Universal studios - fast passes?

[Orangesandlemons82]

We are about to go to a universal Studios, Orlando. Everyone is telling us we need to buy fast passes. Are they really worth the extortionate price? Will we spend hours queuing without? How do they work?
Thank you!

We are currently in Orlando and are due to spend our 4th (and final day) at Universal tomorrow. Obviously we are here over the Easter holidays and it is crazily busy (as to be expected)….we didn’t buy the passes as simply could not justify the extra expense on top of everything else (be prepared for extortionate prices for drinks, food, souvenirs), we last came 7 years ago and like everywhere prices have just gone through the roof. We have spent the last 2 weeks saying how much???
At times whilst waiting in some queues, we have often thought how nice to just have a fast pass, but honestly by planning properly (getting there about 8ish to get through security and the long walk to the actual entrance) and if you are prepared to do it over several days, I would say you can do it without the fast pass. Just download the park app and keep looking at queue times and be prepared to speed walk to that ride before it builds up again. Only ride we have noticed that seems to be consistently long ie over 2 hours is Hagrids motorbike rollercoaster in Islands of Adventure, but we are on a mission to get that done tomorrow so obviously getting there early.
To answer your question - IMO, if you are already on a budget, don’t buy the fast pass, you will need that money for all the other extras (an ice cream from minions cafe -$9).
Any other questions please ask, I know it’s hard to know what to do as you want to be able to do everything but you also have to be realistic xx

Ps meant to say we have managed to do do all the rides we have wanted - Harry Potter forbidden journey, Simpsons, Spider-Man, Hulk, Velocicoaster, Jurassic River Adventure, Minions plus more and haven’t queued for more than an hour.

How long are you there for? We were only there for two days and, the more we researched it, the more we felt like the fast passes were a "must have" to make the actual entry fee worthwhile. We only did fast passes for one day and hit all of the rides we really wanted to do that day setting aside a couple of the second day and allowing 2.5 hours to queue for each of those and then use any remaining time to repeat rides or so those we were less bothered about.
We did the Disney parks at the same time and, for all of us (DC were 9 & 7 at the time), Universal was and remains our favourite park and the fast passes was no doubt part of that. I am so glad we did it. However, I do also still remember how utterly sick I felt the evening that we bought them at how much they cost.

Definitely worth it!! We saved a LOT of queueing time which was important as we were only there for one day.

If you book into hard rock, portofino Bay or royal Pacific the hotel price includes express pass for all guests for check in and check out day. This was a much cheaper way for us to do it.

We went in October, didn't have fast passes and didn't feel we needed them. We watched the app closely and were happy to do a lot of walking to scoot around to wherever the queues were reasonable. Like the poster above we found Hagrid's Motorbike was the only ride with consistently long queues. We raced to it as soon as it opened but still queued for around an hour. Otherwise we rarely waited more than 30 mins for anything.

Depends how long you’re there for - if it’s only a day or two then book into one of the deluxe hotels and you’ll get the front of line passes. If it’s longer then you’ll be able to do the early hours and get all the rides done.

We went at new year and it was busy. There was 6 of us. We were staying in a villa so booked a night in Portofino hotel. For one night you get 2 day fast passes and early entry. It was well worth it

Thanks everyone. I have never been on this sort of holiday before! We are there 6 days, perhaps it would be worth getting a fast pass for one day of it? It's so expensive and pains me to pay it! But equally if we are going to otherwise be in queues for hours with the children moaning perhaps it is money well spent

We’ve done it with and without and had a great time both times. I would recommend Touring Plans, they can give you an itinerary with realistic times based on when you’re going and what you want to do. For a small fee you can customise those plans and get their app which gives queue times which are often more accurate than those posted in the parks and will predict if and when queue times will fall for specific rides.

i would also look at the cost of staying in one of the premium hotels which include fast passes for everyone for the day of arrival and departure, this is often cheaper than buying fast passes.

If you have younger Harry Potter fans in your party I’d also factor in the cost of the wands into your budget, they’re expensive but really cute.

https://touringplans.com/universal-orlando

Are you spending 6 days in universal? It really doesn't take that long! I'd stay in one of the hotels a PP mentioned for 2 nights and you'd then get 3 days of fast passes which is more than enough time for the parks.

You won’t need them if you’re there for 6 days

Worth noting that the express pass at Universal does not include Hagrid’s motorbike coaster. This is the most popular ride in the park and consistently has over 2 hour queues.

You definitely don’t need fast pass if there for 6 days- save your money! Take your time around the parks and soak up the atmosphere in between rides.
How old are your children? Ours (16,13) were quite happy in the queues as long as they were hooked up to the free park Wi-Fi on their phones!!!!!
Hope you have a great time. Didn’t manage to get on Hagrid due to weather conditions today but Escape from Gringotts more then made up for it!

Very much worth it! We had fast passes and never waited more than 20 mins for a ride, the vast majority of the time we were pretty much able to just walk straight on. Makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable, I find that standing bored in queues all day just sucks the life out of everyone

We stay at Hard Rock or Royal Pacific so we get unlimited express passes.

Beautiful resorts and often when I've looked they're cheaper than buy 4 express passes anyway.

Might be cheaper to book into a hotel with fast pass included.

We did the maths on this and it was better to stay at one of the resort hotels that included fast passes.

The other thing is you get to go in earlier so you can get to the rides that don't have fast pass like Hagrids motorbike ....however people literally run for it

We stayed at Royal Pacific for 3 nights so we had fast passes for 4 days. Best decision ever. Maybe next time we will only stay for 2 nights, but fast passes made our trip to Universal.
We ride Hagrid at either rope drop or just before park close when queues were shorter