Premier AP & Express Pass

[SerinaShelby]

We are considering purchasing the (2 park) Premier annual passes for DH & myself. It seems as if this is the best option as we will be in Orlando several times over the next eighteen months. The free parking, 6 month add on, & no black out dates seem to be worth it. But, we are interested in Express Passes as we hate to wait in lines. Are there options for Premier AP holders to get Express passes that work all day? Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

[only hope]

Premier passholders have the same all day express choices everyone else does: stay in a resort that included it, or buy it. It sounds like you’re from out of town and plan on staying in a hotel during your visits.

I don’t think you’ll need an express all day, especially if you’re not visiting during peak times. You can take advantage of early entry every day with premier. Most rides don’t get a line more than 20mn until after 10:30 or so. Even then, the less popular rides take longer to reach a higher wait time, and a few rarely have a wait most of the year. There’s also the shows, single rider, and rides that rarely have a wait no matter the time of day. The premier express is only once per day anyways, so there’s no way to do all everything with the express between 4 and park close. I would do headliners in the morning and after four, and other things inbetween.

 

[tony67]

I am also considering upgrading to Premier

Premier passholders - have express pass after 4PM - how does that work for people? Is it of value?
I have heard mixed things - like they dont enforce the once per ride and they let you bring a guest.
I see you get a free HHN ticket - can that be upgraded?

Are there any discounts on the all day express pass? it looks like that is excluded from discounts.

OP - depending on your usage of it - you may only need one Premier and one Preferred.

 

[only hope]

For the express pass, you show your annual pass at the express entrance and at the scanning station. They do scan it so I don’t think you could ride something with the included express more than once. As of now, there are no photos associated with the pass; you could send a friend instead of yourself but everyone entering the line must have an express pass. I love the express. I don’t use it every visit as often I go to early entry and have finished the parks shortly after lunch. On days I am there after 4, it definitely saves me a lot of time. Except on the real slow days, headliners always have a wait in the evening. I have a Disney pass too, so sometimes I’ll start at there with fp+ and then go to Universal later and enjoy express. I always visit Universal solo though.

The free HHN “ticket” is valid on certain dates only. All you do is show up and hand the tm your annual pass and scan your finger. You can buy upgrades (tours, express, etc) just like anybody else.

I’ve never seen a discount offered on express. There are passholder discounts on resorts that include express.

 

[mamapenguin]

It’s not just free parking, it’s free preferred parking. It is wonderful.

 

[Monykalyn]

Out of state Premiere passholder here (actually 4 of us are).
So far I’ve been 4 times since June 2017 when we got the passes. We tend to stay off property (we have a timeshare we trade, or I get good deals with hotel points we’ve accumulated) so having the EP after 4 is great, along with included parking.
The “free” HHN ticket is what suckered me into taking middle kid last September - how did that work out you wonder? Didn’t even use it- got multi-day HHN ticket instead, and ep for HHN one day. And already have hotel booked for HHN his year, planning same multi day HHN ticket but with ep all days-fair warning you may get sucked in lol! Planning on renewing at least our two passes.
The free parking AND free valet parking also lends itself for offsite trips. Plus the nice ap discount on food and merchandise.
We went Christmas week this past Christmas, stayed at Hyatt house across from Universal, and used the ep after four each day- having this pass and staying offsite allowed this trip to happen budget wise.

There aren’t photos on the passes, but they do usually scan them.

 

[pattyw]

All of us in the family have Premier passes. We do usually stay at HRH and get free EP, but having the Premier has allowed us to try Sapphire Falls and stay offsite and still enjoy the after 4pm EP!! And the free HHN ticket is very nice!!

 

[wareagle57]

So if you want to do more than one HHN does that make the free HHN ticket useless? I'll be local starting this summer and have been going back and forth between the premiere and preferred the price jump is big, but EP after 4 and a free HHN is tempting. If I ended up decided I wanted to go to HHN a lot and that perk becomes useless though, I think I would do preferred.

 

[only hope]

So if you want to do more than one HHN does that make the free HHN ticket useless?

Depends on how you plan to purchase admission. If you buy that pass that gets you in every day of HHN, then yeah, the free admission with the pass ceases to be a benefit.

 

[SerinaShelby]

Thanks for all the replies! We stay off site as we often go to Disney so won’t be getting Express pass thru a Universal hotel. A couple more questions about the Universal premier/preferred annual pass:
Is the free parking with the annual pass free ‘preferred’ parking?
It was mentioned that we might only need to purchase one Premier annual pass and one Preferred. Please explain a bit further.

 

[Monykalyn]

Is the free parking with the annual pass free ‘preferred’ parking?

yes with the premier, and valet is free with premier.
Only one of you needs to get the premier to get the higher discounts and free preferred parking. but then only one of you will get the after 4 EP as well. We got Premier of all of us even though not all of us make every trip, simply so we all have the EP

 

[Monykalyn]

https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/tickets-packages/annual-passes/uoap-renewal/index.html

Hope the link works, shows the difference in the passes. The premier gets 15% off many places, preferred 10% off.

 

[SerinaShelby]

Monykalyn: Thanks for your replies. Very helpful!