Fotl?

[scanmom]

I read on thes boards awhile back that the resorts would not be offering FOTL privleges anymore! Is this true, or was it just an awful rumor? We stayed at HRH in Nov. 2002, and while it was a super resort, we really only stayed there for the FOTL. I think I would rather save my $$ and stay offsite if they no longer offer this perk. TIA!!

 

[mouse1]

Yes they still have that perk. The only change I heard about is you can only use that perk only once for each ride. Then after 3 p.m. you can ride the ride as many times as you like. But they might only be doing that at busy times.

 

[highlander447]

After the 16th August restrictions are to be lifted for onsite guests for fotl but it probably will be a regular thing at busy holiday periods

 

[MommaluvsDis]

We just got back and stayed at RPR using our front of the line. They did enforce the 1 time each 'till 3 pm on some people in front of us so I know that they do follow those guidelines. We were able to do all the rides we wanted to once and then eat lunch. By that time, it was 3 pm since we slept in and didn't get to the parks until around 10:30 each day.

For the most part, we basically walked right on the rides. The longest we waited was 10 minutes! Well worth the cost of the RPR room, which was VERY nice by the way!

 

[Familyof14]

We were there almost two weeks ago. I am going to write a review on the Parks board in a few days, but just wanted to give my opinions of the FOTL pass.
Although the pass was great in the morning (I think mainly because there were not many people at the parks until noon), we did have to wait about 15 minutes or so for some rides in IOA. Also, when we got over to Universal Studios after lunch, the park was packed. We didn't do half of what I wanted to do. We were tired and the lines were long (even the Express lines). The problem with the FOTL pass is that you share a line with the Express people who either buy an Express pass before entering the park or they use the Express kiosk to receive a "come back" time. We didn't know this. We thought that hotel guest had priority over everyone else. Don't get me wrong...the FOTL pass DID help tremendously, but just not as fast as we were led to believe. For instance, one ride at Universal had a waiting time of 1 1/2 hours. The Express line had a wait of 45 minutes. Still too long a wait for us when we were ready for a nap. We ended up skipping alot of the rides that we had seen on previous visits. We did get to ride the Mummy and Twister, two of which we had not been on previously. I wanted to ride the Mummy again, but the family didn't want to wait in another line. I am glad that we tried Twister after hearing mixed reviews. I loved it! I don't believe we even rode the same ride more than once. The worse line we had to stand in all day was for the Tea Cup ride (that's what it is called at Disney). They had the Express line, but it was closed. I love that ride, so we waited.

Considering all the above and the fact that we spent $255 a night at PBH, we will probably just stay off site if we ever go back to Universal and purchase the Express pass.

 

[gschmerl]

Familyof14,
Sorry you had a bad experience with FOTL. We stayed at the RPR July 15-20 and the FOTL worked great for us. The only place I had to wait was Mummy and that was about 25 minutes. Other than that, we never waited more than 15 minutes and most attractions were walk ons. If an express line is closed, ask an attendant and show your room key.

 

[714atuf]

We were there from July 14 thru 18 and found that the new FOTL policies were not a factor. We were able to ride almost anything we wanted as many times as we wanted. Our room keys were only scanned at the mummy ride and the second time we went thru the person scanning just let us go.

By the way, the scanner showed us that we rode the Mummy ride twice in twenty minutes, while the wait for the regular line was over an hour.

 

[Familyof14]

Not a bad experience, just different from what we expected.
Funny that we were there the same time frame (Saturday July 17th for us) and had different experiences. Did you all do both parks that day? If so, which did you do after lunch? As I said before, before lunch was fine.
Mummy was the longest we waited also. About 20. Our cards were checked (not scanned) for every ride. I don't recall them being scanned more than once and that may have been the Mummy.

