Universal last week of August...

[lozkin]

Hi all, our previous 2 visits have been at the end of July, and we broke our Disney stays with 2 nights at Royal Loews to take advantage of the Express passes, but for 2020 we are planning on staying for the last week of August and wondered whether the Express pass would be essential for this period of time?

Thanks!

[florida_2012]

Originally Posted by lozkin

Hi all, our previous 2 visits have been at the end of July, and we broke our Disney stays with 2 nights at Royal Loews to take advantage of the Express passes, but for 2020 we are planning on staying for the last week of August and wondered whether the Express pass would be essential for this period of time?

Thanks!

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We were in Universal between 19th August and 27th August. The first week was noticeably busier the first week (from 19th Aug) than the second week (26th). We had an overnight at RPR on the 20th for folp. I'm glad we had them. You could probably do without for the last week of August

[lozkin]

Thanks! We love Royal Loews, but at £300 per night, it would be nice to skip it next year if the queues are manageable!

[Mibbs]

Hi, probably not, we always go for the last 2 weeks of August, the last week is always quieter as the local children are back at school

[kathrynwdw123]

I went end of August this year, queues weren’t too bad but we did do single rider for quite a few rides. If you’re wanting to do the bigger rides together then I would consider the express passes.

[chmurf]

we were at Uni from July 31st to Aug 28th this year

it was really quiet from the 20th on
even though school resumed around the 12th, the parks were still quite busy until the last week

but let's not forget that the end of the last week we were there, there was already the Dorian fear that may have driven the crowds down, even that much in advance.

but still, from the 20th on it was quieter, and from the 24th on it was very quiet

as far as having express passes through a deluxe hotel stay, they're still quite valuable, even at that time of year.
there will be rides with 30 minutes standby wait time, so if you can manage it, ok, and if you arrive early or go before closing time, you probably won't need express.

the other way to avoid using expres at that time is having a longer visit, and stay at a lower category hotel. 14 days tickets cost "nothing" (compared to a regular us ticket)

if you have 2 or 3 days, you'll manage just fine without express, but they'll still be nice if you have them

[Troyston]

Hi. We stayed 4 nights at Cabana Bay from the 15th August so benefitted from early park entry. We got most of US done by lunch. IOA was similar however we avoided the rush towards Hagrid and turned left towards Hulk and Spiderman and did all the rides around to Hogsmede with minimal waits.
We then went to Disney for 14 nights but returned on the 26th August and stayed one night at RPR to benefit from the express passes. My opinion was we didn't need the express passes as the queue were all below 15 mins which I think is fine. On the rides that were 5 mins or less it actually took longer with express as the main part of the queue was the scanning bit where they take your photo and that was on occasions very slow!
However I suppose Hagrid may have express pass by next summer so that will defo be worth it!

[Jimsdadhalifax]

We normally go to Universal at the end of August and we always stay onsite for the Express.

Whilst it is quieter, the headline attractions still attract decent crowds and wait times and we still find it well worth having. Being able to just go on what you want, when you want, rather than having to plan things out or walk around the park is a huge bonus.

[Inky]

Hope Hagrids will be express pass by next August? Will be at Universal RPR 26th to 28th next year, so fingers crossed.

[Tj28]

We stayed onsite at RPR on 28th August. Didn’t need it, but it was still nice to have. On the first day at lunchtime we did 8 water rides in a row without queues and then headed back to get changed. We wouldn’t have been able to repeat quite so much without it. But we would have still had a good visit with Reasonably short queues without them.