*No longer relevant* (Maxpass/Fastpass: an overview and some strategy)

[Ayeegit]

Just back from a DL trip (5 days in the parks, 12/30-1/3), and we *loved* MaxPass. A few comments/thoughts from our experiences:

• Not having to walk across the park to a kiosk to get Fastpasses was worth the extra $10/person (at least for us) all by itself - it totally changed up our strategy on what rides to get our next passes for, and that flexibility really was a great thing.
• Add in the benefits of free pictures and getting our next pass a bit quicker, and we felt it was a great value.
• We did run into the problem with not being able to purchase it on our phones (iPhones) the morning of Jan 1st (that hurt more than Y2K ever did!) - my wife ended up going to guest services and purchased it directly there after about an hour wait. I was hoping they'd give us a few multi-experience passes for the long wait, and they didn't offer anything originally, but my wife asked about it and they ended up giving us one for each person in our family.
• Speaking of multi-experience passes - we did VERY well during the afternoon/evening on our first day in California Adventures by grabbing Fastpasses for Grizzly River, which was apparently having some issues and was going down and up like a yo-yo. Each time that happened, our GR Fastpass became a multi-experience pass - we were able to get a few extra rides in on Guardians and Radiator Springs with those.
• We also got two multi-experience passes (per person) when we got walked off of Big Thunder after it broke down - was fun walking thru parts of the ride *and* getting free Fastpasses as a bonus.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

As 2018 comes to a close, I wanted to share some information about Maxpass in one location. I've been collecting a ton of FP-related data since May, and hopefully this helps some people out.

First, an overview that assumes you are familiar with the overall FP concept:

• Fastpasses obtained from machines or via Maxpass work in fundamentally the same way. What's different? Maxpass will cost you $10 per ticket, per day...

FYI: per this post (Surprise AP Increase), as of 1/06/19, MP now costs $15 per day.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

FYI: per this post (Surprise AP Increase), as of 1/06/19, MP now costs $15 per day.

Updated. That’s a bummer but not unexpected.

 

[Butterfly123]

That’s a shame. For a family of 5 going on a five day trip that would be an extra $125. We may end up looking to use MP on, say, three of our days.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

So glad that FP via machine is still a free option. More physical work, but still free and available.

 

[Kevin_W]

Just back from a DL trip (5 days in the parks, 12/30-1/3), and we *loved* MaxPass. A few comments/thoughts from our experiences:

• Not having to walk across the park to a kiosk to get Fastpasses was worth the extra $10/person (at least for us) all by itself - it totally changed up our strategy on what rides to get our next passes for, and that flexibility really was a great thing.
• Add in the benefits of free pictures and getting our next pass a bit quicker, and we felt it was a great value.
• We did run into the problem with not being able to purchase it on our phones (iPhones) the morning of Jan 1st (that hurt more than Y2K ever did!) - my wife ended up going to guest services and purchased it directly there after about an hour wait. I was hoping they'd give us a few multi-experience passes for the long wait, and they didn't offer anything originally, but my wife asked about it and they ended up giving us one for each person in our family.
• Speaking of multi-experience passes - we did VERY well during the afternoon/evening on our first day in California Adventures by grabbing Fastpasses for Grizzly River, which was apparently having some issues and was going down and up like a yo-yo. Each time that happened, our GR Fastpass became a multi-experience pass - we were able to get a few extra rides in on Guardians and Radiator Springs with those.
• We also got two multi-experience passes (per person) when we got walked off of Big Thunder after it broke down - was fun walking thru parts of the ride *and* getting free Fastpasses as a bonus.

We just got back as well and were in the pars as well on New Years. We had 3 park days, 2 with MP and one without (NY). I didn't want to wait in an hour line at Guest Relations just to avoid lines later!

I enjoyed using MP. Being a WDW vet, I'm conditioned to using FP on the phone and not running. But I'm not sure how great of a value it was. Comparing our non-MP day with the 2 MP days, we probably got 4 extra rides with FP by having MP and saved a bit of my running. Was that worth $30 (now $45) for our party of 3? Maybe; I think reasonable minds can differ on that. There are so many non-ride things to do in the park I think it's easy to pass them by in the rush to get to the next FP.

 

[wareagle57]

I’m surprised to see Incredicoaster in group 4. Other than Guardians that is probably what I am looking forward to the most. But I really want to see it at night.

When WoC starts back, will that drastically decrease availability? Does WoC ever happen before park close and have those rides that close for it open back up? I really want to ride it at night multiple times.

Sunset isn’t until 7:30 in April so that has me worried it won’t be running at all after dark unless WoC isn’t until 9.

 

[sherilaine]

I thought I had read somewhere that you can no longer obtain fast passes using the maxpass app outside the park - we did this last year on our visit and it was great to be able to continue to book fast passes when we took an afternoon break - so just checking to see if anyone has some first hand experience if this has been changed?

