How necessary are Express passes?

[StarSeven7]

3K sounds very high for what you described unless you were getting two rooms. You can get 3-day park to park tickets for about $350 each (if you're doing two nights at a deluxe that's three days of express pass so might as well use them). That's $1400. Not sure how you're spending $1600 for a 2-night hotel stay - sounds very high. But also - for this price you're getting unlimited express passes. At Disney you're not. Best you get there is the ability to use an app to get a few ride reservation times at the times they pick for you and maybe be able to buy access to 1-2 more. Not even comparable systems.

I’m just going by what the Universal website quoted when I looked at a package. I’m not directly trying to compare it to Disney, I understand you get more with an express pass at Universal but that isn’t really something that we want to pay for, or would normally ever pay for, if Disney offered expresses passes for those prices we wouldn’t pay for it there. I’m just saying that that price is what we would normally pay for a week at Disney. But since I’ve never been to universal I just don’t know how necessary those express passes are. At Disney if it was pay that much extra or wait in line all day, we would choose to just wait in line all day because we know how the crowds work there and would work around it.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If you plan appropriately, you will have a fun trip without Express.

IE, rope drop, hit big rides early / late in the day, aim for midweek days if possible, plan non-headliner activities for midday. Possibly plan a longer sit down lunch or a hotel break midday so you can make it strong through open & closing hours.

Download the Universal App for ride wait times and show schedules.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I’m probably very much in the minority here, but I’d buy the $5 subscription to touring plans for Universal if I didn’t have Express Pass. It will help you arrange a good order to do the rides to minimize wait time. I did it the first year we went and found it helpful. I haven’t used it since because we’ve had EP.

i think if you were willing to do Disney without any front of the line passes, Universal will be easier so I think you’ll be fine if you don’t want to spend the money.

 

[martikus]

We aren’t buy extra either but absolutely will never do universal without EP. Once you’ve used once and how EASY it makes it especially ability to re-ride favorite rides.

but you only need one hotel night and get EP on both check in and check out day. And any park is gonna be expensive with only 1-2 days. Even Disney. Price drops at 4-5 days. Most prob don’t buy a package. Doesn’t save anything and makes harder to cancel.

 

[Skywalker3]

Will preface with we've not done Universal without express in many years, so we are spoiled, and I always recommend staying at an express hotel at least 1 night, to get the 2 days of express. however, if that's not possible, and you're used to busy times at Disney, then it can be fun without. Just keep expectations real. We did spring break at Disney once...2005, and never again. But our prime travel times are Memorial day weekend/week, Thanksgiving, and Columbus day weekend, so also very busy times. we are BIG rope droppers. Like when Animal kingdom opens at 9, we're in line by 7:30, etc. We hit as many big rides as possible, in the first 2 hours, but then, you'll see the waits start being around 45-60 mins on the medium tier rides, and during spring break, it'll stay busy. YOu can also usually return in the later evening, 1 hr, maybe 2, before close, and lines should be a little shorter at a lot of things. Universal does often close earlier than Disney. Go ahead and get the Universal app, and start just tracking wait times now and again, especially over this MLK weekend, and President's Day weekend. Tracking wait times should give an idea of ride trends during the day too. Spring break will be VERY busy. Lines for everything, food, bathrooms, shops, snacks, etc. Just research the layouts of the parks, look over all the rides, maybe there are some that are not must-dos, or too thrilling, or have height requirements, have a back up plan if one goes down, etc. We spend more time at Disney than Universal, but LOVE Universal, and just had a fabulous fall break/oct trip. HP areas are SOOOOO much fun. Good luck with the planning!

 

[Stitchiesmom]

I went back and forth on it for months before our trip Dec 16-18. We had a party of six which made it trickier because we couldn't stay on property to get them. We did have a throwaway room booked for 5 people in our party, but then we had some big medical bills and I decided we were just going to deal with lines and save the money. We were able to ride everything once and several things twice. We watched every show except the Horror Make Up One, including the parade and night shows. Two days might be a little trickier without them if you want to do everything there. We did use Touring Plans with our own custom made plans we'd have them optimize. That worked really well for us. Also FYI, single rider line for Velocicoaster took longer than posted time. That's the only ride my kids attempted single rider.

 

[StarSeven7]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. My husband said no way to the price of the express passes (either with the hotel or without) so we might just save it for another time or try to brave it without express passes. Maybe I will start watching wait times like someone suggested above to see how long waits get. Obviously they will be longer in March though!

 

[bchbetha]

I wonder if you accidentally added on Express Passes on top of your hotel when you were looking at packages? People have made that mistake before!

But, I saw your update. If you can get that 3 days vs 2 then you will be fine without the EPs.

 

[StarSeven7]

I wonder if you accidentally added on Express Passes on top of your hotel when you were looking at packages? People have made that mistake before!

But, I saw your update. If you can get that 3 days vs 2 then you will be fine without the EPs.

I didn't add Express passes on top of it, it shows that they're included with the hotel though.

They currently have a buy 3 days, get 2 free promotion for only about $50 more total for 4 people than 2 day tickets. We could do that and spread out our visits over a week. Still worried about crazy lines though. If we stayed at one of the cheaper hotels we could at least get early entry which I'm assuming would be pretty helpful?

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. My husband said no way to the price of the express passes (either with the hotel or without) so we might just save it for another time or try to brave it without express passes. Maybe I will start watching wait times like someone suggested above to see how long waits get. Obviously they will be longer in March though!

i think if you look at the wait times President’s weekend it’ll probably give you a good indication of what the wait times will be in March. I think they’ll be pretty similar.

