help me understand when the express pass (aka deluxe hotels) are worth it

rdevine10 · Aug 31, 2015

We are Universal newbies. Thinking about possibly going during our spring break (the 3rd week of April) in 2016.

We are very intrigued by the deluxe hotels and of course coming with the express pass! However, Cabana Bay looks awesome too- love the pool area/etc (and could provide us with a huge savings).

Now, I consulted an anticipated crowd calendar and it shows the crowds to be roughly a 5 out of 10 the days we would considering. However, when I went on the Universal Website it shows the express pass price (for both parks combined) to be 89.99 pp the days we are going. The cheapest day I could find between now and next april was a few random days at 84.99.

Can someone help me understand? What would say the average wait be without the pass? With the pass? We were just in Disney 2 weeks ago and the lines were horrific- fp+ was awful, we are done drinking the magical disney juice. But, I know nothing about Universal!!!

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

macraven · Aug 31, 2015

on that EP site, you can buy the ep for a day that covers both parks.
or you can buy for one park only on your day there.

doing the combo is a tad cheaper.

each date can have a different price tag to it.
buying the ep this far out, could be the cheapest cost for them as ep prices can rise at any time.
once you buy them, you do not pay for any increase if they do increase closer to your dates.

i usually check the ep prices for dates i will be in the park a week before i get there.
it kind of gives me an idea of crowd levels.

ep prices increase in costs when attendance is predicted to increase.

can't say what the average price is this far out as don't have any way of how many sales for ep tickets sold already and how many rooms are booked for then.

prices for onsite rooms and EP's are flexible at this point.

rdevine10 · Aug 31, 2015

Sorry I dont care about the price of the EP I was using it to judge crowd levels. If anyone can comment on the crowd levels I would very very appreciative!

schumigirl · Aug 31, 2015

macraven has explained to you........the cost of the EP is a determination of crowd levels.

Higher the cost of EP the higher the crowd level............

Last few years we saw regular queues of 90-120 minutes for the Hulk on weekends.....we went on Hulk with EP twice in less than 15 minutes.

Despicable Me had regular queues of 135 minutes......EP queue we never queued more than 15 minutes max.

We stay onsite for our trip as we wouldn't be without Unlimited EP at Universal however quiet........it's worth its weight in gold.

flateacher · Aug 31, 2015

Since the price of the EP's are high during your anticipated visit times = larger crowds. I think April will be crowded due to it being around spring break for many. I agree with schumigirl we try to visit Uni by staying on site w/ express pass.... and we live here.

During the times you are planning to visit - I would stay onsite at a deluxe hotel - but that's me.

BagOLaughs · Sep 1, 2015

If the pool is one of the main reasons you're considering staying there, I've heard that pool hopping is A-OK in Universal. So if you wanted to stay in a deluxe for the pass but then use the pool in Cabana Bay its OK to do so.

dixonsontour · Sep 1, 2015

We stayed last October 7 nights at Cabana bay. Some days 5/10 some days 2 or 3/10.

If your main focus is Harry potter then express doesn't work there and you get the same early entry perk at Cabana bay. The early entry was well worth it.

Minions did have big lines but we did it on opening or early entry with little wait. The other rides had low lines.

Personally on a longer stay we found it very manageable if the line is too long you can always do it on another day.

If you only have 2 days I can see the benefit of express pass but if the cheaper hotel means a longer stay is possible i'd go for that. We loved Cabana bay and pools and are back for 10 nights next month.

RMulieri · Sep 1, 2015

For us, it is always better and worth it to stay deluxe and use express.
That said, April Spring break is pretty busy and you can anticipate waits of 60 mins+ for many of the major attractions.When we went in Jan, it was considered lower crowds ( predicted 5 out of 10)..waits for FJ were over 60-70 mins, Gringotts was 90 mins, Despicable me 90 mins and at one point 120 mins ( ride went down and even with express we waited 20mins) Spiderman was 45-60 mins

rdevine10 · Sep 1, 2015

thank you all for the info. It feels weird to consider Universal after 20 plus Disney trips! A whole new world....

Your insight has helped a lot! (BTW we have a late spring break so we are not during the "peak" spring break time- and have done Disney during the same time frame before and it was very manageable).

dixonsontour · Sep 1, 2015

Touring plans has crowds from 10th April as a very manageable 3 or 4/10 at both parks.

My DD is back at school from her Easter break on 12th April as Easter is early in 2016.

mickeyluv'r · Sep 4, 2015

Here's the short answer, IMO. I've done US both ways. If crowds are low, it won't be a huge difference. Ditto if you are mostly going to see HP. When crowds go up though, those passes are fantastic.

I'd also say in a nutshell, have FOTLA = a much more relaxed touring pace. WDW has become very rigid. We often feel constrained to be in a certain place at a certain time, especially if we have ADR's.

At Universal, FotLA meant we mostly just went wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Exceptions are Forbidden Journey, Gringotts. Minions, Shrek, and Poseiden's Fury.

At the last three, they are like Muppets or DINOSAUR- much of the wait is just how long it takes for the pre show. PF is almost like a series of preshow shows. Great, if intense for the very young, but takes time. Minions has two preshow rooms, but more fun than WDW's.

Now that we've done US onsite, we like it. Offsite wasn't bad. but KNOWING in advance we'd have it was also nice. If we don't have it in advance, we usually decide not to buy it in person.

