Rant - Universal Studios Express Plus system

[BIGDENNIS10UK]

this is what puts me off islands of adventure, it looks like its mainly rollercoasters, my girlfriend isn't too bothered about big coasters and i don't wanna make her spend a whole day queueing up for rides she isn't that bothered about anyway.

i think i'll give it a miss, i'll do universal though, i thought this was more shows than rides and the queues wasn't that bad in there?

[Bats]

Originally Posted by BIGDENNIS10UK

this is what puts me off islands of adventure, it looks like its mainly rollercoasters, my girlfriend isn't too bothered about big coasters and i don't wanna make her spend a whole day queueing up for rides she isn't that bothered about anyway.

i think i'll give it a miss, i'll do universal though, i thought this was more shows than rides and the queues wasn't that bad in there?

See more...

Don't be put off IoA .. it's fabulous. It has the best 3D ride (Spiderman) and 3 of the best water rides in Orlando ... Bilge Rat Barges is soooo fantastic.
Next year it will also have a Harry Potter land with more experiences but most importantly, it has Suess Landing which gives you the impression that you're on drugs!

I much prefer IoA to US, but each to their own.

With regards to the Express system ... we always turn up for 'rope drop' and we never have to queue for more than 30 mins as we do all of the popular rides before midday and the big crowds.

[DisneyFamily]

If Universal stopped charging for the Express pass, they'd not just lose the revenue from that. Instantly at least a quarter of hotel guests would disappear as one of the perks is getting the FOTL pass in with your hotel room. Plenty of people would be happy just to have a normal express pass if it were free. Universal are making a truck load of money so they aren't going to stop whilst so many are willing to pay.

[alexisemma31]

[QUOTE=Essex Benjy's!;3835667]Most people forget that if we all bought these tickets the lines would remain the same length.

Don't forget that there are a limited number of express passes sold (or so they say!)

[Hal]

Originally Posted by mickeypops

... In contrast, Disney's Fastpass system is open and fair to all and it works brilliantly...

See more...

Whilst Disney's Fastpass is open to all, you forget that Disney has Early Magic Hours or Late Magic Hours at all its parks which are exclusively for Disney resort guests. What Universal has is a different business model - so, another way to view it is that rather than go to the expense of opening its parks for longer in the morning or evening, Universal provides express ride lines for its resort guests. Then, because it has these express lines in place, and they are not fully utilised it allows non-resort guests to use them too, subject to their buying an extra pass for the priviledge (the Express Passes). Sure it makes Universal millions of extra $ in income, but that's the point of the parks isn't it? If they were to abandon Express Passes they would simply charge everyone else more to enter.

[Bozza]

I simply wouldn't do the Universal parks without staying at one of their hotels. Such a stay, of course, comes with 'free' unlimited Front of the Line (FOTL) access. I'd do this even if travelling off-peak when queues should be light.

For the investment in a minimum one night stay you'll get 2 days FOTL access which should mean you can ride your favourites as many times as you want. For example my daughter loves 'The Cat in the Hat' and we have literally ridden it 10-15 times in a row before. You can do the same with the more popular big-ticket attractions too.

And, beyond the FOTL benefit, the hotels are wonderful in their own right and you are sure to love the close proximity to the parks whether you walk or take the (free) boat. You might like it that both adults can have a couple of beers as no-one has to drive 'home' when you leave the parks. You'll probably love the Citywalk atmosphere and might take in one of the restaurants. Again, both adults can enjoy a cocktail if they want.

And, when you get back to the hotel, you're sure to love the pool - there may be a swim-through movie playing poolside, or you may just the slightly indulgent of poolside (or even in-pool!) waiter/waitress service for your ice cold beer.

[BriarRose]

Originally Posted by mickeypops

We've just retunred from our 3rd trip to Orlando and had a great time.

The only part of the trip that really annoys me is the Univeral / IOA Express Plus ticket system.

We made three trips to these parks, getting there first thing to do some of the most popular rides first thing - this works quite well.

However, by mid morning the queues for all the popular rides was 40 minutes minimum and most went over the 60 minutes mark, up to 120 minutes for some. At this point there's no way you can get value for money for your ticket and you simply are not going to get on the attractions on your list.

So, Universal's solution to this over-crowding is to encourage you at every available opportunity around the park to purchase their Express Plus tikcet. This is going to cost you another $30 - $50 per person on top of your regular ticket price.

