Do I really need the express passes for a Tuesday in April?

[Darcy03231]

We've done both short stays and longer ones. If we're staying 5 days or more I don't bother with express passes. If we're only doing a day or two I book a night at one of the on-site hotels that give us the free express passes (Royal Pacific Resort, Hard Rock or Portofino Bay). When doing that I get an annual pass for myself. It usually pays for itself with the discounts. When doing that you get the express pass for your check in day and check out day. I know you said that you were only planning one day, but it might be worth it to check out doing 2 days if you're go the route of getting an on-site room.

 

[cfoxga]

I'd like to point out that April 7 is right in the middle of our (Atlanta) Spring Break this year (April 6-10). I'm not sure how may GA/FL counties have that same week off, but I would think that the parks might get a bit crowded. So EE and EP might add a bit more value.

Second, if you are going to do one day without EE or EP, you should at least get to the park early. My first trip to Universal was in Hollywood with family that lives in LA. They have been many, many times, so they weren't in a rush to get there early. I think we made it on only 4-5 rides because of the long lines. Needless to say, when we booked our first trip to UO, we were there prior to opening every day and it was a huge difference (we had EE but not EP).

 

[Aaeolien]

We went on a last minute honeymoon trip (week off, planned to stay home, weather forecast sucked, lets go somewhere kind of trip) the end of may this past year and stayed at the Portofino so we had Express Passes included in our stay but if we went back and didn't stay there we would totally buy them. 60 minute posted waits for Hulk in the normal line, I think we waited with Express pass about 5 minutes. Same thing with everything else, HP rides all were 60 minute waits at least and I don't think we waited more than 10 minutes for them. Parks were busy but didn't feel insanely busy. I don't know what crowd calenders said for that week because we never looked it up.

 

[3boymthr]

So I'm a math person and the math was bugging me. I'm booked in to the HRH in April (a couple weeks later) for a pool view room for less than you are looking at paying for the standard EP for one day so I was wondering why you wouldn't just book a Premier UO hotel for one night either way - save some money and get the better Unlimited EP - even if you don't use the room. Whoa! The price difference! All the rooms were DOUBLE the cost of when I am going. And hotels not on property were equally expensive. Looking at that price difference in rooms I would say demand for rooms is very high the days you are going. Knowing that hotels base price on demand and if the demand for rooms is high enough to warrant a cost difference of that magnitude I'd say you're going to want EP simply because the parks are going to be busy, way busier than the crowd calendars are predicting.

 

[Disxuni]

So I'm a math person and the math was bugging me. I'm booked in to the HRH in April (a couple weeks later) for a pool view room for less than you are looking at paying for the standard EP for one day so I was wondering why you wouldn't just book a Premier UO hotel for one night either way - save some money and get the better Unlimited EP - even if you don't use the room. Whoa! The price difference! All the rooms were DOUBLE the cost of when I am going. And hotels not on property were equally expensive. Looking at that price difference in rooms I would say demand for rooms is very high the days you are going. Knowing that hotels base price on demand and if the demand for rooms is high enough to warrant a cost difference of that magnitude I'd say you're going to want EP simply because the parks are going to be busy, way busier than the crowd calendars are predicting.

It's not that easy. A little bit of time difference makes a difference in dates and what time you book the dates on the website too. I just did a search right now for April 7-8th, selected four adults, and got $649 for HRH. Even when I select FL resident I got the same price. When I did the middle of the week a couple of weeks later (ex. April 22-23rd) I got $444 for HRH.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Something to keep in mind, OP is that there are only 4 rides in HP that use EP. so that’s $400 for 4 rides. Even if all 5 rides (including Hagrids) are 90 mins, that’s 7.5 hours out of the day so you still have some time to explore and eat at one of the HP restaurants. If you truly only want to do Harry Potter it may but be worth the EP.

Another tip, try to end the day in Hogsmeade. You can hang out there for a while after close to do spells and check out the shop windows (the shops, rides, and restaurants are closed though). We’ve hung out there as long a half an hour after close and security was not yet pushing people out.

 

[fredandkell]

It's not that easy. A little bit of time difference makes a difference in dates and what time you book the dates on the website too. I just did a search right now for April 7-8th, selected four adults, and got $649 for HRH. Even when I select FL resident I got the same price. When I did the middle of the week a couple of weeks later (ex. April 22-23rd) I got $444 for HRH.

Yep, they know who has spring break, when! Ha!

 

[fredandkell]

Something to keep in mind, OP is that there are only 4 rides in HP that use EP. so that’s $400 for 4 rides. Even if all 5 rides (including Hagrids) are 90 mins, that’s 7.5 hours out of the day so you still have some time to explore and eat at one of the HP restaurants. If you truly only want to do Harry Potter it may but be worth the EP.

Another tip, try to end the day in Hogsmeade. You can hang out there for a while after close to do spells and check out the shop windows (the shops, rides, and restaurants are closed though). We’ve hung out there as long a half an hour after close and security was not yet pushing people out.

This is super helpful and a great point. Maybe I'll investigate the list of rides that have express lines and decide if we actually want to go on them.

We have had good experiences with Disney in the past, getting there right when it opens, making a mad dash for the rides we want to do, and then going slower in the day. I feel that this strategy might be harder with Universal with two parks, though. Hmmm.

 

[3boymthr]

It's not that easy. A little bit of time difference makes a difference in dates and what time you book the dates on the website too. I just did a search right now for April 7-8th, selected four adults, and got $649 for HRH. Even when I select FL resident I got the same price. When I did the middle of the week a couple of weeks later (ex. April 22-23rd) I got $444 for HRH.

But that's the point. The crowd calendar is predicting the same level of crowd for both those sets of dates - a 6. That second set of days is actually when we are going. For two adults and one child I have a rate that's half the rate when she's going. If I check again a day or two from now the rates will fluctuate a little for my dates but not by much, $20 here or there. Hotels base their rates on demand. If you run the rates for the week after Christmas (historically one of the busiest times in the parks) the rates come in at the same rates as the dates she's looking at - in excess of $500/night - close to $600 and crowd calendar is a 10. A couple of weeks later - in the middle of January - crowd calendar is a 5 and rates are slightly higher than the dates I'm going (by $20 - so marginal). So it comes down to who is right. Undercover tourist and their crowd calendar or the hotels. I'm betting on the hotels.

 

[Disxuni]

But that's the point. The crowd calendar is predicting the same level of crowd for both those sets of dates - a 6. That second set of days is actually when we are going. For two adults and one child I have a rate that's half the rate when she's going. If I check again a day or two from now the rates will fluctuate a little for my dates but not by much, $20 here or there. Hotels base their rates on demand. If you run the rates for the week after Christmas (historically one of the busiest times in the parks) the rates come in at the same rates as the dates she's looking at - in excess of $500/night - close to $600 and crowd calendar is a 10. A couple of weeks later - in the middle of January - crowd calendar is a 5 and rates are slightly higher than the dates I'm going (by $20 - so marginal). So it comes down to who is right. Undercover tourist and their crowd calendar or the hotels. I'm betting on the hotels.

That I understand. The point I was trying to make is that you made it sound (not sure whether that was your intention, or not) in your original post that all the OP had to do was book a deluxe room and it was more than likely going to be cheaper, or the same price of purchasing the EPs separately going off by the example of your own experience of pricing which is a couple weeks away, which is not the case.