A trip to Los Angeles can become costly quite quickly because of its many attractions and theme parks. Luckily there is a way to save some money by purchasing a Go LA pass.
In this post, I am sharing the decisions we made when purchasing our Go LA passes, and how easy it was to use our passes to enter the different attractions:
Which pass to choose
The Go LA pass comes in two different options:
- All-inclusive – this option is valid for one to seven days in two weeks and includes entrance to all the attractions, or
- Build Your Own – this option is valid for 30 days from the day you visit your first attraction. It only includes entrance to the attractions you choose upfront.
When deciding which option is the best, there are a few factors you should consider:
Attractions you want to visit
Although it sounds nice to have access to 38 different attractions in Los Angeles, in reality, you will only have time to visit a few of them in one to seven days. It is therefore vital to choose which attractions you really want to visit. From the 38 attractions, there were only six that we wanted to go to with the Go LA pass.
Time needed
Now that you have a list of attractions you want to visit, it is easy to assess how much time you will need to visit them. The required time includes both the duration of your visit and the travel time between the different attractions. We estimated that it would take us 3-4 days to visit the six attractions of our choice.
Price
Adding two or more attractions to your Build Your Own pass gives you a 20% discount to the gate price for each attraction. By adding all the attractions of your choice to your shopping cart, you will see the total price of your Build Your Own Go LA Pass. The total price of our Build Your Own pass was just $2 more expensive than the three-day All-Inclusive pass.
As we were expecting to need 3-4 days to visit all the attractions of our choice, the Build Your Own option turned out to be more convenient for us. By being valid for 30 days from the first attraction, this option also gave us more space to enjoy our time in LA at our own pace. With the All-Inclusive Pass, we would have had to rush all the attractions into three days or pay extra for the 4th day.
Once purchased, I immediately received our Go LA passes by email. The email included a printable PDF and a mobile-friendly version. Both versions included a QR code, a list of the attractions included and the booking procedures for each attraction where applicable. Only the mobile-friendly version also included the opening times for each attraction.
Warner Bros studio tour
To visit the Warner Bros studio tour with our Go LA passes, we needed to call a phone number to check availability and make our reservations. I would recommend making your reservation as soon as you receive your Go LA pass. We were able to make a reservation for a studio tour within three days of making the phone call, but this may vary depending on the season.
I have written a separate post about our experience of the Warner Bros studio tour. Spoiler alert – it includes being on the set of Pretty Little Liars.
Sony Pictures studio tour
Just like with the Warner Bros studio tour, we needed to call a number to make our reservation for the Sony Picture studio tour. Because our Warner Bros studio tour started at 8 am, we booked our Sony tour for the same day in the afternoon. It was fun to visit two different studios on the same day.
Once the reservations were made, we had no problems at all with entering the studios with our Go LA passes. The highlight of Sony Pictures was entering the house of the Goldbergs. After this tour, we started to realise in how many movies the Sony Pictures entrance hall stars.
Six Flags Magic Mountain
With our Go LA passes we were allowed to proceed to the “Ticket will call” line past the ticket booths. This may sound like a “skip the queue” thing, but as it was a busy day, we still ended up queuing for a long time. Our Go LA passes gave us free admission to the park without the need to make a reservation.
The long waiting time at the entrance of the park made us feel like we would spend the rest of our day queuing as well. We therefore decided to purchase one Flash Pass each. With our Flash Passes, we could make a reservation for one ride, while queuing for another ride. At the time of our reservation, we were allowed to enter the ride we booked without queuing. We could then book a reservation for the next ride. The Flash Pass made a great difference to our day at Six Flags, as we were essentially queuing for two rides at the same time.
Another add-on purchase we made at the entrance was the All Day drink bottle, which gave us unlimited free refills during the day. Definitely a necessity in the Californian heat. Six Flags Magic Mountain had enough thrilling extreme rollercoaster rides to keep us entertained the full day.
Malibu Celebrity Homes Tour
This tour starts at Santa Monica, so as soon as we arrived there, we showed our Go LA passes at the Starline Kiosk on the Pier. We reserved our places for the afternoon tour, giving us time just to walk around and have lunch at the beautiful Santa Monica Pier.
It was a delightful tour watching the celebrity villas with amazing Malibu views. The tour guide was also very knowledgeable and enjoyable to listen to.
Hollywood Museum
The Hollywood Museum is an excellent addition to strolling over the Hollywood Boulevard and the walk of fame. It houses a vast collection of costumes and movie props. We didn’t need any reservation to enter this museum with our Go LA passes.
Queen Mary
After having seen the Queen Mary in a ghost hunting tv programme, we were looking forward to learning more about the history of this ship. Unfortunately, we visited while there was a festival and the ship was not open to the public. We were therefore not able to enter with our Go LA pass.
Altogether, the Go LA Pass proved to be a convenient and cost-effective way to explore the different attractions of Los Angeles at our own pace.
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