Guide to FastPass & MaxPass at Disneyland
Disneyland and Disney California Adventure offer free FastPass and paid MaxPass ride reservation systems to skip the standby line. This guide covers the pros & cons of each, tips & tricks for choosing the best FastPasses, strategy that will save you the most time, plus whether you should spend money and upgrade to MaxPass. (Updated February 4, 2020.)
We’ll start with something of an update, as we just spent a couple weeks at Disneyland for the grand opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. While that blockbuster new attraction notably does not offer FastPass, MaxPass, or a standby line (full details in our Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Disneyland Strategy Guide), one thing it does require is being inside Disneyland before park opening.
That will likely be the case for the remainder of 2020. Consequently, there’s even more value in purchasing MaxPass than normal. You can book your first MaxPass the moment you enter Disneyland, even before official rope drop. By contrast, we would’ve had to wait another 30-45 minutes each morning to grab our first paper FastPass. We used MaxPass every single day and even with off-season crowds, absolutely loved it. MaxPass allowed us to do 3-4 extra rides per day, which was a huge advantage.
Suffice to say, we recommend MaxPass. (Important note: this recommendation and the accompanying commentary was made when the price was $15 per person per day. As we discuss in the commentary to our MaxPass Price Increase & New Ride Details, it’s a much closer call now.)
The cost is $20 per person per day (but you can save money on park tickets by purchasing Get Away Today’s tickets with MaxPass; see more in our Guide to Discount Disneyland Tickets). Plus, as noted above (and covered in more depth below), MaxPass will allow you to do several more attractions per day as compared to traditional FastPass.
We’ll underscore that point again: yes, FastPass is free at Disneyland. This is the number one question we hear from first-timers, most of whom assume there’s some sort of catch since other theme and amusement parks charge for their front-of-line service. FastPass is totally free–no catch. As noted above, MaxPass costs $20 per day, but it means less walking and doing more.
If you’re a Disneyland regular, you know the ins and outs of FastPass and MaxPass. It’s second nature. However, if you’re a first-timer, it’s not so simple. It’s also not all that intuitive, particularly since Disneyland no longer really provides information (or signage) to guests about the complimentary FastPass service, and the only MaxPass info is usually a pop-up in the Disneyland app.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s cover some of the basics. FastPass is essentially a virtual queueing system for select attractions at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Not exactly a front of the line ticket, but close. The key difference between this and a front of the line system is that you are waiting for an attraction…you’re just not physically waiting in the line.
You go to a FastPass kiosk at an attraction (let’s say Radiator Springs Racers) at 9 a.m. The current wait time is 90 minutes. The FastPass return time is 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. You obtain a FastPass reminder paper, and go have breakfast at Flo’s V8 Cafe, do some shopping, and return at 10:30 a.m., scan your park ticket to enter the FastPass return line, and wait ~10 minutes before boarding the attraction. You’ve waited over 90 minutes to ride…you just waited somewhere else.
That’s just one example with arbitrary numbers chosen. Sometimes you wait less time than the current standby wait, but more frequently, you wait longer. Since your line is virtual, you can be in more than one place at once: virtually in line at Radiator Springs Racers and physically in line at Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters.
Hopefully, that explained the basic mechanics of how FastPass works, here are some additional rules and answers to frequently asked questions:
- Unlike some front of line passes, FastPass is not unlimited. You cannot grab a second FastPass until the time on your FastPass reminder indicates one will be available.
- Normally, your next FastPass can be drawn either at the start of the return window for your first one, or 2 hours from the time you grabbed your previous FastPass, whichever is earlier. Example A: You grab FastPass #1 at 8 a.m., and your first FastPass window is 9 – 10 a.m.; you’ll usually be able to grab a second FastPass at 9 a.m. Example B: You grab FastPass #2 at 9 a.m. and your window is 2 – 3 p.m.; you’ll usually be eligible for another FastPass at 11 a.m.
- Given Examples A & B above, you should be able to see how you can sometimes hold multiple FastPasses simultaneously…but not always.
- There’s a limited supply of FastPasses, and return times are based upon demand. You will most often see return times far later in the day for attractions that are most popular/have the longest wait times. Only so many FastPasses are issued for each hour of the day, and return times are based upon demand. Radiator Springs Racers will almost always have a return time far later in the day.
- By contrast, the following attractions routinely have a return time that is shorter than the standby wait: Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Haunted Mansion, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
- FastPass distribution occurs in designated areas near attractions. Signs make these areas easy to find. The notable exception to this is Radiator Springs Racers, which has FastPass distribution outside of a bug’s land.
