When in September?

Generally I would say pick a park and do that one as it really cuts into the enjoyment if you rush from place to place trying to cram it all in.

 

[DisneyDaver]

If I only had 1 total day at the parks, I would highly recommend getting the express passes. Just remember that The Forbidden Journey, Gringott's and Hogwart's Express (along with a few other lesser attractions) do not accept express passes

 

[kimberlymautz]

Awesome! We will be visiting in September during the middle of the week, so I'm hoping if we head to WWoHP first I can at least get on the major things in a reasonable amount of time once before it starts to fill up. Permitting we can get there early anyway. Hahaha. Thank you! I just text SO and told him to put the extra money away.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Worth is difficult to judge because what is worth it to one person may not be worth it to another. I personally don't think it is because it's not valid on any of the potter stuff.

 

[DisneyDaver]

Awesome! We will be visiting in September during the middle of the week, so I'm hoping if we head to WWoHP first I can at least get on the major things in a reasonable amount of time once before it starts to fill up. Permitting we can get there early anyway. Hahaha. Thank you! I just text SO and told him to put the extra money away.

The thing that will really slow you down will be your 5 year old (and I'm not saying that in a bad way as I love going to Universal/WDW with kids) so keep your expectations in check. You and your SO could get through a lot in a short period of time with Express Passes (my wife and I have done that), but when we went with my nephews (ages 7 and 5) things went a lot slower. We are taking our daughter (1.5 y/o) this winter and have low expectations for the amount we will be able to do.

 

[DisneyDaver]

Worth is difficult to judge because what is worth it to one person may not be worth it to another. I personally don't think it is because it's not valid on any of the potter stuff.

Agree that "worth" varies from person to person, but there is a lot of value in being able to quickly get onto Spiderman, Hulk, JP River Adventure, MIB, Simpsons, Minions, Transformers and others, especially when you only have one day.

 

[thomas998]

I strongly suggest you check the height requirements of the rides and measure your son before you go. If you plan on doing a ride swap on rides that he is too small for then see if that ride has a single rider line because it might be faster than waiting in the regular line to do a ride swap. Also make sure he knows that he wont be able to ride some rides, nothing worse than when your kid knows about a ride, expects to ride the ride and then when you get there they are the only one too short to ride it.

 

[JoeCamel]

Know that you can purchase EPs the day of in the parks if you feel the need once you get there. If I knew the day you were going I could make a suggestion. If it is 9/1 then yes you need them if it is 9/15 then no you don't

 

[lebeau]

We went last summer for Father's Day and splurged on EP. Turns out, we didn't need them. The one attraction where EP saved us a lot of time was Minion Mayhem. EP saved us about an hour on that one attraction. I would estimate we saved less wait time than that on every other ride combined.

Like you, we were only there for one day and a lot of that time was spent in the HP sections where EP wasn't applicable.

Was it worth it? Maybe. But we'd have been fine without it.

 

[ryguy]

Middle of September you should be good without express pass.

 

[JoeCamel]

Don't have dates just middle of the week in Sept.

Middle of September you should be good without express pass.

 

[kimberlymautz]

I'm thinking Wednesday, September 28th. I didn't realize we could add the express pass when we get there. So at least we could play it by ear and if we want it, add it later. Thanks all!

 

[JoeCamel]

That is a good day, I think HHN is not that night so USF should be open til 8 and IOA til 7 so you should have time to hit most of the main attractions. The crowd is moderate so except for the headliners the waits should be managable

 

[Figment82]

We were at the parks last Saturday and rode E. T. We were very surprised to see that the line for EP was far, far longer than the regular line (once you get inside after getting your card). We literally walked right through the queue and onto a ride vehicle while everyone with EP was backed up past the check point. I'm sure that's not a normal thing, but it made us laugh!

I would definitely wait until you got there and see the wait times.

 

[kimberlymautz]

Awesome! Thanks for all of your input! I'll definitely wait until we get there if that's the case. Because we're going with my 5 year old most of the rides we'll be going on will be her age appropriate, so I can't imagine really needing it for too many rides, but the only reason SO is coming is because I told him I would go without him (we went to Disney a few years ago and he didn't love it as much as I do) so I wanted to make sure he can get onto the rides he'd like for at least one day. Hahaha.

 

[JoeCamel]

Awesome! Thanks for all of your input! I'll definitely wait until we get there if that's the case. Because we're going with my 5 year old most of the rides we'll be going on will be her age appropriate, so I can't imagine really needing it for too many rides, but the only reason SO is coming is because I told him I would go without him (we went to Disney a few years ago and he didn't love it as much as I do) so I wanted to make sure he can get onto the rides he'd like for at least one day. Hahaha.

EP can be useful for the Seuss things, they have lower capacity so you can decide once you are there. EP is for sale in many places throughout the parks

 

[fosse76]

We were at the parks last Saturday and rode E. T. We were very surprised to see that the line for EP was far, far longer than the regular line (once you get inside after getting your card). We literally walked right through the queue and onto a ride vehicle while everyone with EP was backed up past the check point. I'm sure that's not a normal thing, but it made us laugh!

I would definitely wait until you got there and see the wait times.

I've noticed this to be a problem with express pass. For one, I think they sell too many. If too many people choose to visit an attraction at the same time, it could drive up the wait longer than the standby line. Also, they don't seem to adjust the distribution of riders for Express Pass and standby. Many of the attractions don't have a merge point, so the Express Pass riders are almost always in their own separate queue. But EP holders are only loaded into every third vehicle, which can make the wait excruciating when the much shorter standby line can literally board right away. They need to focus on the Express Pass more frequently; people are paying a lot of money to have to wait just as long (if not longer) than the standby queue.

 

[Jon81uk]

We were at the parks last Saturday and rode E. T. We were very surprised to see that the line for EP was far, far longer than the regular line (once you get inside after getting your card). We literally walked right through the queue and onto a ride vehicle while everyone with EP was backed up past the check point. I'm sure that's not a normal thing, but it made us laugh!

I would definitely wait until you got there and see the wait times.

I've noticed this to be a problem with express pass. For one, I think they sell too many. If too many people choose to visit an attraction at the same time, it could drive up the wait longer than the standby line. Also, they don't seem to adjust the distribution of riders for Express Pass and standby. Many of the attractions don't have a merge point, so the Express Pass riders are almost always in their own separate queue. But EP holders are only loaded into every third vehicle, which can make the wait excruciating when the much shorter standby line can literally board right away. They need to focus on the Express Pass more frequently; people are paying a lot of money to have to wait just as long (if not longer) than the standby queue.

I think a large part of it is the number of people staying at the hotels and getting free unlimited express pass. At certain times of year there might be so many resort guests that they just overwhelm the EP line.
If you pay for EP then you get one ride on each ride per day so these people don't cause the back ups like the resort guests can.

 

[JoeCamel]

I think a large part of it is the number of people staying at the hotels and getting free unlimited express pass. At certain times of year there might be so many resort guests that they just overwhelm the EP line.
If you pay for EP then you get one ride on each ride per day so these people don't cause the back ups like the resort guests can.

You can purchase the EP for one ride per or the Unlimited that is the same as the resort EP