Other than the price is there any disadvantages to getting the Express Pass?
Does the EP line make it so that you miss some of the pre show or cool queue elements?
In some cases, yes. For example, in Forbidden Journey, you don’t get to go down the hallways with the talking pictures, etc.
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True. However, I think you can take a castle “tour” which allows you to see those elements. This has no waiting time.
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I love Express Pass. If there’s a queue I want to see, I just go once in standby usually in the morning when waits are low. And then use EP the rest of the day.
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@donald263 - Personally, if I have a choice I’ll always skip a queue to get to the head of the attractions. I do agree that FJ’s queue is amazing! (It is the rare exception of I queue I enjoy… But having seen t a couple times I’ll skip it when I can. I)
Overall, IMHO, You miss elements that make passing the time in queues better. However, they aren’t worth the wait on their own. The amount of dollars per minute you spend being there are too precious to be used being in line if you don’t have to do it.
This is true, except it depends on staffing levels. You can ask a TM at the queue entrance and they’ll call a Lead to see if they can step away.
I’ve done the MIB “tour” and got to go down to the desks. However, at FJ, I’ve asked and haven’t been able to get one because they don’t have enough staff.
Tours are available at:
USF:
Men in Black Alien Attack
Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon
Revenge of the Mummy
IOA
Hulk Coaster
Jurassic Park Discovery Center
Skull Island: Reign of Kong
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What do the Hulk and Mummy tours entail?
I don’t actually know!
I LOVE the Mummy, so I’ve been in the queue so many times that I never asked.
I’ve been on Hulk twice - so I saw the queue that way. I don’t ride Hulk anymore. In the last few years I avoid “over the head” restraints. I’m sick of my head bouncing side to side against the restraint and spending the rest of the day with a migraine. (Age has caught up with me! ) Plus, the final time I rode Hulk the restrain handles cut a pretty nasty gash on my hand, so I’ve never gone back.
There’s not much inside that queue anyway. It’s mostly a switch back queue with a giant glowing green tower in the middle of the room. (In Hulk’s defense the launch is amazing! The rest of the ride is just “ok” - IMHO)
My main reason for doing the MIB tour is was because you get to go to the lower area and sit at the desks / pretend to be an Agent. (not just walk the queue and see the displays)
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When we were there in February I really wanted to surprise my family by getting a MIB tour. I was going to point out the Star Wars name in the immigrants. The nice guys at the entrance said that there hadn’t been a tour since early November, and that they didn’t have enough people to do one. My guess would be that with the new rules requiring more TM’s, they probably won’t be doing the tours.
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I did the Mummy tour a couple years ago and it was actually very cool. We walked through some of the line and the guide pointed out different significant props. He explained some different special effects that some people don’t notice. He explained some of the Easter eggs hidden throughout the ride that involve Kong because Mummy took the place of the original Kong attraction. But the best part was going underneath the track and watching from the bottom as the train raced by overhead.
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Aside from the line for Forbidden Journey which is already been discussed, I can see absolutely no disadvantage to having EP. As someone who likes to ride my favorite rides multiple times in a trip, it has really enabled me to get the most out of every vacation.
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For the FJ tour, I asked feb this year and they said the tour was removed once they added in the express pass queue. It was also mentioned that you miss the talking pictures with express pass, but you still see them. When you go right for express pass you walk up some stairs and the same pictures in the
main line are there… just more condensed. The big miss is you don’t go outside and see the garden, or the entrance area from the garden.
For Mummy, it felt like they don’t do it anymore. We tried for 4 days, and depending on the CM, the feedback was drastically different. On the level of “we just finished our last tour today, try tomorrow”, then “we haven’t done a free tour since Nov”.
Previous trips getting these tours was pretty easy, it seems as time goes on, and more people asking, the less likely you will get to go on them. A lot of these are reused experiences that you’d get in the VIP tour.
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To mitigate the FJ express pass issue. If you rope drop Hagrids early, you have a good chance of FJ still being a walkon with low crowd days. High crowd days, you could forgo Hagrid and have FJ to yourself.
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It’s important to remember that Forbidden Journey is a terrible, terrible ride. Awful.
You can simulate it at home to see if you’d like it. Put a metal pail over your head and have a friend beat it with a baseball bat, while doing a really poor impression of Hermione. If that sounds fun to you then, sure, FJ will be right up your street.
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This is how I feel about Transformers!
Transformers is Spider-Man’s evil twin.
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I feel that HALF of FJ is a terrible ride. The other half is enjoyable.
I agree. I like to call Transformers a “frenetic mess”. I’ve been on it twice, and both times came away unsure of what just happened.
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I might allow that.
Which half?
The good half.
ETA: Okay. That was an overly funny response, I know. 
To be more serious…mostly the first half, until about the time it switches over to mechanical arms with images of Death from A Christmas Carol stuck to them. From that point to the end? Umm…what was the point of the ride again?
I will allow this.
To be fair, the ride is faithful to the movies, which are also a frenetic mess.
It’s a bit like rollercoasters like RRR — there’s so much going on so quickly that you can’t really get a sense of what the hell is happening. Hagrid’s is so much better because there’s a plot and you can see where you’re going. It’s still fast and does twists and turns and whatnot, but it’s not just whirling you around for no obvious reason.
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I wondered if you were distinguishing the video sequences from the “live action” sequences. The latter are all awful. And the jumping from the one to the other is jarring and doesn’t work.
It’s the same plot as all rides at UOR. We did something heroic, apparently, and we’re welcome back any time, clap, clap, clap.