So, by this time, you'll see two separate queues for the rides - one for normal punters and one for Express Plus holders. On all the rides I saw, the Express Plus people were taking half the capacity of the ride, making the queueing time for regular ticket holders much, much worse - encouraging more and more people to shell out extra money for the EP passes.

In my opinion, a service that allows you to buy an (expensive) ticket in good faith, but then operates a system that makes it practically impossible for you to get anything like the full benefit of that ticket UNLESS you shell out even more money (making the plight of the regular people even worse in the process) is a very shoddy customer practice indeed. I can't think of any other business model that would allow it. Can you imagine if Tesco permitted you to go to the front of the checkout queue if you pay an extra fiver? Or similar at petrol stations if you paid an extra 20p per litre? There would be riots - but this is exactly what Universal are doing.

In contrast, Disney's Fastpass system is open and fair to all and it works brilliantly. Universal could and should do the same, but instead some genuis decided that they would rake in millions of extra profit by making people pay again for what they've already paid for.

Anyone agree / disagree?

See more...

I totally agree if you have spent all that money on a ticket in the first place you want to make sure you get the opportunity to go on most of the rides. I am surprised that so many people appear to be paying the extra to go express, as its quite a lot to add on for a day especially for a family, or do you think they are mostly Universal hotel guests?

[karon stallard]

Originally Posted by mickeypops

We've just retunred from our 3rd trip to Orlando and had a great time.
The only part of the trip that really annoys me is the Univeral / IOA Express Plus ticket system.

We made three trips to these parks, getting there first thing to do some of the most popular rides first thing - this works quite well.

However, by mid morning the queues for all the popular rides was 40 minutes minimum and most went over the 60 minutes mark, up to 120 minutes for some. At this point there's no way you can get value for money for your ticket and you simply are not going to get on the attractions on your list.

So, Universal's solution to this over-crowding is to encourage you at every available opportunity around the park to purchase their Express Plus tikcet. This is going to cost you another $30 - $50 per person on top of your regular ticket price.

So, by this time, you'll see two separate queues for the rides - one for normal punters and one for Express Plus holders. On all the rides I saw, the Express Plus people were taking half the capacity of the ride, making the queueing time for regular ticket holders much, much worse - encouraging more and more people to shell out extra money for the EP passes.

In my opinion, a service that allows you to buy an (expensive) ticket in good faith, but then operates a system that makes it practically impossible for you to get anything like the full benefit of that ticket UNLESS you shell out even more money (making the plight of the regular people even worse in the process) is a very shoddy customer practice indeed. I can't think of any other business model that would allow it. Can you imagine if Tesco permitted you to go to the front of the checkout queue if you pay an extra fiver? Or similar at petrol stations if you paid an extra 20p per litre? There would be riots - but this is exactly what Universal are doing.

In contrast, Disney's Fastpass system is open and fair to all and it works brilliantly. Universal could and should do the same, but instead some genuis decided that they would rake in millions of extra profit by making people pay again for what they've already paid for.

Anyone agree / disagree?

See more...

i agree 100%greed thats whats it is

[cat]

Originally Posted by Bozza

I simply wouldn't do the Universal parks without staying at one of their hotels. Such a stay, of course, comes with 'free' unlimited Front of the Line (FOTL) access. I'd do this even if travelling off-peak when queues should be light.

For the investment in a minimum one night stay you'll get 2 days FOTL access which should mean you can ride your favourites as many times as you want. For example my daughter loves 'The Cat in the Hat' and we have literally ridden it 10-15 times in a row before. You can do the same with the more popular big-ticket attractions too.

And, beyond the FOTL benefit, the hotels are wonderful in their own right and you are sure to love the close proximity to the parks whether you walk or take the (free) boat. You might like it that both adults can have a couple of beers as no-one has to drive 'home' when you leave the parks. You'll probably love the Citywalk atmosphere and might take in one of the restaurants. Again, both adults can enjoy a cocktail if they want.

And, when you get back to the hotel, you're sure to love the pool - there may be a swim-through movie playing poolside, or you may just the slightly indulgent of poolside (or even in-pool!) waiter/waitress service for your ice cold beer.

See more...

Have to agree completely. I wouldn't think of going to US/IOA now without staying onsite (which I guess is what they want people to do).
The resort hotels are really nice and the FOTL access is the icing on the cake.

[20togo]

Bozza

You sum up everything so perfectly.