Helios Grand Hotel

[Mad Dog]

I could see . No express pass, but Helios guests get early park admission exclusive.

Good point. I think most of us missed that obvious early solution.

 

[rhino4evr]

I think having regular access to the hub for hotel guests just makes sense . Once the park closes they will have only the hotel restaurant to eat at vs take a bus to city walk which I think won’t be very popular with guests. The portals basically allow for universal to shut off whole sections of the park with ease. They could even just open Harry Potter portal or Dark universe portal for early park access, to save costs. Similar to how IOA and Magic kingdom handle early morning access. Not everything has to be open … just the restaurants to continue to make $$$

 

[IzzyB]

I think having regular access to the hub for hotel guests just makes sense . Once the park closes they will have only the hotel restaurant to eat at vs take a bus to city walk which I think won’t be very popular with guests. The portals basically allow for universal to shut off whole sections of the park with ease. They could even just open Harry Potter portal or Dark universe portal for early park access, to save costs. Similar to how IOA and Magic kingdom handle early morning access. Not everything has to be open … just the restaurants to continue to make $$$

I do agree they have lots of options for the hotel guests that are not full Express Passes. They can open the main hub an hour early or keep it open an extra hour and each day have a different land open during that hour just for hotel guests. They can even do something like express after 5 instead of the entire day. I think they will get some kind of benefit even if Epic doesn't have express.

 

[fryoj]

Folks, I have done math.

First: shout out to our good friends at Touring Plans for the hotel room data.

Second: Here is the spreadsheet I put together.

Here's the too long, didn't click on the spreadsheet link. Right now there are 28 Universal Orlando Resort attractions with Express at the two dry parks and there are 2,400 rooms that grant occupants Unlimited Express. That will increase to 2,900 when Epic Universe opens.

Right now there are 0.0117 attractions per guest room. When Epic Universe opens (along with Helios) there will be .0097 attractions per guest room if Epic Universe opens without Express. If Epic Universe opens with Express at eight attractions (listed on the spreadsheet), we'll actually see a slight improvement to .0124 attractions per guest room.

Some caveats: This doesn't tell us anything about occupancy (how many total guests each hotel can hold) and obviously I'm making an educated guess regarding which attractions will have Express.

My takeaway is that even if there are no changes to Express when Epic Universe opens, it's unlikely to be catastrophic at either of the two existing parks. And I think @fryoj is 100 percent right that if Epic Universe offers Express, it'll be mobbed. Which is why it probably makes sense to not open with Express, though I'd be a little ticked off as a Helios guest if that is indeed the case.

Good work there. They definitely have some figuring to do. I think when it opens, until they have express across all the parks and the 4 hotels, they need to do 1 of 2 things.

Either Helios gets EU only express and EU only offers express to Helios.
or
Neither Helios or EU have express.

Of the two, I think 2 may be more likely for at least a short time. Then maybe transition to 1 before opening it all up. With the new park, they may not want express to keep the wait times at least manageable while they get everything worked in on the new park. And, giving Helios express for the other parks skews their express math. They can probably get away with Helios not having express for a while as its going to be booked at capacity for a while. Of course, Helios guests, and a lot of the other guests will be at EU, so that may not be a big deal.

Once they are ready for EU express, they can open up at a limited number to just Helios guests. That'll give them time to balance E vs standby. Once they have that worked out, that can open it all up to all the deluxe resorts.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Folks, I have done math.

First: shout out to our good friends at Touring Plans for the hotel room data.

Second: Here is the spreadsheet I put together.

Here's the too long, didn't click on the spreadsheet link. Right now there are 28 Universal Orlando Resort attractions with Express at the two dry parks and there are 2,400 rooms that grant occupants Unlimited Express. That will increase to 2,900 when Epic Universe opens.

Right now there are 0.0117 attractions per guest room. When Epic Universe opens (along with Helios) there will be .0097 attractions per guest room if Epic Universe opens without Express. If Epic Universe opens with Express at eight attractions (listed on the spreadsheet), we'll actually see a slight improvement to .0124 attractions per guest room.

Some caveats: This doesn't tell us anything about occupancy (how many total guests each hotel can hold) and obviously I'm making an educated guess regarding which attractions will have Express.

My takeaway is that even if there are no changes to Express when Epic Universe opens, it's unlikely to be catastrophic at either of the two existing parks. And I think @fryoj is 100 percent right that if Epic Universe offers Express, it'll be mobbed. Which is why it probably makes sense to not open with Express, though I'd be a little ticked off as a Helios guest if that is indeed the case.

This is a fantastic post, thanks for putting to data my thoughts.

