Maximizing a One-Day Epic Trip with Express Pass – Need Advice!

[redsox786]

Hi there!

I’m looking for some advice on planning a one-day itinerary for our trip next month. We’ll be a group of three adults (no kids), and we’ll have Express Passes.

Best day to visit? We’ll be going in August and can choose between a Friday or Sunday. Any thoughts on which day might be better crowd-wise?

Arrival time? Since we won’t be staying at a Universal hotel, Early Park Admission isn’t an option. What time would you recommend arriving? Will having Express Passes give us some flexibility with timing?

Battle at the Ministry strategy? This is the top must-do for my wife. I’ve seen mixed advice—some suggest heading there first thing, knocking it out early, then using Express for the other rides. Others say to wait until later in the day when lines tend to drop. Would love your take on this.

Priority areas? With Express covering most rides except for three, are there any sections or rides you’d recommend tackling earlier in the day?

Lunch timing? I’ve read it’s best to avoid 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM for lunch. Any tips on the best time to eat or places you’d recommend? We'll be skipping the Atlantic and Blue Dragon.

Any other tips? We’d love to make the most of our one day—any other advice or insider tips would be much appreciated!

Thanks so much!

 

[marmentrout85]

Hi there!

I’m looking for some advice on planning a one-day itinerary for our trip next month. We’ll be a group of three adults (no kids), and we’ll have Express Passes.

Best day to visit? We’ll be going in August and can choose between a Friday or Sunday. Any thoughts on which day might be better crowd-wise?

Arrival time? Since we won’t be staying at a Universal hotel, Early Park Admission isn’t an option. What time would you recommend arriving? Will having Express Passes give us some flexibility with timing?

Battle at the Ministry strategy? This is the top must-do for my wife. I’ve seen mixed advice—some suggest heading there first thing, knocking it out early, then using Express for the other rides. Others say to wait until later in the day when lines tend to drop. Would love your take on this.

Priority areas? With Express covering most rides except for three, are there any sections or rides you’d recommend tackling earlier in the day?

Lunch timing? I’ve read it’s best to avoid 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM for lunch. Any tips on the best time to eat or places you’d recommend? We'll be skipping the Atlantic and Blue Dragon.

Any other tips? We’d love to make the most of our one day—any other advice or insider tips would be much appreciated!

Thanks so much!

Ok we did 2 days in a row at Epic about 3 weeks ago and our first day we had Express so I'll kind of use that day to try and answer these based on our experience. We did stay at Helios though so I can't necessarily speak on arrival time. And I will note that during Early Park Admission we did Mario Kart and Yoshi right off the bat (we also had a toddler in tow who could actually ride both). I was surprised to find out that Express was accepted during Early Park Admission which was super helpful for us actually since the line for Mario Kart was already an hour like right away. Ok, with that out of the way....

Best Day to Visit: Weekends seem to be the lowest crowds (compared to weekdays, surprisingly) so I'd go with Sunday. We went on a Friday/Saturday and Saturday seemed less crowded/lower waits than Friday.

Battle at the Ministry strategy: I probably wouldn't try to do this first thing as that's when the longest waits appear to be. On our Express day we got in line around 1pm (at this point we had basically used all our Express rides other than Stardust) as we saw that it had been down and had just opened back up. It was a posted 120 minute wait immediately upon re-opening but we waited 60 (even with a small delay). Now, on the next day, I got a straight walk-on around 8:45pm.

Lunch Timing: I don't think that timing was a big difference for us but it was more about WHERE you chose to eat. Pizza Moon seemed pretty slammed no matter what hour of the afternoon/evening. Burning Blade Tavern was not busy at all and had much better food than I expected, so that was a nice gem to find. Also had a great quick meal from one of the counter service stands in Berk. We also ate at Cafe Lair De La Sirene around 11am on our 2nd day and it was not packed at all and I thought the food was quite good. Le Gobelet Noir is also very under the radar if you want to get away from the crowds.

Priority areas: This is tough since we did Super Nintendo World during EPA so I don't know when we would have gone here if not first thing. I guess I'd still go there either first or last, though. First in the sense that you could hope that not a lot of people are using Express for Mario Kart first thing.

The more I think about it I'd probably start off at Isle of Berk (prioritizing Hiccup's Wing Gliders before the other attractions) , then jump over to Dark Universe and get Curse of the Werewolf out of the way since Monsters Unchained won't get very long lines no matter the time. Then maybe try and hit Ministry of Magic Mid-afternoon and close out the evening at Super Nintendo World and Stardust Racers.

My biggest advice: Be prepared to adjust on the fly the morning/day of. Constantly check the app THAT morning (and all throughout the day), even while you're waiting at the front entrance gates. Sometimes it will say that X attraction doesn't open until 10am and then 5 minutes after 9am you'll see that X attraction is actually open MUCH earlier than anticipated. You also might see that X attraction is "Delayed", then 5 minutes later notice it has a posted wait time. It's really sort of the West West out there as far as opening ride predictability goes on some days.

I'd specifically keep an eye out for Mine Cart Madness. Many days the app will says it opens at 10am instead of 9am with the rest of Super Nintendo World for early park admission. Some days, it in fact, doesn't open until after 10, but some days it opens much closer to 9am. So, if it's, say, 9:45, and you see that it still is showing "opens at 10am" instead of showing a posted wait time, then I'd probably head over to Mine Cart Madness first as it will then truly be like you're "rope-dropping" that ride.

 

[FrancisK7]

Battle at the Ministry strategy: Now, on the next day, I got a straight walk-on around 8:45pm.

That's amazing and a great hack.