It is rumored on another chat site that Universal Express is going to be modified so that a hotel guest can only use their "No-wait" privilege once every hour - seems that regular guests find it annoying to see the same hotel guests cycling through the priority line at Spiderman or Jurassic Park a couple of times while they are sloughing through the regular queue for an hour.

Here's where the sophistication of the software and the distribution system of return-time tickets gets tested - hopefully Universal Express system can handle it better than 18 months ago when we saw it in complete failure mode on one day and pretty much worthless the other

Disney's FP system, on the other hand, has always appeared reliable and operative on multiple park visits in Orlando and Anaheim ........

USH can charge whatever to provide the convenience. beside, it's a bad business to charge people and to tell them it comes with limitations. Have I mentioned the frustrated guests yet?

I was there on Aug 18. Some of the lines, e.g. T2, looked terribly on the outside only. Everyone was able to get in due to the huge room inside. Based on my own observation, no more than 10 people ever were allowed to go inside prior to everyone.

FatAl, the reason you saw so few guests bypassing the line at T2 is because guests on the VIP or with priority passes use an entirely separate entrance. In fact, nearly all of the rides employ a priority side entrance that minimizes contact with the normal queue.

wordyone

My understanding is that this "once an hour" is now in place. Can anyone confirm/deny this?

I personally found this a bit "unfair". What USF/IOA should do is what Disney is bringing back on October 1st - early entry days. Once or twice a week, allow the on-site resort guests to have an hour - heck, even 2 hours early entry into the park. But not everyday - that way those who like to be first in the park can just not come on those days.

I think the once an hour process is plenty fair and puts everyone on an even keel once inside the park. There are plenty of other ways Universal can reward their onsite resort guests without alienating those visitors who can't afford their rates.

Regardless of what happens, I'm really looking forward to taking my family to IOA for the first time in November! :)

as of right now uni is promoting the no wait with out mentioning any restrictions. I will be there the end of Oct and will confirm what is happening if nobody else does.
as far as the issue of fairness. it really doesn't effect the other guests. you figure each park can hold 30-50,000 people on a busy day, but the combined three hotels have only about 2500 rooms. with 100 percent full that's only about 10 percent of the people with the privaledge. and that is assuming that they all would be in the parks. the reality is the express line is usually mostly empty.
as to the issue of fairness, I dissagree. remember the guests at that hotel are PAYING for the privalege. the rooms on property just like at Disney cost more then rooms off property. it is a perk that is offered by USF to fill their rooms.
and I really don't think it is alienating guests, no different then somebody not getting a fast pass at WDW because they are all out by 9:30 in the morning.

also remember that there are limitations, like where you can sit, and such. in fact some rides shut down there express lines if the normal line is less then 10 minutes.

finally I noticed you are going in november. well have a good time. the time of year you are going there will be almost no lines, so spending the money for the express pass and the people who have it will go largly unnoticed.
have fun the parks are great

The ONLY reason I paid that much money to stay onsite at Universal was for the express access. Unless you have stayed there, you have no idea - We ordered room service the night we arrived because the restaurants were already closed and we were too exhausted to go out to Citywalk, and for 2 basic entrees and 3 soft drinks the bill was well over $75. I think it was $5 for a 10 oz coke? More than $30 to stand in line for 20 minutes for what was essentially a continental breakfast at their bakery? And the service there was not friendly. That place is expensive. Plus, housekeeping lost my daughter's teddy bear, and when I took my daughter to the front desk to ask about how to inquire, he was not at all sympathetic to her! "Too bad, nothing we can do about it. I'll forward the note to Lost and Found." She wasn't in tears before we got to the desk, but she was after we left.

The only reason I would stay onsite there is for the express access.

to bad you had such a bad expierence. on two seperate trips we found the service and friendliness on par with the finest resorts, even Disney. I think the room service prices are WAY to high, just like in any hotel. as is the mini bar. but you find these problems in any major resort.

os IMHO the prices and the service are on par with either the poly or GF over at WDW.

but I do wish the Hard Rock had a better choice of restuarants.

but we would, and are going back.

When we go back, (yes, we will) we plan to try the Hard Rock. Portofino was just not our style - probably a large part of the reason we weren't so happy there.

Islands of Adventure was terrific, and Universal Studios was a lot more fun than we expected as well. We were there on Thanksgiving weekend last year.... Express Access made it possible. My autistic son would not have tolerated more than a few lines, and their system for accomodating for autistic kids involves long waits in the family waiting room area while other members of the party go through the line -- it would have been a nightmare us, tantrum city. It just wouldn't have been possible.