Universal Express Plus

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Just been reading up on the "plus" version of the Universal Express system.

Is this system worth it? When we go back to Orlando next May, we will be hitting both Universal parks for the first time. We will be getting there for park opening, and we intend to see all the best attractions at each park (allocated a seperate day to each).

Ideally we would like to do a half day tour of each. Is it possible to see most of the attractions in half a day for each park with the Plus ticket? Would it be possible without the plus ticket at this time of year given we will be there at park opening?

The other thing I was thinking was arriving at park opening will allow us to see the top attractions with no wait anyway. Purchasing the Plus tickets will then allow us to re-visit any of the top rides later in the day with little or no wait?

These tickets apparatly change in price depending on the time of year, Any idea how much they cost in May of this year so I can use it as a guide?

Many thanks peeps :wink:

[Bec]

Where are you staying? You know you get an Express plus pass automatically if you stay in a Universal Resort.

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We'll be staying at a Disney Resort (POFQ)

[Bec]

Oh well it was worth a try!

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Many thanks for the info anyway - I wasn't aware of that!! We may even look at a Universal hotel for a future trip!!

[Bec]

We stayed at POR at Eastertime - it's great.

We're staying at The Hard Rock Hotel at Christmas time and intend on making full use of the Express plus pass!

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We stayed at POR at Eastertime - it's great.

We're staying at The Hard Rock Hotel at Christmas time and intend on making full use of the Express plus pass!

The Hard Rock Hotel eh?? Must admit, from what i've seen it does look rather special!!!!!

Well, you must make sure you let us know what it's like (and the fact you can do a comparison to PO will be great too :D )

And let us know how good the Universal Express Plus tickets are :D

[joanne]

I used Express Plus Pass a couple of years back.
It was great to use that entrance rather than the regular queue.
But as I recall, you could only start using it about an hour after the park first opened. Although I did use it before that for one ride. Or maybe it was just for Shrek that you could only use it an hour after opening. Ach, I can't remember :slapme:

Anyway, I think it'd be impossible to see all attractions in half a day. When we went last year, there was little or no wait at all the rides/shows and it took almost a full day to do USF. IOA wasn't so bad, we got round that quicker and did some rides 2 or 3 times.
USF rides/shows are longer, so there's no way you'd get them all done in half a day.

[Bec]

The Hard Rock Hotel eh?? Must admit, from what i've seen it does look rather special!!!!!

Yeh, we really fancied it and we have a ps for NASCAR which Im really looking forward to.

Good idea - a comparison between Hard Rock and POR. Will do:)
Although i think Disney rules. :ok: This is just for a change, to do citywalk (yummy cocktails),NASCAR, and of course the express plus pass.

Anyway back to topic. It would be rather a lot to do it all in half a day. Unless, you don't want to see all of the attractions. We are doing 2 parks in one day - cos we know exactly which attractions we want to see and we have done it before - tried and tested so to speak.

Maybe you could do it if you decide which to leave out.

[PaulaK]

We bought express passes last year and they were well worth it. This year they were $15 for the date we're going so we bought them again. :thumbs:

[carney cat]

Having just returned :( from a FABULOUS two weeks :D I would DEFINATELY recommend staying on site even for one night at any of the Universal hotels.

We booked in for two nights at the HARD ROCK hotel (WOW!!) at club level which meant unlimited free sodas and tea coffee.. breakfast buffet of donuts bagels etc ,snacks at 5-7 ,cookies icecream and drinks 8.30 -930 with exclusive access to 7th floor via card entry in lift with cd and dvd library.

We went to check in early at 830 am to be told room already ready for us when check in not due til 4pm!!
Free cd of rock music...lots of nice toiletries etc....

BEST part was express access to all rides with NO time limits ie can be used straight from opening as many times as you like. You can use hotel facilities and express pass right up til park closing on the day of check out so we had 3 full days of access if we wanted to (had booked 6pm show for La Nouba on day of check out).
As far as I know express plus has some restrictions and cost of room stay comparable while able to use pools and parking on site with luxury of just walking back to your hotel.

My daughter aged 10 managed THE MUMMY 11 times over the time we were there...I could only handle 6!!!!!

BEST money well spent and treated like a ROCK STAR!!!!!! Roll On Feb were looking at changing hotel to stay there the week we loved it that much!! :D :D :D

[Melfuzz]

If you can only use them once per ride is it really worth the money?

I would buy it in a second if it was unlimited rides.

[PaulaK]

Our card was only marked once on Spiderman. We used it several times on some rides. :) $15 is nothing to save queueing.

[carney cat]

If you can only use them once per ride is it really worth the money?

I would buy it in a second if it was unlimited rides.




Depends on how many is in your party ie 4 x $15 is $60 per day if you did two days thats the price of a hotel room with NO RESTRICTIONS with your room key pass on how often you use it as I said before we just constantly used it from one ride to the next with queing no longer than 10 minutes on ANY ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Many thanks for all the replies everyone :D

There will only be two in our party, so the cost won't be too bad. It is true that you can't use them withint he first hour, but this is when crowds will be at their thinnest anyway, so I guess we wouldn't need to waste the expres tickets during this time.