 

[gschmerl]

Originally posted by Familyof14
Not a bad experience, just different from what we expected.
Funny that we were there the same time frame (Saturday July 17th for us) and had different experiences. Did you all do both parks that day? If so, which did you do after lunch? As I said before, before lunch was fine.
Mummy was the longest we waited also. About 20. Our cards were checked (not scanned) for every ride. I don't recall them being scanned more than once and that may have been the Mummy.

Yes, I did go to both parks on Saturday July,17. I was at IOA in the AM and rode Hulk, Spiderman, Dueling Dragons, Cat in the Hat, Dr. Doom. I rode Hulk and Dueling Dragons MANY times in a row.
In the PM, we went to Universal Studios. We did Terminator, MIB,Mummy, Horror Make Up Show, ET. We had no desire to do Twister or Earthquake or Jaws--been there done that in past trips and don't care if I ever do them again!

 

[Familyof14]

We rode all the rides you did. The children rode Dueling Dragons twice. We also rode the JPark and Toon Lagoon water rides and Flying Unicorn coaster in IOA. Was Dr. Doom the tall needle looking ride (Dr. Fear?)
We rode Spiderman and didn't know we had to wear glasses. We couldn't figure out what the deal was. We could have run back through again, but the rest of the family didn't think the glasses would make that big of a difference.
In Universal, we rode Jimmy N, Shrek (fell asleep), Mummy, Earthquake, MIB, T2 and Twister. We watched the Blues brothers and had ice cream, then back to Portofino to rest before going out for dinner. I have done the Horror show before and was a participant. It was fun! We wanted to do ET and BTTF just for the heck of it, but the lines were too long.

 

[gschmerl]

Originally posted by Familyof14
We rode Spiderman and didn't know we had to wear glasses. We couldn't figure out what the deal was. We could have run back through again, but the rest of the family didn't think the glasses would make that big of a difference.
.

OH NO! I hope at some point you went back and did Spiderman WITH the glasses. They are what makes the ride great!!

 

[nancycg56]

We just got back last night and FOTL worked great for us! The only ride that the pass was scanned was Mummy and DH and DD rode Hulk several times in a row (in the a.m.) with no problem. DD also did MIB a couple of times in a row without a problem.

The longest wait time was Mummy ~ it was about an hour since it broke down while we were in line. Other than that, we only spent about 10 minutes waiting for everything else. In fact, we did Terminator, BTTF, MIB, Jaws, Earthquake, and Twister in a couple of hours and we were taking our time ~ no rushing at all.

I would never go back without it

 

[Familyof14]

.

OH NO! I hope at some point you went back and did Spiderman WITH the glasses. They are what makes the ride great!!

NO! I couldn't get my family to go back in. They didn't think it would be much different.

Once again, I am not disputing the convenience of the FOTL pass. We will probably never go back to Universal again anyway, but if we did, I would never go to the parks again without one or the other pass. We loved Portofino Bay though

 

[DISNEYBIGGDOGG]

Just back last night and FOTL was great. The longest waits that we had was at Mummy which was 30 minutes. All other rides were less than 10 minutes and you can't beat that. I will definitely be back for to a Universal resort for this perk.

 

[zaxmom]

We only waited about 10 mins, maybe less for Mummy last week. We noticed with the parks being open until 10:00 that it made much more sense to go about 4:00. Swim and relax during the morning. Or go early and take a long break and come back. The lines were really clearing out in the evening and we walked on about everything with FOTL. The no re-ride thing did not affect us at all.

 

[YCFAN]

We were there July 9-July 12. The crowds were very large and the only ride that they scanned our cards for was the Mummy. The wait on this ride was only 10 minutes and that was around 2 in the afternoon. I've been to US 4 times now and I'd never stay off property. Too much convenience and too many perks for staying on property.

 

[karmic]

We were there on July 29,30. FOTL worked GREAT! The only place we waited was at ET about 15 minutes. I did not like the place we were sent for FOTL for Shrek- we were told to go thru a blue door that lead into a back hallway. We waited there as instructed for a few minutes as then kinda snuck thru the door into the attraction.