Nasty Rumor.....hope it's not true

[macraven]

no way would i even consider staying away from universal due to the express pass not working...... and who knows if it is over with?

universal is orlando's best kept secret.

you can buy on line a 5 day 2 park pass for $99..........
as of today with disney, one day, no hopper ticket is $63 plus tax


i like both parks and always do both on my trips. i prefer universal due to the onsite hotels, perks, parks themselves and hhn. i wouldn't dream of missing that.

you can't compare the two theme parks, they each offer something different.

do as you like, but you won't see me on your picket line.
i'm there to have fun, not argue about things.

 

[davehfx]

Well if you ever toured the parks with kids you would understand the benefit of the express passes.

 

[macraven]

Well if you ever toured the parks with kids you would understand the benefit of the express passes.

have done that with 3 sons on many trips
and we have stayed off site for the first 5 trips we made there

 

[phamton]

Well if you ever toured the parks with kids you would understand the benefit of the express passes.

What makes you think I haven't? I am the mother of 5 kids. I took my kids when my twins were 2 years old before there was such a thing as fastpass at Disney. We did Disneyland, Seaworld, Knott's Berry Farm, and Universal Hollywood when they were two and had a great time. No such thing as fastpass back then.

What good are fastpasses when they run out early in the day? Then you spend the rest of the day waiting in line while others (who are using the fastpasses that they got early in the morning before the passes ran out) are now making your wait time even longer. Fastpasses make all the lines longer. When you have a fast pass you are actually saving a place in line for one ride while you are waiting in another line for another ride. This increases everyone's wait times. The wait times were less for everyone before Disney and Universal implimented fast/express passes. Trust me on this. I've been going to Disneyland and other themeparks every year since 1957.

With my youngest two, they did have fastpass and we used it but know that it is entirely possible to do everything without it.

 

[macraven]

phamton is right on the mark with this one.

there never was fast pass or express pass system when i started going regularly to orlando back in 1992.

i can remember when i went with family and friends in the 70's to disney and only magic kingdom was there. talk about lines........especially with the E ticket program.

universal only had the studios when i first started going there.
even with the lines, the 4 of us managed to do the entire park and repeats.
try taking kids that are 5.5-7.5-9 years old without any help. it does slow you done but we always did everything in the parks.

in the early days, once i bought the airfare, bought tickets, rented a car, it was not feasible to do onsite hotels. even with the down time of traveling from off site hotels, we did fine with our time once we were in the parks.

once a fast or express pass system is out of tickets, you do like everyone else does, stand in line and wait to your turn.

 

[Laurabearz]

We stay onsite also, mainly for the perk of unlimited EPs, but we also LOVE HRH! So this change wont effect us..... or will it.... I dont think the onsite hotels are running at full caacity and room deals can be found. Will more people opt to stay onsite thus driving up our room prices??

RIght now you can get a room onsite for 200 (give or take) and the EPP will go for what... 20 bucks...

So a family of 4 would spend 12.50 per day per person which includes unlimited EP if they got the cheapest room.... even if they didnt stay in it. VS 20 bucks per day for only 1 EP per ride....

 

[davehfx]

I love how you all say, I did all the parks with kids what's the problem,
Well think back to when you did this because your responses make no sense.

If you did those parks before, Knotts, Disney.....It was the same rules for everybody
so you don't know what your talking about there wasn't 2 different lines. And if you did Universal you either had Express Pass or there was no such thing as FOTL yet so again everything was equal.

So read before you post, your comparing apples to oranges.

 

[granmaz]

I'm sure I reaponded to Slacking's post on how much he managed to cram into his New Year's Eve visit but can't find it anywhere! Even looked on other forums. I asked for some tips on how he did all that without fastpasses. Would be good if he could help out particularly with there being such differences of opinion on their merits! We will be trying out queuing soon so I am prepared to be convinced it will be better than last time when we made use of fastpasses! I certainly won't be buying the passes as I don't go on all the rides.
By the way so the single rider lines still operate? They help considerably.

 

[macraven]

even with the fotl that i get, i take the single line riders lane.

it is even shorter than the express line.

this was the case last year and this year for me.

 

[robvia]

I asked for some tips on how he did all that without fastpasses.

I can tell you how he probably did it. He arrived at 8am and the park opened early. When you are first thru the gate, you can do Marvel Island in 15 minutes. Then he moved on to Cat, 1 Fish, and on to Deuling Dragons. From there he kept going counter clockwise. He was one step ahead of the crowd the entire time. Then he went over to USF, had to wait in a few lines, but it was ok.