- When acquiring FastPasses, give them to one person in your party and send that person as the designated runner. They do not actually have to run to get the FastPasses, but bonus points if they do! 😉
- World of Color and Fantasmic are not connected to the FastPass system used for attractions. You can always hold these simultaneously with one another and other attractions.
- Disneyland Resort does not use FastPass+ for scheduling multiple FastPasses weeks or months in advance. Whether MaxPass or FastPass, it’s all a same-day, one-at-a-time system at Disneyland.
- There is literally no reason not to use FastPass at Disneyland. You are at a significant disadvantage if you choose not to use it.
One thing to know is that the FastPass systems in Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are now connected, meaning you cannot game the system by getting one FastPass and immediately Park Hopping to get another. This is a trick that worked for a long time, but it no longer does. (If you see this still mentioned on older posts here, please let us know in the comments of those posts–we are trying to update this info site-wide.)
Another thing to know is that Disneyland’s paper FastPasses distributed at kiosks are actually just “reminder” slips. The actual FastPass is tied to your park ticket, and you will scan your ticket to redeem your FastPass, not the FastPass reminder. (If you used your phone as your ticket, that means scanning the bar code on there.)
The system seems designed so that it can eventually be utilized with MagicBands, or NFC technology like the Apple Watch, but as of right now, it’s a bit clunky with the FastPass reminder and ticket system.
FastPass Strategy
We cover this in passing in our 1-Day Disneyland Park Itinerary and 1-Day Disney California Adventure Itinerary, but figured we’d offer bullet points with FastPass priorities here for each park, as well.
These rankings are determined by a combination of when FastPass distribution normally ends for each particular attraction, plus average standby waits. Whether an attraction is currently an “instant” FastPass is also factored in…
Disneyland
- Space Mountain
- Matterhorn Bobsleds
- Indiana Jones Adventure
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Splash Mountain (summer visits only)
- Star Tours: the Adventures Continue
- Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
- Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters
- Autopia
- Haunted Mansion
Disney California Adventure
- Radiator Springs Racers
- Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
- Incredicoaster
- Toy Story Midway Mania
- Soarin’
- Grizzly River Run (summer visits only)
- Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue
- Goofy’s Sky School
In some cases, you’re probably better off revisiting attractions near the top of the list if FastPasses are still available, rather than going directly down it. For instance, Goofy’s Sky School is a total waste of time, so I’d recommend getting a second Incredicoaster FastPass (for nighttime–it’s better then) instead of a first Goofy’s Sky School FastPass. Likewise, if Haunted Mansion has a 10 minute wait and Indiana Jones Adventure has a 60 minute wait, get a second FastPass for Indy, and do Haunted Mansion via standby. The above is just a resource, not a step by step itinerary.
Disneyland has confirmed that Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue in DCA and Autopia in Disneyland will soon be offering Disney FastPass and MaxPass. Both attractions are aimed at families with kids, which is a type of attraction underrepresented by the the ride reservation services. We expect more additions like this as Disneyland tries to make MaxPass more appealing to guests with small children.
Note that neither Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction–Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run or Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance–currently offers FastPass or MaxPass. Given that the Florida version just added FastPass, we’re guessing California’s Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run will likewise add FastPass/MaxPass before Summer 2020. Once it does, slot it into the #4 position on the Disneyland list above.
MaxPass
MaxPass is now available at Disneyland Resort. Think of this as a modified version of the My Disney Experience app from Walt Disney World, but with fewer options and a $20/person per day cost.
In addition to being able to book FastPasses via your phone, the $20/day add-on grants guests the ability to download PhotoPass photos taken by Disneyland photographers and on-ride attractions. If you’re a party that would’ve purchased PhotoPass anyway, buying MaxPass is a no-brainer.
In essence, MaxPass plays by almost all of the same rules as the legacy (paper) FastPasses at Disneyland Resort. (Well, just about.) You are paying for the convenience of not walking to a FastPass machine–along with some other advantages that might sound insignificant, but really make a huge difference.
So, why purchase MaxPass? The first and biggest reason for this is crowds. Congestion throughout the parks means a lot of extra time just getting from point to point, and being able to use MaxPass from the phone (e.g. not having to fight the crowds to grab a FastPass) definitely can be advantageous–as would being able to grab MaxPasses while waiting in line for a different attraction. Effectively, MaxPass allows you to be in two places at once.
The second reason why is because of the minimum time window for drawing your next FastPass. Remember that example above (in the bullet point section) illustrating the earliest time you can draw your next FastPass, and how it’s either the start of your next FastPass window or in 2 hours, whichever is earlier?
Well, with MaxPass, the draw window is reduced to 90 minutes. On a busier day, this shorter window can be huge–especially when a lot of attractions are using the 2-hour rule for paper FastPasses. Over the course of an entire day in the park, the advantage of not having to walk to get another FastPass coupled with the condensed draw window of 90 minutes can amount to an extra 3-5 FastPasses. That’s a pretty pronounced advantage over the legacy FastPass system.
