Is there really no Fast Pass at Universal anymore?

[pomcoach]

My daughter, who may be moving to Florida in a few months, told me there's no Fast Pass at Universal or Islands of Adventure anymore. Is that really true? I couldn't believe it! I'm sorry I haven't been to this board for a year or more. Sorry if I'm way out of the loop. But is that true?
Pomcoach

 

[yaytezIOA]

There is no free Express at Universal or Islands anymore. There is free express if you stay at one of the onsite hotels, or you can purchase Express which will give you one entry to each ride.

 

[Holly Goheavy]

There is Universal Express, which you can buy that in theory gives you 1 "fast pass" to each major attraction. Sometimes the TM working the attraction marks your pass and you are unable to use it again, sometimes they don't and you're able to use it multiple times.

If you stay in one of the 3 onsite hotels, you show your room key to get front of the line (FOTL) access to all attractions, all the time. It functions as a never ending fast pass for the length of your stay.

As far as free fast passes, like you get at Disney, no. They got rid of those when they began selling the Universal Express deal.

 

[Metro West]

My daughter, who may be moving to Florida in a few months, told me there's no Fast Pass at Universal or Islands of Adventure anymore. Is that really true? I couldn't believe it! I'm sorry I haven't been to this board for a year or more. Sorry if I'm way out of the loop. But is that true?Pomcoach

It's true but depending on when you want to go, it's not really necessary to have an EP anyway.

 

[damo]

My daughter, who may be moving to Florida in a few months, told me there's no Fast Pass at Universal or Islands of Adventure anymore. Is that really true? I couldn't believe it! I'm sorry I haven't been to this board for a year or more. Sorry if I'm way out of the loop. But is that true?
Pomcoach

Pomcoach. Everytime I see your user ID, I read it as porn coach.

 

[phamton]

The free express has been gone almost two years.

As far as free fast passes, like you get at Disney, no. They got rid of those when they began selling the Universal Express deal.

The express pass plus (the express that you pay for) has been around for at least 5 years. But with the free express, the express pass plus, and hotel FOTL, the express wasn't accomplishing what it needed to. Plus the free express usually ran out before noon on the popular rides. So now all they have is hotel FOTL, express pass plus, and single and triple attraction passes.

 

[AngieWin]

I picked up a Disney with Kids guide book at the library just last week, 2007 edition and the Universal section still mentioned the Express Pass. I have been reading on this board for a while now and even though I knew about the Express pass to purchase, it was still very confusing!!

 

[damo]

I picked up a Disney with Kids guide book at the library just last week, 2007 edition and the Universal section still mentioned the Express Pass. I have been reading on this board for a while now and even though I knew about the Express pass to purchase, it was still very confusing!!

Send the authors an email telling them that their information is out of date and misleading.
You aren't the first person to say that their new guide book is incorrect about the express pass.

 

[yaytezIOA]

Wait....its a disney guide book with a Universal section? Thats the problem right there I think....at least it would seem to me.
Free Exprss has been gone for two years at least.

 

[SusanDK]

So now all they have is hotel FOTL, express pass plus, and single and triple attraction passes.

And the Premier Annual pass which gives unlimited FOTL access after 4 pm.

Susan

 

[MisunderstoodLilo]

I picked up a Disney with Kids guide book at the library just last week, 2007 edition and the Universal section still mentioned the Express Pass.

That's not the only book out there saying it's still available. I don't have kids, so I was reading a different guide and saw it too. I knew it wasn't available thanks to these and other fine message boards.

Wait....its a disney guide book with a Universal section? Thats the problem right there I think....at least it would seem to me.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves!!!!!! No wonder why millions of people go to Orlando each year thinking it's all WDW...it's NOT! I love it when people want to take the monorail from Epcot, which "isn't Disney" to Universal!

 

[GemmaPixie]

Wait....its a disney guide book with a Universal section? Thats the problem right there I think....at least it would seem to me.
Free Exprss has been gone for two years at least.

It's no wonder a lot of Disney fans go to Universal and are dissapointed- Disney are filling their heads with misinformation and they really aren't getting what they expected. If they read some Universal guide books maybe they would love it.

 

[johde]

Phantom, (or anyone else who might know) I heard you talking about the triple attraction passes before but would like to know more details. Are they useful for only 1 day and 1 park or can you buy the 3 tickets and use them during your entire stay. I am going in September the weekend of RTU and I'm going single so I can use the single rider line for several of the rides but last year there were a couple of lines that were a little bit longer than I would have liked. Having a couple of passes to used over the course of the weekend would be nice.

 

[phamton]

And the Premier Annual pass which gives unlimited FOTL access after 4 pm.

Oops...yes, I did forget about that.

Are they useful for only 1 day and 1 park or can you buy the 3 tickets and use them during your entire stay.

They are dated so you would have to use them all in one day. They can be used at either park though for 3 rides. You could buy a single attraction pass. Right now it is around $5. A triple attraction pass is around $10.

 

[bg4]

Disney is not Universal and Universal is not Disney- How many times must it be said. At least I feel better. Those on the disney side of this site want to relate everything to how it relates to disney and that is wrong on so many levels. Sorry to break it to you but the world doesn't revolve around WDW and life does go on, even to those of us that don't visit WDW.

Universal has NEVER has fastpass. You know why? Its because Disney has copyrighted it or trademarked it - as in fastpass® - universal would be violating a trademark or copyright if they used it but why would they?

Universal DID have those universal express machines which are now gone.

Universal, unlike disney, gives UNLIMITED front of line access to its resort guests. Can disney say that?

 

[johde]

Thanks for the information Bev. I will need to see how busy the park is before deciding on what to do.

 

[phamton]

Thanks for the information Bev. I will need to see how busy the park is before deciding on what to do.

That's what I always recommend. Wait until you get there and see if you really need it. You can just buy it there if you find you need it. If you arrive early, you can hit the major rides before the crowds arrive.