My review on LA GoCity card

[Camilo]

Hi folks, I saw very few posts about the Go City card in LA, so decided to place my experience here. We were in LA from August 24th to the 31st (then did 3 days at Disneyland) and I bought a 5-day card for our family of 5.

First tip, if you plan to buy, please sign up to their email list. Every month or so (pretty much, on every holiday), they send a code for 10% off via email which helps to lower the amount paid.

Below are the tours we did and my quick feedback on each one (there were a few days we didn't use the card, like on the 25th, when we did the Getty Center and Griffith Observatory, or the 30th, when we went to the live show of America's Got Talent, so much fun!!!!):

26th
- Universal Studios Hollywood all day - amazing day, all we had to do was to scan the GoCard city at the turnstiles. 100% recommended, only bad thing that day was the Studio Tour didn't drive through the "Back to the Future" square/tower.



27th
- Hollywood sign tour - GREAT. I left a review on TripAdvisor, pasting it below:
***
My family of 5 did this tour with Noelle on August 27th, at 9 AM, as part of Go City package.
Noelle was amazing, funny, helpful, taking breaks and providing great info on the history of the sign.
She also offered water for those that didn't bring it and offered her own sun scream for those that underestimated the sun of Los Angeles.
We got amazing pictures there and Noelle also offered to take them, in some "instagramable poses".
I would recommend this tour to everyone, including those with small kids. We got SO close to the sign.
***
- Madame Tussauds - family had fun, it was pretty empty and we could take few pictures without anyone in the background, especially on the Avengers section.

- Hollywood Museum - disappointed, full of homeless by the entrance, lady couldn't scan the tickets, just allowed us in. I only went there to see the Back to the Future section on the 3rd floor. That was cool, but I'm a superfan of the movie. Not sure if a lot of people will enjoy this museum.

- Warner Brothers - easily, the highlight of the day. This tour had been taken off from the All Inclusive Pass for several months and I am so glad it's back. I left a review on TripAdvisor, pasting it below:

***
We did this tour on a Saturday, August 27th as part of GoCity package.
It was great, especially if you are a movies and TV fan. The whole family liked this one better than Universal Studios tour.
We stopped at the stage of "All American", it was a highlight for my son, since he loves the show.
On the negative side: the driver didn't go through the famous fountain from the opening of Friends and she didn't seem to be very comfortable with us riding in the front with her (she had mask on the whole time, but we didn't choose to ride there, the cart was full).
Also, it's too bad they only take two pictures on the "Central Perk" cafe with your camera and they take a picture of a better angle with their camera only, to try to make you buy it.
Finally, we were able to park on the street for free, instead of paying for parking there. Just make sure you read the signs on the street.
I would repeat this tour next time I go to LA.
***



28th
- Knott's Berry Farm - kids liked it, although the 2 biggest rides were down. Very hot day, so we only spent 4 hours there and went across the street (walking) to their other park (which is another ticket, if you were buying separately, without using Go City). Quick tip: for the 2 parks, you need to go to the “ticket purchase line” to get paper tickets to the parks. You can’t just go to the main entrance and scan your phone.

- Knott's Soak City - their water park. We had fun, spent 3 hours there, some pretty cool rides and a great lazy river.



29th

- Hop on Hop off bus - I left a review on TripAdvisor, pasting it here below:
***
Did the LA Hollywood route today as part of GoCity package.
I was very satisfied. Brand new sealed headphones were provided which was nice and commentary available in 9 different languages (pre-recorded, based on where the bus was driving).
It was very nice to use the app and see when the next bus was coming.
On the negative, I wish the tour was longer, going to downtown LA. It's very short in distance. Also, it should have longer hours. First bus leaves at 10 AM and last one departs at 4:30 PM.
I would recommend this to anyone, especially if you are not able to drive while in LA...
***




We ended up losing the last day (not using it). We were so tired on the 31st, when we planned to go to Santa Monica, that we ended up deciding to go early to the Disneyland area hotel (Hyatt House), return the car and enjoy the hotel pool and downtown Disney that day. We DID go to Santa Monica on the evening of the 29th for sunset viewing (beautiful), BUT as we arrived there AFTER 5:30 PM, we couldn't use anything from Go City Card. This is one of the restrictions, the last pass needs to be scanned by 5:30 PM and then you can stay at that place until it closes.


Would I do it again? Yes, we saved a lot of money when we add all the rides we did on the 4 days, even "wasting" day 5.


