Question about Universal....

[BellaBaby]

We have small kids and so I'm thinking of buying the option where you can get into the shorter lines. (Forget what it's called). We are going to buy the tix where you can park hop for 7 days and I think we will take 2 days to see both Universal/IOA. The question is, are you ever able to buy this option at the gate? I was going to buy it for the 1 day and then wing it for the other day since you have to put in the date you want to use it, I don't know if I want to be restricted on the days we go there. (1 day planned in advance is fine, but 2...not sure it will even take 2 days for us).
Hope this makes sense!!

TIA!!

 

[dioxide45]

I beleive it is called ExpressPass. What time of year are you planning to go, if it is low season, you may not need to spend the money.

 

[BellaBaby]

Yes, that's it. We are going 6/4-14.

 

[calgarygary]

You may be better off reserving a room onsite. Your room key will give you front of the line for both your check in and check out date so you will get 2 days front of the line for one night's stay. Also, fotl is unlimited when using your room key so you can repeat your favourite rides. Visit the Universal boards on the dis to get all the information you need.

 

[Disneyhappy]

Check out the Universal boards here on the DIS for great Universal information from expert veterans on their forums.

Yes- you can buy express passes but depending on the time of year you attend, it could be very pricey for a family and a room on site may be more economical.

 

[hercamore]

Yes, you can buy it at the gate.

As other posters have said, you may not need express pass.



herc.

 

[preemiemommy]

Be careful with adding the express pass on to your tickets... We just got back from Orlando where we stayed at AKL for 5 days and then stayed at Royal Pacific Resort for 5 days... I heard that if you use the ticket express pass you can only ride some of the rides mutiple times... I would suggest you stay on site at either Royal Pacific, Portofino, or the Hard Rock resort and use your room key as the Front of the Line Pass.. There is no limit on how many times you can use it on rides....By the time you add the express pass to your tickets, you could pay for a room at one of these hotels... They have a great boat transportation system that worked out great for our family... The Front of the Line tickets were WONDERFUL!!! If you stay 4 nights you automatically get 2 free Universal passes as well, which is a great deal....
Have fun!!!!


DH ME DD8 DS3

 

[thumbalyna]

we always make sure to add several days at an on site universal hotel just for the front of the line passes - it is worth every penny for the hotel - we have always stayed at the hard rock which i absolutely love but my daughter asked for something different this time so we are going to stay at royal pacific (which to me seems to be alot farther away) but from past experiences more boats run to that hotel more often than to hard rock and portofino

 

[leanne11]

i would suggest going over to the univ board, they would suggest not buying the package to stay for 4/free you make out better buying the 7 day pass/$80 and using a aaa code for room only..it is more economical or if you think you will only go on the ride 1 it is ok..June will be busy we were there in May and needed to stay on site...

 

[scottwhite1964]

Hey I just went down. I would stay onsite. We stayed at the portofino, it's very nice. The room key lets you go express and its worth every penny. My youngest 6 loved the flying unicorn roller coaster. With the room key we must have went 20 times in a row. No waiting, the other lines were pretty long 30-45 mins on most.But we never waited over 5 mins for anything. Also check out woodys tree house, it's pretty good but don't go down the water slide with them. You will get soaked, too much weight in the boat. My youngest went over and over,so did his sister 11. C george is nice too, They are beside each other. Go too the back in C George land and theirs {I don't remember the name} but it has those soft balls that you can shoot at each other, they really liked it.I have too say its not disney but it was fun, I will go back. The kids loved it.

 

[englishteacha]

We were there last August and didn't have a long wait for anything. We got there 2 days at opening and rode most everything with very short lines, and another day we went at 11 AM and still had short lines. We just were choosy and skipped anything with a long line and came back. The water rides at IOA got long midafternoon, but we had NO wait at opening. We rode all the wet stuff, then changed and relaxed the rest of the day, strolling through the parks. Maybe it's just that DH and I are lucky, but everyone on the Universal Board (good place, go visit!) said the first 2 hours at the parks are pretty slow, and they were when we were there. We did not stay onsite and we didn't get the Express Pass. I'm glad we saved that money.

 

[BellaBaby]

Thanks everyone for all the responses!! I did end up finding the Universal boards after posting this a few weeks back.