Express Pass week after Christmas

[marybdisney]

We will be visiting Universal Studios the week between Christmas and New Years. I'm pretty sure we will need to buy the Express Pass in order to handle the crowds. The Express Pass costs $46 each for those days. Can anyone tell me how long the wait will be in the Express lines? If the regular lines are say an hour wait, will the Express lines be around 30 minutes? I'd appreciate if someone could tell me their experience over the holidays and about how long the Express Pass (FOTL) lines are....

Thanks

 

[Bluer101]

We will be visiting Universal Studios the week between Christmas and New Years. I'm pretty sure we will need to buy the Express Pass in order to handle the crowds. The Express Pass costs $46 each for those days. Can anyone tell me how long the wait will be in the Express lines? If the regular lines are say an hour wait, will the Express lines be around 30 minutes? I'd appreciate if someone could tell me their experience over the holidays and about how long the Express Pass (FOTL) lines are....

Thanks

Normally express is 15 minutes and under, but can run longer sometimes.

 

[donaldduck352]

It can cut the wait down to 15min for the hour they show on the clock.That week will be very busy,so buy your EP's when you walk in.Then wait till the lines show 30min+ to use them.Don't burn them up early.The key is to get there when they open.You can knock out several rides before the crowds start to pack in!!

 

[Metro West]

We will be visiting Universal Studios the week between Christmas and New Years. I'm pretty sure we will need to buy the Express Pass in order to handle the crowds. The Express Pass costs $46 each for those days. Can anyone tell me how long the wait will be in the Express lines? If the regular lines are say an hour wait, will the Express lines be around 30 minutes? I'd appreciate if someone could tell me their experience over the holidays and about how long the Express Pass (FOTL) lines are....

Thanks

As the others have stated...the EP will greatly reduce your wait times but the week after Christmas is the busiest time of the year. I wouldn't be surprised if the wait times reached 30-45 mins for the Express line. That's still better than the 90 + mins you can expect w/o the EP.

 

[Yoshi]

I used Express Pass a few days after Christmas in 2003, lines were 90 - 150 minutes for everything, with Express Pass the waits were 10 - 15 minutes at the most except for Men In Black because it broke down while we were in line.

 

[mvansear]

I used express week after Christmas thru Jan 3rd in 03/04 we were staying at HRH I remember walking right on some rides, passing the same people in line several times. I never remember waiting more than 10-15 min.

 

[Darcy03231]

Depending on how many people are in your party you might want to look into booking a room at one of the on-site hotels for one night to get two days of unlimited Express Pass use (day of check in and day of check out).

We were there in the summer and with 5 in our group that wanted to ride the more popular attractions we did this and it worked out great. It was also less expensive than buying the single use Express Passes for one day.

 

[marybdisney]

Depending on how many people are in your party you might want to look into booking a room at one of the on-site hotels for one night to get two days of unlimited Express Pass use (day of check in and day of check out).

We were there in the summer and with 5 in our group that wanted to ride the more popular attractions we did this and it worked out great. It was also less expensive than buying the single use Express Passes for one day.

I calculated it and you are right. Express passes cost $46 each the week of Christmas. One night at the Royal Pacific is $359. For 5 people to get express passes for two days that is $460. The hotel would save us almost $100 plus we'd get the hotel for a night. I'm not sure we would buy Express Passes for IOA though because the kids won't ride the roller coasters. I think basically we'd only want to see Seuss Landing, Jurassic Park and Spiderman. So if we only got passes for US for one day for 5 people it would cost $230, or $129 less than the hotel room. It is worth thinking about however. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Darcy03231]

I calculated it and you are right. Express passes cost $46 each the week of Christmas. One night at the Royal Pacific is $359. For 5 people to get express passes for two days that is $460. The hotel would save us almost $100 plus we'd get the hotel for a night. I'm not sure we would buy Express Passes for IOA though because the kids won't ride the roller coasters. I think basically we'd only want to see Seuss Landing, Jurassic Park and Spiderman. So if we only got passes for US for one day for 5 people it would cost $230, or $129 less than the hotel room. It is worth thinking about however. Thank you for the suggestion!

I won't ride roller coasters either and I still loved having the express pass for IOA. Its good for other rides too. As I recall wait times for Spiderman, Jurassic Park, Popeye, Dudley Do-Right, etc. were all 60-90 min. I don't think we waited in line for more than 10-15 for each ride.

 

[JAL2525]

We've been down twice for that week and have had FOTL while staying at HRH. With EP you would enter the same line. I don't recall waiting more than 30 minutes and less most of the time. I felt the longer waits were closer to New Years than Christmas.

This also came in handy for the shows as you are brought in through a seperate entrance.

The big advantage to the FOTL over EP is the EP is limited rides vs. FOTL unlimited rides (correct me if I'm wrong) That help us made the choice to stay onsite.

 

[BelleBeast]

I wanted to book one night - but it was a two night minimum the week between Christmas and New Years. I booked it...still not sure if we are going to keep it though.

We just wanted to sit at Lone Palm airport with teens and people watch and enjoy music...Not sure if its possible during New Years Eve though.

 

[Metro West]

The big advantage to the FOTL over EP is the EP is limited rides vs. FOTL unlimited rides (correct me if I'm wrong) That help us made the choice to stay onsite.

That's correct although technically there is no such thing as FOTL...that's just what posters call it on the DIS.