Hope this helps others....

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Went the same time you did (even some of the same days you went to some places!) and wish I had known about this!

Will keep it in the back of my mind for the future

 

[Camilo]

Went the same time you did (even some of the same days you went to some places!) and wish I had known about this!

Will keep it in the back of my mind for the future

It was great and I would use it again. I planned to do the aquarium at the pier and rent bikes for the family there. There was also a "tour of movie stars" leaving from Hollywood I wish I did it....

 

[Becx N Gav]

@Camilo Thank you for this information - we are staying at Disney for 5 nights then have 6 more nights at Holiday Inn Express Anaheim West (727 South Beach Blvd.). I noticed it was close to Knotts Berry Farm so we will definitely go there! I also did not realise they have a water park!
Could you please explain what the LA Go City card includes (or a place to find out) and what sort of savings you can expect? Does it give you a percentage saving or do you pay for unlimited access to the places included?
Also how easy is it to travel around the area without a car? I will not be driving and so I am looking at either walking or taking the local bus to places (this may limit our options)
Thanks!

 

[Camilo]

@Camilo Thank you for this information - we are staying at Disney for 5 nights then have 6 more nights at Holiday Inn Express Anaheim West (727 South Beach Blvd.). I noticed it was close to Knotts Berry Farm so we will definitely go there! I also did not realise they have a water park!
Could you please explain what the LA Go City card includes (or a place to find out) and what sort of savings you can expect? Does it give you a percentage saving or do you pay for unlimited access to the places included?
Also how easy is it to travel around the area without a car? I will not be driving and so I am looking at either walking or taking the local bus to places (this may limit our options)
Thanks!

Hi there,

For savings, you will need to calculate based on the programs you choose to do. Of course, if you do Universal Studios (ticket around U$ 110.00), the savings will be much bigger than if you choose to do Hollywood museum (tickets cost U$ 15.00).

You need to select how many days you want to use the card for. Anything 3 or more days, you can use one of the days to go to Universal Studios Hollywood (a must do).

You pay a set price based on the number of days chosen and you can fit in as many tours/attractions you can.

Details are here: https://gocity.com/los-angeles/en-us/products/all-inclusive

The issue for you would be commuting. Without a car, you need to decide if you plan or not to do the tours from the card, as they are mostly in Hollywood (Universal, Warner Brothers, hop on hop off bus, wax museum. Hollywood museum, etc). You need to account for UBER trips back and forth, which can be very expensive.

We had a car but returned it when we checked in at Disneyland and went back to LAX by UBER. Almost U$ 90.00 one way!!!!

If there's anything else I can help with, let me know, please...

 

[Becx N Gav]

Hi there,

For savings, you will need to calculate based on the programs you choose to do. Of course, if you do Universal Studios (ticket around U$ 110.00), the savings will be much bigger than if you choose to do Hollywood museum (tickets cost U$ 15.00).

You need to select how many days you want to use the card for. Anything 3 or more days, you can use one of the days to go to Universal Studios Hollywood (a must do).

You pay a set price based on the number of days chosen and you can fit in as many tours/attractions you can.

Details are here: https://gocity.com/los-angeles/en-us/products/all-inclusive

The issue for you would be commuting. Without a car, you need to decide if you plan or not to do the tours from the card, as they are mostly in Hollywood (Universal, Warner Brothers, hop on hop off bus, wax museum. Hollywood museum, etc). You need to account for UBER trips back and forth, which can be very expensive.

We had a car but returned it when we checked in at Disneyland and went back to LAX by UBER. Almost U$ 90.00 one way!!!!

If there's anything else I can help with, let me know, please...

Thank you for the details - wow that is an absolutely fantastic offer! We will definitely be doing Knotts Berry Farm and their waterpark! I saw Universal should have Super Nintendo World by the time we will be there and my son will love that - I'm not going to tell him and then see the look on his face when we get there! I was also looking at tours of Catalina Island and this would make a day trip there (even if we did a self guided tour) much more reasonable!
I do realise that by not driving we are going to pay more for transport! However with this ticket it gives me a bit more flexibility with what we can afford to do! I want to make the most of my time there as we will not return to the USA for some years I expect and if we do we'll probably go to Florida.
This is super helpful and will allow us to do more than I thought we could! This is why I love Disboards and all it's members

 

[Camilo]

I'm very glad to have helped.
I wanted to have done the Catalina ferry or the whale watching tour, but my wife doesn't do well on boats