We are staying off-site for the first time and it’s our first time to Universal, but big WDW geeks… always stayed in parks there.
Trip is August 3-11, with big crowds expected. We have 5 day Park-to-Park (not VB). Do we splurge and get a one-day EP? or trust the TP’s and visit early/late?
Any thoughts?
THANKS!!!
We went at a less busy time but only for one day, still managed to do everything we wanted to. If you have 5 days I’d imagine you could ride your favourites multiple times even without but I’m sure someone with more experience going at that time of year will be able to chime in. If you did splurge I’d be tempted to use it on the last day and hit your personal highlights
I would say that it is definitely worth it. Have you thought about staying at one of the on site hotels just for one night? You get free Universal Express passes for everyone in your party for both your check in and check out day and the cost of the room can be cheaper than buying the Express pass. It sounds ridiculous but it is worth pricing it out .
With a touring plan you could easily do everything at Universal in 2 days with no Express Pass. You don’t need it.
We do late July or early August and would never pay for it. Universal is not as busy as WDW, so a CL8 for instance is more like a WDW CL6.
THANK YOU!!! 
I never used an express pass when I’ve gone in July, and we saw everything with the TP. When we’ve gone in the less busy time, we didn’t use EP or TP, and saw everything. Universal during its busiest time isn’t as crowded as Disney. Have fun!
Thanks!!! Can’t wait 
We went in January during HP weekends and stayed at a hotel with UE. Our trip was three days and two nights. It was awesome having the pass - that being said, we would have been fine without it and good TPs. Agree with other posters, Universal is just not that big, and with 5 days you should be fine. Have a great trip!
you could do without it but if you want to ride certain rides more than once and have no worries about rushing around looking at wait times and rushing meals etc i think it is deffo worth it to get the most out of your day. I used on my trip last year and am using again this year. You can also buy at the entrance so you could see how busy it is when you arrive and if you think you may need you could always go back to entrance and purchase.
With 5 days you won’t need it.
My husband and kids did everything they wanted to do in a single day with EP, covering both parks. They don’t do coasters, but did pretty much everything else.