How does express pass work at premier hotels?

[ohionola]

Good morning,

We are thinking of staying at one of the hotels that offer free express passes for staying. Do you get those passes on check in and check out day? If I have a 5 day ticket, would it work for all 5 days even if I stayed one night? Can I check in at 7 AM, leave my backs, go to the park and then come back on check in day?

We have not been to universal in 20 years and I am trying to get the most bang for the buck. Thank you.

 

[schumigirl]

Good morning,

We are thinking of staying at one of the hotels that offer free express passes for staying. Do you get those passes on check in and check out day? If I have a 5 day ticket, would it work for all 5 days even if I stayed one night? Can I check in at 7 AM, leave my backs, go to the park and then come back on check in day?

We have not been to universal in 20 years and I am trying to get the most bang for the buck. Thank you.

You will get EP for check in day and check out day if you stay for one night.

EP is only valid for the time you stay at the hotel, so if you have a five day park ticket, but you only stay one night, no, you won’t be able to have access the Hotel EP for the day you don’t stay there.

If you stay 5 nights at one of the EP hotels, you’ll have EP for the whole time you’re there.

You can check in at 7am on your check in day and yes, you can leave bags if your room isn’t ready at that time.

 

[davper]

If you stay one night, you get the EP for 2 days use. The day you check in and the day you check out.

If you stay 2 nights, you get 3 days use and so on.

You can check in early and go to the gate for park opening.

Yes, you can leave your bags with bell services.

 

[nkereina]

Your express pass is your room key. Express pass is only tied to your hotel stay, not your tickets, so its only valid for as long as you are a guest of the hotel (which includes check in and check out days). The hotel doesn't even know what kind of tickets you have, if any.

 

[jackie101]

another universal newbie. Do you have to make reservations for rides like disney?

 

[nkereina]

another universal newbie. Do you have to make reservations for rides like disney?

I assume you mean like Fast Passes at Disney? No. With Express Pass at Universal, there are separate queues you enter when you have express pass. If you have the unlimited EP, you can use the EP queue as often as you want whenever you want. If you purchased the one time per ride EP, you can use the EP queue once per ride at any time you want. Nothing to reserve in advance.

If you're referring to park reservations like what's current in place at Disney, that is not something they do at Universal. Nothing to reserve in advance, but its advisable to get there early because Universal can and does reach capacity in the current environment and its first come first served. On-site resort guests also get priority.

 

[cfoxga]

Disney FP really doesn't compare to Universal EPs. Whether they are single or unlimited (what you get with the deluxe hotels), EPs make Universal a much more relaxed vacation. Just show the pass and go through the (usually) short line to the ride. No reservations needed...

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Universal is doing a few rides with virtual queue. Some have VQ almost all the time (Fast & Furious, Jimmy Fallon) and several switch to VQ during busy days when the physical queue gets too long.

 

[WendiDarling]

Sorry to hijack, but I have a question: Is 7am the earliest you can check in? When we were there in September, we didn't quite do the check in thing right. Trying to determine if we want to try again for early check in or just take our time getting to the park that first day. (staying at an offsite hotel first night)

What the the general rule about what time to check in depending on when early entry is. 2 hours before? More? Less? We will just leave our luggage in the car since we're driving so no issues there.

Other alternative would be to arrive when we arrive, maybe have lunch at City Walk, then go into the parks for the afternoon/evening and ride using EP. That sounds like a more civilized start to our day, lol, but we only have 2 other mornings so I don't want to miss one if we can swing it.

President's weekend Sunday, if that matters.

 

[nkereina]

Sorry to hijack, but I have a question: Is 7am the earliest you can check in? When we were there in September, we didn't quite do the check in thing right. Trying to determine if we want to try again for early check in or just take our time getting to the park that first day. (staying at an offsite hotel first night)

What the the general rule about what time to check in depending on when early entry is. 2 hours before? More? Less? We will just leave our luggage in the car since we're driving so no issues there.

Other alternative would be to arrive when we arrive, maybe have lunch at City Walk, then go into the parks for the afternoon/evening and ride using EP. That sounds like a more civilized start to our day, lol, but we only have 2 other mornings so I don't want to miss one if we can swing it.

President's weekend Sunday, if that matters.

I believe 6am is the earliest you can check in. I would suggest giving yourself about an hour prior to EE. If EE is at 8am and you arrive at 7am, that should give you enough time to check in and make your way to the park via the walking path, especially if you don't have to store luggage.

 

[cfoxga]

Sorry to hijack, but I have a question: Is 7am the earliest you can check in? When we were there in September, we didn't quite do the check in thing right. Trying to determine if we want to try again for early check in or just take our time getting to the park that first day. (staying at an offsite hotel first night)

What the the general rule about what time to check in depending on when early entry is. 2 hours before? More? Less? We will just leave our luggage in the car since we're driving so no issues there.

Other alternative would be to arrive when we arrive, maybe have lunch at City Walk, then go into the parks for the afternoon/evening and ride using EP. That sounds like a more civilized start to our day, lol, but we only have 2 other mornings so I don't want to miss one if we can swing it.

President's weekend Sunday, if that matters.

We're booked for that weekend as well. I'm expecting it to be pretty crowded. We drive down after school ends around 3 pm and stay near Valdosta or Lake City. We then arrive around noon, check in, and head to the parks. Since we've been multiple times now, it isn't a big deal to miss the extra hours the first day. But we stay at least 3 nights, so we still have 2 full days and the last morning.

If you can make it down to Orlando for the first night, then I would try to check in by 7 and head to the parks. The only downside is that if the room is not ready until 4 pm, then you might be a bit worn out by the time you get settled in to your room.