 

[damo]

I've heard rumours that Disney is going to do away with their fastpass and allow it only to hotel guests with a gradient system depending on your hotel.

 

[ksdave]

The biggest problem with UO removing Express is simply the fact that they have offered this "perk" for several years, and now they are taking it away. It is the same as an employer that decides to take away benefits, such as holiday pay, insurance, breaks, etc. Employers never offered these things years ago. But, they have now offered them for many years. Can anyone tell me that they would be truly happy about their employer taking away their holiday pay or health insurance?
People will not be happy about UO removing this free "benefit", and, particularly if others such as Disney do not follow suit, UO will lose customers because of it.

 

[macraven]

what if what damo says is right and disney stops the fast pass system except for those in the deluxe hotels? that would make a lot of disney fans roar.

i do a six flags park near my house. some years ago they had a fast pass system that was free. halfway thru the season, it changed. to use six flags fast pass is $10 for 4 rides. quite steep.

 

[lindalinda]

It is still just a rumor. So even if they do do it, it will take awhile to see what the effects are. I don't think we should worry about it yet. Heck, it might even be better. When I didnt stay on-site I did the vip tours which were also a good option. There are different ways to deal with lines and such also, when my kids were young disney did not have fast pass either and we used the park touring guides in the Unofficial guide and they worked well for us. Life goes on.

 

[All Aboard]

Well, paint me naive because I had no idea of the change. After a late wakeup yesterday, we decided to head over to IOA for the afternoon before heading on the Turnpike back home.

I figured I would use Express to see Spider-man, maybe JPRA, take a spin through Cat in the Hat, and see Sinbad.

I had no idea that all the Express machines would be covered. And, the wait for Spider-man was 60 minutes, JPRA was 60 and Cat in the Hat was 45.

Call me crazy, but Universal introduced Express as a great tool for its guests to manage their attraction wait times and to see the attractions that meant most to them. They touted it in literature, on the website, and on signs all over the parks. Now, why would they take it away and tell you the only way to get it is to now pay for it? Here's a free taste. You hooked? Good, now it'll cost you. There's another industry that works like that.

Please note that I have made no references to the way any other theme park operates or plans to operate their systems. I'm only concerned that Universal has made a mistake in this case. Especially for the "once a year" type visitors who will return with fond memories of the way they used Express last year. "Hey, wasn't there a machine where you could...???"

 

[jenniferm]

We just got back from a week in Orlando and visited US and IOA one day each (dec 29 & 31). We will NOT be back because of them not having the Express machines open. Our only option was to buy the pass for $35 which was insane, in my opinion.

I have no doubt that they are getting rid of those machines. We were there at a PEAK time and they weren't functional. Maybe if people write them to protest they will change their minds? DH and I are composing our letters of dissatisfaction right now.

 

[phamton]

And, the wait for Spider-man was 60 minutes, JPRA was 60 and Cat in the Hat was 45.


Please note that I have made no references to the way any other theme park operates or plans to operate their systems.

Well I'll make refernce to another themepark. On that same day, Soarin' was a 4 hour wait. Disney ran out of fastpasses early in the morning for the more popular rides and since they don't sell them, the only choice was to wait in line. I am sure that universal would have run out of free express before noon also and people would be upset about that.

 

[Bryce's Mom]

Not true as far as I have read in the 2006 guides for Universal Orlando.

 

[All Aboard]

Well I'll make refernce to another themepark. On that same day, Soarin' was a 4 hour wait.

On Monday January 2rd there was a 4 hour wait for Soarin'? Four hours? When on New Years Eve it was 2 hours and on Sunday January 1st, the wait was typically 80 minutes or less. Four hours? 240 minutes? Honestly, or are you exagerating a bit?

But, again, the wait time for Soarin' has absolutely nothing to do with the discussion of what Universal is deciding to do with Express. Express was introduced as a great tool for the guests. It was heavily marketing and gladly adopted by the customers. Now, it seems its being taken away.

And, you know that Express didn't typically run out on Spider-man by noon on days when the standby wait was 60 minutes. They lasted much longer than that.

I should know by now that there are folks on both the Disney and Universal boards that will defend the companies' decisions no matter how guest unfriendly they are. Should have learned that lesson when Disney first took away Early Entry.

 

[Laurabearz]

I see this whole thing like ATM's. At first they gave them to us free... all of them. For several years you could go to any ATM and there was no charge. We became used to it. We went from people who had to go to our own banks to get money to people who could get money anywhere, anytime, free.

Then they started charging for them and everyone pitched a fit. Didnt change anything....

And again I would like to point out that one night's stay at RPR is around $200, which would provide 4 unlimited EP for 2 days.... Not a bad deal.