There were seven people in our party, two infant school children aged 5 and 8, their parents, an aunt of the children and 'young' grandparents in their early fifties. We went in the first two weeks of August, right in the middle of the school holidays. Having already purchased our Universal Orlando tickets for everybody from our villa supplier Debbie’s Villas (at a very competitive price), we were a bit reluctant to purchase the Express pass that would enable us to jump the queues and get on the rides first. However, after seeing wait times of 120 minutes for Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem and 90 minutes at Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit we decided that if we wanted to achieve maximum enjoyment out of our time in Orlando we would have to bite the bullet and make the purchase!

With a Universal Express pass, you not only get to skip the regular lines at participating rides and attractions, you'll save time and fit more fun into your day.

In order for the whole family to get the best out of our time in Florida we decided to spend a couple of days visiting the two theme parks, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. During this time we gathered as much information as possible, without spending time waiting in queues for rides.

On each of the days we concentrated on just one park, walking around and looking at all the gift shops, seeing what was on offer at the many different restaurants and observing the advertised wait times for each ride. We also made a note of which rides each member of the party wanted to go on and the height restrictions for each one bearing in mind we had two little ones to think about. One other important observation we made was how wet the riders got on each of the water rides. 

Once we had gathered all the information we thought we would need, and everybody had made their decisions about which rides they wanted to go on we headed back to the villa ready for the planning to go to stage two!

Time for a day packed full of fun!

Having checked the weather on our smart phones and got hour by hour reports we decided on which day to go. Bottles of water were put in the freezer the night before, backpacks were filled with spare clothes, towels and flip flops. Sun cream, plasters and headache pills were also packed away in Nan's oversized bag and we all agreed on an 8.30am set-off time the next day.

The smallest of the party, at just over five years of age, was coerced to travel in a buggy for two important reasons, their little legs would not be able to cope with all the walking required that day, and the communal bags containing plastic ponchos and sun cream could be carried around on it without anybody else having to suffer that extra burden.

By the time we had travelled along the moving walkways, gone through bag search (pointless exercise!) and through the turnstiles of Islands of Adventure the time was approaching ten o'clock. We purchased our Universal Express passes from the first sale point and then realised that we needed somewhere safe to keep them. We had no choice at that point to purchase a small plastic wallet on a lanyard for an extra $10 each, but if we had been better prepared we could have got cheaper alternatives elsewhere prior to this. It was important to get the plastic wallets because the Express passes were thin pieces of card and could easily get damaged in the water rides or during a downpour, after all - this is Florida, the Sunshine State! It was also beneficial for each member of our party to wear their own lanyard and keep their tickets on them because quite often the check for the Express pass happened quite a way into the queue for the ride and it would have been inconvenient to keep heading back to Nan and the buggy!

The Universal Express passes are available for purchase in-park at the front gates of either theme park, or at merchandise locations throughout both parks. However, these products have a limited inventory and do sell out, so advance purchase is recommended.

It had previously been agreed that our party would split up into two groups, the little ones would go off with Nan and their mum whilst the other three, who were much more adventurous, would go off and do the rides that appealed to them most. This split wouldn't happen though until after the family rides had been experienced as one large party. After all - we needed the little ones with us to excuse the fact that we were waiting excitedly for the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem 3D show to start!

Once the family rides were complete we agreed on a time and place that we would all meet up for lunch before heading off to our chosen rides, using the information we had gathered on our fact-finding trips earlier in the holiday.

We agreed to split our party into two groups to get the maximum use out of the tickets.

After lunch we went through CityWalk together into Universal Studios and once again did the family rides together before splitting up once again. We all agreed to meet up at 8pm to see how we all felt and to see if energy levels were still sufficient enough to go on more rides. Nan and the little ones were flagging by this point but they were more than happy to wait with all the bags and the buggy so that the thrill-seekers could go off and enjoy a couple more rides to get the maximum use out of the tickets.

By the end of a very long, and exhausting day most members of the party had enjoyed 17 rides of their own choosing and felt that, despite the price, it was a tremendous day for everybody. To pay the supplement cut down the waiting times considerably and meant that the maximum fun and enjoyment could be got out of the holiday.

The whole family spent the next day at the villa lazing around the pool!

How much is the Universal Express Pass?

Prices vary for the Universal Express Pass, depending on the time of year, time of day and whether you want to include all parks or just one. Unlimited passes are also available, which gives you unlimited access to the rides.

The price we paid, for the middle of August was $115 per person (no discount for children) but the prices start at $60 for less busy times.

Harry Potter rides and Hogwarts Express are excluded from the Express Pass.

Universal Express is also available at Universal's newest water park, Volcano Bay. The pass lets you bypass the virtual line at participating attractions so you can head right for the ride entrance!