What to expect with Express Pass?

[ChrisM]

I will be making my first trip to Universal in mid-March (so Spring Break season) with my grade school aged kids. We will be staying on-site (PB) so will have the unlimited Express Pass benefit.

What I'm hoping to find out is what to expect in terms of Express Pass lines? I realize there will still be waits and the parks will likely be pretty busy, but are we talking 10-20 minute waits for the headliners? Or could we still be running into 40+ minute waits even with Express Pass?

My kids are not adventurous (to say the least!), so since I'm a complete newbie my plan was to ride most things solo before them and make the decision on whether I think they could handle it. If I can buzz through pretty quickly, this should work fine - but if I'm backed up in a 40 minute line, I may need to rethink the idea.

We should have three full park days (with park-to-park tickets) if that makes any difference at all.

 

[dadtoagirl03]

We visited Thanksgiving week last year and it was packed. We stayed at Royal Pacific and made good uses of the express pass. Our longest wait was 25 minutes on The Wrath of Kong. Forbidden Journey was 20 minutes and Gringots around 20 minutes as well. Everything else was 5-15 minutes. I don't do lines very well so express pass is a life savers.

 

[bchbetha]

FWIW- I've had good luck tackling the "scariest"/ most intense rides first and then they usually get a surge of adrenaline and realize that they can indeed handle rides. Always sets us up well when I take a new/ nervous rider to a park (success with my kids plus nieces and nephews ). You don't spend all day psyched yourself up and getting nervous!

 

[ruthies12]

You'll mostly be looking at 10 to 20 minute lines. However, some of the ques have a lot of detail in them that take a long time. For example- Gringott's has a pre-show room that takes about 5 minutes and then an elevator ride down to the area that leads to the loading platform. So that line can take a long time even though you are in the express line. But it doesn't feel long cause it feels like you are doing something if that makes sense and it's all part of the ride experience. Similarly Simpsons has a whole pre-show thing that can take a long time or a very short time depending on exactly when you get in line and when they load.

If I were you, instead of trying to go through lines by yourself beforehand, you should instead watch youtube videos of all the rides before you leave. You have plenty of time before your trip to do this. Watch the videos and make yourself a list of anything that might be too intense for them. If you have any questions about the intensity of a ride after you watch the video just come back here and ask, we'll all be glad to help out.

My kids aren't adventurous either. Revenge of the mummy was a bit much for my then second grader and she wouldn't even go near rip ride rocket or hulk. She liked pretty much everything else though.

 

[ChrisM]

Wow, great feedback everyone - thanks so much!

I'm definitely going to watch YouTube videos as prep, but I really need to know what the physical sensations are like to get an accurate gauge - how steep and fast the hills are, what's in the dark and what isn't, volume levels, etc.

I know it sounds like overkill, but it will go a loooooong way towards making it an easier trip!

 

[ruthies12]

Not overkill at all, you don't want to turn sensitive kids off of rides that are supposed to be fun and make them not like parks in the future. I get it. The videos should give you a good idea. Almost all of the rides are loud IMO. Mummy and Gringotts are very dark and very fast. My 9 year old will do both but I will not be taking my 5 year old on either. Men in black isn't fast but does have some spinning to it, I would liken it to buzz lightyear or toy story mania. Simpsons, transformers, spiderman, minions, and kong are all screen based, they aren't really fast but the movement of the screens can make them seem faster than they are and I think they are pretty jerky.

Minions is another one that has a pre-show area that can take awhile and for that one there is a bench that stays stationary during the ride so you may want to consider letting them do it that way the first time and then you can re-ride in a moving bench if they like it. It will basically be like sitting still and watching a short 3D movie if you do the stationary bench so that shouldn't scare them at all.

 

[ruthies12]

For minions just tell them you want non-moving bench when they point you to a row after picking up your 3d glasses

 

[TheBuckman22]

why not just use child swap area...They can wait there while you go thru line...then if you see ifs a good fit for them you jump back on ...minimal wait time

 

[ChrisM]

why not just use child swap area...They can wait there while you go thru line...then if you see ifs a good fit for them you jump back on ...minimal wait time

Ah! I didn't even realize child swap was an option - hadn't even occurred to me now that my kids aren't toddler age any longer.

So I could ride while my wife and kids waited, and then give the three of them the thumbs up/down upon my return, correct? The only wrinkle is I assume I couldn't ride with them again and only those three would go together.

 

[macraven]

Or you could use the single rider line when available to do the ride
Then take the kids in the ep line for doing the ride together

 

[bumbershoot]

Or you could use the single rider line when available to do the ride
Then take the kids in the ep line for doing the ride together

Absolutely.

 

[ChrisM]

Any ideas as to how waits in single rider lines tend to compare to EP lines?

 

[macraven]

It will vary by ride
Single riders are used to fill in all seats

Could be they need one person per row for a ride

Could be more needed

Sometimes the regular lines and ep lines fill up all seats

Rides that utilizes sr do not always have that line in operation

 

[TheBuckman22]

I guess it depends on how busy it is..we have used the child swap numerous times and never had a problem wih all of us going on a second time with our waiting party...but being a AP holder we usually go when the crowds don't so would assume during busy times it might be different...

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

The rides that have odd number of seats (3 vs 2), single rider line would move more quickly, I would think. Rides that have 2, 4 etc, most families travel in groups of those denominations.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

IME, RRR has a slow single rider line. The rest of the single rider lines move fairly quickly. MiB in particular is very fast.

 

[Cjtigger]

I am a Universal newbie....we are going on HHN night (will not be attending the event) the third week of October. Should we get the Express Pass? What are the wait times for the most popular rides?

TIA

 

[macraven]

It can be a busy week that 3rd week in October.
Read on the different sites that have others talk about wait lines for the houses.

I go to hhn for the houses and the total event

Rides to me are a filler as I can do them in the daytime.

Only 6 rides will be open during hhn.

 

[macraven]

Rides are
RRR
Mummy
Transformers
Gringotts
MIB
Fast & Furious