It also depends, will you be awake early enough to take advantage of the HP perks?

bumbershoot · Sep 4, 2015

For me, Unlimited Express Pass is *always* worth it. We either stay deluxe or we're not going. Even if I wanted to try Cabana Bay, DH and DS would revolt.

dixonsontour said:
If your main focus is Harry potter then express doesn't work there

EP works for Dragon Challenge and Flight of the Hippogriff. Just to be exact.

gopack · Sep 4, 2015

We have stayed at HRH many times and really enjoyed the Express Pass but we decided to try Cabana Bay in December and we loved it! This was a relatively slow time so it was not a big deal not to have the Express passes. Most of the rides that had a longer wait time had a single rider line so we just utilized that for Spiderman, Mummy and a few others. You could consider doing a split stay and doing the Harry Potter stuff and other non express pass rides/shows while you were staying ar Cabana Bay and then stay a night or two at a deluxe for express pass privileges. Also, you could consider purchasing an annual pass and possibly scoring a good annual passholder rate for any of the deluxes and even Cabana Bay.

MAMA GRAVE · Sep 5, 2015

I think the size of your family will help determine if it's worth it.

We booked a night at RPH on the first of August even though we had a condo rented off site for the week. Our family of five would of spent $1400.00 for express passes for two days and we booked our room with Orbitz for $350.00 after tax. A savings of $1050.00!

We spent two full days at Universal with express passes and rode everything. Not sure we could go back without express passes.

mickeyluv'r · Sep 7, 2015

One more important item maybe to note...

It is easy to get a room fridge at Cabana Bay. (though I'm not sure all rooms have them, the rooms I looked into did, and the price was very reasonable, IMO.)

We had a fridge at HR, but not at RP. I can't recall for sure at Portofino, but I'm pretty sure we did not have one there. (I recall putting some soda on ice.) It looked like you can get one at PR for $15 each night, but we survived without it.

The other downside of Cabana Bay is that is it farther from the parks. We didn't try the buses for ourselves, but if you want to walk it is a bit further than the deluxes. I imagine thought the busing is decent, and probably preferable to walking.

tinydancer09 · Sep 7, 2015

rdevine10 said:
thank you all for the info. It feels weird to consider Universal after 20 plus Disney trips! A whole new world....

Your insight has helped a lot! (BTW we have a late spring break so we are not during the "peak" spring break time- and have done Disney during the same time frame before and it was very manageable).

I was sitting here thinking this same thing when everyone was talking about spring break. I do property management at the northern Florida panhandle.... April 2-9 is the most popular week right now. For April 16 week (if you consider that the third week) I have nothing. That could change very rapidly and become popular, but April 16-the week after Mothers Day are typically the quietest spring weeks. We did Disney May 10th last year and walked on to Seven Dwarves at one point....

With that said, I still love the deluxe resorts. If money isn't an issue I highly recommend them. HRH Is RIGHT next to universal. Cabana Bay has a bit of a walk or you can take a bus. The three deluxe resorts are a whole different ball game than staying onsite at Disney. You can park your car at the resort and say bye to it for the entire time you're there.

ILoveDzny · Sep 8, 2015

The buses from Cabana Bay are awesome. We never had to wait for a bus. As soon as the bus pulled off there was another one coming in right behind it. Ride is probably less than 5 minutes or so from the park. Also, we stayed here and paid for the upgrade to have to unlimited express pass. Even adding that perk, it was still cheaper than staying at a deluxe. Even if we had gotten a suite it still would have been cheaper. I recommend pricing it out and giving Cabana Bay a try. I am a huge Disney lover and wished the disney buses ran to Cabana Bay because we would love to stay there more often....for instance when we come back to Orlando just to do Disney. We really enjoyed Cabana Bay.

vincentc77 · Sep 8, 2015

We love universal for many reasons, but the ease of mind is the reason we keep coming back. This is the only resort/theme park that I can actually relax at. No worries about lines, transportation, dining, ect. Tired in the morning? Sleep in a bit. Grab a bit at one of the best buffets. Walk to the park. Ride the rides in any order you like with little / no wait. Walk back to city walk for a great late lunch. Walk back to the resort and relax by the pool while drinks / food is brought to you. Grab a shower / nap. Walk back to the park and ride some more / see some shows. Hang around for spectacular show and then walk back to city walk / resort for an evening dinner. Little expensive? Yes, but still on the same scale as Disney without the frustration. Did disney with 4 kids last September and we're done for another 5+ years. Have fun.

sharona · Sep 8, 2015

vincentc77 said:
We love universal for many reasons, but the ease of mind is the reason we keep coming back. This is the only resort/theme park that I can actually relax at. No worries about lines, transportation, dining, ect. Tired in the morning? Sleep in a bit. Grab a bit at one of the best buffets. Walk to the park. Ride the rides in any order you like with little / no wait. Walk back to city walk for a great late lunch. Walk back to the resort and relax by the pool while drinks / food is brought to you. Grab a shower / nap. Walk back to the park and ride some more / see some shows. Hang around for spectacular show and then walk back to city walk / resort for an evening dinner. Little expensive? Yes, but still on the same scale as Disney without the frustration. Did disney with 4 kids last September and we're done for another 5+ years. Have fun.

This 100%.

katie111 · Sep 9, 2015

What about a split stay? The hotels at Universal are close together so this is pretty easy to do. We are going this weekend for 3 nights and doing 2 nights at Cabana Bay as it's cheaper & we've never stayed there before and then one night at Portofino so we get the 2 days of express pass. I would never do a split stay at Disney but this seems like it will be really easy. Also, the deluxe hotels at Universal are awesome.

help me understand when the express pass (aka deluxe hotels) are worth it

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