 

[Kyhome]

OP is accurate with prices for April as I just priced out a 2 night/2 park day stay at a deluxe resort (1 room) for 4 people and it was over $3000. We had AP last year but they expired. I was going to renew the APs-just to get the discounted hotel rate, which is not yet offered in April. The hotel rooms are the crazy part of this as they are over $700 per night. So crazy b/c a year ago, I was paying $300-$350 max for the AP rate year round in a deluxe resort (yes, I know things are different now with higher demand and thus higher prices).

 

[TeKa21]

Can someone confirm that I am thinking about this correctly...

Going next weekend for 2 days and debating express passes. We are staying off-site, but would it not be stupid just to rent a room at Loewes for $389 that I;m not going to even use just to get 2 full days of express pass unlimited for my entire party of 5. I mean, am I misunderstanding this, it seems to be a ridiculous hack.

What am I missing?

 

[bchbetha]

Can someone confirm that I am thinking about this correctly...

Going next weekend for 2 days and debating express passes. We are staying off-site, but would it not be stupid just to rent a room at Loewes for $389 that I;m not going to even use just to get 2 full days of express pass unlimited for my entire party of 5. I mean, am I misunderstanding this, it seems to be a ridiculous hack.

What am I missing?

It’s a good idea. Though, can’t you switch your hotel? I’d add up transportation/ parking costs, lodging price differences… and get all the math to see what makes the most sense

 

[StarSeven7]

i think if you look at the wait times President’s weekend it’ll probably give you a good indication of what the wait times will be in March. I think they’ll be pretty similar.

Good idea! Thanks!

 

[StarSeven7]

OP is accurate with prices for April as I just priced out a 2 night/2 park day stay at a deluxe resort (1 room) for 4 people and it was over $3000. We had AP last year but they expired. I was going to renew the APs-just to get the discounted hotel rate, which is not yet offered in April. The hotel rooms are the crazy part of this as they are over $700 per night. So crazy b/c a year ago, I was paying $300-$350 max for the AP rate year round in a deluxe resort (yes, I know things are different now with higher demand and thus higher prices).

Glad I’m not the only one seeing those crazy prices!! The cheapest hotel that has the express passes is $600/night for the dates I’m looking.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

We've never been to Universal before but we're thinking of going there in March for 2 days. We normally never buy front-of-the-line passes when we go to amusement parks but we have loved using Fastpass/+ at Disney World in the past. We have not been since they switched over to Genie+ so I'm not sure how we will like that. How busy is Universal and do you find it necessary to have express passes if you want to avoid hours-long lines or is it manageable if you get there early and tour smartly? I keep seeing people mention that Universal is cheaper than Disney World but I looked at a 2 night stay at one of the resorts that includes express passes plus 2 day passes for the 4 of us and it was nearly $3000 which is about what we pay at Disney World for a week in a value hotel and passes! So I'm trying to figure out if we would be just miserable waiting in lines all day without it? Thanks for your input!

I'm looking at things separately. The 2 day passes with the 2 days free in which we only visit one park a day was only costing my family of three $456.00. I was playing around with a 4 day 3 night stay at Royal Pacific and that was $688.50. That's a total of $1144.50. That is cheaper than when just my son and I went and did 5 days and 4 nights at Disney with a 4 day park pass. That was about $1200. And that does NOT include what I paid for the Memory Maker. That's a deluxe hotel I'm choosing to stay at in Universal over a value at Disney. Choosing the deluxe now means we don't have to worry about standing in line all day, because Express Passes are a perk at the 3 deluxe hotels.

 

[StarSeven7]

I'm looking at things separately. The 2 day passes with the 2 days free in which we only visit one park a day was only costing my family of three $456.00. I was playing around with a 4 day 3 night stay at Royal Pacific and that was $688.50. That's a total of $1144.50. That is cheaper than when just my son and I went and did 5 days and 4 nights at Disney with a 4 day park pass. That was about $1200. And that does NOT include what I paid for the Memory Maker. That's a deluxe hotel I'm choosing to stay at in Universal over a value at Disney. Choosing the deluxe now means we don't have to worry about standing in line all day, because Express Passes are a perk at the 3 deluxe hotels.

Wow, those prices are definitely much cheaper than I was seeing! Those prices aren’t bad at all! We’ve decided we’re not going to Universal or even Florida, we’ve changed tactics (many times! ) and we’re now heading to Southern California!

 

[jsmla]

I have an AP and check every day when I have a trip planned. I’m at Royal Pacific right now and my rate for this trip varied from over $350 to $209 and everything in between. I check constantly and modify my reservation if something cheaper comes out.

 

[Tege]

Can someone confirm that I am thinking about this correctly...

Going next weekend for 2 days and debating express passes. We are staying off-site, but would it not be stupid just to rent a room at Loewes for $389 that I;m not going to even use just to get 2 full days of express pass unlimited for my entire party of 5. I mean, am I misunderstanding this, it seems to be a ridiculous hack.

What am I missing?

You aren’t misunderstanding. One night at the premier hotels get you express passes for check in and checkout days. You can check in early in the morning to get your express passes even though the rooms won’t be read until the afternoon. We do this almost every trip.

 

[Jiminyfan2020]

I have an AP and check every day when I have a trip planned. I’m at Royal Pacific right now and my rate for this trip varied from over $350 to $209 and everything in between. I check constantly and modify my reservation if something cheaper comes out.

I’m doing the same. Right now the rates for my dates keep going up. I reserved at $350. How far before your reservation date did the rates start going down?