The excitement of visiting a theme park can quickly turn into frustration when guests find themselves waiting in line for hours, only to see others breeze past them. It’s an issue that many visitors have faced, especially in parks with a larger crowd, where the battle for time becomes just as fierce as the rides themselves.
One of the culprits behind this growing frustration is Universal's Express Pass, a paid option designed to let guests skip long queues for a faster experience.
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While many visitors see the value in the Express Pass, the system has led to increasing tension between those who can afford the premium and those who must wait in the longer standby lines. According to Kevin Blakeney, a prominent landscape architect involved in the design of Epic Universe, these queues have become a breeding ground for conflict.
Speaking in an interview with The Atlantic, Blakeney shared his thoughts on the tension brewing over the Express Pass:
“That’s a real point of frustration: to see the express moving so quickly when the standby is not,” Blakeney said. “That’s when fights break out among guests.”
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Blakeney’s statement highlights a problem that is not new to Universal, but has become more pronounced with the launch of Epic Universe in 2025. While the park’s impressive new attractions like The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, and How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk have drawn massive crowds, the long waits for popular rides have escalated frustrations.
Some lines are reaching up to three or four hours, making it easy to see why a growing number of guests feel their patience is wearing thin.
Although Universal designed many of the queues in Epic Universe with the intention of reducing the visibility between Express and standby lines, the issue persists. According to Blakeney, this design was meant to reduce conflicts by ensuring that guests in the standby lines wouldn’t directly see how quickly Express Pass holders were moving ahead.
However, as Blakeney pointed out, even the best-laid plans can’t completely solve the problem. During the design of Epic Universe, special attention was given to minimizing tension between standby and Express pass guests. As a result, many of the park’s queues were built to keep the two groups separate, with limited visibility or interaction between the lines before boarding.
Still, the rise of this two-tiered system has left some park-goers frustrated by the perceived unfairness. The struggle is further amplified by increasing reports of line-cutting, where guests try to jump ahead, claiming to meet family or friends further up the queue. These tactics have only made tensions higher, leading to more disputes.
To combat this, both Universal team members and Disney cast members are increasingly having to intervene, stopping line cutters from advancing and sending them to the back of the line.
Do you think Universal’s Express Pass is helping or hurting the park experience? Should the park reconsider how it manages the Express Pass system? Or should more be done to address tensions between Express and standby guests? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
