Tips for a first time visitor

[MuggleMel]

My family is going to universal the end of June. I've been once before in high school (let's not discuss how long ago that was) but my husband and 3 kids have never been. I was thinking 2 day park to park tickets. Will that give us enough time to hit both parks (we're not doing the water park this trip). Also the express pass is so expensive. Is it worth it?

 

[soniam]

We really like the Express Pass. However, we always stay at one of the Universal deluxe hotels, which includes EP. Paying for it is really expensive. I don't know if I could justify it. Where are you staying? If you are only doing 2 days, you could stay at one of the Universal deluxe for 1 night, and the EP and early entry would be included for the entire time of your checkin and checkout days, 2 days. You would need to go to the hotel before the park on your first day to check in and get the Express Pass. However, you can get it at as early as you want on your first day.

 

[macraven]

For any busy periods of the year, the ep is well worth the money

Cut cost and stay at one of the 3 hotels that includes the unlimited ep as one of the hotel perks


All 5 of the hotels allows early entry to the designated park of the day

 

[wagman67]

It may seem to be a lot more expensive staying at a deluxe onsite hotel, but if you are interested in Express Passes, it is way....way...way cheaper to stay at one.

Example: Choosing a random date in late June...the 27th...staying onsite at a deluxe hotel ranges from $369/night to $434/night...and that includes Express Passes for 2 days (27th and 28th). Express Passes for 5 for a single day is $575....2 days costs $1150.

None of these numbers include tickets or taxes, which you have to incur in any scenario.

 

[michelepa]

I guess it matters how old you're kids are and what they like to ride. I have a 13 year old Potter fan who loves all rides and was desperate to see all of Universal and a DH who hates lines and amusement parks. In my case eps are essential any busy time of year. We went a couple weeks ago for spring break and although we rented a condo for a week it was cheaper for me to rent a room for one night at HRH than to buy the three of us unlimited express passes and stay overnight to take full advatage of all it offered including earky entry to universal portion both days. We left condo with overnight bag and checked in at HRH at 7:15am -our room was ready!!! DH dropped off bag we got our express passes from kiosk at hotel and walked over to parks bag check on way to parks just for our hotel guests so no wait. Was however pretty long wait to show ticket and their fingerprint scanners are horrid which makes the wait longer. Too bad this cant all be done at bag check. Followed mombo line back to Potter area for early entry Forbidden Journey was about 20 min but i wouldn't call it a wait as we were actually just moving through Hogwarts. Ride was amazing (we also could have ridden it at numerous times of day with a 20 minute wait so really no biggie having early entry for this ride). However being able to walk around the potter area was nice although busy not jamned as later in day was. We took Hogwarts express second train over to other area Gringotts was already 40 minutes. This ride is not fp and wasnt early entry and was always 40-60 min wait but does have single rider option. FP gave us so much time and choices throughtout both days -riding over and over things DD and DH(yes thats what i wrote DH loved the ep). We even walked up to the Fallon ride to see if it was running since people were hanging out all in front Staff member asked if we had EP? yes! Well walk right in!! Nice!!

Not to complicate matters but also want to note that i purchased our 2 day park to park tickets from undercover tourist and got a third day free. When i made my HRH ressie many people on this site said they were able to upgrade that same UT ticket for a seasonal pass at no cost, some posters even got a refund so i decided to upgrade my tickets to seasonal pass on our second day so i could reseve the HRH using the seasonal pass rate the rate was about $120 cheaper than the regular room rate so I really felt I was getting the best deal.

We were able to do the exchange to SP at no cost. There are alot of conditions to SP so find out if it would work with your tickets and your needs including blackout dates.

 

[gotomu212]

Another potential tip if you want to weigh costs- there are often annual pass discounts on the hotels. You could book a deluxe now (can canecel up to a few days before) and keep checking back using APH as a discount code. If you find a cheaper APH rate, then you can book that and then buy one annual pass for one of your party. The room discount can be way more than the additional pass costs (you just have to price it out but in my case I think I saved $350 and got an annual pass out of the deal).

Then you'll have EP for both days included in the hotel.

 

[MuggleMel]

We have a free place to stay so we won't get free exPress unfortunately.

I guess it matters how old you're kids are and what they like to ride. I have a 13 year old Potter fan who loves all rides and was desperate to see all of Universal and a DH who hates lines and amusement parks. In my case eps are essential any busy time of year. We went a couple weeks ago for spring break and although we rented a condo for a week it was cheaper for me to rent a room for one night at HRH than to buy the three of us unlimited express passes and stay overnight to take full advatage of all it offered including earky entry to universal portion both days. We left condo with overnight bag and checked in at HRH at 7:15am -our room was ready!!! DH dropped off bag we got our express passes from kiosk at hotel and walked over to parks bag check on way to parks just for our hotel guests so no wait. Was however pretty long wait to show ticket and their fingerprint scanners are horrid which makes the wait longer. Too bad this cant all be done at bag check. Followed mombo line back to Potter area for early entry Forbidden Journey was about 20 min but i wouldn't call it a wait as we were actually just moving through Hogwarts. Ride was amazing (we also could have ridden it at numerous times of day with a 20 minute wait so really no biggie having early entry for this ride). However being able to walk around the potter area was nice although busy not jamned as later in day was. We took Hogwarts express second train over to other area Gringotts was already 40 minutes. This ride is not fp and wasnt early entry and was always 40-60 min wait but does have single rider option. FP gave us so much time and choices throughtout both days -riding over and over things DD and DH(yes thats what i wrote DH loved the ep). We even walked up to the Fallon ride to see if it was running since people were hanging out all in front Staff member asked if we had EP? yes! Well walk right in!! Nice!!

Not to complicate matters but also want to note that i purchased our 2 day park to park tickets from undercover tourist and got a third day free. When i made my HRH ressie many people on this site said they were able to upgrade that same UT ticket for a seasonal pass at no cost, some posters even got a refund so i decided to upgrade my tickets to seasonal pass on our second day so i could reseve the HRH using the seasonal pass rate the rate was about $120 cheaper than the regular room rate so I really felt I was getting the best deal.

We were able to do the exchange to SP at no cost. There are alot of conditions to SP so find out if it would work with your tickets and your needs including blackout dates.

 

[macraven]

You can buy the ep in advance
They are date and park related

But you can also buy the ep in the parks while you are there

Price could be higher if you buy them the day in the park as ep costs can increase based on demand for them

Use the single rider lines for less waits in lines for the rides that offer them
It is free

 

[MuggleMel]

Thank you

We have a free place to stay so we won't get free exPress unfortunately.

!