Long Express Pass Lines

[Cheesehead9]

We just returned from a week at RPR. We've gone 4 years in a row during this same week. This trip saw major increases in express wait times. For many rides, we'd never seen express lines half this long. It also seemed the ratio of people using express vs standby was greater than normal. Also, the express pass wait was a larger proportion of the posted standby time than usual.

For example, Spiderman express line was consistently into the main entrance lobby - in the past it never got to the darkroom. If a 50 minute standby wait was posted, we would wait 15 minutes (30% of standby time). In the past, a 10-20% of the posted standby time seemed the norm. This same experience applied to most rides on this trip.

It seems that adding Potter to Express is an attempt to compensate for what appears to be a decision to devalue Express Pass in other ways - while Universal sees major increases in Express pass revenues.

I'd rather have a little longer wait for Potter than have most other express lines jam packed. We should take note of this and push back if possible.

 

[macraven]

waits up to 20 minutes can happen in the express lines.

at one time, UO site listed waits up to 20 minutes for ep lines.

with the change and new site for UO, can't find anything quickly now.....
one link leads to another....

 

[nighttowll]

I don't know that HP has anything to do with it. My last trip during spring break, I experienced the longest EP lines I ever have in the past. Some lines were up to 30+ minutes. It really surprised me because crowd calendar wise, it wasn't the busiest time I've ever visited, but it felt the most crowded to me. I may have just had bad luck with timing. Hoping the situation is better in a few weeks when I go.

 

[robl45]

its not great, but I'll take that any day over waiting 30 plus minutes or 60 plus minutes in line. Even Disney fastpass lines are routinely 15 plus minutes or longer.

 

[damo]

Not sure I agree either.

I'd rather wait a little big longer in line and have Comcast rake in the cash to put up new attractions.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

We just returned from a week at RPR. We've gone 4 years in a row during this same week. This trip saw major increases in express wait times. For many rides, we'd never seen express lines half this long. It also seemed the ratio of people using express vs standby was greater than normal. Also, the express pass wait was a larger proportion of the posted standby time than usual.

For example, Spiderman express line was consistently into the main entrance lobby - in the past it never got to the darkroom. If a 50 minute standby wait was posted, we would wait 15 minutes (30% of standby time). In the past, a 10-20% of the posted standby time seemed the norm. This same experience applied to most rides on this trip.

It seems that adding Potter to Express is an attempt to compensate for what appears to be a decision to devalue Express Pass in other ways - while Universal sees major increases in Express pass revenues.

I'd rather have a little longer wait for Potter than have most other express lines jam packed. We should take note of this and push back if possible.

I was at UO earlier in August, staying at the HRH.

This was my 7th stay at HRH in 12+ years, and I encountered the longest express lines I’ve ever experienced. Not every single time, but fairly often. They’re definitely selling more of them.

I experienced the same line at Spiderman a few times, but then at other times in the day we walked straight to the glasses pick-up. I waited 25 minutes for Hulk when there was a 40 minute standby line. We skipped flight of the Hippogriff a few times because they warned us the wait was over 30 minutes.

There were several procedural/merge point changes/variances I didn’t like. First, HRRR used to go straight to the load area. Now they merge you at the bottom of the stairs up to the load station….so a 10-20 minute wait from that point. Same goes for the Hogwarts Express: sometimes we merged at the bottom of the stairs going up to the track, other times there was no merge and you went straight to the track.

In my case, the practical outcome is that I won’t be switching to annual visits to UO. We’ve been going every other year, as the kids were smaller and weren’t tall enough for the headliners. Now that they both can do most everything, I was looking forward to the ease of Express and having a relaxing vacation (relative to the intense planning of FP+ at WDW) and expecting that we’d want to do long weekends at UO every year. But I’m not doing that after my recent experience. I’m fine with paying for quality, but my trip to the HRH was the most expensive nightly rates ever with the worst experience in Express in all my visits. I’m fine with paying more-for-more, but not more-for-less.

I still love the place, but some of the things I loved about it were greatly diminished relative to my prior trips. I won’t be going more often unless they improve the experience.

 

[robl45]

Think about it though, you go to Disney, you plan like crazy. You basically have a set schedule that includes planning your dinners and figuring out where you will be 6 months in advance and then trying to fit the fast passes to that already planned schedule 4 months later. Even then with the fast passes you wait in line.

While I agree that waiting stinks and apparently its getting worse, at least you aren't stuck with hour plus waits like at Disney. Almost every ride at Disney is over an hour, headliners usually 90+ minutes. 20 minutes isn't horrible. I would just skip the ride at that moment if the express line was too long.

I agree with the merge thing, its the same thing they do at Disney, they merge you in to early at most places, but my guess (uneducated) is that they do it so that they can load the rides efficiently by already having the people in the line and don't get stuck waiting for people to walk up.

Also, if there was a 25 minute hulk express line and a 40 minute standby line, thats not the fault of express passes, thats poor management by the parks. I've seen the same thing at Disney as well with fast passes too often frankly. If you have a line of FP/EP people waiting, you clear them out, you don't stick to the standard formula of 20 express pass/10 standby etc. Thats exactly what they do at Disney and thats why you end up with longer express/fast pass lines IMHO.

Still at any rate, I'd take 20 minute lines at every ride all day long over the alternative. I'm quite excited to go to Universal next year with the kids and leave all the Disney planning behind.

 

[kohlby]

Ive been told that up to 50% of standby time is acceptable. This is from TM's at the rides. I have had to wait that long, or even slightly longer, at RRR.

 

[Cheesehead9]

They're still charging the same for express pass, while not telling us its value is greatly diminished. We couldn't go on half the rides/rerides this trip as we usually do because of the waits.

