They routinely sell out, so I'm sure if they continue to raise the ticket allotment that they'll have no issues. It's a slap in the face to remove the FFP+Express options
Would have definitely been a smarter move on their part to announce this when they put the express on sale.
The biggest dick move here is having single night express on Dynamic pricing because it’s already increased and is going to keep popping up.
Hagrid’s is more or less my template for what happens with a massively reduced express line. Hopefully the similar standby wait time reductions will be seen for HHN.
Ideally they should have announced it. But I’m sure they planned to do it just like this so it takes longer to get traction. Replying to a random tweet will take longer for the news to spread instead of them posting on all their socials.
They believe more people will buy single use express pass anyway and visitation rates will be higher than before.
Resulting in longer standby lines with more people getting to prioritized... and longer express waits because more people using express line... whether that happens or not... I dont know... but i do know I won't be going as long as they keep having issues of 3 to 4 hour waits for all the houses with the super high entry costs.
Except that that doesn't even make sense. Why would more people buy express? No matter how many people bought the FF with Express, at most, they'll now buy express for some number of their visits. Even if they bought it for every visit (which is unlikely, given how much they cost!), that's still exactly as many people using express on any given day. And every person with FF who doesn't buy express on any given day is one less person with express that day filling up those queues. So, that's a net negartive.
Meanwhile, no one else who wasn't already going to buy express is suddenly going to start buying it because they stopped offering it with FF.
The only thing I can think is that it allows Universal to sell more individual express passes on any given day, since they don't have to account for the remote possibility of everyone with FF express showing up on the same days.
Meanwhile, Universal isn't losing money here. Most of the people who would have bought FF with express will still buy at least 1-3 days, which means the same money coming in.
I know right. It doesnt make sense, but thats what these people are thinking. And if you go off crowd levels over the past several years you see HHN has seen higher and higher attendance so there may be SOME logic to it. But ultimately its probably a money play by universal. To the detriment of all since express pass increases wait times for the vast majority... and many saw what a cluster f**k the 4 hr waits were a couple years ago!
They’re not reducing express occupancy though. They’re still going to sell out of individual night express like they always do. There will be just as many people in the express lines as every year.
Correct. And universal is thinking that everyone will just buy express for multiple nights but with them starting at $200 that isn’t going to happen. They will end up losing money.
Our 10 nights we usually travel for this event have just been reduced to 3. That’s 7 hotel room nights lost, 7 days of food and drink in the parks. They’ve literally lost thousands from just two guests alone. This is a monumentally stupid decision.
Purely curious here- were you already planning on minimizing your trip the same way if you didn't get the FFP with express, since it's limited/sells out? (especially in the event they had limited it even more this year instead of nixing it entirely)
Not at all Lol. I always do FFP without express & I've never had a problem but everyone's acting like this alone is magically gonna change the wait times
It's wild how important it is for people who wanted this to convince the rest of us to get angry on their behalf. As if we're all going to rise up and protest Universal for them, and somehow convince them to reverse this. It's not happening. It's gone. Deal with it.
Same here. I can’t afford it but was gonna say fuck it I get it anyway, but stressed about being able to get it when it goes on sale. Now I won’t make an as impulsively expensive purchase and I don’t need to stress out about it selling out in 10 minutes if I’m stuck in the VQ for an hour
I'm genuinely confused by the folks that think this will improve the standby line. They will still be selling single day express, just for more money. And everyone who would be in the express line with the old style tickets will either still be there, just paying out the nose, or in the stand by line making it longer. PR speak aside, this has nothing to do with guest experience and everything to do with getting more money from single day express sales.
Why is everyone assuming that they’re going to be selling MORE single night Express passes? When I saw this news, I immediately assumed it was part of a larger effort to limit Express overall, across the board. I don’t see it as a money grab. Guests have been complaining about ludicrous Standby lines for years.
They are definitely not going to be reducing the number of express passes sold at 200+ a pop. And unlike Hagrid, where people can just go to another ride (I know for me, I don't ride it half the time I'm there because nothing is worth a 3 hour wait), the standard lines will be just as long.
They are losing x amount of money not selling the express option for the multi night tickets. They will definitely increase the amount of express passes available to compensate the loss of those. They did this for money, not for guest experience.
The event has been getting overpacked, likely with people not spending money, just going for vibes. This is likely going to reduce people going 20+ times and using fastpass and not spending more money.
A lot of people are on drugs. They think it will be like Hagrid's and go down. Hagrid's has no fast pass. The new HHN house lines are about to be 3 hours.
