- Joined
- Dec 17, 1999
Please forgive me if this is old news but I spent a few hours in IOA yesterday, after not being there in about a month, and I have to say how impressed I am with Universal's Express Pass system. When I was there last they still had employees handing our hand-written confirmation return time stubs, but this time it seems the system was fully functional and all of the machines and distribution kiosks were up and running.
Not only are the machines Universal uses to distribute the Express Pass cool and fun to use (they have a monitor with a touch screen) but they allowed you to choose between two return times. This made if VERY easy to plan your day.... i.e. get an Express for Spiderman and Hulk about the same time then go over to Dueling Dragons and get one for about an hour later - just enough time to ride the other two rides and get over to the other side of the park.
AND....some Express Pass kiosks are designed to allow you to pick between two different rides that are nearby one another. For example, the kiosk for Jurassic Park also allowed you to get an Express Pass for Triceratop Encounter. All you had to do was make the appropriate selection from the touch screen.
Also, to help with crowd flow and answer questions about the system, the more crowded or popular distribution kiosks were manned with Universal employees directing people to terminals.
I even found the kiosks in convenient locations that did not block the normal flow of "traffic" in the park. They were well signed, and from what I could tell, you could get an Express Pass for every major ride or attraction.
Kudos to Universal for taking an excellent idea and making it better.
John
Not only are the machines Universal uses to distribute the Express Pass cool and fun to use (they have a monitor with a touch screen) but they allowed you to choose between two return times. This made if VERY easy to plan your day.... i.e. get an Express for Spiderman and Hulk about the same time then go over to Dueling Dragons and get one for about an hour later - just enough time to ride the other two rides and get over to the other side of the park.
AND....some Express Pass kiosks are designed to allow you to pick between two different rides that are nearby one another. For example, the kiosk for Jurassic Park also allowed you to get an Express Pass for Triceratop Encounter. All you had to do was make the appropriate selection from the touch screen.
Also, to help with crowd flow and answer questions about the system, the more crowded or popular distribution kiosks were manned with Universal employees directing people to terminals.
I even found the kiosks in convenient locations that did not block the normal flow of "traffic" in the park. They were well signed, and from what I could tell, you could get an Express Pass for every major ride or attraction.
Kudos to Universal for taking an excellent idea and making it better.
John
