How helpful will Express Pass be on 12/23?

[ccrosner]

We are fine tuning our IOA one day plan at the end of our Orlando trip next week. We are checking out of Beach Club on 12/23 and DH and DS16 are going over to IOA for the day. They will check in to HRH to get Express Passes.

They want to ride all of the big roller coasters and I would think would want to do parts of WWoHP while there. I know that FJ is not on the Express Pass.

Will the express pass make it quite easy for them to do the whole IOA park in one day? Even if it is really crowded? And am I right that Express Pass does not work for FJ?

Just trying to figure out just how early they need to get there to have a good day. I'm hoping that they can catch a cab at 8 a.m. or a bit later and still have a fun day.

Thanks for any help.

 

[DisneyWacker]

Went to both parks in August, was able to do both parks (to my satisfaction anyway) easily in two days. I can't remember the names of the rides that were excluded from the express pass, but there were a couple. I can't imagine doing Universal without it. It is so awesome.

 

[Metro West]

We are fine tuning our IOA one day plan at the end of our Orlando trip next week. We are checking out of Beach Club on 12/23 and DH and DS16 are going over to IOA for the day. They will check in to HRH to get Express Passes.

They want to ride all of the big roller coasters and I would think would want to do parts of WWoHP while there. I know that FJ is not on the Express Pass.

Will the express pass make it quite easy for them to do the whole IOA park in one day? Even if it is really crowded? And am I right that Express Pass does not work for FJ?

Just trying to figure out just how early they need to get there to have a good day. I'm hoping that they can catch a cab at 8 a.m. or a bit later and still have a fun day.

Thanks for any help.

The best advice is...wait until you arrive so you can check out the wait times before buying the EP. It will be busy on 12/23 especially IOA and WWoHP but the Studios and the rest of IOA should be relatively quiet. The EP will help on the bigger attractions but if you're planning on arriving early, you should get a jump on the lines.

The EP does NOT work on Rockit at the Studios and Forbidden Journey and the Pterodactyl Flyers at IOA.

 

[ElizabethB]

Resort FOTL access is worth its weight in gold. I would say on Dec. 23, it is vital to have it. I should think they would have no problems doing IOA in one day with the FOTL access. The only problem is WWOHP. On Dec. 23, I suspect that is going to be insane. The only decent way to do it is using early morning access. At least that is what we found in August. Any way to stay overnight at HRH and do WWOHP early the next morning?

We were there again in late October and were not staying on-site. WWOHP was so crowded there were long lines even to get into the stores. We gave up and went over to the Universal Studios side.

WWOHP has been a real game changer as far as crowds go.

 

[ccrosner]

Thanks ElizabethB! We fly out of MCO pretty early the next day so I'm not willing to spend money for another day pass. But they could go really early from WDW. I"ll discuss with them just how important WWoHP is to them.