Current Express pass rules have us no longer choosing signature hotels

[kassonvike]

We've taken two week long trips to universal in the past (the most recent last year) and have always thought the unlimited express passes that come with the 3 top signiture hotels made the price increase more than worth it. On last years trip we found out they do not work at Epic but as a brand new park we just spent a couple days there and dealt with the lines.

Planning a 5 night trip in next couple months I now think I am much better off going Cabana Bay, Aventura, or Terra Nova. We can by a 5 day express pass that works at all parks, including Epic and still save quite a bit of money. If we go Portofino we wither have to deal with the crazy lines at Epic or buy a seperate express pass. Epic is $250 a day for express from what I'm seeing. I know Portofino is obviously a nicer hotel but I no longer think its worth the price deifference. I can price out Cabana Bay and 5 day express and save quite a bit. I know those express passes aren't unlimited but on a 6 day trip there is plenty of time to hit all the big rides multiple times with the once a day express passes.

Anyways, I would have still went with Portofino or Hard Rock even if the included express passes were not unlimited but they also included epic. Maybe they will include Epic somehow in the future but it seems like the incentive for staying at the upper scale hotels is almost completely gone or tat least for the reasons my family was choosing them.

 

[GhostHost24]

I mean if you're only going to Epic sure. But it still works at main two parks and that's where the worth comes in.

There's about 98% chance epic will never be added to express for the hotels.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Boat access to 2 parks is big for us so it makes sapphire falls more appealing depending on how the math would run as we quite like that hotel. And for those who don’t mind a touch of walking, you could stay Aventura and walk to SF to use the boat.

 

[georgina]

We've taken two week long trips to universal in the past (the most recent last year) and have always thought the unlimited express passes that come with the 3 top signiture hotels made the price increase more than worth it. On last years trip we found out they do not work at Epic but as a brand new park we just spent a couple days there and dealt with the lines.

Planning a 5 night trip in next couple months I now think I am much better off going Cabana Bay, Aventura, or Terra Nova. We can by a 5 day express pass that works at all parks, including Epic and still save quite a bit of money. If we go Portofino we wither have to deal with the crazy lines at Epic or buy a seperate express pass. Epic is $250 a day for express from what I'm seeing. I know Portofino is obviously a nicer hotel but I no longer think its worth the price deifference. I can price out Cabana Bay and 5 day express and save quite a bit. I know those express passes aren't unlimited but on a 6 day trip there is plenty of time to hit all the big rides multiple times with the once a day express passes.

Anyways, I would have still went with Portofino or Hard Rock even if the included express passes were not unlimited but they also included epic. Maybe they will include Epic somehow in the future but it seems like the incentive for staying at the upper scale hotels is almost completely gone or tat least for the reasons my family was choosing them.

Understandable. My last trip I moved around a lot. I spent 3 nights at Dockside during my Epic days. I had bought Epic express passes when they were first released and they were only $130/day. I then spent 1 night at RPR for the 2 days of EP at IOA and US, then 1 night at Cabana Bay.

 

[kassonvike]

We went with Cabana Bay. To me we are still very close to city walk either by shuttle or short walk to water taxi at resorts on the way there. Other thing I should maybe add is I usually go with family of 4 but this time there is only 2 of us and I doubt we'll spend much time at all at the resort. Extra comfort of a signiture for 4 people and getting 4 free passes instead of 2 probably changes the math/advantage a lot. I'll have to take a close look again next if/when we go with kids again (our kids are about to finish high school). For only 2 of us, this seemed like the better deal for us.