Thoughts on 1.5 Epic Days Versus one Epic Day Only with Express Pass (EP)

[PetePanMan]

Hey Folks…we will be going to Epic in early December and staying at Helios (glad we booked ages ago and got a great rate). We will arrive Saturday night and plan to go to Epic all day on Sunday. We fly out at 6:30 pm on Monday.

We are thinking about either a) going the Sunday only and adding the expensive EP or b) going Sunday without EP and buying a second day at Epic to spend about 5-6 hours at park before we need to leave for the airport.

Obviously we want to get a lot done but we are also conscious of the high costs of express passes for whole family. Any thoughts and perspectives appreciated!

 

[ClapYourHands]

Take it with a grain of salt because while I was an AP for years, I'm on a break and have not been to Epic.

That said, I'd always choose the longer time in the park, if available. It's what we've done when we go for HHN. Often the cost of express is more than the cost of another night. By going the second night, I focus on getting the houses done during the low crowd times (start and end of night) and during the hours when every wait is over an hour, I take a break, get a snack, soak up the atmosphere, etc. It's so much more chill.

I think my Epic plan would be the same. Rope drop on both days to get a few rides done with low waits. Maybe spend some time waiting in a long line or two (hey, I've got all day here). But when lines are crazy, go get some food, see a show, wander the shops, take some fun photos, enjoy the theming. Or bug out and take a swim/nap at the hotel. In the evening, crowds typically drop again, and you can do some rides with shorter waits. The second day wouldn't give you that closing time advantage, but between rope-drop and the extra park time in general, I think you can get more done AND have time to soak in details, while saving money that you can pocket or you can plow back in to the trip in the form of food/drink in the park or merch from the stores.

 

[PetePanMan]

Great points. I’m definitely leaning this way as I agree it is likely to be more leisurely. The cost of the EP is also close to $50 more than the cost of one day ticket for that day.

 

[zavandor]

Monday will be much more crowded than Sunday.
I'm not sure an half day on Monday will be very productive.
Could you rearrange your plans so that the second day is Saturday instead? Weekends are much less crowded than weekdays.

If you could do Saturday and Sunday, I'd take two days over one with EP. Otherwise I'd do Sunday with EP.
Whatever you do, stay in the park in the last 3 hours. If you think you cannot last the whole day, take an afternoon break and/or skip EE, but stay in the park late.

(This is subject to change when Universal release an AP addon for Epic, weekends will be madness)

 

[PetePanMan]

Monday will be much more crowded than Sunday.
I'm not sure an half day on Monday will be very productive.
Could you rearrange your plans so that the second day is Saturday instead? Weekends are much less crowded than weekdays.

If you could do Saturday and Sunday, I'd take two days over one with EP. Otherwise I'd do Sunday with EP.
Whatever you do, stay in the park in the last 3 hours. If you think you cannot last the whole day, take an afternoon break and/or skip EE, but stay in the park late.

(This is subject to change when Universal release an AP addon for Epic, weekends will be madness)

I didn’t realize that Epic May be less busy on weekends. We actually may be able to do Saturday / Sunday instead of Sunday / Monday .TY!

 

[zavandor]

I didn’t realize that Epic May be less busy on weekends. We actually may be able to do Saturday / Sunday instead of Sunday / Monday .TY!

Saturday is also more expensive than Monday, though, which is why it's less crowded at the moment.

 

[Keyser]

You didn’t say what you’d do instead in that half day if you don’t go to Epic. But, this is my take, as someone who did 1 day in Epic with an EP in early August: I'd probably go for the 1.5 days instead, for a few reasons:

A) For us, we ran into weather issues (lightning in the area) that closed most outdoor rides for the last 5 hours that the park was open. At Epic, that’s a LOT of the park out of commission (Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Fyre Drill, Wing Gliders, Dragon Racers, Curse of the Werewolf, Stardust Racers). In our last couple of hours there, our only options were Mario Kart, Monsters Unchained, the Carousel, and meeting Toothless (Ministry closed early that day, and the last of the shows were earlier in the day). You never know what weather will do; we got especially unlucky, I think, but we missed a lot of rides that we had thought we would go on that day. (We still enjoyed it, though!) Having 2 days means you can work around weather better.

B) The day we went, Battle at the Ministry closed early (and had a very long delay at opening) and Untrainable Dragon broke down while we were watching (and we didn’t get to come back). A second day gives you a better chance to catch a ride/show if one of them is having a bad day.

C) Depending on what rides you are doing, I’m not sure the Express Pass is quite as useful (it may be different when you visit) at Epic. When I was there, three major rides (plus the Toothless meet) didn’t accept the EP (this might be different by the time of your visit, though), and I’m not sure the EP actually saves much if any time at the two shows. While the EP definitely saved us some time in line, it was less than 2 hours total that day. That might be because we didn’t have a chance to use it on as many rides (and the park eventually cleared out at the end, so there were very short waits for the 3 rides still open; Toothless had a long wait, still). I was very glad we had the pass since we only had one day, but I felt the EP was more useful overall in the other 2 parks.

D) And finally, I think one of the things that made us enjoy Epic despite missing rides and dealing with weather was the overall “feel” of the place. It was a lot of fun to walk around there in every one of the lands (in the other Universal parks, I think only the Harry Potter areas and the Seuss land are similarly well-done), and I’d vote for just plain having more time available in the Epic Park, even if not doing “more”.