Express pass ripoff

[ladypaula]

it would be worth staying on site to get FOTL passes if you have to pay for express passes. better value staying in a hotel!

[ellie]

I think it is disgraceful that they charge this on top of the entrance ticket. What a shock if you have bought a 14 day ticket and have to pay $51 per person per day!

[Kazzie]

Ah, but it depends whether your party would prefer to be cluttered into a hotel room, all wanting to use the one bathroom at the same time etc, or having much more comfort by staying in a lovely villa! I know I would much rather have a lot of space by staying in a villa with plenty of rooms, private pool etc. I still think its a rip off having to pay extra for the fast passes though.

Karen

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by ladypaula
it would be worth staying on site to get FOTL passes if you have to pay for express passes. better value staying in a hotel!
[/quote]

[ellie]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Kazzie
Ah, but it depends whether your party would prefer to be cluttered into a hotel room, all wanting to use the one bathroom at the same time etc, or having much more comfort by staying in a lovely villa! I know I would much rather have a lot of space by staying in a villa with plenty of rooms, private pool etc. I still think its a rip off having to pay extra for the fast passes though.

Karen

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by ladypaula
it would be worth staying on site to get FOTL passes if you have to pay for express passes. better value staying in a hotel!
[/quote]
[/quote]

How true, Kazzie. I would never want to go back to sharing a room with 2 children - and they would never want to go back to sharing a double bed (if you are lucky!) or sleeping on a dreadful sleeper sofa! Even Travel City Direct ([msnmad]) recommend that their guests do not book a villa with a sleeper sofa as they are not suitable for prolonged sleeping. Even the luxury hotels rarely provide anything which is actually comfortable for children or teenagers to sleep on!

How much better for everyone to have their own beds and their own bedrooms, their own TVs and their own swimming pool. Lots of privacy, endless freedom and far less squabbling!

The benefits of getting free passes would be miniscule in comparison -after all, you may only go to the parks once or twice, but you have to sleep in one room every night for a fortnight!

No contest really!

[steph_goodrum]

I'm one of those who will vote with my feet, up till now we haven't had a problem seeing what we want when we go to the Universal parks, BUT I will never pay for fast passes as I see that as a double entrance charge, especially since it is isnt even a fixed price it varies on a daily basis and can be put up on Friday just because Thursday was busy. I certainly also wont be pressured into staying at their overpriced hotels for the benefit of fast passes either. As far as I'm concerned when the day comes that I cant get to go on what I want with relative comfort (not saying I'm not prepared to queue, I will but within reason), I will write to Universal and complain and just wont go back till I'm happy that I can do so. I'm not that desperate and there is nothing that my life will end if I cant get onto a particular ride.

[ellie]

Not only should we vote with our feet but we should let Universal know that they are ripping people off, and the time will come when people will say enough is enough.

Unfortunately too few people write to complain, so get writing if you feel it is wrong!

[Sally D]

We love US and IOA but there is no way that I would pay the extra, would rather not go. We are a family of 5 so 5 x $51 = $255 x 2 = $510 for both parks ontop of the entrance price[msnmad]and thats only for 1 day in each park[msnmad][gun][gun][gun]

[domster]

We found Universal to be the most expensive parks. We could not believe we saw 10 days disney passes for around $25 per day! IOA are nearly $85 on the gate. Best way I think now is to get the park hopper tickets (for Disney) and get multi tickets for Universal, Busch and Sea World.

I do agree that the price to fast pass is expensive.

[Susan J]

I have complained and written to customer services over this- never had a reply- please everyone, fight with your wallet! They let too many in, then its 'first or second class' lines -Very unfair. And sometimes the first ride you see shows a massive time, so you buy the fastpass and as you get around the park -the queues aren't so bad!! Hmmm What you have to think is, do I want to pay an extra $? and get on more rides, or do I not, and just do 2 or 3 rides.
I love Universal its my fave, but they are going OTT on Fastpasses. Disney imho are also letting too many people in, for not enough rides. [Have been going for 23 years, so I can tell the diff] D'rather sit by my pool and moan LOL
PS If you stay in a villa, and book one night in a Universal Hotel, just take an overnight bag, you can get the fastpass thing -not worth the hassle to me. I like the comforts of home, hubby and son like the Fox soccer channel and Sky sports news on all the time!!

[Tonish]

I've bought the fastpasses in Universal the last couple of times we went. It does sort of take your breath away when he calls out the total for six of you, but I've found it worth it.

They're supposed to mark the ticket at each ride so you can't use them twice, but we found that if the main line wasn't too long, the staff didn't bother to mark them, so we could go back again later for another go.

Exactly the sort of unscrupulous behaviour, I suspect, which gets the people in the main line all upset. Sorry.