Crowd/Express Pass Question for late summer

[DisLiss]

We are planning a trip to Universal late August of 2020. (So the new Hagrid ride will be a year old. So I don't foresee there being anything new to increase crowds over a typical late August weekend. Unless something else new is in the works that I don't know about.) We already have a room booked in one of the new value resorts. My hope is that we will find that we can get by without the express pass, which is why we didn't book a resort that includes those.

We will be there for only part of the day on a Friday and then the entire day Saturday (So we'll get the extra hour in Wizarding World in the morning.)

We are not ride-driven people. In other words, if we just don't get to ride a certain ride, we'll be fine. Only one of us is a big thrill ride person and he has no qualms about using a single rider line if available, because the poor kid is used to riding rides alone. Our real reason for going is just for Wizarding World. Our plan is just to mill about both parks Friday and do whatever and then spend as much time as we want in Wizarding World on Saturday.

I wouldn't buy passes for Friday since it won't be a full day, but if we're being crazy about going without them on Saturday, I'd rather change to a different hotel than buy the passes out of pocket since even the basic express pass for each of us plus the cost of the value resort is still higher than staying at one of the premium resorts and getting the unlimited pass for free. BUT, we'll save about $500.00 if we can get by with no passes and stay in the value resort.

I saw a video of a guy who went through Universal alone (not IOA) in one day without the passes and he was fine and a couple who hit many rides over both parks in the same way, but I don't know the dates of either of those visits. So, are we crazy to think we can do anything without having the passes at that time of year?

 

[TommyJK]

End of August is indeed a bit slower than the rest of summer because many jurisdictions have already started school. So in all likelihood it will be somewhat ok without Express pass.

That being said, it sounds like you'll only have 1.5 days in the parks, so even if it's not packed like the busier summer month, you still might be short on time to do everything you want with less than 2 days in the parks. So Express Passes would indeed help guarantee you get the most out of your short visit.

 

[schumigirl]

It may be a quieter time of year, but it`ll still be busy regardless.....especially on the weekends.

I`d recommend the EP.....but saving $500 is a lot of money.....I can see why you are thinking about this early.....

 

[DisLiss]

Just to add, after the 1.5 days at Universal, we'll be at WDW from rope drop Sunday morning straight through lunch on Saturday. I do think WDW will be less crowded at that time of year, except for Friday since that leads into labor Day weekend. So part of me thinks if Universal is crowded..at least we'll be dealing with it at the beginning of our trip, before we're terribly tired.

 

[DisLiss]

Thanks for the advice, by the way. I appreciate it. We'll have to talk it over and decide what we want to do. Luckily we have a lot of time to decide---and to possibly rework our trip budget---again.