Express Pass Disappointment

[kathleendsm]

Is it me, or does it feel like during busy times, Universal doesn’t do Express pass as well as Disney does FP+? This is our fourth trip here, and we’ve always had Express Pass via staying at one of the participating hotels. The first few days of the new year has definitely been the busiest time we’ve seen at Universal, and we have always had great experiences with EP in the past. But this time waits stretching 30-45 minutes (or close to an hour once) haven’t been outside the norm, and I was frustrated to see team members loading entire ride loads just from the standby lines. Meanwhile, between Christmas and New Year’s at Disney we never waited more than 20 minutes with FP+, even on Flight of Passage when the standby wait is 5 hours or in the Magic Kingdom on 7DMT when the park was in phased closure. Given that customers are expected to pay for Express Pass one way or the other, we’ve been rather unhappy. Is this just the norm during super busy times here, and can you not count on the quick load times that you see with FP+? I’ve been debating whether to speak to guest relations or not.

 

[georgina]

Sorry to hear that. Definitely not our experience from Thanksgiving week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). Express pass was working well then. I have been in early January but never this close to Christmas.

 

[skylock]

Disney does do their fast pass line differently, which is another reason I no longer go to disney. They let fast pass on first which means the standby line, which is what I am usually in, is a longer wait.

I have never felt disappointed with express pass. I also used it Thanksgiving week. Just imagine how disappointed you would have been in the reg standby line if you were disappointed in express pass line.

 

[EveDallas]

Express Pass is so much better than FP. Not even comparable.

 

[damo]

Is it me, or does it feel like during busy times, Universal doesn’t do Express pass as well as Disney does FP+? This is our fourth trip here, and we’ve always had Express Pass via staying at one of the participating hotels. The first few days of the new year has definitely been the busiest time we’ve seen at Universal, and we have always had great experiences with EP in the past. But this time waits stretching 30-45 minutes (or close to an hour once) haven’t been outside the norm, and I was frustrated to see team members loading entire ride loads just from the standby lines. Meanwhile, between Christmas and New Year’s at Disney we never waited more than 20 minutes with FP+, even on Flight of Passage when the standby wait is 5 hours or in the Magic Kingdom on 7DMT when the park was in phased closure. Given that customers are expected to pay for Express Pass one way or the other, we’ve been rather unhappy. Is this just the norm during super busy times here, and can you not count on the quick load times that you see with FP+? I’ve been debating whether to speak to guest relations or not.

If the ride has been down, the express line builds up.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Universal Express Pass is a different product than Fastpass. We have waited 40 minutes or so in Express for Despicable Me and Gringotts (Thanksgiving weekend). When I queried the wait I was told that Express only guarantees a 50% discount compared to the standby wait. With Disney Fastpass on the other hand we have never waited more than about 20 minutes.

 

[kim31kim]

What do you guys mean by the "standby line "? Is that the same as the single riders line?

 

[GoingSince1990]

What do you guys mean by the "standby line "? Is that the same as the single riders line?

The standby line just means the regular (non-Express, non-FP) line.

 

[Monykalyn]

I timed all our ep rides this past week (12/26-12/30) and longest we waited in ep was 37 minutes (Gringotts). Consider SB was over 2 hours thought that was great. We did not do some rides where TMs were saying EP was over hour wait, except Kong (told 45-60 minutes, on in less than 20). Very busy week, we expected to be waiting even with EP, but sure beat standby! At Disney you’d basically get 3, maybe 4-5 rides with FP that week (depending on park). At least at USF you have option of nearly all rides with shorter waits

 

[bumbershoot]

Meanwhile, between Christmas and New Year’s at Disney we never waited more than 20 minutes with FP+, even on Flight of Passage when the standby wait is 5 hours or in the Magic Kingdom on 7DMT when the park was in phased closure.

I don’t remember reading about there being a phased closure this year. Did I miss something or are you comparing different years?

 

[jerseygal]

We have always stayed at one of the three on sites with EP until our recent Dec trip and have always felt that we were "spoiled" by the EP. We stayed off site this past trip with one night at Sapphire Falls(really liked it!) and took advantage of early entry and a great AP rate which was fabulous, practically no one there. On Thursday and Friday, Dec 13th and 14th, we didn't need EP at all, great. On Sat. Dec 15th, missed EP, there was a concert that night Manheim Steamroller and of course was a weekend with more locals. We had a great time anyway, our family was all together, but that was the only day that we missed EP. We frequent both Disney and Universal, but there is no comparison to FP and EP, EP is much better!

 

[damo]

Ever wonder why the SB line at FoP is 5 hours? Not only does the ride have low capacity but it is because of the fastpass line that gets loaded with such priority over the SB line. So, yes, you may not be waiting that long for your 3 fastpasses but you are waiting VERY long in standby. Universal balances those two lines out better, IMHO.

 

[kathleendsm]

I don’t remember reading about there being a phased closure this year. Did I miss something or are you comparing different years?

There was a phased closure on New Year’s Eve, from about 11:30 to 5 or so.

 

[kathleendsm]

Universal Express Pass is a different product than Fastpass. We have waited 40 minutes or so in Express for Despicable Me and Gringotts (Thanksgiving weekend). When I queried the wait I was told that Express only guarantees a 50% discount compared to the standby wait. With Disney Fastpass on the other hand we have never waited more than about 20 minutes.

