Should I Buy an Express Pass?

[jenkh]

Hey All,

This december I have one day to check out universal and IOA (and thanks to that new pass doing both is do-able)

We're going to be going on Dec 5 and I noticed the express pass is only $25. We want to hit as much as possible as we won't be back for a good 2 years, and if we like it enough we will probably do universal right and stay on property.

My main question is givin the time of year will i need an express pass? I won't purchase one until the day of in case my date gets changed, but just wondering what some experts opnions would be.

Thanks

 

[Fan2CSkr]

Although thats a slow time to visit the parks close early too. You may benefit from purchasing express so you can make the most of your time there. You should be able to cover the highlights at both parks this way. If you have children with you expect to see less.

 

[SnwflkCts]

Hey Fan2CSkr - do you recommend buying the Express Pass when you get to the park? I am a little worried about buying one beforehand -- I believe you have to put the date in. Don't like that idea - stuff happens. Thanks for any advice.

 

[LilAlice18]

Our family thought about buying the express passes, but we decided that it would be too much for all 12 of us to get it - so we were just going to wait it out in the lines. But, if you hit the right ones, you might not ever have to wait in more than a 20 min line. My suggestion would be to try the lines without a pass first - the best way to travel is to do the Spiderman Ride (2 or 3 times), Dr. Doom's FearFall, Inredible Hulk Coaster, the two water rides, Jurassic Park Land, Deuling Dragons, and then Seuss Landing. That is the way that we traveled & we had no problems at all. We even had time to hop over to the other park for the rest of the day.

 

[jenkh]

thanks for the suggestions. So these express passes will still be available in the park? So we can just decide within a few hours of being there?

I'm still leaning on the side of getting one before we go, just because with only one day to hit both parks it has it's perks. And we were quoating our day trip based on the old tickets, and with this new one we can get our express pass and our tickets for the same price we were originally paying for our ticket alone. But as SnwflkCts also asked, i'm a bit concearned of buying a ticket for our planned day, then something happening and our date changing to the next day or something.

And were two adults, so no worries about kids slowing us down. Were gonna keep going as long as one of us can pull the other lol We're okay with it being an exhausting day, just as long as we get to hit a lot of the major attractions we've heard so much about.

 

[nibby]

Since you're planning on doing both parks (and the pass is relatively cheap as opposed to busier times) I think it would be worth it. Whilst you'll be able to get on most of the rides at IOA with an early start by the time you move over to Universal some of the rides (Mummy, MIB) could have quite long queues. It also means you'll be able to get on everything you want to - if you think about it, you could spend 30 mins each queuing for just those 2 rides, during which time you could have been on another 2. There's also less pressure on you to rush around the parks as you know you can get to the front on everything. We stayed on-site for one night during August just for the Front-of-line perk and thought it was worth every penny. One tip though is to do any rides without a long line without using the pass then you can always go back later on go on again using your pass.

 

[flortlebap]

It depends how much your $25 means to you.

Yes, it would be a nice addition, but it's not necessary. We didn't use it last time and had no waits, and we won't use it this time either. In fact our worst wait was for BTTF... 25 mins. And that was because they were having technical difficulties!

 

[Fan2CSkr]

Hey Fan2CSkr - do you recommend buying the Express Pass when you get to the park? I am a little worried about buying one beforehand -- I believe you have to put the date in. Don't like that idea - stuff happens. Thanks for any advice.

I would wait till you get there cause you never know, you may not need it at all. Unless of course you are going during peak crowd times. In that case it will absolutely help and wont matter when you purchase.

 

[Fan2CSkr]

thanks for the suggestions. So these express passes will still be available in the park? So we can just decide within a few hours of being there?

I'm still leaning on the side of getting one before we go, just because with only one day to hit both parks it has it's perks. And we were quoating our day trip based on the old tickets, and with this new one we can get our express pass and our tickets for the same price we were originally paying for our ticket alone. But as SnwflkCts also asked, i'm a bit concearned of buying a ticket for our planned day, then something happening and our date changing to the next day or something.
And were two adults, so no worries about kids slowing us down. Were gonna keep going as long as one of us can pull the other lol We're okay with it being an exhausting day, just as long as we get to hit a lot of the major attractions we've heard so much about.

If that happened I believe they will exchange your express pass for the day you will be going. phamton can answer this for you.

 

[phamton]

They can exchange the pass for another day if you don't use it. But if the other day is a different price, you will need to make up the price difference. Personally, I doubt that you'll even need express on Dec. 5.

 

[horseshowmom]

They can exchange the pass for another day if you don't use it. But if the other day is a different price, you will need to make up the price difference. Personally, I doubt that you'll even need express on Dec. 5.

What would you say about Dec. 21st and 22nd? Thanks!

 

[alank]

According to their website Express Pass is not offered on Dec 5. Only the 26-31 in Dec.

 

[jenkh]

Thanks for everyones help.

I'll prolly buy one when i buy my tix in a few weeks, and exchange the express pass if needed. (it's the same price the whole week i'm down there, so no issues there)

alank - they are available. Just scroll down the page. It starts with the peak season passes which i think are 50 dollers and then as you scroll down you get the different dates and price ranges.


Really happy it seems i will be able to hit all the attractions I want (one way or another)

 

[alank]

Ah now I see. They %$^* you based on the date. Nice

 

[phamton]

Ah now I see. They %$^* you based on the date. Nice

They sell less of them on peak dates so that the regular lines are not so long. Since they sell less, the price is higher. Makes sense to me.

 

[Amity 3]

They sell less of them on peak dates so that the regular lines are not so long. Since they sell less, the price is higher. Makes sense to me.

Econ 101...Supply and Demand.

go check out Ebay for the price of tickets to MNSSHP or MVMCP at the MK on sold out nights. then complain about getting $#@* 'ed.

it makes sense to me as well.

 

[Scottish-Helen]

I would definitely hold off until you get there this is a very slow time of year and you probably won't need them. I was there from December 4th for a week in 2004 and there weren't any lines at all . A couple of times we got the (then free) express tickets for rides but it turned out we just didn't need them.

We were there the first week of May this year which would be a little busier than early December again we had no problem with lines we were able to pretty much walk onto what we wanted and did both parks in the same day

You have nothing to lose by holding off until you get there as they are available in many shops.

 

[pepperidge]

How bad (busy) do you guys think it will be on Dec 19th of this year? My family of 12 will be visiting from hurricane hit La & MS and we need a BREAK!!! I'm reading this stuff about - surprise, there's a $12 per day parking fee (we will be in 3 cars) and now that the fast passes are NOT free (like Disney's ). Poop.... Just when I had all of our pennies counted and things looked okay!! I'm still very excited to go, but want to be prepared so that NOTHING will bring us down while we're there...

I'm guessing that 12/19 will be quite crowded, so maybe we should think about the "express passes"? I just hate to have to pay more $, but I'd also hate to stand in line all day.

Any suggestions sure would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Mimi