It's confirmed - no more free Universal Express

[UKDEB]

Orlando Sentinel article

 

[Miffy2003]

Oh my!!!

I guess this has been on the cards for a while, but what a pity.

I didn't see anyhting about onsite guests keeping FOTL priveleges though - I assume they still do? She says nervously, having booked 4 nights at HRH last night

 

[ely3857]

I have never used UE so this doesnt bother me too much but I dont think it is a step in the right direction.

I have never really liked to FOTL access for onsiters as it discriminates against offsiters.

I have bought an EU plus, it was for Gavins first day in Orlando and I didnt want him queuing all day but there were no queues so it was really a waste of $



Jodie

 

[disneyholic family]

Oh my!!!

I guess this has been on the cards for a while, but what a pity.

I didn't see anyhting about onsite guests keeping FOTL priveleges though - I assume they still do? She says nervously, having booked 4 nights at HRH last night

in the article it says that they will retain FOTL for onsite guests. The only thing they are getting rid of is the free express pass.

I assume there will be a limited number of these universal express plus tickets available.

 

[Miffy2003]

in the article it says that they will retain FOTL for onsite guests. The only thing they are getting rid of is the free express pass.

.

Thanks Beth, must have missed that

 

[Merylj]

Did`nt I read a while ago that US visitor numbers are dropping whilst WDW is going great?
Anyhow I would`nt jump in and buy the express pass when I first enter the park after our experience last Aug - there were absolutety no lines and we did both parks in about 8 hours. Look before you buy!

 

[Frances999]

I think this was a wise move. During our most recent trip last August, some of the express lines were ridiculously long. For "Cat in the Hat" the express line was longer than the standby line! It seems to me that in some instances, the express line cannot cope with both regular express passes and the resort hotel FOTL access.

Overall, the FOTL pass for resort guests is an incredible & invaluable benefit. I was worried it was becoming ever so slightly less beneficial after some of the lines last August, but this is very re-assuring news.

 

[SimonV]

We were in USF and IoA today and the UE Plus ticket would largely have been a waste of money. The only thing it got us in any quicker than normal was Poseidon's Fury, while it might have saved us a couple of minutes on Men In Black and Jaws. Certainly not worth the $$$s in our opinion. At peak periods it might well be worth it for first-timers, but even then the price goes up so you could end up spending another $150-plus. Not a great development.

 

[Ware Bears]

It will be our first time at Universal but I doubt we will be able to afford to pay for the express pass for 5 of us....oh well, I will look on it positively and say we will spend our time spent queueing peoplewatching!

 

[phamton]

We were in USF and IoA today and the UE Plus ticket would largely have been a waste of money.

Hey, Simon! Why didn't you come by and say Hi to me today? I was working today. You're right it wasn't busy today but very cold...brrr!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I have sent you a PM Phamton, I know you work at Guest Services, I have a question about Joshua regarding the express pass.

 

[UKDEB]

At peak periods it might well be worth it for first-timers, but even then the price goes up so you could end up spending another $150-plus. Not a great development.

In theory, then, it could be cheaper to get a room and not use it! We paid $129 for a room at RPR last month. That's $30 each if you check in 4 people. I'm guessing that the Express Plus passes would have been at their cheapest given the time of year, but it makes staying onsite even more attractive.

 

[wilma-bride]

We have never used the free Express passes (even though they were always available with the Flex Ticket - just never needed them). To be honest, when we went last September the machines were all out of use then. The only thing we may have used an Express pass for was the Mummy which had a standby wait of 40 minutes but, to be honest, the theming and staff in the queing system for the mummy is so great, you don't mind waiting anyway (well, we didn't - waited for at least 30 minutes twice )

I agree with Deb though - if there are more than 2 of you, chances are you would be better off staying onsite for 1 night to get the benefit of 2 days FOTL - would definitely cost less than buying 2 days' worth of Express Plus passes, which are only good for 1 ride on each attraction anyway. At least FOTL has no limits to how often you can use it

 

[juliebro]

In theory, then, it could be cheaper to get a room and not use it! We paid $129 for a room at RPR last month. That's $30 each if you check in 4 people. I'm guessing that the Express Plus passes would have been at their cheapest given the time of year, but it makes staying onsite even more attractive.

Would love to know how you got that rate. We're looking to go at Easter - but it's a lot more expensive than that!

Julie

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Would love to know how you got that rate. We're looking to go at Easter - but it's a lot more expensive than that!

Julie

Easter rates would be much higher I suspect Julie.

 

[snookhams]

do those with AP's get a discount of the Premium express tickets!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

do those with AP's get a discount of the Premium express tickets!

That'a a very good question, we have APs , I honestly think the answer is no, but for definite send a pm to Phamton as she works at Guest Services.

 

[Soprano]

USF Crowds down 8%, Disney up 12%*. This can only continue as USF struggles to convince Americans to leave Disney for a day and come to their parks.

Thankfully for the time being, we travel off peak and have never waited longer than 20 minutes for any ride.

So if we went in peak time (Aug) we could be paying an extra $200 just to get on a ride! This would seriously cut our usual 3/4 days at both parks and push us to more Disney days.

What a specatular own goal.




*(estimated. Cannot find the source, but was on a link to newspaper was in this forum. Somewhere!)

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I often go on the Universal forums and there has been much discussion about this of late.

One of the things said is that many of the American tourists who visit Orlando do just concentrate on Disney, for a few reasons, it appears to be more popular and often they do not vacaction for 2/3 weeks etc like we do and consequently do not have time to do both Disney and Universal.
Especially given the expense etc

 

[Soprano]

Yeah, I read some of those threads.

I rarely see an American family with less than 3 kids (not scientific fact!) They are going to be even more unwilling to visit a park if they could be charged an extra $250 just to get near the front of the queue.

Not that I would ever dismiss Disney doing something like this in the future.