One common question we’re hearing from readers planning trips to Universal Orlando is whether they should buy for Express Pass at Epic Universe? This post weighs the pros & cons, why line-skipping will be advantageous, alternative splurges to Express Pass, and our own internal ‘debate’ about whether to purchase the pricey add-on.
While we’ve been getting this for a while, it’s been further prompted by our recent article discussing Why You Should Skip Epic Universe, or rather, why you might want to wait to visit Epic Universe until this holiday season, winter or sometime in 2026. That lays out several reasons why some people should postpone a visit, but it certainly isn’t suggesting everyone waits out the issues (far from it).
Two of the biggest reasons identified basically revolve around unpredictability. This comes into play with crowds, which mostly have been manageable and are expected to remain that way throughout most of the summer season due to a mixture of low attendance caps and soft demand. It also relates to ride reliability and breakdowns, as several attractions have had extended downtime on a daily basis at Epic Universe. These are interconnected issues that also relate to Express Pass–this post will game out why that’s the case and how it could impact you.
Before we get to all that, let’s start with the basics. Express Pass allows guests to skip the regular standby line for priority access to select attractions (most of the highest wait time attractions). You simply go up to the attraction, scan your pass, and use your Express Pass entitlement. Express Pass is a totally “dumb” (non-derogatory) line-skipping system, and by that I mean there’s nothing to reserve or hassle with in an app.
Express Pass involves zero screen time or technology from a guest-facing perspective. It’s largely stress-free, more like Lightning Lane Premier Pass than it is Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World. Other than that, Express Pass is functionally similar to the line-skipping systems at Disney. Which is to say that it’s not a true “front of the line” pass, but rather, a reduced wait or priority access pass.
Wait times can vary widely with Express Pass, which will be doubly true for Epic Universe. Sometimes, you’ll walk right onto a ride. Other times, you could wait 30+ minutes. That’s a point we’ll underscore later–we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The bottom line, though, is that if you’re familiar with Walt Disney World’s line-skipping, this is more or less the same–but with a higher price and less friction than the mainstream options.
To that point, regular Express Pass prices top out at $329.99 for Epic Universe, with the starting price being $139.99. In perusing the calendar, the current average is around $250 per person for summer. Prices can be lower or higher than that, with more distant dates–including most of September through December 2025, minus holiday weeks and school breaks, costing under $200. At least, for now.
One thing worth noting is that Universal uses dynamic pricing for Express Pass, meaning that the prices can go up or down as dictated by demand. From what I recollect, prices have gone up considerably since we added Express Pass to our tickets. Our dates are no longer available, so I’m not 100% sure of that, but it appears as if prices are much higher–by $100 per day, in some cases. Not a huge surprise for the opening summer season given FOMO and excitement, but worth pointing out that buying earlier is likely better than waiting–at least until the hype dies down.
These prices are all for the single-use version of Express Pass. That’s the only line-skipping product available for Epic Universe; Unlimited Express Pass is not currently being sold, and probably won’t be for a while. No version of Express Pass for Epic Universe is included in hotel stays (more on all of this towards the end).
Epic Universe features five themed lands: Dark Universe (Classic Universal Monsters), How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, Super Nintendo World, and Celestial Park.
The last two of those lands are open for Early Park Admission, which gives on-site guests and others a head start on beating the crowds. We highly recommend consulting our Early Park Admission at Epic Universe Strategy Guide: Beating Crowds in Super Nintendo World in addition to this post, because no matter what you decide to do about Express Pass, you’re still going to need a strategy for Super Nintendo World.
Epic Universe features 11 rides and two major shows, plus a wide variety of atmospheric entertainment, play areas, and more. Of those, here are the attractions eligible for Express Pass at Epic Universe:
- Constellation Carousel
- Curse of the Werewolf
- Fyre Drill
- Hiccup’s Wing Gliders
- Le Cirque Arcanus
- Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge
- Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
- Stardust Racers
- The Untrainable Dragon
- Yoshi’s Adventure
There are three rides in Epic Universe that do not offer Express Pass. The first two of these are Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness in Super Nintendo World (hence the need for Early Park Admission strategy) and Dragon Racer’s Rally in How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk. (The strategy we recommend for Dragon Racer’s Rally is skipping it.) These two exclusions are almost certainly due to capacity, as both have exceedingly low hourly throughput. Adding Express Pass would exacerbate standby waits to an unsustainable degree.