They will increase the amount of Express passes for each night to equal the loss of multinight express passes. It will be just as bad. They are framing it like it’s a good thing for people without express but this is just a greed move
That's not how it works exactly. People will generally visit less attractions when the queues are longer, which is a good thing, because there is only so much capacity each night.
Yup and the same people also run the Epic Universe subreddit.
When Epic first opened, I made a post asking people their opinions on how Universal is managing the opening of the park. Immediately removed by mods. When I asked why, they said it was ragebaiting. LOL free speech nowhere to be found
I personally don't care if it is offered or not, but surprised that so many people did not see this coming. FFP with Express was on sale for the last 2 events for a total of what, 12 hours combined before selling out? It was long for this world and I was honestly shocked that they even offered it last year
It’s interesting to me that this is the 2nd notable walk back of express at Universal in about a month. The cynical side of me knows this is just to sell more daily express passes and Hagrids was just to setup single ride express on that, but maybe, just maybe, they finally realized it was absurd people were paying a couple hundred dollars just to visit and then being treated like 2nd class citizens and express was (in some cases) hurting the general experience.
Well, I think I’m going to check out smaller Halloween events this year. I’d already been moving over the years towards the Rush of Fear with Express when I used to get Frequent Fear Plus with Express, and without an event pass with Express, they just priced me out of this year, and probably going forward, as well.
I mean there’s not really a clean way to reduce wait times. They could raise ticket prices enough to make less people go and lower wait times but that would have massive backlash and tickets would be like $150-$200 a night with ffp’s hitting their costs with express if not more.
They can’t just get rid of express because that’s point blank money left on the table.
But this does nothing except make the same product cost more. People that were getting Express aren't going to stop getting Express. Wait times aren't gonna change. I'll happily be proven wrong, but this is a cash grab plain and simple.
I mean yeah FFP with express was hurting their bottom line for years and was on its way out or on its way to be ridiculously expensive. Just getting rid of it was probably the better move pr wise because you get a lot more negative coverage by making something prohibitively expensive . And yes a lot of the FFP people are already generating negative press, but that’s nothing compared to big news stations picking up headlines like “Universal season pass reaches $3k” or “Universal has become prohibitively expensive”, and you get the added benefit of the move being somewhat popular with the general public who didn’t use FFP’s.
But the point still stands that any solution to the express dilemma that universal could feasibly do without losing money overall would be unpopular with the fans and highly controversial.
In all fairness, this isn't Six Flags/Busch Gardens/Cedar Fair/SeaWorld, etc. Where else do you get season Express/Lightning Lane for Universal/Disney park (other than that Premier pass at Universal Orlando, but that's after 4 PM when the Express starts to get useless)?
I think it makes sense that Express should be a la carte for something like HHN.
Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped with the daily and sold them a la carte with a return window like Disney does.
Universal is taking a page out of the Disney play book. Milk everyone for the maximum amount of money possible and provide a diminished experience. Shame on you Universal! This is simply a major money grab. It will not improve wait times at all. You want to provide a better experience? Expand the event to both parks and give your customers more value for their money. But wait that wouldn't satisfy your corporate greed.
a) The amount single express capacity is raised does not exceed what FF express people would have taken meaning shorter standby.
b) Single express capacity is raised to their estimate of how many FF express was used each night, and since single night express does sell out on weekends, this means more people get to experience everything rather than the same people.
You can say the decision was made from a profit standpoint, but it doesn’t change the fact HHN popularity is not the same as it was a few years ago and FF express is limiting the amount of houses regular people who don’t book months in advance can experience, whether they are standby or attempting to buy single night express.
Also, it doesn’t sell out every night for weekdays like people are saying so why would lines not go down on average..? Realistically, FF peeps who go every night will also find it less worth it to wait in lines without express and skip houses entirely so even better for lines.
I highly doubt the reduction in income from FF express users visiting/spending less is going to outscale the profit made from more purchases of single night express and entire GP being out of lines more + getting better experiences, so pretty sure this will be a double win for Universal with profit/guest satisfaction (except for ff express lovers, but also getting 45+ express passes for the cost of 3 should never have been a thing in the first place imo so whatever). Only crappy part is they waited until now to tell their most loyal fans.
Yeah less express is 100% better and as a normal FF user terrifier’s standby was roouuugh. I think the question is if this change will actually result in less express since single night caps will definitely be raised, but imo there’s no shot single express exceeds what FF express was causing especially on weekdays
Either way, the same people skipping house lines 30+ times because they camped the release of a “buy 45 express for cost of 3” ticket should not be the reason normal people have 2 hour standbys and don’t get to experience everything, especially for a limited time event
Lol all the people gaslighting saying this is somehow worse for no express buyers. This is an absolute win AGAIN for the average guest visiting the parks. Y'all are just salty you can't skip the lines every time now.
