How long will wait be with FOTL during 4th week?

[Kallison]

Never been, we've just decided to plan a three day last minute trip on July 6th, 7th and 8th. Want to stay onsite. How long will waits be approximately? Sorry for the dumb questions! I know it will be crowded.

 

[Illuminations06]

If you stay on site, you will be allowed to use Unlimited express pass (like Disney's fast pass)for free! Unfortunately, if you do not stay on site, you can choose to pay for this service or just wait in regular lines. I believe that the express pass (to buy) is about $50 per person. But, if you do buy this pass, you can only ride each ride once using express pass.

As for the July crowds, I went in last summer and it was not horribly bad. i was able to ride everything I wanted to, and I was there for 2 days!

 

[Dagny]

Kallison, I hope not long because those are our dates as well!

I am not kidding myself, the crowds will be heavy, but with FOTL, I am sure we will manage

 

[JLTraveling]

Definitely worth staying onsite for the free Express. As mentioned above, you can always buy Express if you don't stay onsite, but at that time of year, with Express running $50+ per person, it just makes more sense to stay onsite.
Now, Express is supposed to guarantee no more than a 15 minute wait, even on busy days. The reality is that the parks have a tendency to over-sell the paid Express passes, meaning that the Express lanes can get clogged. However, the clogged Express lines can usually be avoided through use of common sense. For example, Earthquake is located right next to the Beetlejuice theater. Therefore, when the Beetlejuice show ends, it seems logical to go on to Earthquake. That's great in theory, except 1500 of your closest friends have the same idea. Earthquake only holds 220 people per show (and it's the largest capacity in either park, other than show venues). So do the math, and don't go to Earthquake right after Beetlejuice ends. It's similar at all rides. Don't go on a ride that's located next door to the show you just left. Don't get in an Express line that looks visibly backed up. Backups can happen for many reasons, especially if the ride was "down" earlier in the day.
This may sound like obvious advice, especially to those who have been to Disney. But the key difference is that Disney's FastPass machines will only give out x number of FastPasses for any given time slot. Universal's Express lets you go to any attraction at any time of day, so to maximize your experience don't go at the same time everybody else does. If the Express line looks long, it probably is. Go on to another attraction. Then come back in an hour or two and the original line will be down.
Have a terrific time on your trip!!! Feel free to ask as many questions as you like!

 

[Spongemage]

Those are my dates too! But I'm staying off-site. So I really hope the lines wont be too horribly bad.

PEOPLE GOING TO UNIVERSAL ON JULY 6TH UNITE!

 

[gschmerl]

I've been there a few times during the week of July 4th. If you get to the parks when they open, you'll be OK even without the express pass. About 11:00 the parks become PACKED. We always stay on site, For most attractions, there wasn't much of a wait in the express lines. The regulare lines had LONG waits. Only Hulk and Mummy a couple times took longer than 20 minutes with express.

 

[LOVETHATPOLY]

Those are our exact dates too!! We are at PBH. There will be 8 of us. I can't wait!!

 

[Corryn]

We were there July 5 - 8 two years ago. Even with the FOTL pass, our hotel room key, we still waited on line. People were waiting on hour-long lines and sometimes longer. We waited maybe 20 minutes tops on a FOTL line. I don't like going in the summer. It's way too crowded and when it's crowded and hot, peolple get nasty.
Have a great time, though. The FOTL pass is really a blessing!

 

[phamton]

It is not guaranteed to be 15 minutes. This isn't pizza delivery with a guarantee or your pizza is free. The 15 minute is anticipated wait time. If a lot of FOTL and express plus suddenly decided to ride MIB (which happens when Fear Factor lets out) or Mummy (when Beetlejuice lets out), the time may even reach to 30 minutes in express line.

The only expectaion should be that the express line will, in most cases, be significantly less than the standby line.