The final exclusion is Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. Our expectation is that this will have Express Pass someday, but does not currently because the attraction has significant reliability woes and extended downtime. When it does operate, it does so at significantly reduced capacity.
As such, it’s currently using a virtual queue and is hard to access. The most important Epic Universe planning post you can read is our VL guide: How to Join the Virtual Line for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry.
If you’re a Walt Disney World fan debating whether to purchase Express Pass at Epic Universe, I’d recommend thinking of the park like Disney’s Hollywood Studios–but with a couple more rides like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This is not a perfect comparison, but it’s the closest approximation and one that puts you in the right mindset to evaluating whether or not to buy.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the most unpleasant park at Walt Disney World during busy weeks since it has such a top-heavy ride roster and there’s an insufficient supporting lineup to help absorb crowds. (See Disney’s Hollywood Studios: WDW’s Best Rides & Most Frustrating Park from around the time Rise of the Resistance opened.) These issues are exacerbated when multiple rides break down, ballooning wait times everywhere else.
It’s going to be a similar story at Epic Universe, but amplified. Epic Universe has had some great days and really rough ones thus far. We’ve only experienced the good ones, thankfully, but have talked to friends who have been there for the bad ones (and have observed from afar via the Universal Orlando app).
Multiple headliners going down has a cascading effect, causing congestion everywhere else, and spiking the wait times of the rides that are open. And this has happened during days when attendance is heavily capped. When rides come back online, the backlog of Express Pass means sky-high standby wait times. There have been instances of most attractions having <30 minute waits, but one that returned from extended downtime posted triple-digit waits for the remainder of the day in order to prioritize the backlog of Express Pass guests.
This same thing happens with Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World, so you’re probably familiar with it. In any case, this is why it’s impossible to say how long the Express Pass waits will be at Epic Universe. If you’re doing a ride that has just returned from 4 hours of downtime, it could be a 45 minute wait via Express Pass, even with a 99:1 pull ratio, simply by virtue of that backlog. But the guests in standby might be waiting 240 minutes!
Suffice to say, you’re not going to want to be in Epic Universe the first time there’s an operational meltdown with the park operating at or nearer full capacity. It’s going to be a nightmare. There will be horror stories of guests only getting a couple of rides done all day long, and getting dumped from multiple queues due to breakdowns.
This brings us to the main reason to buy Express Pass at Epic Universe: insurance.
Express Pass is basically a hedge against having one of those days. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s as close as you’re going to get to one for those 10 attractions. The reason it’s not a guarantee, at the risk of stating the obvious, is because the ride still has to be operational in order to redeem the Express Pass. And there have been some days when attractions have broken down in the last few hours of the evening and that was it–they were done for the day. But that’s an issue that’s downstream of all this.
If you only have one day to do Epic Universe, Express Pass is a good insurance policy against one of those operational meltdowns. With only one day to spend in the park, Express Pass is a safety net that buys you not just shorter wait times–but peace of mind.
Like the best insurance plans, hopefully you won’t need Express Pass.
This is to say that hopefully the day you visit will be one of the great operational days. Ride breakdowns will be minimal and attractions will be operating efficiently, to the point that most wait times–except the rides that exclude Express Pass, ironically–will be fairly low. You might even be inclined to have buyer’s remorse, thinking you “wasted” money on Express Pass. I mention this because it’ll undoubtedly happen for some planners who splurge on the service.
Just remember that it was unknowable in advance whether you’d have an operationally awesome or awful one. On balance, you are much better off not having needed that insurance and feeling like it was a waste of money.
There are a couple of alternatives to Express Pass at Epic Universe.
The first of these are fairly self-evident to diehard Walt Disney World planners. Take advantage of Early Park Admission (don’t be discouraged by heavier than expected crowds during this) followed by rope drop and savvy strategy. Stay late, wait out the crowd, and jump into high-priority lines at the end of the night. You probably know the drill.