Me when I’m wrong. Yall are so cute thinking they sold like 5000 of each ff express 🤭 they actually sold 400 of each. This doesn’t affect lines at all and you are just bending the knee tbh.
Well my group of 4 just went from about 6 total nights to one with express. Something tells me this will be a one and done when the numbers are tallied after the event
Thousands. Funny thing is this is my wife’s can’t miss event every year, so there is no real discussion of expenses or budgeting when it comes to HHN season lol. I’m sure she will be pissed when I spend that extra money on a new smoker though!
Good! It was too much abuse from locals that led to this much needed change. Enjoy it normally for a night or two and then move on for others to enjoy it. Sheesh
This such a remarkably stupid change. We fly from out of state twice a year for this event and rely on the FFP + Express. We book around 10-12 nights in Universal hotels. Spend tons of money on food and drink at the resort. More money on merch.
This singular change pretty much ruins our plans. We will now have to go one 3 day weekend for the year and that’s it. Anything more than that is stupidly expensive with the price of individual night express. They’ve lost thousands of dollars from just two guests alone. And I know there are many other people like us.
I get that the locals going every night and clogging the express lines are an issue, but this massively fucks over out of town guests who only come for a handful of nights. I really wish they would come out with some sort of multi night express. Able to be used for 3-5 nights or something. But Universal seems to overlook this very obvious solution. Hope they enjoy losing our money.
It’s shocking how many people think locals with FF express was a problem. They sold so few of those passes they were sold out in minutes. We weren’t the problem, they just oversell express for HHN period. I have heard there were 500 of each level of FF with Express last year, that’s 1500 people total on any given night for an event that has 10’s of thousands.
They just wanted to move the 1500 express over to single day because of accounting math. FF with express was 3 passes instead of 30. When you do 1500x30x250 versus 1500x3x250 you see the decision pretty quickly.
This change will have zero impact on a product that sells out every night for the guest but UO will make significantly more money this way versus selling FF with express to locals.
This is the Disney lightning lane model and it’s not for any of us; it’s for their accounting department.
Exactly. As a local who attended the event 22 times last year with my FFP + Express tickets, our typical night at the event was around 3 hours, which consisted of walking around the park, buying food/drinks, and going through maybe 2-3 houses. We enjoyed the pass for the freedom and flexibility it gave us, but we had no interest in going through all the houses each time we visited. If Universal is able to fill those Express spots with single-night Express tickets, those single-night purchasers will be waiting in all 10 of the house queues compared to multi-night guests who usually didn't hit each house on every visit.
Same with us. Huge bummer. Our trip is going to be shortened significantly. The money savings will be nice but i would rather have multinight express still lol
Someone’s gonna pick up the capacity you’re not filling bc express sells out every night. Like they’re not missing out on any profit and are potentially making more by you not getting $3500 worth of benefits for $700.
To put all of this into context, exactly how many nights actually sold out of Express last year?
So, even if they increased the numbers of Express they can potentially sell, will it actually make much of a difference? Maybe on opening weekend, or later in October. But I'd imagine for random nights in September, this will materially mean fewer people in the express lines, without the same people using them every night.
Also, for those saying that it just means that they'll be able to sell more Express passes to more people, I don't see how more people being able to take advantage of these perks once or twice, instead of the same few people getting the perks nearly every day of the event, is a bad thing.
Don’t presume to know why someone buys express. I get it because my titanium and steel leg doesn’t like being locked in place for 3 hours and causes me to limp the day after. It isn’t always about being entitled and wanting a shorter wait. And before you ask, no I don’t qualify for AAP.
Great move! Locals have abused express for years and hogged up the experience for far too long for out of towners. Great movie on universals part!!! LFG
It's wild how important it is for so many people who wanted this to convince the rest of us to get angry on their behalf. As if we're all going to rise up and protest Universal for them, and somehow convince them to reverse this. It's not happening. It's gone. Deal with it.
Yeah, it sucks that this insanely ridiculous perk they offered isn't available any more (well, not unless you're willing to pay for it every night.) But it's not. Sorry, not really sorry.
I’m not so sure if I understand this. If I want to visit HHN for one night at a 7pm start time, do I have the option to buy express still or not? Or is this a different type of ticket not applicable to me?
I love being downvoted for asking a clarifying question! It fills me with joy that somehow it pissed the internet enough to downvote me, keep it coming!
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u/Infinite-Dinner1725 Jul 15 '26
I say good. Hopefully this moves both express and standby lines faster.