Absolutely essential. It makes no sense to go to knotts berry without this, unless you plan on not going on rides. Every ride will have at LEAST a 2 hour wait, and with this pass, you just go right on the ride, bypassing the line entirely. The longest we waited in line was probably about 10-15 minutes. If you go without this pass, you will absolutely spend most of your time waiting in line for hours. If you have a toddler shorter than 42 inches, there are several rides that do not have fast pass, and everyone waits in the same line. But even the family rides have fast lanes. You can literally go on a ride several times before someone waiting in the regular line goes ONCE though I wouldn’t recommend it.