Gosh, that's so disheartening to hear.
I'm supposed to go this weekend, kicking off my 16th year of going, and with how Express has been my number one complaint in the post-COVID closure era, I'm genuinely debating not going based on all the reports of stress, crowds, waits. Coupled with Early Access being sold out practically the rest of the month, meaning this would be my first time ever going *without* taking advantage of early entry, I feel like just... waiting until the November weekend. It's hard for something to feel fun when you're a sardine in a can, and if you wait an hour and a half to go through a house you're potentially getting one shot at going through for the night just for the people ahead of you to ruin it with their cell phones or acting like fools or actors not being in place, it makes it sting even more that your time and money really got devalued and wasted.
And like I've said in years past, it's frustrating seeing Express continue to have such a negative effect. "Well, I don't want to wait in line!" or "I've got the money" is great for whoever wants it, but, again, my opinion -- and it's just mine, for anyone who disagrees -- is that every single person paying for Express is helping create the very problem (long standby lines) they're paying to avoid. But the cat's out of the bag, Universal knows more and more people are willing to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a single night out, and Express is never going to become a super limited, premium product to help mitigate the situation. Universal has no incentive to make the experience better for us peasants who refuse to buy (or simply can't afford) Express passes now.