New to Universal: Am I crazy to go without Express Pass January 1-2

[Supermom3]

This would be my family's first trip to Universal. I am thinking of planning a last minute trip January 1st-2nd. Unfortunately, all of the deluxe onsite hotels have no availability. Cabana Bay does have availability.

Would it be crazy to think about going ay such a busy time without the Express Pass? I know that we could have early entry through Cabana Bay, but not sure if that will be good enough for a good touring experience.

Any advice is most appreciated!!

 

[eXo]

Jan 1st is one of the busiest days of the entire year. According to a well known crowd calendar, it will be 9/10 and 10/10 those two days. Are you planning on 1 park each day, or park to park passes?

Honestly, early Entry really doesn't help that much. It is only for Universal Studios and not IOA. If you really ran, you might be able to knock out 3 basic rides, or possibly get through one ride of Escape from Gringotts. But for that to work, you would have to be at the turnstiles 30 minutes before the park opens, otherwise you loose 15-20 minutes just standing in line waiting to get in.

If you want to be able to ride all the rides and have time to actually look around (eat, shop, etc), then yea, I can't imagine being able to do it without an express pass.

Considering it would be your families first time, I would imagine you guys would want to be able to actually have time to browse the shops at hogsmeade, explore diagon alley, etc... and not just run from queue to queue.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I was there in July when it was crowded but not as crowded as New Year's and I went for the express pass on the second day I was there. If not I wouldn't have gotten on many rides.

 

[RMulieri]

I wouldn't do it without express pass, but I also wouldn't go that week WITH it either

 

[johde]

I wouldn't do it without express pass, but I also wouldn't go that week WITH it either

I'm planning on being there Jan. 2nd without Express Pass. But, it's only to see the Christmas festivities. The rest of my Universal trip is the 6-10. (Jan 3rd is Sea World W/ Quick Queue and Preferred Show Seating, Jan 4th is a 4 park WDW extravaganza with a day off of a No Expiration ticket I have, Jan 5 is an open resort/water park day and Laundry).

To the OP, the morning of Jan 1st should be very good touring. I would try to make general RD at one of the 2 parks. With the number of people who stayed up late to ring in the New Year more people than normal will get a late start.

By mid afternoon, like everyone else has said, the parks will be packed. That being said, with a good plan, you might have a shot. You may want to Spend the $4-$5 on TouringPlans.com and use one of their touring plans as the start of your plan. Assuming their times are half way accurate, with some slight adjustments for the shows you can get to most everything on the 2 day/2 park plan with the extended hours over the holiday. If you Optimized the plan (instead of just evaluating it) and dropped things you knew you weren't interested in you've got a shot of doing most of the biggies.

 

[Supermom3]

Thank you for all the replies! We will be in FL visiting family, and thought about it as a side trip, so we are locked into those dates. I may just keep hoping for a cancellation at one of the deluxe resorts. To purchase Express Passes for my family of 5 is cost prohibitive.

We might just postpone Universal until a better time of year.

 

[goofy!]

Thank you for all the replies! We will be in FL visiting family, and thought about it as a side trip, so we are locked into those dates. I may just keep hoping for a cancellation at one of the deluxe resorts. To purchase Express Passes for my family of 5 is cost prohibitive.

We might just postpone Universal until a better time of year.

Royal Pacific is available right now for 1/1 - 1/2 on Hotels.com.

We are flying in on the first and staying at the Portofino. I wouldn't even consider doing those two days without express.

 

[Supermom3]

Royal Pacific is available right now for 1/1 - 1/2 on Hotels.com.

We are flying in on the first and staying at the Portofino. I wouldn't even consider doing those two days without express.

Oh, thank you! I will look into that!