Lugan
Double double coaster
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2018
My family returned to Universal Studios Orlando for the first time in about 7.5 years last week. While I was familiar with the Disney GAC program in 2014, the last time we visited Universal, I was not familiar with what Universal's program was. I did some research ahead of time, but had difficulty finding as many informational resources about Universal's Attraction Assistance Pass (AAP) as I had found about Disney's DAS program. I figured it was worth sharing my experience here for any others looking for information.
In case you're wondering, I've used Disney's GAC program, and DAS program extensively for my condition after having a number of issues over the years. I've posted about my experiences here for my previous 2 Disney trips (2021 October to Disneyland, 2020 October to WDW). I've never had an issue obtaining the DAS with my condition, and it has worked very well to accomodate me and my family.
The first thing to know about Universal's AAP is that, Universal doesn't seem to want you to know about it. They most certainly don't seem to want to issue you with one. And if you're not an advocate for yourself, you're likely to not get issued one. My wife did some research, and came across some recommendations to call the guest services phone number directly, before arriving to the park (within ~ 30 days of your arrival), and request an AAP be issued in advance. I made this call, and was not issued a pass. My wife listened to me describe the call, and told me that I wasn't being a strong enough advocate for myself (As an aside, my wife complains that I have, in the past, resisted getting the DAS pass, trying to go without, before relenting a few days into a vacation, after failing miserably to go without). She then called and was successful in getting a reference number issued for an AAP. This significantly reduced any anxiety about having to fight for a pass when I arrived. I took the number to guest services, who then issued the AAP.
The AAP reminded me very much of the old Disney GAC. For those unfamiliar, it is a physical card, that you take to a team member at the attraction's entrance. The team member then writes the attraction, the wait time, the current time, and the return time down. You then return at that time, and are able to enter an accelerated queue option after they initial the entry. If you already have a return time, you cannot receive a new one without voiding the previous one. The big difference is that, in general, the return time is 15-25 minutes less than the current wait time, and if the currently posted wait time is under 30 minutes (25 minutes or less), then you are able to directly enter the accelerated queue. The similarity to the old Disney GAC was further reinforced on the first few times that I used my AAP, I was given an escort to an alternate loading area.
Generally, however, the accelerated queue meant the Universal Express line. However, on the second Escape from Gringott's ride attempt, I was instead given an escort to the mobility loading entrance. I noted, then, that the AAP I was issued indicated I had access to an escort. It appears that there are different types of AAPs. I noted this also when the pass was scanned when riding Hogwart's Express, that the computer screen indicated a "Gold AAP", which corresponded to the yellow color on the AAP exterior. I noticed other AAP holders sometimes had differing colors on their passes. Now, many Universal rides require you to go through a metal detector before you ride, to prevent you from bringing anything on the ride. Since I have a medical device that I cannot leave behind in a locker, having access to the escort brought me to the area where medical lockers are available. There you place your items for a very short period of time while you ride the attraction. This was a great option for me, and could also be a timesaver in a pinch, but the downside is that, with the escort, you miss quite a lot of the experience of the ride, which is presented in the queue. For instance with Escape from Gringott's, you miss the walk through the bank floor, the elevator ride, the two briefings, and go straight to getting onto the vehicle. Generally, it was only for these attractions where an escort was offered.
On the whole, the system worked fairly well. We had 5 park day passes, but really only utilized ~ 3.5, with a Volcano Bay visit, and only a half day on our final day. In that time, my AAP was filled up almost to the end, and was pretty beaten up, especially after being through 2 water rides in a mostly water-resistant bag. I did find that the first day, I rarely used the AAP, as many experiences that day had 10-15 minute wait times posted, and really didn't seem to have much difference between being waved through the Express lane vs. the regular queue. My observations about the use are:
1) Even being vigilant about checking current posted wait times using the app, because of the under 30-minute rule, you always have a chance of the team member waving you through. This always seemed to be the case when we were in a situation where we sent somebody ahead to get the return time, and then had to rush the rest of the party to get there because the wait time had decreased.
2) Adjusting the return time by ~15 minutes is a great accomodation for the additional time spent in queue when you return. My experience with DAS, and the inflated wait times, meant that we always seemed to be waiting longer for a ride than if we could physically stand in the stand-by line. However, I did find some team members didn't bother to adjust the wait time at all, and we got to double-wait.
