Express pass unlimited

[jimim]

We have never been yet. We live in the Disney ecosystem. If I book a top tier hotel you get the pass included. Is it worth it? I mean if every person staying in those 3 hotels get the pass does it cut down on wait times?

I prob have more questions but this is sticking out in my head.

 

[ClapYourHands]

It does cut down on wait times. The number of people staying in those three hotels is smaller than the number staying in the other hotels and offsite. Express Pass is not equivalent to Fast Pass/ Lightning Lane at Disney where the ratios are really really skewed to favor the FP/LL guests, but the lines are shorter and do move faster. Overall, I think Universal does a better job than Disney balancing the needs of both lines. EP guests get through noticeably more quickly, but standby still keeps moving.

 

[nighttowll]

It really depends on the crowd levels for your dates. You can get a general idea by looking at how much they are charging for EP during your stay. The higher the EP, the more crowded the day.

It's always nice to have EP, and it does work. It isn't always needed, though. With planning, use of the single rider lines, and early entry, you can get by without it if you have to, especially during less crowded times of the year.

It is the most useful when one or more of the following are true:

- when you only have one or two days and want to see everything
- when you are visiting during busy crowded times of the year
- when you want to ride coasters / thrill rides over and over multiple times
- when you don't want to break your group up with single rider
- when you don't want to bother with waking up early to rope drop to manage crowds that way
- when you just don't like waiting at all
- when you want the peace of mind to relax and not worry about lines

 

[schumigirl]

We have never been yet. We live in the Disney ecosystem. If I book a top tier hotel you get the pass included. Is it worth it? I mean if every person staying in those 3 hotels get the pass does it cut down on wait times?

I prob have more questions but this is sticking out in my head.

We are never without EP.

The EP line is supposed to be 20 minutes or less than the regular wait, most of the time that is accurate, but at busier times of the year the line for EP can be longer. We were there over Thanksgiving as part of our trip and some of the EP lines were longer, but still a lot shorter than the regular line.

Being honest, even on so called quiet times, we still wouldn`t be without it, but we hate even waiting 10-15 minutes to be honest

 

[Skywalker3]

Yes, I believe most of the time it's totally worth it. Until recently, we've always had express, and for someone going for the first time, I would totally recommend it. We LOVE repeating rides. Very common for us to ride MiB 3 or 4 times in a row, so express is great for that.
We've done a few trips recently where we don't have express. It's do-able, and we know what we like/don't like, and are good w/ single rider lines a lot of the time. But we've also been frustrated quite a bit, but we're also there during holidays/school breaks. If one is staying several days, and doing rope drop, park close, etc. express might not be as necessary.
I"m debating a couple days at Universal over spring break...but so far the premier prices are not in our budget, and I don't think the family want to go w/o it. Although, I'd be good with going just for a butterbeer.
The amount of people in the premier hotel rooms do not number the amount of Disney people in similar Disney hotels. Happy planning if you do try Universal.

 

[jimim]

Thanks a lot all. It is our first time we will be there so I figured worth it regardless. I now know how someone planning disney for the first time feels and I now understand what goes through their heads that when I read sometime dismiss for common sense or "why would you pay for this". it's actually a lot.

I started reading about the VC's last night and i'm totally confused. do they just appear and disappear? is there a set time you are on the app to grab say a ride like at disney so you get it? If I'm rope dropping a ride can at park opening they suddenly change it to VC vs standby so you got to reroute yourself?

 

[Minnie1222]

I started reading about the VC's last night and i'm totally confused. do they just appear and disappear? is there a set time you are on the app to grab say a ride like at disney so you get it? If I'm rope dropping a ride can at park opening they suddenly change it to VC vs standby so you got to reroute yourself?

Are Virtual Queues even back?