I was thinking of hitting the biggest 2-3 attractions in the first hour, then only using the plus tickets if the attraction we want to ride next has a bigger queue forming. Then, we can hit the biggest attractions a second time later in the day as we will still have the plus tickets saved for these attractions.

Thanks foir letting me know that US takes longer to tour, even with plus tickets. The reason I needed to know is becuase we will be booking a town car to take us to and from Universal, and soi we need to be able togive a return time. I was originally thinking of arriving at the park for 8.30am or so, and booking the return for 1pm. I think I may extend this by a couple of hours then :wink:

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Also, is it possible for us in the UK to buy these tickets in advance, or can we only buy them once there?

[reddfrogg]

I would stay at Universal hotels they R awesome!!!!! I have an Annual pass (which only cost $179 yr./ $99 after the first yr,) they save U alot of money on rooms and food!!! U can stay at Hard for about $179 a night with it about $265 without, the Royal pacific for about $129-159 (depending on the time of yr.)

I have stayed at all the Disney resorts now, and all the Universal, and DW and myself like Universal hotels better:whistle:

U get 15-20% off food inside parks, 20% off any merchandise, 10-20% off tickets for others 2 get into the parks (up to 6 per day).

[Melfuzz]

So hold on I am getting more confused. If you are staying in the hotel the ticket is unlimited but if you buy it at the gate for $15 you will only get one ride each?

There is only 2 in my party and already booked so there is no point in the hotel.

[Whitequeen]

The ticket you buy and the ticket you get with staying at the resort is different. If you stay in the hotel it's UNLIMITED access. The one you buy gives you one front of line access per ride.

[PaulaK]

.....but as i've said, we rode several times, not just once. The only one they marked off was Spiderman. The pass can be more than $15 though, it can sometimes be $35!

Ad. ~ you can order online. You have to choose the actual day you will be going because the passes are limited. We put ours on 'will call' to pick them up on the day, but they sent them anyway, they took about a week to arrive.

[AlecK]

Also, is it possible for us in the UK to buy these tickets in advance, or can we only buy them once there?

If you follow the link here (http://www.univacations.com/index.asp?RTType=TO&vendor=IUN&Referrer=&pl=) and click on ticket only at the top right of the box then enter your dates and party details it will show you all ticket and special event options with prices available for your stay. You can buy online and have the tickets shipped or arrange will call at the front gate. Only drawback is that you have to book specific dates online for express plus passes so you can't swop your days around when you arrive.

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Slightly confuesed with the website.

On the calender, it asks you to select "departure date" - is this where you are meant to select the date you will be in the Park?? It also asks you to select "number of nights". This doesn't seem to relate very well considering I am viewing the "tickets only" option!

Also, if I do choose the date as above, I get a screen with a list of tickets on there but none of them are for Express Plus passes, they are just things like the 4 & 5 park flexi-tickets etc?

Maybe i'm just being a bit thick :confused:

[PaulaK]

what date are you looking at Ad.?

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Well, we are flying out 15th May 2006, and based on current itinerary (yep, have a plan already :wink: ) I will be looking at hitting Universal Studios on the 17th May 2006

[joanne]

http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/univexp.html

I bought mine in the park, they were on sale in quite a few places including just after you walk in.
I'm sure I saw them on sale there again last year.

[PaulaK]

The passes are only showing up to Dec 31st as far as I can see. :sigh:

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http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/univexp.html

I bought mine in the park, they were on sale in quite a few places including just after you walk in.
I'm sure I saw them on sale there again last year.


Cool. I may well end up buying on the day, I just wanted the convinience of having all my tickets beforehand. I suppose then though I run the risk of plans changing when we get there and the ticket becoming invalid!

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The passes are only showing up to Dec 31st as far as I can see. :sigh:


Many thanks for looking that up for me :D

I wouldn't be buying them until well into next year anyway, so hopefully they'll pop up in due course :wink:

[carney cat]

I would stay at Universal hotels they R awesome!!!!! I have an Annual pass (which only cost $179 yr./ $99 after the first yr,) they save U alot of money on rooms and food!!! U can stay at Hard for about $179 a night with it about $265 without, the Royal pacific for about $129-159 (depending on the time of yr.)

I have stayed at all the Disney resorts now, and all the Universal, and DW and myself like Universal hotels better:whistle:

U get 15-20% off food inside parks, 20% off any merchandise, 10-20% off tickets for others 2 get into the parks (up to 6 per day).




I agree due to travelling 3 times within a year we bought annual passes for both disney and universal.

They more than paid for themselves even though we have only had one trip so far!!!
The services and discounts for universal especially were great including good reduction at Hard rock hotel and nice credit card type ticket with photo ID made you feel a bit special where as disney ticket just same flimsy card as normal tickets.
Did get good discounts with that too especially La Nouba.

Its worth weighing up discounts compared to normal tickets and another good reason to fit a trip in within your year gives you even better value!!