Universal Express Plus Pass

[Squidgyness]

Originally Posted by Butts1

Is the whole enterprise basically a rip off ?

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Well, it seems like less of a rip off when you get on a ride with an advertised wait time of 20-25 mins in approximately... no wait at all. The Mummy, to be exact.

An extreme example to be fair, usually its more like a 50% saving in wait times, but the passes are still usually really valuable (or not, depending how the crowds fall) and when you consider that we secured RPR for 2 weeks for the same price as a middling Disney resort (CBR/POR etc) we thought it was ok value but a fantastic experience.

For me the passes are simply a bonus - the convenience of having a place to go back to and rest so close to Universal was very handy. We could go back to the room at 4.30, have a little rest and then come out and hit city walk for food after 5.30ish.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by deek72

Do all Universal hotels include a 2 day express pass, even the 'value' ones?

I've just looked into this a little more. It seems you only get the passes when staying at Hard Rock and the two Loewes hotels?

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Unfortunately you don't get Express passes at the value hotels, no. You only get it at the 3 deluxe hotels - Royal Pacific Resort, Hard Rock Hotel, and Portofino Bay.

Originally Posted by deek72

Have I got this right? I just got a price from Expedia for 2 rooms (5A + 5C) at Hard Rock for one night in Sept 2020, the price comes in at £550. So for £550 we'd get unlimited Express passes for all 10 guests for 2 consecutive days (we only have 2 park - 2 day tickets for Universal)? That works out at about £27 per day per person and I could live with that.

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Yes, that's right. Well, I haven't checked that the price you've quoted is correct, but the rest is correct. You'll get 2 days worth of unlimited Express Passes for everyone.

Originally Posted by deek72

Does it also include 2 days parking?

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No, you still have to pay for parking.

However, as you will be parking at the hotel, you only have to pay for 1 nights parking. The hotel parking is done on a per night basis, not per day. So you will pay less for the 1 night's parking ($27?) rather than 2 days at the parks (2 x $26 = $52).


BTW, most of the time we've visited Express Passes have not been necessary. They would have been nice to have, sure, but not definitely needed. The only reason we stayed onsite once to get them was because we were there just after Easter and wanted to do as much as possible in just 2 days. I'm not planning on getting Express passes nor staying onsite when we go next August/Sept.