1-day Universal Hollywood Strategy for Pres Day Weekend?

[consultant]

So I'm what I'd consider a "Theme Park Pro" as I research to death all the tips and tricks, but admittedly my experience has been primarily with Disneyland/World. Been to both Universal's once (Orlando 6 years ago and Hollywood, 20 years ago)

What I've found is sometimes the generally accepted published advice as far as theme park touring strategy is not always correct. Usually the people in the forums have better insight, especially those that have frequented the park.

So we'll be doing one day at Universal Hollywood, Saturday, Feb 17. That's President's Day weekend and the beginning of mid-winter break for many schools.

I'm traveling with my 16 and 18-yo sons. We can last the entire day at the park from hour before open to close (although their 49-yo Dad is going to be pretty warn out at the end.)

General advice is to do the lower lot in the morning but I've also seen advice to do Harry Potter first thing, then lower lot. So which is it? I'm seeing Priority Passes on Ebay going for cheap for the Potter rides and for all rides in general, like $10-$15 a piece that admits 6 people into the A line. Are they worth it and if so do what rides are they worth it for, or will this day not be crowded enough to where these will save that much time?

 

[Ryan120420]

I would STRONGLY advise not buying those Front of Line passes off of ebay. Universal Hollywood for the past 20 years has called their fastpass line "Gate A" or "Front of Line", while all the other Universal parks around the world called theirs "Universal Express". On December 5th of this year, Hollywood re-branded "Gate A" to "Universal Express". It is very likely that those passes will no longer be accepted and it is also against park policy for those passes to be sold. Those passes are the equivalent of attraction re-admits that Disney gives out in the event of a ride breakdown.


USH is a very easy park to do if you get to the park at or before opening.

I would go strait to the Wizarding World and ride the two rides first thing. Save Ollivanders for later in the day as the line dies down significantly throughout the day.

After Wizarding World head to the Lower Lot. During the first hour or two of operation the Lower Lot rides will be a walk on to 10min waits. Also all three rides in the Lower Lot have single rider lines, so if its busy, use those.

After you do everything in the Lower Lot go to the Studio Tour. The Studio Tour is a 45min to 60min ride, so by the time you get on and off this ride you will have had done all the major headline attractions before the park gets crowded.

 

[oakleycat]

I agree with everything Ryan said: do HP, then Lower Lot, then Studio Tour, rest of park. Use single rider line when it's busy since you're all older. Buy tickets online for early admission. And don't buy the priority passes on ebay. They were still taking them last time I was there last month, but I wouldn't bet on them still working in February since they're meant to be used same-day. It probably won't be too horrible since its a passholder blackout day and we don't have mid-winter break here, but I would still expect crowds. They sell discounted Express Passes in the afternoon so you could take advantage of that if you get sick of lines!

 

[ShoeCello]

AP for USH here - keep in mind that Lower Lot rides usually only open 1 hour after the official park opening time; if you have early entry to the park and are there at rope drop, then that means the Lower Lot rides will only open 2 hours after you arrive, so make sure you plan accordingly. I would recommend doing HP first since the Lower Lot rides won't be open yet, and you'll likely still have some time to hit some other rides before heading down to Lower Lot. Also - I've seen some of the Lower Lot rides open ~15 minutes earlier than they're scheduled, so if you see the wait times up on the board you can head on down.

 

[consultant]

I would STRONGLY advise not buying those Front of Line passes off of ebay. Universal Hollywood for the past 20 years has called their fastpass line "Gate A" or "Front of Line", while all the other Universal parks around the world called theirs "Universal Express". On December 5th of this year, Hollywood re-branded "Gate A" to "Universal Express". It is very likely that those passes will no longer be accepted and it is also against park policy for those passes to be sold. Those passes are the equivalent of attraction re-admits that Disney gives out in the event of a ride breakdown.

This is good information but the Priority Passes don't have an expiration date. Just like any business, the park has the "right to refuse service" to anyone at any time. However, let's think about this from a logical, common sense customer service/PR standpoint. Since there is no expiration date obviously (a) the park was okay with people coming back many weeks if not months later and using the passes, otherwise why not have an expiration date? And (b) if they did refuse them, considering the passes were probably given out to compensate for a negative experience (ride breakdown, etc) refusing them would sure be defeating (and then some) the original purpose of giving them out as opposed to just honor everything you gave out without an expiration. It's not like these passes are giving park admission.

 

[Ryan120420]

This is good information but the Priority Passes don't have an expiration date. Just like any business, the park has the "right to refuse service" to anyone at any time. However, let's think about this from a logical, common sense customer service/PR standpoint. Since there is no expiration date obviously (a) the park was okay with people coming back many weeks if not months later and using the passes, otherwise why not have an expiration date? And (b) if they did refuse them, considering the passes were probably given out to compensate for a negative experience (ride breakdown, etc) refusing them would sure be defeating (and then some) the original purpose of giving them out as opposed to just honor everything you gave out without an expiration. It's not like these passes are giving park admission.

You might want to read the fine print on those passes. It explicitly states that those passes are only valid ON THE DAY they are given out and are void if re-sold. Also, I was at the park on the 31st and got issued an "attraction re-admit". They look completely different now, they are no longer glossy paper passes but boca printed tickets (ex: grocery store receipts).

Take the risk if you like, but don't be surprised if they are not honored.


Edit:

Found a Priority Pass that I received a few months ago:

 

[oakleycat]

I agree, those are the same ones I have and they all say same-day use only. I don't think they'd have any problem not accepting them now that they use a whole new system.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

If you buy your tickets online from USH you'll also get access to HP 1 hour prior to official park open. This means you can do HP and even possibly the rides in the upper lot all before the lower lot rides are open without needing FOL passes.