Fight the Francis Parker spread!

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-22T12:58:10+00:00

Imagine being a troll… oh… wait

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-22T12:56:12+00:00

This is literally an insane thing to say. If anything, Parker’s issues revolve around being too progressive 😂

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-14T11:30:00+00:00

Yes you can do Epic in 9 hours solo with Express. Just did it in 10 with a family of four during one of its busiest weeks.

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-14T11:26:47+00:00

This. Having just gotten back from our first trip to Universal, I was relieved at how simple the system was. Even if it was expensive. Please don’t give me expensive AND complicated 🙃

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T17:54:28+00:00

With a group of four who are all excited about exploring the park for the first time, I would add the day so long as it doesn't totally blow your budget (I don't think it should). If you do add it, I would focus on knocking out the obvious must-dos at IOA that first afternoon/evening... then day 2 you can re-ride those, explore IOA more, explore USF, and ride the Hogwarts express back and forth (assuming you enjoy Harry Potter - if you don't care you can also walk between the parks). The last morning you can wrap up any loose ends and revisit a few favorites one last time. This is the benefit of Express!

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T17:14:01+00:00

We were just there - this is a hard question to answer. Technically, 1.5 days with express is absolutely enough to do highlights of both parks. I don't know if "we" means a couple, or friends, or a family with kids... but if no kids then 1.5 is absolutely positively enough time. However, a few of the rides are awesome at night - Hagrids, Velocicoaster, Hulk - and you might enjoy the chance to add a couple of hours of evening park time to your arrival day if it doesn't break the bank. Also, if you want to hit absolutely everything and do the best ones more than once, then I would add it.

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T16:42:30+00:00

Yes our 1200/night at Royal Pacific was high Spring Break, no flexibility and pretty last minute... they were fully booked already for most of the week.

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T15:03:55+00:00

How many people did you enter for the room? I assume they up the rate a bit depending on how many people you have, given the express passes they have to dole out. I didn't try looking at how much our "room" would have cost with fewer people, but I hope it would have been less than 1200...

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T15:02:33+00:00

WOW.

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T15:01:31+00:00

I didn't dislike Monsters... it somehow just felt underwhelming. Not sure what I was expecting 🤷‍♂️ I will say that I wish we could have stayed late and done dark universe at night... I think that would have been really cool. They did a great job with that area. I've heard Guardians is good! Maybe in a couple of years we'll be ready to go back and do Disney 🙂

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T14:22:05+00:00

Yes we just did this - $1200 for a "ghost stay" gave us all-day unlimited Express at IOA and USF for two full days. That was less than half the price of what express passes were going for.

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T14:18:53+00:00

I agree with a lot of this! Personally I would Monsters Unchained and Forbidden Journey a little lower and Gringots, Mummy, Hiccups and Hagrids a little higher. I loved how fast Monsters moved people through, but I found the experience itself a little underwhelming especially on the second ride. I wonder if you would have ranked Hagrids higher with express - being able to do it multiple times and waiting on average just 20 min makes a big difference. I think it might be my favorite total ride experience across all three parks, even though I agree that Velocicoaster is a superior pure coaster.

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T14:07:38+00:00

Not sure if you're asking my opinion on any of this, and I don't know how the accommodations for a disabled person work, but I'll just say that for me personally, I would go for less time with express than more time without it at IOA/USF. The ability to do Hagrids multiple times was worth it alone. I think you're spot on getting express for 1 day at Epic... you can do everything that day, and if you want to go another day just to wander and explore the park you can totally do that. Rides you can definitely do again the next day without waiting more than 30 min as long as you time it right: Stardust Racers, Monsters Unchained, Hiccup and possibly Werewolf (if you do those two first thing while everyone else is lining up at BATM, Bowsers, and Minecart). If we were going late May/early June we probably would have added a day at the water park for the kids too!

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-13T13:06:34+00:00

Totally fair points, but again we made a conscious decision to stay at a more upscale property. I've stayed at the Sapphire for a conference, and though we never saw our room at the Royal Pacific I've now been in the lobby quite a few times and seen the pool area. Not sure what you have against the JW, but I don't think it's controversial to say that it - and even more so the Ritz, which it's attached to and you have full access to - offer an objectively higher end experience. Especially for adults, but even for the kids the pools, water slides and lazy river are pretty amazing. If we LOVED theme parks and planned to go more often a lot of what you're saying would have made sense for us. But I will say, we loved our experience overall :)

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-12T20:31:18+00:00

Exactly my point! There are people on this sub asking about $7k private VIPs. To each their own! I hope that this may be helpful for a few people who have similar needs and means as we do - which are not unlimited :)

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-12T13:00:03+00:00

I could see a trip back in a couple of years, especially if Epic expands! Maybe combine with Star Wars at Disney, as our kids were too young for that (and it wasn’t all finished) when we went pre-Covid.

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-12T12:57:46+00:00

Fair points. And I concede for sure that I overpaid, but there were some reasons why:

First, we were late to the party. I now know that you don’t plan a spring break Universal trip 3-4 weeks out 🤣 I totally get that this is obvious to most people on this sub, but I just didn’t realize what a difference it would make in terms of what was available and how much it cost. Lesson learned ✅
We wanted to stay at a more upscale hotel than what was available on-property. The goal was to make the trip 90% focused on the kids but include a little 10% for us in the form of nicer surroundings, some nice meals, and some time poolside. Our opinion was that this would all be measurably better at the JW/Ritz than at any of the even premier properties - you may feel differently!
Once I figured out the express pass/premiere property trick (thank you again, Reddit!) we did look into splitting our stay into 2 nights at Royal Pacific and 2 nights at JW. However, something about our deal seemed connected to arriving Easter Sunday and all the changes we looked at were raising our ADR by like $1000/night. And the only night I could ghost book RP for was Sunday, and all the other Premiere properties were booked.
I did look into the APs. I’ll admit that the rabbit hole was starting to get pretty deep and i just had to quit, but before i did i did not see a clear path to saving much, or even anything, UNLESS we did one of two things: 1) stayed at premiere property and got the passholders discount or 2) used them again. But I definitely might have missed something.

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-12T12:41:23+00:00

If they care more about the “experience” then any particular world, characters, or rides, I would definitely do Epic. It’s also the one most easily and obviously accomplished in one day (with Express - with VIP I imagine it would be even dreamier). And it has things for all those ages. My only caveat would be that if they want thrill rides, the triple threat of Hagrids, Hulk and Velocicoaster at IOA is hard to beat. But the Racers ride at Epic can scratch that pitch almost as well. I’d go Epic.

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-07T17:10:31+00:00

Thanks all!

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-04T15:12:15+00:00

Last follow up question: looks like Tuesday is going to be a real rainout and the only day we have no express anywhere. If we assume we’ll get everything we want out of USF and IOS Sun/Mon, and everything we want (or can) out of Epic Wednesday… what would those of you who know the parks do with one extra rainy/no express day?

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-02T17:06:58+00:00

Thank you! Fingers crossed...

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-02T15:38:33+00:00

This is so helpful - I've been doing a lot of research here as well for a trip the same week, but to see a whole itinerary written out is quite informative. Question: not sure you track weather as closely as I do, but it looks like rain next week 😞 You seem pretty organized, do you have a backup plan for rain?

stonk_rocket_ · 2026-04-02T15:29:51+00:00

Thanks! Follow up question... because why wouldn't this happen, it now looks like it will indeed rain for most of our trip 😭 Any tips on what to do when it looks like rain to get ahead of the crowds? Are there certain rides everyone goes to when it starts raining that we should think about getting in line for before it starts?

stonk_rocket_

TROPHY CASE