3) It seems that most team members only want to do math that involves a multiple of 5. No matter what, my return time was always a multiple of 5 minutes. Most of the time, this shaved a few minutes for me.
4) Many team members don't have a watch or clock available. This is the downside of such a manual system, versus the automation built-in by magic-bands and the scanners at Disney. Especially in the bright sunlight, many "smart" watches are difficult to read, even if the team member had one, and so I was constantly being asked what time it was when I was requesting a return time. I was always honest, even to my detriment, when a team member thought it was about 15 minutes earlier than it was, and then didn't adjust the wait time by any time.
5) Sometimes you have to wait 10-15 minutes for another team member to arrive to provide an escort, if you need one, to the medical lockers. This also isn't factored into the return time, so it can slow you down a bit if you're planning out your next step (meal-time, or restaurant reservations, for instance).
6) Also going along with #4, I was never questioned about the time written down versus when I returned. Granted, I was at most 2 minutes early for any return time (even though I know with Disney's Fastpass+ (and thus the old DAS system) allowed you to be a certain number of minutes early). I'm not sure what the official word is on the grace period to be let on, but I didn't feel the need to push to find it out, myself.
7) Using the AAP doesn't preclude you from also using child-swap options. We asked the question when going to ride Hagrid's Motorbike adventure, and were told that Child Swap was available for us, which was great for us.
8) The 25-minute and under rule is great, but don't fall into the trap of trying to find rides that are posted at 25-minutes to go ride. A few times I had the wait time increase up to and over 30 minutes while walking to the ride anyway.
We opted to not get Universal Express passes for this trip, based more on the time of year that we were going than on the availability of the AAP. We were able to experience all of the attractions that we wanted to (that are still around (looking at you BTTF), or not closed for refurbishment), and do it in a relatively leisurely pace. I didn't have any major medical issues, as we were able to spend our queue waiting times resting in doors, hydrating, or in a shop. I think that if we were to try to do the parks in fewer days, or at a significantly busier time, we'd reconsider getting Universal Express passes as well, but having the AAP for easier access to escorts to the medical locker would still be vital for some rides (Velocicoaster, and Incredible Hulk Coaster, mainly).
Edit: Clarified reasons for my comments on its similarity to the old GAC system, and where escorts appear to be provided.
In case you're wondering, I've used Disney's GAC program, and DAS program extensively for my condition after having a number of issues over the years. I've posted about my experiences here for my previous 2 Disney trips (2021 October to Disneyland, 2020 October to WDW). I've never had an issue obtaining the DAS with my condition, and it has worked very well to accomodate me and my family.
The first thing to know about Universal's AAP is that, Universal doesn't seem to want you to know about it. They most certainly don't seem to want to issue you with one. And if you're not an advocate for yourself, you're likely to not get issued one. My wife did some research, and came across some recommendations to call the guest services phone number directly, before arriving to the park (within ~ 30 days of your arrival), and request an AAP be issued in advance. I made this call, and was not issued a pass. My wife listened to me describe the call, and told me that I wasn't being a strong enough advocate for myself (As an aside, my wife complains that I have, in the past, resisted getting the DAS pass, trying to go without, before relenting a few days into a vacation, after failing miserably to go without). She then called and was successful in getting a reference number issued for an AAP. This significantly reduced any anxiety about having to fight for a pass when I arrived. I took the number to guest services, who then issued the AAP.
The AAP reminded me very much of the old Disney GAC. For those unfamiliar, it is a physical card, that you take to a team member at the attraction's entrance. The team member then writes the attraction, the wait time, the current time, and the return time down. You then return at that time, and are able to enter an accelerated queue option after they initial the entry. If you already have a return time, you cannot receive a new one without voiding the previous one. The big difference is that, in general, the return time is 15-25 minutes less than the current wait time, and if the currently posted wait time is under 30 minutes (25 minutes or less), then you are able to directly enter the accelerated queue. The similarity to the old Disney GAC was further reinforced on the first few times that I used my AAP, I was given an escort to an alternate loading area.
