AAP april 2023 - express pass?

[Deebee_7]

We are from Europe and want to visit Universal beginning of april 2023 (3rd april till 15th). We have an autistic daughter and loved the DAS at disney this easter. I know Universal has AAP. But i'm worried this won't work for us as I'm thinking most ride lines will be 30min+ around that time of year, not? This means we'll have a lot of waiting on our hands. We will be buying 14 day passes as they come with the package and i'm looking at Cabana bay for 7 nights. The other 7 nights we will spend offsite and do other non-universal things.
Do we really need express passes that time of year? I have been looking at the option of going to Loews Pacific resort for 2 nights and then -to cut the price- 5 nights at Dockside (in stead of Cabana bay).
I'm just wondering if the extra cost of staying the 2 nights at LPR is worth it if we are going to spend about 5 full days at the park and 1 or 2 days at Volcano bay. I would also not chose Cabana bay in combination with LPR as this is outside budget.
All tips and info welcome!

 

[macraven]

that idea of staying at a premier hotel two nights will give you 3 days of free ep lines in the park

 

[schumigirl]

Those dates fall into Easter next year, think busier than busy.

You`ll be glad of the EP at that time for whichever dates you choose to spend at Universal. Spending some time at RPR and then Dockside is a good idea.

 

[Deebee_7]

that idea of staying at a premier hotel two nights will give you 3 days of free ep lines in the park

But is it worth sacrificing Cabana bay for? And am i right in assuming that most rides will have 30min+ waits?

 

[AJA]

To get an idea of crowds, watch some YouTube vlogers from this past Easter.

We went the week after Easter in 2021 and it was very, very crowded especially Friday-Monday and after 11am each day.

I don’t know if you can take advantage of early entry? We did and even in the crowds were able to get a lot done w/o express during the mornings.

Cabana Bay is a great resort! But if you know 40+ minute waits for almost every ride is going to be overwhelming for someone in your party then yes its worth the extra to stay at a deluxe resort with unlimited Express.

 

[macraven]

can’t answer that as i have only stayed in the premier hotels

I have visited many of the other hotels to meet friends and do a meal with them, but have not booked them

 

[Deebee_7]

To get an idea of crowds, watch some YouTube vlogers from this past Easter.

We went the week after Easter in 2021 and it was very, very crowded especially Friday-Monday and after 11am each day.

I don’t know if you can take advantage of early entry? We did and even in the crowds were able to get a lot done w/o express during the mornings.

Cabana Bay is a great resort! But if you know 40+ minute waits for almost every ride is going to be overwhelming for someone in your party then yes its worth the extra to stay at a deluxe resort with unlimited Express.

Great idea to watch some you tube vloggers. We will be asking for an AAP. So i'm assuming we will be queuing in the express lane even without the express pass. But the difference is that if the wait time is over 30min then we will get a return time the same length as the normal wait time. When that return time is up we will still need to queue in the express lane. And from what I understood this queue can also still be 20min+. On top of that you can only hold 1 return time at a time.
We will have early entry for about 1 week. And we will have the 14 day pass so if we don't get to do some rides we can come back another day if need be.
We are early risers and this year at disney we also did rope drop for about 6 days. It worked out well. (but we also had DAS)

 

[AJA]

Getting started early at Universal is Key when it’s crowded. Keep in mind all areas and rides aren’t available during early entry but it does get you in position to just hop in line as soon as they do open.

Even with heavy daily crowds and no express, we were able to get 5 rides in before 11 am on a Saturday.

 

[Deebee_7]

You make a good point there. I've been analyzing the historic wait times for april 2022 (the week before easter). And what I see is that most rides don't have +30min wait times before 10am. (apart from Hagrid). We are early risers and have no problem being there at 7 am (we are on european time so that's afternoon for us in any case ).
Let's say we stay till lunchtime and then return to hotel to swim then I think we can still get everything done and more in a 6 night stay. (+ the AAP will also work for the express lane for all rides -30min).
I was inclined to go for dockside but if we will be spending a lot of pool time then maybe Cabana bay makes more sense (seeing as we will also have tickets for volcano bay for 2 weeks). Bit apprehensive about the state of the family suites at CB though. (not as new)
Am I being too positive about the wait times before 10am? The express passes will cost us 500 dollars per night extra (comparing CB to RPR room rate) for 4 of us. Still think that is a lot. (even if we only go to RPR for just 1 night)

 

[Dawn Peterson]

You make a good point there. I've been analyzing the historic wait times for april 2022 (the week before easter). And what I see is that most rides don't have +30min wait times before 10am. (apart from Hagrid). We are early risers and have no problem being there at 7 am (we are on european time so that's afternoon for us in any case ).
Let's say we stay till lunchtime and then return to hotel to swim then I think we can still get everything done and more in a 6 night stay. (+ the AAP will also work for the express lane for all rides -30min).
I was inclined to go for dockside but if we will be spending a lot of pool time then maybe Cabana bay makes more sense (seeing as we will also have tickets for volcano bay for 2 weeks). Bit apprehensive about the state of the family suites at CB though. (not as new)
Am I being too positive about the wait times before 10am? The express passes will cost us 500 dollars per night extra (comparing CB to RPR room rate) for 4 of us. Still think that is a lot. (even if we only go to RPR for just 1 night)

You can definitely make it work without express pass If you go for 6 days. We usually do premier for the EP but we had No EP during a really busy June week (9 & 10 on crowd calendar) and we made the rule not to wait longer than 25 minutes. We were flexible and hit everything we wanted except one. We might have done better if my teenager was willing to get up before 10 but her trip and we have been several times. EP wont help with Hagrids and that is the longest wait. If you don’t get an early start, I have heard that just before the parks close is good. If it is absolutely horrible you can buy EP the day of. Value not as high as getting 2 days with a premier room but you have a back up should you need it. I honestly think you will be fine if you mange expectations.