I didn't gain any ground on Madison with my pass until after we got off VelociCoaster, enjoyed breakfast and went to our third ride, Skull Island: Reign of Kong. To start our day, we first did two rides that didn't accept Universal Express together. ![]() Getting on twice as many rides in a day certainly makes Universal Express look initially appealing, but let's break it down a bit further. Including breaks, during our nine hours of riding, I averaged 1.6 rides per hour to Madison's 0.8 rides. Without the Express Pass, Madison rode only eight rides – five in Islands of Adventure and three in Universal Studios. and our quitting time at 5 p.m., I rode 15 attractions – seven in Islands of Adventure and eight in Universal Studios Florida. (Photo by Tarah Chieffi/The Points Guy) How much time I saved with Universal Expressīetween when the gates opened to us at 7:45 a.m. As a nice bonus, this meant that after our first couple of rides, we stopped for a full breakfast with butterbeer in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.īreakfast, especially one that includes butterbeer, is the most important meal of the day. We didn't try to do everything in the parks and, with the exception of (safely) hustling to Hagrid's when the gates first opened, we followed all of our self-imposed rules to keep the test relevant to a normal visit. Related: Universal Orlando’s new theme park, Epic Universe, back on after pandemic delay Not to spoil the results, but I had enough time to add Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon and Fast & Furious – Supercharged, too. Adventure, Transformers: The Ride-3D, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. Once at Universal Studios, our priorities were Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts, Men in Black Alien Attack, E.T. Our other priorities for the day at Islands of Adventure were Skull Island: Reign of Kong, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, The Cat in the Hat and the Hogwarts Express train to Universal Studios Florida. The wait time was 245 minutes when we got off Hagrid's. This meant we were toward the front of the crowd when the gates swung open at 7:45 a.m., thus officially beginning our testing day. We awoke before sunrise to be as close to the front of the pack as possible and arrived at the gates of Islands of Adventure by 7:15 a.m. Our test day had an official park opening at 9 a.m., which meant 8 a.m. We spent the night before our big day in one of Universal's on-site hotels to take advantage of the early park access benefit for hotel guests. There were other "rules," too, like no running or power walking (with one exception) and you had to stop for some breaks, just like on a normal park day with a family. even though the parks stayed open several hours later. We started the day when the gates opened but ended the test at 5 p.m. Our goal when comparing having a Universal Express Pass to not having a pass was to mimic a normal - but busy - day at the theme park. (Photo by Tarah Chieffi/The Points Guy) Our goals and testing plan When you stay in a Universal Premier hotel, your keycard doubles as your Universal Express Pass. I was lucky enough to draw the magic wand and test out a day using the Universal Express Pass while Madison was chosen to stand in regular lines all day as a "muggle," a task she happily accepted in the name of hard-hitting research. Would Universal's more expensive Express Pass rate at least as well as Disney's version? There was only one way to find out. Buying access to Disney's Lightning Lanes was found to save three hours in line and allow for the completion of six additional rides over just waiting the old-fashioned way. This test was styled similarly to the one TPG did using Disney Genie+ and Lighting Lane, which are Disney's current skip-the-line options. To test just how good the pass is at saving you time in line, I headed to Central Florida with fellow theme park aficionado and TPG's Content Operations Editor Madison Blancaflor to put the Universal Express Pass to the test in a TPG-style head-to-head competition. That's why I'm a huge fan of the Universal Express Pass – Universal's version of a skip-the-line pass that lets you bypass the traditional standby line on most Universal attractions and hop in what is usually a much shorter line. The difference is, I would have no problem spending time with my delicious doughnut sundae, but I have a big problem with spending most of my day in line. It's as inevitable as the fact that I'll eat something ridiculous like a doughnut sundae with hot fudge on top. When I visit Universal Orlando, I expect to spend some of my time waiting in line.
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