Need some FOTL pass advice?

[cbtullis]

Here is the scenario:
Wife and I will be at Universal and IOA for one day on Sunday Nov 30th. The park hours say 9am-6pm
I know it is not recomended to do both parks on one day, but others have said it can be done. I also know that you can only use these passes ince for each ride. I have 2 questions which some of you more experiened might know.
Question 1: What park would you start at and why?
Question 2: At what stage would you use the pass, how long would the wait be, before you would use the FOTL pass?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[macraven]

Here is the scenario:
Wife and I will be at Universal and IOA for one day on Sunday Nov 30th. The park hours say 9am-6pm
I know it is not recomended to do both parks on one day, but others have said it can be done. I also know that you can only use these passes ince for each ride. I have 2 questions which some of you more experiened might know.
Question 1: What park would you start at and why?
Question 2: At what stage would you use the pass, how long would the wait be, before you would use the FOTL pass?

Thanks for the advice.

The FOTL pass is the hotel key for the onsite hotels.
that allows the guests of the perk of using the express lane for all rides and attractions for unlimited times.


the Express Pass that you buy at the park allows the holder to use each ride and attraction only one time.

they are two different things.


are you staying on site?

if you are, the FOTL hotel key is valid also for the day you check out of the hotel at the park for express lanes for the rides and attractions.
good from park open to park closure.

 

[cbtullis]

We purchased the express pass, we are staying at the doubletree on

 

[macraven]

yes, those express passes are valid for each ride or attraction once per day.

i usually recommend to wait unti you get to the park to see if it is necessary to buy the express passes when you stay off site.

some dates are not crowded and the ex pass is not needed.

you can buy the e.p. at guest services at any time


start with ioa.
get to the park around 8ish.
go to the IOA gate and wait in line.
many times you do not have to wait until 9 to get in.

do the coaster rides like hulk first.
no lines at that time of the morning.

not all the rides will be open prior to 9 but the hulk will.

pick up the guide book at the entrance of the park and see the layout of the parks.
coasters have more lines by mid day.

did you buy express passes for both parks?
you can not interchange the e.p. at the parks.
the ioa ep is for that park only, same goes with the studio side.

do the highlights of ioa first that do not have lines.
repeat the rides you want with the ep later.

around noon, go to the studios side.
do the same pattern.

you will not be able to do everything in both parks.
if you take in any of the shows, that is ride time you are missing.

do see the horror make up show on the studio side.
it is a can't miss show.

 

[cbtullis]

We did buy it for both parks. They were only 19.95, so I figured what the hell.
This will be our first time and really looking forward to it
What are some of the best can't miss rides?

 

[Metro West]

We did buy it for both parks. They were only 19.95, so I figured what the hell. This will be our first time and really looking forward to it What are some of the best can't miss rides?

I wouldn't skip any of them. There's nice blend of rides for different excitement levels so do as much as you can.

 

[Marshel]

Get to IOA at open, ride Hulk, and Spiderman w/o using your express, should be little or no wait. Ride Dr. Doom with your express (low capcity ride, lines build quickly, then head on over to Dueling Dragons, probably won't need express, then do Poseidon w/ express then work your way back, reriding DD (if you want) w/ expr. if you didn't use it first time. Use expr. for JP, Dudley and Popeye, grab a locker before Dudley and Popeye if you have stuff you need to keep dry, JP does not get you that wet unless you're in the front row. Go to Seuss Landing and ride anything there you want using expr. Reride Spidey and Hulk using your expr. before leaving park. Take a lunch break at City Walk. Hit Universal after lunch use your expr. for pretty much everything there in whatever order you want, you can use single riders line at Mummy and Men in Black if you want to do rerides and don't mind splitting your party up. I start out at IOA since I want to be able to reride the 2 premiere rides at the front of the park, Hulk and Spidey; ride the first time w/0 express use the express for the rerides. This plan also gets you over to DD fairly early in the day, they let you ride the other side with minimal walking early on in the day before the lines build, later on in the day you have to rewalk the whole castle part of the line, possibly having to spend some time in line in order to ride the other side. At that time of year they probably won't be opening the park very much before nine if at all, you should be safe being at the gate between 8:30 - 8:40.

 

[damo]

Get to IOA at open, ride Hulk, and Spiderman w/o using your express, should be little or no wait. Ride Dr. Doom with your express (low capcity ride, lines build quickly, then head on over to Dueling Dragons, probably won't need express, then do Poseidon w/ express then work your way back, reriding DD (if you want) w/ expr. if you didn't use it first time. Use expr. for JP, Dudley and Popeye, grab a locker before Dudley and Popeye if you have stuff you need to keep dry, JP does not get you that wet unless you're in the front row. Go to Seuss Landing and ride anything there you want using expr. Reride Spidey and Hulk using your expr. before leaving park. Take a lunch break at City Walk. Hit Universal after lunch use your expr. for pretty much everything there in whatever order you want, you can use single riders line at Mummy and Men in Black if you want to do rerides and don't mind splitting your party up. I start out at IOA since I want to be able to reride the 2 premiere rides at the front of the park, Hulk and Spidey; ride the first time w/0 express use the express for the rerides. This plan also gets you over to DD fairly early in the day, they let you ride the other side with minimal walking early on in the day before the lines build, later on in the day you have to rewalk the whole castle part of the line, possibly having to spend some time in line in order to ride the other side. At that time of year they probably won't be opening the park very much before nine if at all, you should be safe being at the gate between 8:30 - 8:40.

Great post except we got absolutely soaked on JP in the last row last vacation. Do not bet on not getting wet.

I would recommend not eating at Citywalk at a sit down restaurant. You can't afford to waste that amount of time. I would grab a sandwich and salad at Boulangerie at Universal.

Make sure you schedule your rides properly at Universal so that you can see the Horror Make Up show.

 

[darbra2]

What is FOTL?

 

[damo]

What is FOTL?

FOTL stands for front of the line. It is what they used to call unlimited express that you got by staying onsite.