Additionally, if you enter the parks prior to official rope drop time, you can immediately start booking MaxPass, whereas you cannot go to the physical locations where FastPasses are distributed until official park opening time. Since the turnstiles always open around 30 minutes before official park opening time, this means you can begin booking MaxPass that much earlier. This is a nice and valuable head start, especially for popular attractions like Radiator Springs Racers.
Another huge advantage is being able to snag MaxPasses that are no longer available as FastPass. When other guests cancel their MaxPasses (which happens a lot), that inventory goes back into the system. For example, on this evening at 8:05 p.m., I scored two FastPasses for Radiator Springs Racers, which had been ‘sold out’ of paper FastPass since about noon! By refreshing the Disneyland app, you can continue to acquire hard-to-get FastPasses via MaxPass until late into the evening.
Then there are the other advantages of MaxPass. While it is same-day only and requires that you enter the park to use the service (meaning no making MaxPass reservations when you wake up late in your hotel, or while stuck in traffic on the 5), it does not use a geofence.
This means that once you’ve used your ticket to enter either Disneyland or Disney California Adventure for the day, you can make MaxPass reservations for either park. In other words, if you decide to take a midday break and go to your hotel for a nap, you can make MaxPass reservations as soon as you wake up.
If you decide to head to Trader Sam’s, you can still make MaxPass reservations. If you’re in line for the Matterhorn, you can make a MaxPass reservation for Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! On our recent 2-week trip for the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Galaxy’s Edge, we’d frequently rope drop Disneyland and then head to Laguna Beach or Los Angeles from around noon until 7 p.m. During that time, we continued to acquire FastPasses via the app, and used our stockpile when we returned at night.
When it first came out, MaxPass is something we did not recommend, as it didn’t appear to offer much advantage to us initially. Due to adjustments made to MaxPass and also seeing it in action on more crowded days, that’s no longer our assessment.
Now, I couldn’t imagine going back to the paper FastPass system. MaxPass is a revelation, and far better than the FastPass+ system at Walt Disney World. Suffice to say, I recommend MaxPass if you are visiting Disneyland as a tourist and can justify the cost. This is especially true during the busier days in the parks, as the value/utility of MaxPass most definitely increases as the parks get more crowded.
Getting a few extra attractions in per day, saving on the walking, and having PhotoPass included makes it worth the $20/person cost, in my estimation. You’re at a definite disadvantage if you don’t purchase it, and buying it definitely gives you a leg up on most other guests visiting Disneyland.
If you would pay a couple of dollars extra (per attraction) to experience a few more headliners per day, MaxPass will probably be worth it to you. While the cost of this will add up quickly, so will those extra attractions. I’d still be surprised to see the MaxPass service catch-on with locals, but if you’re an out-of-towner, it should be on your radar, especially if you have more of a ‘time is money’ perspective.
Overall, the FastPass system at Disneyland is wonderful, and incredibly easy to use once you get the hang of it. There are some features of MaxPass that are incredibly nice and convenient, and the time you’ll save justifies the $20/person/day cost. Once the attractions in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge start offering FastPass and MaxPass that will be even more true!
If you’re preparing for a Disneyland trip, check out our other planning posts, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, tips for booking a hotel (off-site or on-site), where to dine, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide!
Your Thoughts
Do you have any additional tips or strategy for using FastPass at Disneyland? Have you tried out the MaxPass system yet? Think being able to do a few extra attractions, not walk as much, and have included PhotoPass is worth the extra $20 per day? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
Couple of quick questions-
Is there an app you download at home first?
-then you decide after entering park to purchase max pass? Either right away or if you see the crowds increasing?
-is transaction secure while purchasing the maxpass in the park i.e. Not over wi-if)
Thanks for the great tips and to the person who also pointed out about cellphone battery life issue!
There is a Disneyland App that you can put on your smartphone anytime – you should do that before getting to the parks to save park time and get familiar with it. If you have park tickets, you should be able to put in the bar code number into the app which will help getting fastpasses. Also do that ahead of time too. There is a lot of other great tools on the app like wait times, maps, reservations, etc… Unless you are a pass holder you’ll have to wait to buy maxpass after you enter the parks (at least that is what I have read). Don’t count on wi-fi working in the parks. If you have problems getting maxpass, you can go to guest relations but there will probably be line.
Thank you very much for the info!
🙂
When I scanned tickets into app they say they are valid Until sept 7. We go Sep 25. Do you know if this is true. Would they really be void if I just added them to the app not at Disney?
