Express Pass for Onsite Guests? and Early Entry Question

[Tigger&Belle]

We are leaving for Orlando in a few days and I have a couple of questions. First, since we will be staying at the HRH will there ever be a time when we need to use the express pass? As I understand it the FOTL access and the express pass are similar and work for tyhe same rides, so I assume that I don't need to use express passes.

Also, which rides are open for early entry? How much can we get done the first hour before the park opens to the public and what time do the parks tend to get busy?

We will be there for 3 days with four children (13, 10, 7, and 20 months), so we will want to see most of what Universal has to offer. Can we do it all in that amount of time and still take mid day breaks?

Thanks, Linda

 

[Nan]

We just returned from Universal Orlando.

If you are staying onsite, you never need to use the Express Pass machines.

You do use the Express Lines to the rides. They are marked with a yellow and blue oval sign. Just walk up to the ride attendant and show them your room keycard. They will ask how many are in your party and off you go. The longest lines we were ever in were for Spiderman and Dueling Dragons and even in the middle of the day we only had to wait, at most, 15 minutes. The regular line was 90 at the time we rode.

I don't know which rides were open at Early Entry because we didn't use that. We didn't want to get up that early and with your HRH key card, I don't really think you need to worry about it. Just my opinion.

Most of the rides we basically walked on. If you are going to a show-type ride, i.e. Terminator, your wait time will depend on how much time is left in the current show. If you happen to get there right when a show is over, you pretty much walk in, but if you get there when a show has just started you will have to wait the length of the show.

All day Express Access is an indescribable perk!

Have a great trip!!

Nan

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Nan, I'm glad that the wait times were short when you were there. We've never been before and I don't feel prepared, but if the waits aren't long we should be able to see what we want (everything!).

I think that EE will be good for us since we have a toddler. He'll probably be up early anyway, and with the extra hour in the parks we'll be more likely to take a nice mid day break.

Thanks, Linda

 

[neo224]

We just got back from FL today & we were at IOA on Wednesday for early entry - what a joke!!! The only rides that were open to ride were Spiderman, The Hulk & Stormforce - nothing else was open - you couldn't even get to the back of the park!! Also Spiderman wasn't even running due to "technical difficulties", The Hulk wasn't "ready" yet so the only attraction we could do was Stormforce. We were that at about 10 minutes to eight expecting to have a whole hour to do things & you couldn't!! Many people were complaining & one of the employees said that they get that all of the time - they don't know why the resorts push early entry

 

[CoasterFEV]

As advertised, the attractions open for Early Entry at IOA are:

Spiderman
Storm Force
The Cat in the Hat
One Fish Two Fish

That's It. If Spiderman was having some early morning hiccups you should have checked out an empty Seuss Landing (yes, it was open, sounds like you just didn't want to leave Marvel). A great time for One Fish Two Fish and exploring all the architecture of the island.

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As an added note, the same crew that operates One Fish Two Fish also operates Caroseussel, so this ride IS almost always open for early entry (it's just never advertised).

Also, the Marvel operations team is FANTASTIC on those early entry mornings to do their best to get Hulk and Doom open before 9am. Most early entry mornings both are open by 8:30 if not a few minutes after. This means 2 early entry "bonus rides" are typically available to early entry guests for a little while before the 9am crowds are let in the gates!

As always, guests can never get pass Spiderman (into Toon) or off Seuss Landing (into Lost) prior to 9am.

Check your in-room literature next time, it specifically says which attractions are open for early entry in both theme parks.