Express Pass Wait Times

[joelikesbeer]

I'll be at Universal in the beginning of May. Is there any website or "prediction formulas" that estimate Express pass wait times compared to regular lines? For example if Hulk is listed at a 50 minute wait, if I have an express pass what would the estimated wait time be?

 

[macraven]

The time varies each day for the ep lines
Could be a walk on or could be a wait

Each ride wait time will vary based on the rides

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

If you have an EP I wouldn’t worry about wait times. You will find that some rides you can ride over and over again without any wait at all. Others bottleneck because the EP line merges with the standard line, so you will have a short wait. It is a very relaxing experience.

 

[nkereina]

We've had EPs on every trip to Universal. Even on our trips during the busiest times, I don't think we've waited longer than 20 minutes in the EP line. I'd say we average 5-10 minute waits using EP. I agree with PP that its a nominal wait, so nothing you need to worry about or plan for.

 

[martikus]

We went peak July pre-covid and longest we ever waited was 20 min for gringots. Many were walk-in or less than 10 min.

Love love love EP.

 

[C&Jx2]

They say it’s meant to cut your wait in half so you could use that for an estimation, but I think that’s a generous one.

 

[cfoxga]

Pre-Covid, we saw EP lines get over 45 minutes during the mid-afternoon at Thanksgiving. At Thanksgiving 2020, the EPs were extremely short because PBH was closed. Our latest trip over President's Day weekend had longer lines, but not more than 20 minutes.

If you go when school is in session, then lines should be really short. Holidays and weekends tend to be more crowded. But in general, EP lines are short enough that there usually isn't a need to look at them...

 

[joelikesbeer]

I'm going the weekend of May 7th-9th and it looks like Universal is crazy busy on the weekends

 

[KristaZ]

Any time we've used EP we've had a minimal wait - most rides we walked on. Others were maybe a 10 minute wait at most - this includes the last time we used it which was on a full to capacity day.

 

[nkereina]

I'm going the weekend of May 7th-9th and it looks like Universal is crazy busy on the weekends

It’s relative - there’s still capacity restrictions in place. Universal does hit capacity on weekends sometimes, but it’s important to remember it’s a reduced capacity. EP waits have not been bad to my knowledge, and virtual queues are still being utilized for those without EP.

 

[joelikesbeer]

Got it. Makes sense. Thank you.

 

[puffkin]

We have gone twice with EP in COVID era....end of July and Mid November (first weekend of Holiday stuff). Waits were very short for the most part with EP. The only ride we had issues with both times was Kong....both times it broke down when we were half way through the queue. Hagrids was not using a virtual queue either time we were there, but we were able to ride several times both trips with about a 30 minute or less standby wait.