Universal w/out Express Pass....I'm nuts right?

[anabelle]

Well we have never been to Universal after countless Disney trips. The kids wanted to try it this year because of Harry Potter. We can't swing the cost of the express passes or staying onsite for the 5 of us. So any advice on how to tour. We have a 14 day pass to all 3 parks and are staying 6 nights with our Costco package. So we have lots of time. We arrive on August 9th.

TIA
Ana

 

[Big Willie]

I know I'm in the minority....

I have never used an Express Pass nor an Early Entry to Universal

I have never used a Fast Pass at Disneyland nor Disney World

We pick what we want to do, take a reasonable pace and stand in manageable lines.

Embrace the experience!!!

 

[HM]

I've been there at the height of summer and also during spring break. I did not buy express passes. We got to do everything we wanted up with no problem, in three days. Only a couple long lines that I wish had been shorter....rip rocket comes to mind. I've also stayed offsite and drove in each morning at opening.

 

[hpfan100]

I've never had early entry or express pass and managed just fine. I advise getting there early. Decide how long you are willing to wait for rides and attractions before you get there. Do some research on how long waits will be at different rides.

With the amount of time you have, you'll be fine.

 

[hopemax]

I've visited during Hogsmeade's opening week and Christmas week...no express pass.

The key is the same as Disney. Be there when the park opens, and be efficient with the first 2 hours. Use single rider when available. For the HP opening, the last hours of the day were also useful for touring Hogsmeade.

 

[glocon]

I've done it both ways, with and without, and plenty of people go without ep. Probably more people go without ep then with ep, but the park experience is very different. Staying onsite at UO makes more of a difference in your park experience then staying onsite at WDW does.

 

[lizzytizzy]

Well we have never been to Universal after countless Disney trips. The kids wanted to try it this year because of Harry Potter. We can't swing the cost of the express passes or staying onsite for the 5 of us. So any advice on how to tour. We have a 14 day pass to all 3 parks and are staying 6 nights with our Costco package. So we have lots of time. We arrive on August 9th.

TIA
Ana

Can you please tell me about the Costco package? I didn't know they had one.

 

[macraven]

Well we have never been to Universal after countless Disney trips. The kids wanted to try it this year because of Harry Potter. We can't swing the cost of the express passes or staying onsite for the 5 of us. So any advice on how to tour. We have a 14 day pass to all 3 parks and are staying 6 nights with our Costco package. So we have lots of time. We arrive on August 9th.

TIA
Ana

use the single rider lines that are open.

i stay onsite and go solo
i use the SRL all the time instead of the express lines.
it is quicker!

if you have kids, have one adult be first in the SRL, then followed by the other kids and have one adult go last.
if by chance you do not all get on a ride at the same time, you one of the adults off the ride first.

have used the SRL for Spiderman, FJ, Dr Doom, MIB rides.

many will stop for a meal break at normal times.

have your meal breaks later or earlier than those crowds.
use the typical lunch hour period for rides.

 

[anabelle]

Can you please tell me about the Costco package? I didn't know they had one.

Costco has several packages. You can actually look them up at Costcotravel.com. We are staying at Sheraton Vistana Villages in a 2 bedroom, 14 day 3 park unlimited tickets for the 5 of us, and a full size car rental for about $2k. I thought it was a pretty decent deal for us.

 

[anabelle]

use the single rider lines that are open.

i stay onsite and go solo
i use the SRL all the time instead of the express lines.
it is quicker!

if you have kids, have one adult be first in the SRL, then followed by the other kids and have one adult go last.
if by chance you do not all get on a ride at the same time, you one of the adults off the ride first.

have used the SRL for Spiderman, FJ, Dr Doom, MIB rides.

many will stop for a meal break at normal times.

have your meal breaks later or earlier than those crowds.
use the typical lunch hour period for rides.

thanks awesome advice

 

[rtfelt]

Three years ago stayed at Sheratan Vistana in a 2 bedroom (7 of us) for 14 days, 10 days at WDW, 3 days at UOr, last 2 weeks of August, with no EE or ExP. It was fabulous. We had no problem seeing everything at Universal. We did IoA counter-clockwise starting in Marvel and did all rides, except Dr. Seuss, by noon. Arrived at HP around noon, had lunch at 3 broomsticks then did Hogsmeade in afternoon with 30 minute wait at FJ. Didn't wait for anything else for more than 20 minutes. We just don't know how DA will affect things. I'm anxiously waiting information after DA opens on July 8.

 

[kathy884]

Hey, if you want touring advice based on time studies to minimize line waiting (I'm sure they will do updates and tweaks too with Diagon Alley opening up), you could subscribe to tourinplans.com for $6 to see their touring plans and/or create your own using their computer model optimization programs.

http://touringplans.com/universal-orlando#

We are staying in an offsite condo on our trip (budget trip). And I don't have funds for onsite Universal or Express Pass budgeted. The $6 for this subscription to maximize my enjoyment of the parks does fit my budget though. I think I had a discount code they showed for this on the site to use at check out and it turned out to be just under $5 (the difference between $5 and $6 is pretty nominal, though. And it was certainly helpful to me for helping me decide what I wanted to try to fit in with my limited time, what would be the best order for me for attacking the parks, what kind of wait times I could reasonably expect (And did I even want to go at all). Turns out December the week before Christmas week is looking quite good (low crowd levels), so that really helps. (I haven't been yet, so can't vouch for the plans, but this company nails WDW / has really good results there in terms of predicated wait times and actual wait times. I've used their plans for years over there and really liked them.)

 

[cieslack]

DA is the wild card. Since you've done Universal without EP after Disney you may be more tolerant of wait times. It's us poor souls who have feasted on the unlimited Express who can never go back to the regular lines.