Universal Offering New “A La Carte” Skip The Line Option for Select Rides

Universal Studios Hollywood is changing up their Express Pass and offering a new Express Select add-on which gives access to only a few popular rides at a much lower cost than the general Express Pass.

This new Express Pass option offers flexibility for guests looking to prioritize skip the line access for certain rides and save some money doing it. Let’s get into which rides are included and the cost.

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Universal Express Select Add-On Option

Universal Studios Hollywood is offering a new Express Select add-on option that starts at $35 per person. This gives guests access to the Express Line to skip the regular line for Jurassic World, the Studio Tour, and WaterWorld.

This isn’t the first time that Universal Studios Hollywood has offered varying add-on options. For example, guests can also purchase an add-on ticket which guarantees one hour early access to Super Nintendo World before the park opens. This ticket access used to also include one-time Express Pass access to the Studio Tour but appears this has been removed with the addition of this new Express Select add-on option.

Why These Three Rides?

I would not say that these three rides are the most popular in the park. In fact, WaterWorld isn’t even a ride but a popular stage show. It’s one of our favorite shows at Universal Studios Hollywood but you don’t need to rely on Express Pass to access it. The arena is huge and allows for plenty of seating.

The access to Jurassic World is helpful since this attraction can get long lines, especially in the summer months. As for the Studio Tour, this is the key attraction that is unique to the park. This attraction is a must do and is at the top of our best rides ranking of Universal Studios Hollywood.

If I were to pick the top three most popular rides though, I would lean towards creating my own Universal Express Select that included Harry Potter & The Forbidden Journey, Secret Life of Pets, and Mario Cart: Bowser’s Challenge. But if Universal did that, what would the motivation be to buy the regular Express Pass? They need to keep their top hit rides reserved for that higher charge. So instead, they did a sampling of two of their most popular rides, but not the most popular of them all, and added in the fun WaterWorld show to help regulate the Express Pass line access.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend this option when you can easily get access to WaterWorld and Studio Tour. Even if the lines for the Studio Tour are long, it is such a fast loading tram style attraction that it doesn’t take as long as a typical attraction. So in the end, you are mainly paying for access for just Jurassic World which can easily be ridden during the first two hours of park opening when we suggest rope dropping the Lower Lot if you want to prioritize those rides.

Generally, I hope this means we’ll see Universal start to play around with offering select attractions for Express Pass. Mario Kart as a stand alone attraction to buy access to, similar to how Lightning Lane Single Pass works at Disneyland, would be a great seller.

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