Mike Jones
<font color=993300>....nothing clever to say... ju
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2003
- Messages
- 1,372
Right... back to basics.
Universal Express (UE) is very similar to Disney FastPass. There are UE terminals near virtually all rides in both parks... most offer UEs for 2 or more attractions. They are free to every park guest.. you insert your park ticket, as at Disney, and select which ride you want UEs for. Then you normally get a choce of slot... say 10:00- 11:00, or 13:00-14:00. This offers a bit more flexibility than WDW FPs.
You can hold one UE at a time (although, just to complicate it, some, unspecified Multi Day Ticket Holders who have a certain type of ticket are supposed to be able to get 2 or more at once, but it's never worked for me!) and can only get another one two hours after you got the first, or when your first ride slot has opened, as WDW.
You present the card to the CM at the UE entrance to the rides. They work just like WDW FPs from then on... the UE lines are given absolute preference over standby guests, and, except at the Mummy, where the massive lines lead to 15 +min lines for UE (as opposed to 90mins -2 hrs Standby!
) on occasion, although we rode it 3 times in 20 minutes at 5pm one day! All the other rides I've done were instant access or 5 mins or so, regardless of the Standby lines.
So, with a bit of planning, you can grab UEs , do some standby rides in between, and get more UEs as allowed. as at WDW the most popular rides (Hulk, Spidey, Mummy, MIB etc ) do run out of UEs for the day before close... sometimes around lunch.
Ok so far? Next - the special 'packs' of UEs you can buy... at the Guest services points.. they allow one ride per attraction at ONE park on the day of issue. They are not always available, and vary from $15 up to $35 depending on season and day.
Finally - UE privelige as a Universal Guest. If you stay at one of the 3 Universal parks you use your room key (like a credit card with your name on) to access all UE lines at both parks all day! Until now, there has been no restriction on number of repeat rides etc. Even when regular UEs are exhausted, you can still ride. Exactly the same wait time as regular UE. Both parks. All day.
However... they are talking about restricting the use a bit in future. At peak season, you may have to book minimum TWO nights in a Universal hotel to get the benefit, and they are hinting they may restrict the perk to one ride per attraction until after 3pm., when you can repeat ride for fun! Still a great perk IMO!
The benefit starts as soon as you check in (0800 in our case) even though you cant get your room til 3pm+ (who cares!) and lasts until the parks close on the day you check out, so 2 full days if you stay one night, or three if you stay 2 nights.
Phew! I'm done now! Any questions?
Mike
Universal Express (UE) is very similar to Disney FastPass. There are UE terminals near virtually all rides in both parks... most offer UEs for 2 or more attractions. They are free to every park guest.. you insert your park ticket, as at Disney, and select which ride you want UEs for. Then you normally get a choce of slot... say 10:00- 11:00, or 13:00-14:00. This offers a bit more flexibility than WDW FPs.
You can hold one UE at a time (although, just to complicate it, some, unspecified Multi Day Ticket Holders who have a certain type of ticket are supposed to be able to get 2 or more at once, but it's never worked for me!) and can only get another one two hours after you got the first, or when your first ride slot has opened, as WDW.
You present the card to the CM at the UE entrance to the rides. They work just like WDW FPs from then on... the UE lines are given absolute preference over standby guests, and, except at the Mummy, where the massive lines lead to 15 +min lines for UE (as opposed to 90mins -2 hrs Standby!
) on occasion, although we rode it 3 times in 20 minutes at 5pm one day! All the other rides I've done were instant access or 5 mins or so, regardless of the Standby lines.So, with a bit of planning, you can grab UEs , do some standby rides in between, and get more UEs as allowed. as at WDW the most popular rides (Hulk, Spidey, Mummy, MIB etc ) do run out of UEs for the day before close... sometimes around lunch.
Ok so far? Next - the special 'packs' of UEs you can buy... at the Guest services points.. they allow one ride per attraction at ONE park on the day of issue. They are not always available, and vary from $15 up to $35 depending on season and day.
Finally - UE privelige as a Universal Guest. If you stay at one of the 3 Universal parks you use your room key (like a credit card with your name on) to access all UE lines at both parks all day! Until now, there has been no restriction on number of repeat rides etc. Even when regular UEs are exhausted, you can still ride. Exactly the same wait time as regular UE. Both parks. All day.
However... they are talking about restricting the use a bit in future. At peak season, you may have to book minimum TWO nights in a Universal hotel to get the benefit, and they are hinting they may restrict the perk to one ride per attraction until after 3pm., when you can repeat ride for fun! Still a great perk IMO!
The benefit starts as soon as you check in (0800 in our case) even though you cant get your room til 3pm+ (who cares!) and lasts until the parks close on the day you check out, so 2 full days if you stay one night, or three if you stay 2 nights.
Phew! I'm done now! Any questions?
Mike
