Express Pass Needed?

[tatkins]

When going in the middle of October during the week what does everyone think about the need for express pass?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Is it Columbus Day week?
Are you okay using single rider lines?

 

[tatkins]

Yes it is Columbus Day week. Hadn’t thought about it until you said something. Hoping to check in on Columbus Day apparently.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

The other questions would be how long you're staying, how much re-rides you like to do, will you use early entry, etc.

You can absolutely do it without EP. You will have shorter waits with EP.
Everything in between that is really dependent on your touring style & tolerance for waiting in lines.

If you've got at least a couple of days, you're willing to go early and/or stay late, and/or use single rider lines, and plan the middle of your day judiciously I don't think you'd need EP. But it'll be shorter waits with it for sure, especially on Columbus day itself (and probably the Friday).

 

[AJA]

Without Express you’ll need to get in as early as possible.

Remember Wednesday through the rest of the week Studios closes early for HHN.

Even in the middle of the week HHN crowds will start to build in the afternoon. Mornings are your best touring time.

That said, we’ve been several times in October without Express and never miss it. We usually stay a full week though and do regular park touring with early entry Mon-Wednesday and HHN in the evenings the rest of the week.

You can get through a ton of attractions before 11am. After 11 the crowds will build. Be prepared to use single rider lines after that.

 

[cb526]

Y’all think I need express pass Mon 6/27-Weds 6/30 if we’re staying at Cabana Bay and going to VB for a day?

 

[tatkins]

Thanks everyone. We are going to have 5 days at the three parks and one night of hhn so I’m thinking we should be good.

 

[PocahontasLookALike]

We just got back (did 3 days June 9-11) did not have express pass but did have early hours since we stayed at a property hotel. That made all the difference. The longest we waited for anything was roughly an hour but the lines do keep moving.

If you want to do hagrids, early hours is pretty much the only way to do it. We waited 20 mins (through a constant moving line). we did it again near closing and waited just under an hour.

We did find that when the express pass line is long, that’s what makes the standby line wait long. Because they will pretty much exhaust the EP line and then let the standby line in after (per an employee) and we noticed this for sure.

For example, hagrids is a constant moving line. There’s no stopping to load (like velocicoaster). So in theory the line should continually be moving. Which is did. Until the EP line formed.

Without EP we rode everything multiple times (hagrids 4 times, velocicoaster like 6 times) without having to wait more
Than an hour. We were prepared for waits though.

By far the longest most annoying wait: pterodactyl flyers. Take my advice…bribe your kid with a toy/treat NOT to do it. It’s definitely not worth any wait.

 

[tatkins]

We just got back (did 3 days June 9-11) did not have express pass but did have early hours since we stayed at a property hotel. That made all the difference. The longest we waited for anything was roughly an hour but the lines do keep moving.

If you want to do hagrids, early hours is pretty much the only way to do it. We waited 20 mins (through a constant moving line). we did it again near closing and waited just under an hour.

We did find that when the express pass line is long, that’s what makes the standby line wait long. Because they will pretty much exhaust the EP line and then let the standby line in after (per an employee) and we noticed this for sure.

For example, hagrids is a constant moving line. There’s no stopping to load (like velocicoaster). So in theory the line should continually be moving. Which is did. Until the EP line formed.

Without EP we rode everything multiple times (hagrids 4 times, velocicoaster like 6 times) without having to wait more
Than an hour. We were prepared for waits though.

By far the longest most annoying wait: pterodactyl flyers. Take my advice…bribe your kid with a toy/treat NOT to do it. It’s definitely not worth any wait.

Lol!! Lucky for me and my wife our daughter is 24 so not an issue for us.

 

[jormom1030]

I thought you couldn’t use an express pass on Hagrid’s. Did that recently change?

 

[PocahontasLookALike]

I thought you couldn’t use an express pass on Hagrid’s. Did that recently change?

You’re correct. I should have qualified that. But that line was pretty much constantly moving. Even if it was long.

 

[Dawn Peterson]

We just did a no EP trip June 6-9 with crowds of 9&10 out of 10 on calendars. Like the other posters we did the park in the morning (not even early since I brought a teenager) an afternoon break and then we came back in the late afternoon/evening. We also made a rule to not wait longer than 25 minutes for a ride. It went pretty well and the only 2 rides we wanted that we missed because of long lines were Escape from Gringots and Minions. If we had used the early morning hours for those we would have been fine.

We also used the daily afternoon showers to our advantage. They happened about 3-4 and that is when we would head back to the parks. People streamed out and we went in and got on rides with no line. Jurassic Park and Kong which were 80 minutes to 110 minutes prior to the showers were walk ones for the first hour after the rain.

Definitely possible without EP and I think we would have done better using those early hours more.