Express in July

We live in Canada and coming to Orlando in July. We are planning on visiting Universal parks on July 2nd and July 3rd. I see that they will be quite busy so I am trying to decide if Express or Unlimited Express is worth the price this time of year. The Canadian dollar is low so for a family of 5 it can get quite costly. I priced it out and 2 day unlimited express park to park is $1824 US or $2600 Canadian. Also we are staying at the Disney Riverside resort for our stay. Thought on Express or Unlimited Express or none at all??

My family went last year in mid July. We stayed at Universal, so we had the unlimited EP for free. That said, I can’t imagine not having it for that time. Some of the more popular attractions had some serious waits (upwards of 90 minutes or more). If the Unlimited is too much, I would recommend the basic Express Pass. At least you’ll get one time on each attraction that takes the EP.

Is there any way you could do a split stay: Stay at Disney and do Disney stuff and then move to a Universal hotel and do the Universal stuff with the benefits (unlimited EP and early admission to HP)?

I HIGHLY recommend staying at Universal. If you have 5 people and want express. It is going to be MUCH cheaper to get a room to have the access. I would imagine even if you pay for two hotels on one night - you will be saving $$$. Also look at Unvercovertourist.com to get your tickets - MUCH cheaper

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we were there in July last year. The main attractions will have long waits - so unlimited express is the way to go - especially if your kids want to ride The Mummy 10 times in a row…
I would definitely look into booking a Universal hotel for the night - unlimited express comes free with some of them (, and this would likely work out cheaper than paying it separately. (I know it did when we went) Even if you don’t stay in the room - it might be cheaper.
We did express at Universal LA - one time VIP only -it was annoying only getting to use it once and it wasn’t cheap.

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I have to “fourth” what everyone else has said. We stayed at the Royal Pacific to get the unlimited express…so worth it! The lines in early August were insane! While it is expensive…standing in line all day in the heat with enormous wait times…for a short stay, it might not be the best use of your time or money. And if you have Harry Potter fans, that extra hour in the mornings is awesome! We looked at staying off property and buying the unlimited express, but even for just three of us, it was cheaper to stay onsite. I hope everything works out and you get the best of all the worlds!!

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Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I decided with the crowd levels predicted, I bought the Express unlimited for our stay in Orlando. I did look at the hotel option but it is only included in the high end hotels so when you priced it out, it was almost the same price.

You with THANK yourself. Best money you will spend.