If you live in the Orlando area, you most likely recognize how large a tourist spot our city is. Two of those reasons: Disney World and Universal. In fact, you might have an annual pass to one — if not both — of these parks.
Despite the parks’ popularity, they tend to lean towards the more expensive side. Tickets for Disney can be as much as $119 a day for Florida residents, but when you look at the calendar for the next five months, the cheapest price is actually $154. Universal, on the other hand, offers tickets starting at $100 for Florida residents, but they don’t keep that side of the bargain either: over the next five months, their lowest rate is $117.
Despite theme park lovers and hardcore Disney fans like “Disney Adults,” most people would agree that they prefer it when things are cheaper. Even with its price inflation, this is something Universal has in its favor when competing against such a substantial corporation as Disney. To me, Universal is the underdog in the theme park rivalry, even though it is still a multi-million-dollar corporation, which is why it saddened me to learn that the company recently copied a noteworthy feature that Disney has: the Lightning Pass.
As described by Walt Disney World’s website, Lightning Passes allow you to “skip the standby line and instead join a shorter line for select attractions and experiences.” Disney also offers a Lightning Lane single pass, which allows guests to “choose one of [the parks’] most in-demand attractions (ones not available with a multi pass).”
A very popular ride at Disney’s Epcot is “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.” Every time I check the My Disney Experience app, I see that the wait times average between 45 and 90 minutes. But if you want to head straight onto the ride, you can buy a Lightning Lane single pass in the app for $18-$28 per person, per ride.
I suppose Universal liked this idea, as they are looking to implement this. Inside The Magic reported that outside the “Revenge of the Mummy” ride, “a sleek new sign appeared offering Single Attraction Access, a one-time option that lets guests skip the regular line for that specific ride. Unlike traditional Express Passes, this is a separate purchase, not bundled into a day pass or hotel package. Even more interesting, the sign includes a QR code, making the purchase process incredibly quick and easy through the Universal app.”
Inside the Magic theorizes that this is for Universal’s extremely popular ride, “Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.” Whenever you check the Universal app, you’ll see that wait times average from one to three hours.
While it is understandable that Universal would make this change, I wish that the company copied Disney less and formed more original decisions, but as the saying goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them.”