 

[Smugpugmug]

I have the top annual pass that includes one time Express for each ride (minus Hagrid's and Pteranodon Flyers) and it's totally worth it IMO. The only time I've waited over 30 minutes in Express was Christmas week. Minions was an hour in the Express line that week but that is NOT the norm. Some rides are usually walk ons and others are in the 10-20 minute range. I have had some outliers where Dudley Do Right was 35 when it's usually a walk on but that is not common. Gringotts, Minions, Kong and Velocicoaster are the ones that tend to not be walk ons but you're definitely not waiting an hour on a normal park day.

There are only 3 premier hotels, so nowhere near the amount of Disney hotels but Universal does give the option of selling Express to anyone so that factors into the number of people in the Express line. Unlimited goes for around $200/person per day but I've seen people buy it at that price.

Oh and don't worry about virtual queues. I go often and haven't seen rides use them lately. I know the Grinch meet and greet used a VQ last year but that seems to no longer be the case.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Not that I know of, they haven't done virtual queues for any rides in a few years. It was primarily to cut off extreme physical line lengths due to social distancing. Since they can now physically fit a few hrs worth of people in a physical line, no need for them to go back to VQ.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

100% worth it. The first time we went to Universal after several years at Disney, I was like, wait, for the price of a mid tier Disney hotel I can get the premier hotel and EP for 5 of us??? So worth it. We go at relative busy times so the lines can be longer than 20 minutes but not that often. They are a little longer than FP but you don’t have to schedule them, look at your phone, or be limited to once per ride. It definitely makes up for being a little longer. It’s spoiled us for all other parks. It’s a big reason we keep going back and have no plans to go to Disney again outside of when the kids go for band.

 

[AJA]

I haven’t heard of VC’s since Covid? Make sure you are reading up to date information.

Express Passes are great especially for a first visit. I will say you probably need them 48 weeks out of the year. We are here now (never been in December before) and the parks are virtually empty. Gringotts was a walk on at 9:30am yesterday! Right now the regular line waits have been averaging 10 minutes. BUT I know this is the exception. We usually go at low to moderate times and even then Express makes a difference in your day.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

The best thing about EP at Universal is you don’t have to criscross the parks the way you do with Genie+. You can be spontaneous and just ride what’s closest next. We love the Unlimited passes with the deluxe hotels at UO, but over the summer we visited the California park for the first time and just bought the one use per ride pass since it was a good deal cheaper. We were only there for one day, and it was perfect for us, we came for early entry to Super Mario land and left around 5, and rode everything we wanted. There might be circumstances where if you have only 2 people per room, staying offsite or in a value and getting the one-use passes might be better math-wise (like if you’re staying DVC and your room is paid for). But generally staying deluxe does give you a lot of bang for your buck.

 

[bbeagle]

Universal handles express lanes different than Disney.

It seems that Disney tries to clear out the express lanes as quickly as possible - even if it means allowing 10 express lane customers to 1 regular customer.

Universal, however, allows the same number of express lane people as non-express lane people on the ride. 10 express lane people get on, and 10 regular customers get on.

So if the express lane is the same length as as the regular line, it will take the same amount of time at Universal. Normally, that's not the case - the regular line is much longer. But if you do find a long express line, it will take much longer to ride than a similar line at Disney.

We went to Universal Dec 19-20 last year, and most rides in express at Universal took us about 15-20 minutes. A few took us more than 45 minutes. The Minions ride took us 80 minutes!!! in express.

Compared to Disney, same time before Christmas, where every Genie+ we went on was 5-10 minutes in line - save for the Dwarves ride which was about 20 minutes.

I would guess that at low crowd times, express would be immediate at Universal - while in high crowd times with more people using express, the lines would be longer.

 

[Monykalyn]

The EP is 100% worth it-unless very very slow times-mostly for ability to repeat rides you love.
However-be aware Universal uses many of their standby queues to tell more of the story of the ride-so if you have time/standby is 30 min or less consider at least one time through standby. The Potter rides are much more immersive with standby vs EP for example.