 

[mom2rtk]

I thought I had read somewhere that you can no longer obtain fast passes using the maxpass app outside the park - we did this last year on our visit and it was great to be able to continue to book fast passes when we took an afternoon break - so just checking to see if anyone has some first hand experience if this has been changed?

It hasn't changed. Once you scan your ticket at the turnstile, you can continue to schedule FPs whether in or out of the park.

 

[sherilaine]

Thanks so much for this confirmation!!

It hasn't changed. Once you scan your ticket at the turnstile, you can continue to schedule FPs whether in or out of the park.

 

[CateinPhoenix]

Just back from a DL trip (5 days in the parks, 12/30-1/3), and we *loved* MaxPass. A few comments/thoughts from our experiences:

• Speaking of multi-experience passes - we did VERY well during the afternoon/evening on our first day in California Adventures by grabbing Fastpasses for Grizzly River, which was apparently having some issues and was going down and up like a yo-yo. Each time that happened, our GR Fastpass became a multi-experience pass - we were able to get a few extra rides in on Guardians and Radiator Springs with those.

Love this! We were there at the same time and I can't believe we didn't think of doing this....brilliant

 

[B3rlingirl]

When I used maxpass last summer I had problems getting those multi experience FP... you won’t believe how often I force closed that app...
we had at least 4 breakdowns during our return period and just got multi experience FP for one of them! I was really annoyed by that...(I was already looking forward to trying those multi experience FP out and then I didn’t get any...) and another breakdown happened just after we scanned in and joined the “normal” line (indi) and we didn’t get anything for that either... quite a bummer those technical difficulties...

 

[twodogs]

I thought I had read somewhere that you can no longer obtain fast passes using the maxpass app outside the park - we did this last year on our visit and it was great to be able to continue to book fast passes when we took an afternoon break - so just checking to see if anyone has some first hand experience if this has been changed?

We were there last week. We scanned into MM and then left for Universal. I booked FPs all day from Universal for night time at DLR. We had numerous FPs all set up when we got back to DLR that afternoon!

 

[stardusty21]

Question - I tried to find the answer to this but could not. My daughter and I are going to DL. Do we both have to purchase maxpass or can one of us purchase it and scan both tickets?

 

[mom2rtk]

Question - I tried to find the answer to this but could not. My daughter and I are going to DL. Do we both have to purchase maxpass or can one of us purchase it and scan both tickets?

You can only schedule FPs on the app for the people who purchase MP. That said, it is possible to have just one person purchase to get the Photopass benefit. But only that person can get FPs on the app. Anyone not purchasing MP can still pull paper FPs.

 

[FCDub]

Question - I tried to find the answer to this but could not. My daughter and I are going to DL. Do we both have to purchase maxpass or can one of us purchase it and scan both tickets?

You'll need to purchase it for all people who intend to use it.

 

[spiderann]

Hey everyone. I’m new to DLR and have been researching maxpass for our trip in April. This thread has been so informative!! So DH and I are taking a group of 9 teenagers and we plan to only do one day with Park Hopper. If we wanted to split into two groups let’s say, how would it work with max pass? Obviously my being a group leader I would use my Disneyland app to schedule fastpasses, but if the leader of the other group had the Disneyland app as well, do we load the same tickets on their app too? Or do they have to login as my account on their phone app? I haven’t been able to find out that detailed information yet on here

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Hey everyone. I’m new to DLR and have been researching maxpass for our trip in April. This thread has been so informative!! So DH and I are taking a group of 9 teenagers and we plan to only do one day with Park Hopper. If we wanted to split into two groups let’s say, how would it work with max pass? Obviously my being a group leader I would use my Disneyland app to schedule fastpasses, but if the leader of the other group had the Disneyland app as well, do we load the same tickets on their app too? Or do they have to login as my account on their phone app? I haven’t been able to find out that detailed information yet on here

You can load the tickets onto both accounts! Just pick which people you want when you book a FP.

 

[katyringo]

Hey everyone. I’m new to DLR and have been researching maxpass for our trip in April. This thread has been so informative!! So DH and I are taking a group of 9 teenagers and we plan to only do one day with Park Hopper. If we wanted to split into two groups let’s say, how would it work with max pass? Obviously my being a group leader I would use my Disneyland app to schedule fastpasses, but if the leader of the other group had the Disneyland app as well, do we load the same tickets on their app too? Or do they have to login as my account on their phone app? I haven’t been able to find out that detailed information yet on here

I think you can do it either way, but my husband and I have always just looked into my account on both our phones when we split up!

 

[spiderann]

You can load the tickets onto both accounts! Just pick which people you want when you book a FP.

Interesting. For some reason I can’t wrap my mind around that working. Same tickets on two different accounts.

I think you can do it either way, but my husband and I have always just looked into my account on both our phones when we split up!

Yeah that’s why I’m trying to figure it out cuz I don’t think I want one of the kids being able to log into my Disney accounts lol