Universal Studios is offering its hotel guests immediate access to almost every ride and attraction in Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure.
As recently reported by Florida's
Sun-Sentinel;
Customers in any of the 750 rooms in the upscale Portofino Bay Hotel are eligible to go to the head of the line of their choice. The program will include guests of the 650-room Hard Rock Hotel when it opens in January.
The program could be a big drawing point for the Portofino, where rates are $189 and up, and the Hard Rock, where rooms will start at $149.
"If I knew this opportunity existed, there would be no question in my mind where I would stay," said Fred Lounsberry, executive vice president of marketing and sales for the resort.
The new program does not include Pteranodon Flyers and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish at Islands of Adventure, or Fievel's Playland waterslide at Universal Studios.
Universal's program is the continued evolution of an idea introduced to Orlando last year by Walt Disney World.
Disney's FASTPASS system lets customers make two reservations at a time on many of the top attractions found in the company's four Orlando theme parks. Those reservations entitle customers to little or no wait.
But unlike Disney's system, Universal does not offer any sort of benefit for the single-day ticket buyer. The park offers a Universal Express system that lets those with multiday, annual and seasonal passes enter the park two hours before the regular opening. Those people are then essentially given front-of-line access for several hours, with waits of no more than 15 minutes.