The other alternative is doing 2 days at Epic Universe as opposed to a single day with Express Pass. The cost is almost certainly going to be lower for buying a second 1-day ticket as opposed to purchasing Express Pass. Heck, you might even come out ahead buying 2 extra tickets as opposed to one day of Express Pass!
This is likewise an insurance policy. Once again, it does not guarantee a good day, but it increases your odds of one. The chances of two days of operational meltdowns are a lot lower than one day. And maybe you’ll luck into two great days!
Since Express Pass is more expensive than a second day in Epic Universe, this is an age old time vs. money dilemma. Which is more costly or valuable to you: your time or money? Obviously, that’s circumstantial, so I cannot give you a definitive answer.
I do plan on making the ‘argument’ for doing 2 days at Epic Universe very soon, as I think there’s a persuasive case to be made beyond insurance; what I will say now is that Epic Universe definitely is not a 2-day park in the traditional sense of the term. I’d also add that doubling your attempts at EPA and VL is savvy.
I can share what we have done and are doing, as we’ve been faced with this dilemma twice already, making two different decisions.
For my solo visits now and in the future, I’ve opted against purchasing Express Pass and instead doing more days. Beyond these being “research trips” that benefit additional days and being ‘forced’ to use standby lines, I’d personally prefer more time in Epic Universe from an experience enjoyment perspective. I can’t get enough of the park and will always choose more days as opposed to efficiency. If I can’t experience something, oh well, I’ll be back.
Thus far, my approach has been vindicated. I’ve had nothing but great days in Epic Universe, and accomplished significantly more across multiple days than I would’ve during one day with Express Pass. Not just by a slim margin, but by orders of magnitude. With the benefit of hindsight, it was the right call. But it was a gamble.
For our first family trip, adding on days was not possible due to Universal’s vacation package and ticketing policies. So we added Express Pass. Honestly, even if the package would’ve allowed us to do multiple days in Epic Universe, we probably wouldn’t have chosen that option. The park has very little to offer our toddler, so efficiency is the name of the game.
Moreover, I’m not sure when Sarah will have a chance to revisit Epic Universe, making the insurance more valuable. Realistically, there’s a chance she won’t be back until our daughter is of a more appropriate age, or we have a winter visit with extra days to burn. (Even then, if it’s a choice between Epic Universe or “more Disney,” I’m about 95% confident Sarah will choose the latter.)
Although a mixture of Single Rider and Child Swap would’ve sufficed, but taking everything into consideration, a single day ticket with line-skipping was the easy answer for us. There are just too many operational wildcards with Epic Universe, and that’s tough for parents with young children. (And by parents, plural, I really mean difficult for dad if mom happens to be the one stuck in a long line.)
I would hazard a guess that most people reading this are more aligned with our circumstances as a family as opposed to mine as a solo blogger doing research. Regardless, it comes down to your risk tolerance and where you come down in the time vs. money balance.
It’s also worth emphasizing that there’s another low-cost option: most rides at Epic Universe offer Single Rider lines. And not only that, but with the park skewing towards tourists during its opening season(s) due to a lack of local Annual Passholders, those Single Rider lines might be the ultimate intersection of time and cost efficiency.
That’s hopefully enough to weigh and determine whether to purchase Express Pass at Epic Universe. However, I also wanted to briefly touch on the hotels, as this is always a hot topic when it comes to Universal Orlando and Express Pass…
When it comes to both the paid and hotel versions of Express Pass, there are a couple of things to note. First, Universal Helios Grand Hotel does not offer Unlimited Express Pass. This means guests staying at Helios Grand only have access to Early Park Admission, not line skipping at any of the three theme parks.
Second, Epic Universe does not offer Unlimited Express Pass, period. You cannot purchase it and it’s not available via stays at any of the Premier Hotels. While we eventually expect Epic Universe to sell Unlimited Express Pass, that day probably won’t come until 2026 or later.
We never expect Epic Universe to offer “free” Unlimited Express Pass with hotel stays. I’ve seen some comments from fans suggesting they’ll wait to do Epic Universe until that’s available. In which case, they’ll never visit.