Generally, however, the accelerated queue meant the Universal Express line. However, on the second Escape from Gringott's ride attempt, I was instead given an escort to the mobility loading entrance. I noted, then, that the AAP I was issued indicated I had access to an escort. It appears that there are different types of AAPs. I noted this also when the pass was scanned when riding Hogwart's Express, that the computer screen indicated a "Gold AAP", which corresponded to the yellow color on the AAP exterior. I noticed other AAP holders sometimes had differing colors on their passes. Now, many Universal rides require you to go through a metal detector before you ride, to prevent you from bringing anything on the ride. Since I have a medical device that I cannot leave behind in a locker, having access to the escort brought me to the area where medical lockers are available. There you place your items for a very short period of time while you ride the attraction. This was a great option for me, and could also be a timesaver in a pinch, but the downside is that, with the escort, you miss quite a lot of the experience of the ride, which is presented in the queue. For instance with Escape from Gringott's, you miss the walk through the bank floor, the elevator ride, the two briefings, and go straight to getting onto the vehicle. Generally, it was only for these attractions where an escort was offered.
On the whole, the system worked fairly well. We had 5 park day passes, but really only utilized ~ 3.5, with a Volcano Bay visit, and only a half day on our final day. In that time, my AAP was filled up almost to the end, and was pretty beaten up, especially after being through 2 water rides in a mostly water-resistant bag. I did find that the first day, I rarely used the AAP, as many experiences that day had 10-15 minute wait times posted, and really didn't seem to have much difference between being waved through the Express lane vs. the regular queue. My observations about the use are:
1) Even being vigilant about checking current posted wait times using the app, because of the under 30-minute rule, you always have a chance of the team member waving you through. This always seemed to be the case when we were in a situation where we sent somebody ahead to get the return time, and then had to rush the rest of the party to get there because the wait time had decreased.
2) Adjusting the return time by ~15 minutes is a great accomodation for the additional time spent in queue when you return. My experience with DAS, and the inflated wait times, meant that we always seemed to be waiting longer for a ride than if we could physically stand in the stand-by line. However, I did find some team members didn't bother to adjust the wait time at all, and we got to double-wait.
3) It seems that most team members only want to do math that involves a multiple of 5. No matter what, my return time was always a multiple of 5 minutes. Most of the time, this shaved a few minutes for me.
4) Many team members don't have a watch or clock available. This is the downside of such a manual system, versus the automation built-in by magic-bands and the scanners at Disney. Especially in the bright sunlight, many "smart" watches are difficult to read, even if the team member had one, and so I was constantly being asked what time it was when I was requesting a return time. I was always honest, even to my detriment, when a team member thought it was about 15 minutes earlier than it was, and then didn't adjust the wait time by any time.
5) Sometimes you have to wait 10-15 minutes for another team member to arrive to provide an escort, if you need one, to the medical lockers. This also isn't factored into the return time, so it can slow you down a bit if you're planning out your next step (meal-time, or restaurant reservations, for instance).
6) Also going along with #4, I was never questioned about the time written down versus when I returned. Granted, I was at most 2 minutes early for any return time (even though I know with Disney's Fastpass+ (and thus the old DAS system) allowed you to be a certain number of minutes early). I'm not sure what the official word is on the grace period to be let on, but I didn't feel the need to push to find it out, myself.
7) Using the AAP doesn't preclude you from also using child-swap options. We asked the question when going to ride Hagrid's Motorbike adventure, and were told that Child Swap was available for us, which was great for us.
8) The 25-minute and under rule is great, but don't fall into the trap of trying to find rides that are posted at 25-minutes to go ride. A few times I had the wait time increase up to and over 30 minutes while walking to the ride anyway.
We opted to not get Universal Express passes for this trip, based more on the time of year that we were going than on the availability of the AAP. We were able to experience all of the attractions that we wanted to (that are still around (looking at you BTTF), or not closed for refurbishment), and do it in a relatively leisurely pace. I didn't have any major medical issues, as we were able to spend our queue waiting times resting in doors, hydrating, or in a shop. I think that if we were to try to do the parks in fewer days, or at a significantly busier time, we'd reconsider getting Universal Express passes as well, but having the AAP for easier access to escorts to the medical locker would still be vital for some rides (Velocicoaster, and Incredible Hulk Coaster, mainly).
Edit: Clarified reasons for my comments on its similarity to the old GAC system, and where escorts appear to be provided.
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