So if that’s true, that’s the information I was looking for. At other times, EP has practically been a walk on, and we were expecting something more like what FP offers in terms of the 20 minute wait. Interesting that Universal would charge $180 per day (which is what the app was quoting for the January 2) for something where you could still be waiting an hour.

I also agree that rides going down impact it as well: we saw that on several rides on this trip.

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

We are a summer family on a school calendar. Not holidays, but still busy. Being an analytical sort, most rides are loading two vehicles at a time, one from standby and one from Express Pass, with Single Rider lines filling in any gaps. So wait times are a product of the number of people in any given line.

I hope that is still the procedure...and OP just hit a bad spell.

It's not an exact science for sure, but as long as I am moving forward in the shorter EP line, I am feeling good about things. At certain points of the day, an extra 3-5 minutes in an air conditioned queue is fantastic (hello MIB!).

I really struggle at WDW after my 3 FP, because there are times that standby just shuts down for the FP line.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

We were there the week of Thanksgiving and 2 of the days were 10 level crowds and we had two rides that were longer than 20 mins in the afternoon/evening: Gringotts and Minions. They were both at stby of more than 2 hours. We waited probably 25 mins which doesn't bother me at all. But YMMV.

I suspect there might have been times during the Christmas / NY weeks that FOP and SDD might have had waits is 30 mins too. It's a tough time of year to go to either park.

FPs can be affected by ride breakdowns too. We have waited over half an hour for a Safari FP when animals were in the road.

I get that it's a lot of money to pay and then have waits longer than you wanted but it's still quite an improvement on stby. But if you feel it's not to your expectations, send an email. The number of people they let through in EP versus standby is easily changed if enough people are unhappy.

 

[keishashadow]

Is it me, or does it feel like during busy times, Universal doesn’t do Express pass as well as Disney does FP+? This is our fourth trip here, and we’ve always had Express Pass via staying at one of the participating hotels. The first few days of the new year has definitely been the busiest time we’ve seen at Universal, and we have always had great experiences with EP in the past. But this time waits stretching 30-45 minutes (or close to an hour once) haven’t been outside the norm, and I was frustrated to see team members loading entire ride loads just from the standby lines. Meanwhile, between Christmas and New Year’s at Disney we never waited more than 20 minutes with FP+, even on Flight of Passage when the standby wait is 5 hours or in the Magic Kingdom on 7DMT when the park was in phased closure. Given that customers are expected to pay for Express Pass one way or the other, we’ve been rather unhappy. Is this just the norm during super busy times here, and can you not count on the quick load times that you see with FP+? I’ve been debating whether to speak to guest relations or not.

We rarely visit only U or WDW. Normally, try to avoid comparing the two parks when it’s intangibles but in this instance, think it’s fair to compare the two as to EP/FP experiences

Wdw FP lines can get long when a popular ride goes down (7DMT, FoP, etc). Those holding the expired FP can elect to come back anytime or select another ride. Once said ride comes back online, the FP lines are typically substantially backed up, even though they will cut into the standby line’s access to try to decrease the wait. I also suspect they are prone to artificially stating long SB wait times in those situations to discourage guests from entering the line. Same as near end of day, where they stack the bulk of line ‘outside’.

Our ‘worst’ EP experience has been over 4th of July, followed by Columbus Day weekend. It wasn’t standing in EP lines for over half hour, that was expected. It was the bottlenecks that built in areas of the two parks where thinks were in gridlock. We’ll be back again this year after skipping it last year. Will be interesting to see if things go more smoothly.

U obviously wasn’t prepared as to staff training for the increase in crowds once HP came to town. IMO they still have room for improvement during peak times as to crowd control/flow in general but this is something that can easily be addressed if they so desire.

 

[schumigirl]

We have always been told and were told again recently the aim of EP is to be on the ride in 20 minutes or less and not 50% of the regular line time. It`s one of it`s selling points.

Things can happen with rides......we`ve never waited longer than 20 minutes in an EP line where there wasn't an issue or a delay......TF was 40 minutes once as there was a technical issue......we waited around 30 for Despicable Me as someone had thrown up in the ride vehicle......these things happen.

I`d still always rather have an EP wait than the regular line wait time...….I`ve never felt there was too many being loaded from the regular line over EP in any of our visits.

 

[tony67]

You are really comparing apples and oranges here - with FP you have to book your rides far in advance, if you are lucky enough to get the ride you want.
So they can easily throttle the number of people who has a FP at a particular time and keep the lines very reasonable

You also have a set number per day - yes maybe you can get more on the day - but your not going to have a ton of choice.

Express pass - it will typically get you on much faster than standby - but Universal has no control over what ride you will do or when and really can't throttle as well as Disney

Personally Ill take express pass over FP any day - FP is exactly why I dont go to Disney any more, well that and more so the dining plan.

 

[skylock]

The way Disney handles fast pass is why I no longer go also, and I do miss it, but the wait time in standby was horrible.

I prefer the way Universal handles it and my rule of thumb is I expect to wait 25% of the time standby line is listed at. It is usually no more than 20 min, which is totally acceptable to me. (unless there was something to hold up the line like a break down of course)

I think the 50% person was mistaken. I have used it way too much and never found anything like 50% wait time.

I was there Thanksgiving week. Never had a problem. I can't remember doing it at Christmas/new years before, so if I go then, I may need to expect longer EP line waits. Which will be fine. Having it beats the heck out of not having it.