Do I really need a FOTL pass at Universal Studios...

[tbird89]

...for Thursday, March 12? Also, if I already have the Southern Cal. Pass, can I upgrade to FOTL?
in advance!!!

 

[sheetz]

I doubt you'll need it. There's not so much to do at USH that you can't get everything done if you get there early.

 

[heybets30]

We were there during President's day week - that Thursday, Feb 19. We had the SoCal City Passes. you can purchase right inside of the entrance (to the right) the FOTL passes. It all depends on operating hours, I would say - and your willingness to wait.

We bought FOTL passes - we would NOT have been able to do everything we wanted to (Arriving for 10am gate open, 6pm park close). Parties with the FOTL pass get to go in a separate line ONCE for each ride. Minion Mayhem, for instance, seemed to have a wait time of 45 minutes - 80 minutes starting at 10:05am!!! We have a 5-1/2 year old, and an 8 year old. We wanted to do the studio tour, a show or two also. We would NEVER have been able to ride all the rides without it. The park seemed much more crowded than Disneyland did on the Wed/Fri of that week that we went. The Studio Tour takes almost a full hour. We were able to walk right on to a tram about to leave, rather than wait 30 minutes in the ridiculously long line.

Remember - you have to build in a decent amount of time to get around to each area. The tram ride? Down 3 escalators. The mummy? Down the ginormous set of other escalators. If you have to haul a stroller, the elevator alone was a 15-minute wait. I was instructed to push the stroller down the ginormous 4 escalators. Took ~10 minutes. Also - plan to eat lunch? We ate at the restaurant next to Jurassic Park across from the Mummy - took 25 minutes to get food through the line - at 1:30pm!!! Lines were pretty long to meet characters too, so if that's in your plan, add time for that.

The longest we waited for ANY ride was 10 minutes with FOTL pass. That was the Simpsons ride. They wait until there are about 40-50 people in the FOTL holding area, then everyone is loaded at the same time. Almost all other rides were seriously walk-right-on, bypass all lines & people waiting in line, and get on the ride, or wait maybe 3 minutes.

We rode every ride (JURASSIC PARK was under rehab - looks like it'll be down for a while). My son is too short to ride The Mummy, so my daughter used his FOTL pass to go on a second time with my husband. (I rode with her, then he did). We went to the Special Effects show, my son LOVED it.

The rides are neat, just remember, all but the Mummy are "experiences", not so much rides. Transformers is a 3-D experience where you are in a car & move on a track. The mummy is probably the shortest roller coaster anywhere.

Minion ride did go down to 25 minutes at ~5:45, but my kids were having too much fun in the amazing SPLASH zone to want to ride anything again before park closure.

In our opinion, it was ABSOLUTELY worth the extra ~$47 per person on top of the CityPass!!!

 

[mileshuff]

On a peak day yes, otherwise no. I feel its only beneficial on very busy days. On those days it can help on the few rides. The shows are a non-problem, just arrive a bit early and you'll get in even on busy days.