Universal without express in late July

[amandajane10]

I would deff have the hotel stay as it will be very busy at that time.

[0420wilmut]

October queues are very different to July/August. I'm with Bondy, I think the overnight on-site stay is worth every penny!

[Mrs dee]

Originally Posted by BONDY LAD

Could not think of anything worse than going at this time without folp,I must live in a parallel universe,as queues are mega,a billion % one night ,for x2 full days of folp at one of the three hotels,preferably,which ever is the cheapest,but hey who am I, bondy.

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Glad you posted Bondy because I know how much you've been there. I've been once in July and my dh said he would never visit without hotel and express pass

[holidaysaver75]

Thanks to everyone for their help.

We’re still a bit torn. And by that I mean, DH thinks we don’t need the hotel and I do! I think we may spring for the 2 week passes, we’ll go for a day and it’ll be horrendous then I’ll be able to have things my way and book at a hotel.

[BONDY LAD]

You need to make your husband listen to you,he then,won’t regret it, bondy.

[florida_2012]

Originally Posted by Northerndave

3 years ago went to US/IOA in August, staying at the RPR and glad we did. Would not consider Universal in Summer without Express...


... unless you like 90 min waits in the boiling, humid temps for Minions, Harry Potter, etc etc.

With Express, did everything at least once in each part, on both days, many things multiple times. Without Express you might be lucky to get 5-6 in a day.

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What about towards the end of August from 26th to the 3rd September? Do you think express is necessary? Crowd levels on TP is estimated to be low 3,4 or 5. I would go for it and book RPR with Tesco points but some other family (adults) say it’s not necessary at that time. And I think it’s pointless if we don’t all have it for the days we are all there as we will end up waiting anyway. Any experience of late August into September?

[fredflintstone]

Fast Passes are great especially in July which tends to be a very busy month. Having them is always a good option.

If not...

Depending how many times you are going during the day (before free parking) it might be worth upgrading one of the passes to an annual pass that gives free parking (Its about $5 to upgrade to a seasonal 9no good in July) and an extra $60 for power giving half price parking or an extra $40 over power for premium (105 in total) for free parking. Premium gives early entry on some dates but no good if you only have 1.

If you are at the park for rope drop you will be able to do a few rides before it gets too busy (Even the early entrants are only allowed on Harry Potter so the main park is not accessed until normal rope drop. Minions however always seems to have 80 mins due to the way fast pass works on this ride.
Be there at rope drop and your first ride is usually walk on and the next will be short also except for minions and HP. Week of Easter Sunday in Universal we had uually done 5 or 6 rides before 10.30.

If you do not mind doing single rider this is more often than not faster than fast pass on the rides they do it on (occasionally it does not work but this is the exception). This is a great bonus and sometimes 2 of you will be together anyway.


Use the busy day guide. It does seem to work.

Friday morning believe it or not seems a good day to go early.


As I said I'd prefer to have a fast pass.

But...

Forget the horror stories we get on the forum. I was dreading Easter but by being there for rope drop and also making use of single riders we did the rides we wanted to do each day (except for minions but we were never in Univeral for rope drop but IoA)

[Northerndave]

Originally Posted by florida_2012

What about towards the end of August from 26th to the 3rd September? Do you think express is necessary? Crowd levels on TP is estimated to be low 3,4 or 5. I would go for it and book RPR with Tesco points but some other family (adults) say it’s not necessary at that time. And I think it’s pointless if we don’t all have it for the days we are all there as we will end up waiting anyway. Any experience of late August into September?

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Yes, my post related directly for the last 2 weeks in August into start September.

It was supposedly quiet. Trust me, the queues were awful, but we had fastpass so meant we could do all the rides.

I saw people literally spending hours of their holidays queuing in the savage muggy heat. You don't want to do that, trust me.

And to the original OP, if you're still torn after virtually every one on here has advised that you need to stay over or fastpass it then get your fella to read this. If he still doesn't get it, you need to book him in for a head examination !

[EmmaBolan]

Id go with the one night stay too. We just did this last week, RPR was absolutely beautiful. It cost us $24 to park at the hotel for the two days. We then water taxi'd it in both days which was lovely, Dad was able to enjoy a few beers that night too. We didnt really need the passes as it was fairly quiet but it meant we got loads done in the morning, HP had long waits so useful for this, we then headed out late afternoon and used the pool.

It's something we'll be doing next time too. Worth every penny!

[Jimsdadhalifax]

We have been in August 8 times - before Harry Potter arrived you could get there for opening and the parks were nice and quiet and you could go on all the main rides before it got busy at around 11am.

Now the parks get busier earlier and stay busier.

Express is an amazing benefit. You go round the park doing what you want in any order. Without it you have to plan things. Some rides like Despicable Me, Dudley Do Right can be 90 mins throughout a lot of the day.

We normally do Universal towards the end of August - the on site hotels are cheaper for a start - the q's are still big.

Even 1 night onsite for the 2 days Express is well worth it. If you decide not to, look to either be there for opening or stay until closing. Rides are quieter at this points. Also keep an eye on the boards with the wait times and target the quieter ones. Some rides like Hulk can vary between 30 mins and 70 mins with no obvious reason why.

You can still have a great time without Express but you will be watching the people in that Q walking past you on everything and perhaps thinking it was worth doing?