Does Express Pass cost always go with higher crowds?

[kohlby]

I noticed that almost all the hotels were booked for our dates which are supposed to be moderate crowds. That had me a bit worried, so I looked up Express Pass cost to compare and luckily they aren't super high. However, the Friday rate is $20-$25 more than M-Th. When I looked up crowd calendars, Friday was not higher than the rest of the days. Should we plan for higher crowds on Friday? (We won't have EP and will not be buying them so I'm trying to figure out how much smart touring we need to do).

 

[macraven]

the higher the cost for the ep, the more crowded the park is expected to be.

look at the price for each park and the combo ep for both parks.

you can tell which park will be more popular.



the only thing that will be difficult about judging with ep cost for crowd size is when Hulk and Kong are operating.

New rides always increases the number in the parks.

 

[schumigirl]

Yep, if I have friends going and not staying onsite I tell them to look at the EP price and not crowd calendars.

 

[RMulieri]

Express pass prices are the best indicator of prjected crowds..the higher the cost, the more crowded they are expecting it to be

 

[kohlby]

We will be there in a few weeks, so no new rides.

Friday was our maybe extra park day, so we will keep that in mind. Perhaps it would be a good half park day then.

 

[pa. dad]

We were there last 2 days of 2015 and the cost was $159 one day and $149 the next for the express passes. I will say for those who had that money to burn that the lines for them seemed to be very short. And that does seem to be a very good indicator of crowd levels.

 

[kohlby]

I noticed most of the Fridays in April (and all the Fridays in May) had a higher price. Unlimited for park-to-park went from 90 to $115. One park regular Express went from $70 to $90 or $60 to $85 depending on the park. The closing time is the same M-Th as Friday for the week we're going. (Though it looks like one park closes an hour earlier on all the other Fridays. I'm guessing those are grad nights and there must not be one our week). We are used to going during low crowd times - as in rides are a walk in and we come back if a ride has a 20 minute wait. So, I want to prepare my crew for more waiting.

 

[macraven]

believe grad nights begin at 7 pm for those fridays.

park 2 park eps that are $90 can be deceiving.
that combo price needs to be broken down to see the cost for each park.

if one park has the ep for $35-40, and the other park for ep is the difference and higher, no need to buy the 2 park ep.
just get the one for the park at the higher amount which would be then be (using the $90 for an example) $50-55.

i would say at $50 for the ep, the projected crowd level would be in the moderate range.

 

[velvetsqueeze]

Express pass prices are the best indicator of prjected crowds..the higher the cost, the more crowded they are expecting it to be

I never knew that! I checked and we have a $69 day for IOA and $49 day for UO. IOA is looking like a RD day!

 

[kohlby]

believe grad nights begin at 7 pm for those fridays.

park 2 park eps that are $90 can be deceiving.
that combo price needs to be broken down to see the cost for each park.

if one park has the ep for $35-40, and the other park for ep is the difference and higher, no need to buy the 2 park ep.
just get the one for the park at the higher amount which would be then be (using the $90 for an example) $50-55.

i would say at $50 for the ep, the projected crowd level would be in the moderate range.

The website says EP START at $50. The regular express - not unlimited - is $50 for one park and $60 for the other one for M-Thursday. (One park closes at 7pm and the other at 8:30. Though the price increases significantly for EP on Friday, the park hours stay the same).

We won't be buying EP - we have 7 people and the cost would not be realistic. The cost of two hotel rooms is also why we aren't able to stay at a EP hotel this time. I looked up cost to see if it helped me figure out crowds. We will have the early hour and it's the park with the higher express pass price. I'll have a few sleepy pre-teen/teen boys with me so trying to figure out how often we need to wake them up early to make the early hour.

It sounds like we should do the early hour our first day(letting vacation excitement take over) and then on the Friday based on the crowds and consider letting them sleep longer on the other days.

 

[macraven]

Take advantage of EE

You can cover a lot in the potter sections.



And use the SRL when possible

 

[PinkMagnolia]

if one park has the ep for $35-40, and the other park for ep is the difference and higher, no need to buy the 2 park ep.
just get the one for the park at the higher amount which would be then be (using the $90 for an example) $50-55.

i would say at $50 for the ep, the projected crowd level would be in the moderate range.

Just so I understand, when you say "$50 for the ep, the projected cl would be in the moderate range" you are referring to the (regular) Express Pass, and not the Unlimited Express Pass, right? I just want to make sure I understand completely

 

[macraven]

I am using the numbers one of the poster in this thread wrote

Yes
We are talking about the one time use of ep
Regular purchased ep are valid for each ride/ show once

Unlimited ep has no limits the number of times you use it for rides or shows