The reason for both this and Helios Grand not offering Unlimited Express Pass is contractual. The current Unlimited Express Pass hotel perk is part of a deal Universal Orlando inked with Loews to entice them to be the hotelier at the resort complex. That deal does not extend to future parks or resorts (e.g. Epic Universe and Helios Grand), and Loews no longer has the leverage to extract such a commitment out of Universal Orlando.
Outside of Helios Grand, Unlimited Express Pass is available at the Universal Orlando’s top-tier Premier Hotels.
Guests who stay at Royal Pacific, Hard Rock Hotel, and Portofino Bay all receive Unlimited Express Pass included with their stay at no additional charge (including check-in and checkout days).
We hesitate to call Unlimited Express Pass that comes with hotel stays “free” since it’s arguably priced into the nightly rate. However, we’ve had some stays that literally cost less than Express Pass would’ve when paying out of pocket, so perhaps free is apt!
As a general matter, all three of these hotels are nice and on par with Walt Disney World’s Deluxe Resorts. If your budget allows for it, we’d recommend considering one of Universal’s Premier Hotels if you want the Unlimited Express Pass perk or a good location near the legacy parks or a cool luxury-caliber themed resort. If you’d be staying at a nice hotel anyway, this trio is worthy of your consideration.
See our reviews for photos, video, and comprehensive thoughts:
However, if the question is whether you should splurge on one of these hotels or paid Express Pass at Epic Universe, I’m choosing the latter, without a doubt. There are a few reasons for this…
First, rates for those hotels have spiked considerably for the remainder of this year, to the point that they’re difficult for me to justify.
Second, I suspect that Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios are going to see lower crowds as Epic Universe absorbs all the oxygen in the room. Those parks are more of known quantities, so all of the above points about insurance are irrelevant. If crowds are lower at the older gates this summer, Express Pass simply won’t be as valuable at them.
Finally, I’d rather be closer to Epic Universe, which means staying on the new campus. That last point means staying at Universal Helios Grand Hotel, or Stella Nova or Terra Luna Resort if you’re on a tighter budget. I’ll have full reviews of all of these hotels (including Park View at Helios and its Club Level) soon–hopefully within the next few weeks. For now, consider checking out We’re Live from Universal Helios Grand Hotel, Epic Universe’s In-Park Resort (Photos & Video).
If you have a healthy budget or want to splurge, I’d recommend a Park View Room at Helios Grand and staying Club Level (prioritize view if it’s one or the other). Note that the lounge has a city view, so both Club Level and the Park View Room are ideal. It’s pricey, to be sure, but I found that rates during the previews are less expensive than later this year. But Universal Orlando uses dynamic hotel pricing, so YMMV.
If staying at Helios Grand Hotel, period, would be a splurge, I don’t recommend doing it. Instead of doing the cheapest standard room, save that money and just stay at Stella Nova or Terra Luna Resort. Allocate your splurge funds to either extra days at Epic Universe or Express Pass. We will definitely be doing exactly that on some future stays.
If you want experienced professionals to book one of these hotels for you or to help determine which Universal Orlando/Epic Universe vacation packages will work best for your family, we recommend requesting a free quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, a no-fee Universal Preferred Travel Agency.
Hopefully this has given you plenty to contemplate in order to make at least a semi-informed decision about whether to buy Express Pass at Epic Universe. For whatever it’s worth, I’d expect most of the same underlying reasoning here to VIP Tours. Those are available as a VIP public group or a VIP private tour and run for 4 hours for one park. Prices start at $299 per person plus tax, which makes the VIP Tours a non-starter for us. But if you want extreme insurance and mitigating risk further when it comes to Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry and Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness, that’s your best (and only) bet.
Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our Universal Orlando Planning Guide for everything about Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. Also check out our Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide for everything about those parks, resorts, restaurants, and so much more.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be buying Express Pass at Epic Universe or sticking to standby? If faced with the time vs. money dilemma, would you choose 2-3 days at Epic Universe via regular lines or 1-day with Express Pass? Any other splurge you’d prefer? Agree or disagree with my assessment on the value of Express Pass at Epic Universe as insurance? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!