If Disney-like wait times are now the benchmark then I'm afraid Universal is losing what previously made it so relaxing and enjoyable.

 

[StrawberryChan]

i don't think harry potter adding express affected the waits too much--there might have been a bump this summer, but i feel like it'll average out soon enough... to be honest, wait times with express are inconsistent compared to fastpass+

on my last trip i used express on gringotts for the first time--it was about 25 minutes when the posted time was 60 minutes, so i had roughly half the wait. it was a rainy day so i'm not sure how much that affected crowds. in general, being an AP for about two years, i've had waits going from walk-ons to half an hour using express. lately i've been utilizing the single rider line more often, since it's almost always a walk-on, even before they introduced express for the HP rides

i have noticed the new loading procedure for rip ride rocket is complete BS. the express merging point is so early that it feels like they're bottlenecking it. that seems to be the exception rather than the rule... overall i don't think patterns are changing in this case, it's so inconsistent that there can't be a pattern to begin with

 

[robl45]

They're still charging the same for express pass, while not telling us its value is greatly diminished. We couldn't go on half the rides/rerides this trip as we usually do because of the waits.

If Disney-like wait times are now the benchmark then I'm afraid Universal is losing what previously made it so relaxing and enjoyable.

Try going to Disney when you used to have the magic kingdom open until 12am and have it close at 10pm. Then we can talk about having value greatly diminished. We did at least half the rides we normally do. I don't know about this too much, but i'm betting universal is figuring most of the people with express pass are onsite and aren't really thinking about how much they paid for it.

 

[Metro West]

Try going to Disney when you used to have the magic kingdom open until 12am and have it close at 10pm. Then we can talk about having value greatly diminished. We did at least half the rides we normally do. I don't know about this too much, but i'm betting universal is figuring most of the people with express pass are onsite and aren't really thinking about how much they paid for it.

True and Disney isn't reducing the ticket cost for those two hours you've now lost are they?

 

[damo]

One thing I am noticing is that the deluxe hotels seem to be much more booked than previously. Even trying to book in September this year was difficult. Seems to me that there are more people staying onsite at the express hotels than before.

 

[robl45]

One thing I am noticing is that the deluxe hotels seem to be much more booked than previously. Even trying to book in September this year was difficult. Seems to me that there are more people staying onsite at the express hotels than before.

IMHO, thats because there is a disconnect in the price for express passes and the price for the hotels. 1 night at Royal pacific is what 250 or so during a normal time. 400 at a peak time. That gives you two days of express passes. Figure a typical family of 4 with 2 kids and two adults and the express is probably at least 50 dollars per person per day. 200 dollars a day versus just stay at the hotel.

 

[saskdw]

IMHO, thats because there is a disconnect in the price for express passes and the price for the hotels. 1 night at Royal pacific is what 250 or so during a normal time. 400 at a peak time. That gives you two days of express passes. Figure a typical family of 4 with 2 kids and two adults and the express is probably at least 50 dollars per person per day. 200 dollars a day versus just stay at the hotel.

The price of EP is way too high IMO. I would never pay the price for it. We just stay onsite in a Deluxe.

They seem to walking a slippery slope right now with EP and pricing. I was sent a survey with a pile of questions about EP pricing. It seems they want to raise the price even more. I personally don't think the value is there at $70-$80 a day. The other thing is we are usually there at least 10 days, so no way I'd pay that for all 10 days. At this point they offer nothing for a price break for multiple days of EP.

I'm not sure what we would do if they ever took EP away from the 3 onsite deluxes. We would have to evaluate if we even want to go to UO at that point.

 

[keishashadow]

One thing I am noticing is that the deluxe hotels seem to be much more booked than previously. Even trying to book in September this year was difficult. Seems to me that there are more people staying onsite at the express hotels than before.

Since SF & CB added to mix, we've experienced longer express pass lines. My thoughts are a large % of the guests are buying them, if only for a day.

Minions tends to be the worst we experience, have waited over half an hour there nearly every trip.

Spiderman, HP-Gringotts had very little wait other than normal time to traverse the line.

Kong varied between 10 mins up to half an hour.

I have always wondered what the daily maximum sold # actually is.

I expected crowds 4th of July week, didn't expect such long waits in the EP line. Would think twice about visiting then again. Longer waits than other holidays we've visited.

 

[robl45]

The price of EP is way too high IMO. I would never pay the price for it. We just stay onsite in a Deluxe.

They seem to walking a slippery slope right now with EP and pricing. I was sent a survey with a pile of questions about EP pricing. It seems they want to raise the price even more. I personally don't think the value is there at $70-$80 a day. The other thing is we are usually there at least 10 days, so no way I'd pay that for all 10 days. At this point they offer nothing for a price break for multiple days of EP.

I'm not sure what we would do if they ever took EP away from the 3 onsite deluxes. We would have to evaluate if we even want to go to UO at that point.

I'm thinking thats what they are looking at, charge more for EP and take it away from the deluxe hotels. I don't understand why they don't offer an express option with the annual passes. That would be a nice money maker as many people wouldn't use it that often.

 

[macraven]

Doesn't premier ap still have the after 4 usage of ep lines ?

 

[saskdw]

I'm thinking thats what they are looking at, charge more for EP and take it away from the deluxe hotels. I don't understand why they don't offer an express option with the annual passes. That would be a nice money maker as many people wouldn't use it that often.

Or have a stay more save more type of deal on EP. Where it's expense for one day, but if you're there for a week the price is much more attractive.

Same idea as Disney park tickets. Much better value on the 10 day ticket, but quite pricey for a day or two.

 

[StrawberryChan]

Doesn't premier ap still have the after 4 usage of ep lines ?

yes, that's how i use it!