Epic universe grand helios

To my knowledge Universal has yet to unveil any more information about the Helios Grand, including what benefits it may offer. There are more well-connected and informed Insiders and readers of this site who might have more credible information to report on this topic though.

I don't know, but the fact that they aren't saying leads me to believe that people are not going to like whatever news updates are going to come out of this in the future, and they are just delaying saying anything for as long as possible to push back the backlash (as all of these current announcements are generating positive buzz).

I've always said as UO grows its going to run into the same problems as WDW where they will have too many hotel Guests to give all of these perks too, and it would not surprise me at all if they get rid of them, at least at some of the hotels.

The portal system is going to make it very difficult for Universal to be able to offer an express pass like it does now. Considering the possibility of only visiting one, maybe 2, portals in a day, I don’t see how an express will work ??

Dare I say, a Genie+ type system for each individual portal would likely work the best …..

I think Universal is still contemplating how they are going to manage access to Epic Universe, but I definitely expect it to be different than the other UO parks. I could definitely see guests at the Grand Helios getting the same Unlimited Universal Express perk, but they will also get unlimited access to all Epic Universal portals without having to pre-reserve, which is likely to be the mechanism for controlling crowds within the new park. I think when the park first opens, it will be exceptionally difficult to visit all 4 portals in a single day if Universal requires guests to reserve an entry time to each portal in advance, so staying at the Grand Helios, assuming this is actually a perks for those guests, will be a pretty big advantage and potentially turn a 2-3 day visit to see the whole park into a 1-2 day visit. However, once the hype dies down, and we get into slower times of the year, this potential perk won't be quite as advantageous, certainly not as good as the Universal Express perk.

I guarantee you that Universal is studying what Oriental Land is doing with access to Fantasy Springs (and its hotel) at Tokyo DisneySea.

Don’t expect Epic Universe to open with Express active. Whether Helios provides that perk to the existing parks… I don’t know, though I’m leaning toward “no.”

Epic will not have express in the first couple of years even for Helios guests. I suspect they will be the only guests with early entry and if you need reservations for portal entrance the only ones with automatic access without having to reserve but no line skipping. The only way will be to book a VIP tour.

Once the dust settles a bit I think Helios will have express access to all the parks but maybe only Portofino will have it for Epic. The others Hard Rock and Royal Pacific will remain only for IOA and UO.

Francis 24 - Hard Rock is actually the priciest of the three current premier hotels. I think these parks will remain separate for everything "skip the line" related.

@NB - I've typically noticed Portofino being the priciest but whichever one they pick I still think there going to introduce a tier within the 4 "premier" hotels. I agree that's its highly likely the only express for Epic will be with Helios and not the other hotels. If that's the case I wonder if Helios will have for all 3 parks or not. Maybe Helios will be in a new category "Super Premier" :P