One thing you missed for capacity's sake is the Splash Battle ride in Berk. I think every attraction will have Express access, btw. Like, One Fish Two Fish has Express!

Anyway, back on the topic of this hotel, I do not believe it is getting Express which means it will not be in the Premier hotel level. Universal is only required to offer complementary Express at three hotels, I don't see them leaving that money on the table again.

That then begs the question, which hotel level will it be in? Well there are two options IMHO - Preferred level with Sapphire Falls, the only one at that level. Sapphire has ballroom and meeting spaces, restaurants, bars, and fancier rooms. Or maybe it's a whole new level, EPIC, and it doesn't offer express but offers another expensive perk like free entry into Celestial Park.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I’d be absolutely floored if this isn’t premiere level, if not the highest level at the resort.

 

[Jake S]

One thing you missed for capacity's sake is the Splash Battle ride in Berk. I think every attraction will have Express access, btw. Like, One Fish Two Fish has Express!

Argh! Added Fire Drill and a new row to show the numbers if all attractions get Express (0.0138 attractions per express room, as opposed to 0.0128 if only select attractions have Express).

That then begs the question, which hotel level will it be in? Well there are two options IMHO - Preferred level with Sapphire Falls, the only one at that level. Sapphire has ballroom and meeting spaces, restaurants, bars, and fancier rooms. Or maybe it's a whole new level, EPIC, and it doesn't offer express but offers another expensive perk like free entry into Celestial Park.

I think you're onto something here. A unique, Epic Universe-only perk that further incentivizes people to stay here without giving up free Express Pass. That may make for an interesting thought experiment down the road when Express is activated at Epic (assuming it doesn't open with the park): Do you recommend guests stay at one of the Premier hotels at the North Campus because of the access to the new park? Or recommend the on-site, shiny hotel because of its unique location and (maybe) perk?

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I think you're onto something here. A unique, Epic Universe-only perk that further incentivizes people to stay here without giving up free Express Pass. That may make for an interesting thought experiment down the road when Express is activated at Epic (assuming it doesn't open with the park): Do you recommend guests stay at one of the Premier hotels at the North Campus because of the access to the new park? Or recommend the on-site, shiny hotel because of its unique location and (maybe) perk?

I believe Express for Epic Universe park will be offered at open, but it could be a Hagrid-like situation where extremely popular or troublesome rides might not be on it immediately. VB offered Express when that park opened before removing it during The Summer From Hell.

As for touring advice, it depends on what is offered!

 

[GA-MBIT]

Still too early to tell probably but in my mind, extremely popular / troublesome attractions leans against express being offered for Ministry Battle, Mario Kart, DK, and we'll have to see about Frankenstein. There's potentially still a good chunk of rides offered outside of that, but those few seem like they'll be the most consistently packed and closure-prone personally.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Still too early to tell probably but in my mind, extremely popular / troublesome attractions leans against express being offered for Ministry Battle, Mario Kart, DK, and we'll have to see about Frankenstein. There's potentially still a good chunk of rides offered outside of that, but those few seem like they'll be the most consistently packed and closure-prone personally.

If I were to speculate - Monsters and Ministry. MK is up and running in two other parks already, DK will be fixed by EU opens.

 

[GA-MBIT]

If I were to speculate - Monsters and Ministry. MK is up and running in two other parks already, DK will be fixed by EU opens.

I hear you on Mario Kart, that's totally possible. I say DK mostly because of capacity issues and limited space towards the DKC sub-land itself, but maybe they'll go through with it anyways and it'll turn out fine.

To bring it back a bit to Helios, do any of the current Uni hotels have compositions made for them to play in their area loops? I feel like a good number are just pop or licensed music, but with how connected Helios is to Epic in location and theme I wonder if it will have a soundtrack made for it like IoA's music loops.

 

[Alicia]

Still hearing no Express lines at all upon park open.

 

[Mad Dog]

Still hearing no Express lines at all upon park open.

and that's a good thing.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Still hearing no Express lines at all upon park open.

Smart.

 

[Eckert]

Still hearing no Express lines at all upon park open.

VIP tour is gonna be extra valuable!

 

[kristenabelle]

VIP tour is gonna be extra valuable!

Ooh, interesting point. I wonder how they handle this during the first few weeks/month? Did Potter lands get VIP tour privileges during openings or was that too much with everything else going on? Also assuming this'd be different because it's a whole part and there are more attractions, more lands, etc.

Curious to see what the (scary) price points would be. It's a lot to convince my fam to spend time on the other side of Orlando, so open to anything that'll make their experience a great one.