October Express Pass Necessity?

[nicolebridget22]

I'm gagging on the prices of Express Passes, it doubles the cost of admission! So I'm wondering what everyone thinks...we're going October 2nd & 5th...do you think EP is necessary? I'm leaning toward yes only because the parks close early (the latest both days is 7 and 8). I know the rides we can't use the EP's for but I'm anticipating spending probably half of each day in HP areas so that only leaves a half day in each of the rest of the parks. What do we think?

 

[macraven]

Studios will close at 5 due to Hhn

You will see crowds there in the later afternoon

People come to the park early to catch rides before park closes

Ioa will be open for more hours

Do the parks early once they open
Be in the line to enter early

You can get a lot covered once the parks open until early afternoon

Start with the studios and switch to ioa around 2 Sunday

Since you will be at the parks again on Wednesday, start early again

Wait until you are in the parks before deciding to buy the ep
You might get a lot done without them

Gringotts and FJ do not have ep lines

 

[nicolebridget22]

Thank you for all the info! I think we'll leave it up in the air and see what the lines are like day-of.

 

[DisneyLandMan]

I have never really had any issues doing either park completely and I go every September or October. If you get there early, you can knock out the headliners before the crowds even really build. I would say that if I am in the park at opening, I can finish every ride by 2pm with no issue. Then you can just do whatever you want. Most lines are rarely over 20 minus, with the exception of the 2 major HP rides.

 

[macraven]

Weekends would have more crowds than the week days

There are some weekends in October that are packed

Difficult to do every ride before 2 without the ep on a Saturday

 

[kohlby]

We originally were looking at dates near there - now it looks like it will be the next week. All the dates I looked at either had low crowds or moderate crowds. So, based on that, I'd say you don't need express. Just get there early. If you're planning on spending half the time in the HP areas and only have two days, it would be impossible to do everything anyway. Maybe we do a wider variety of rides and attractions than most - as we'll do things like RRR, Transformers, and Mummy but also the ball blasting place, the talking fountain, and Woody Woodpecker.

I agree with your plan of figuring it out while you're there. That way you won't waste money if you decide you don't need it.