This is a bit of a digression, but having used Magic Bands the last 2 years at WDW, we really missed using them when at DL/DCA this spring. The paper tickets are less convenient & feel too easy to lose. However: it occurs to me that if they used the accompanying My Disney Experience app for the Anaheim parks, and allowed annual pass holders to book fast passes in advance, it would make the experience there even more dismal for tourists. Imagine all the expert users who could cancel on a whim…
p.s. And by dismal I mean I Could Not Believe how crowded it was on our ‘low to no crowds’ days in early May. Plus, you know, Anaheim. Such a different experience from FL.
We were in DL & DCA and used the max pass the first three days it was available
and it worked flawlessly. We even reserved fast passes for DL when we were in DCA. Since it was included with the $10 maxpass fee, we had lots of photos taken and downloaded all our ride pictures and photopass photographer photos which I think is a great deal. At the end of the ride, be sure to capture the ride photo numbers while the picture is up so you can enter the number. We missed the picture at racers by a few seconds and it was a hassle to wait in line to get the number. The photos are available for download for up to 45 days. We love thunder mountain railroad and using the maxpass were able to ride it 6 times in a row before we decided to move on. There was a substantial standby line at the ride, but on the day we were there, as soon as you scan through the fastpass kiosk we were able to get another TMR fastpass on the phone that would be active in about 2-3 minutes so we we able to ride it over and over with no waiting. It seemed that we could have ridden it indefinitely using the maxpass. Even if you don’t want to use the maxpass for rides it’s certainly seems worth to me to purchase 1 $10 maxpass for your group so that you will be able to download all your pictures for no extra cost.
I think that the max pass should have been included for this years annual pass holders. They then can have given us the option of paying extra for our passes when they are renewed. The max pass seems to be good for out of town guest but not for someone who goes to the parks frequently. Too costly!
It’s included free with the Signature Plus and Premier Passports, or it’s $75 for the life of the other annual passes if you don’t want to pay $10 per day.
For me, the biggest sell is the photo pass photos. On our trip last May we ended up getting quite a few that we wanted but they were all on separate days so we had to pay $10 per photo or like $25 per day of photo pass photos. The $10 per day would save us money in that regard (especially if we opted to just do that for one person in our party rather than all 4 of us…).
I am considering doing a trip with my two boys and I — age 9 and 5. Since with those ages it’s essentially impossible to have a fastpass runner, I would strongly consider this add on to make our lives easier with FastPass. Also, the cost of Maxpass for the whole trip, compared to the uncharge of staying on property (and getting access to early magic hour) make me think that this may increase my ability to do more. Added with photo pass, it seems like not a terrible deal in my opinion, though I don’t think it’s for everyone.
Depending upon crowd levels when you’re visiting, I could definitely see MaxPass being worth it for you. Yesterday, the parks were incredibly crowded, and it would’ve easily been worth the money for anyone trying to beat the crowds and do as much as possible.
Now that I don’t live in CA I could see MaxPass being useful when vacationing, especially for the included PhotoPass. That’s not something I would have been interested in when I was at the park all the time but might like now. But it does feel an awful lot like nickel and diming…
Do they scan your phone in the line when you use a MaxPass or do you just show it to them when you get to the FastPass line similar to a paper ticket?
They scan your phone.
Hi Tom,
Thank you for all the details. My husband and I visit WDW multiple times of year (Annual Pass Holders in NYC!) and Disneyland in Anaheim once a year when we visit my family — so we know both resorts well ( I grew up in LA). We are heading there July 31st – August 2nd are we are so happy everything will be up and running in Frontierland!
One question: We felt the PhotoPass @ $40/day was pretty steep. We had it with our Annual Pass at WDW, and loved the photos we have so I was really disappointed that it would cost us $120 for our three day trip. Then I heard that MaxPass would be in effect by the time we arrived and it would be $10 — WITH PhotoPass INCLUDED. I cannot find the $40/day price on the app anymore but I just want to make sure.
Am I understanding this correctly? We can purchase MaxPass for the two of us for three days for $60 which gives us freedom to grab FastPasses AND have unlimited pics taken of us all three days?
And if that is a “Yes” — isn’t a good deal for just one family member to purchase it and use it just for the PhotoPass perk? A family of five will have tons of pictures with everyone in the shot and unlimited downloading options. They can then use the free FastPass system for the rides.
Speaking of pics:
Also, we love your pics! My husband is an avid amateur photographer and his favorite subject is Disney. His Disney account on IG is splashfox1. He mentioned that I ought to follow you on IG. Great stuff!
Wishes:
I really really really hope that Disneyland gets Magic Bands. After visiting WDW and staying at Wilderness Lodge (our fave) in February, we went to Disneyland the same year and were shocked that it was STILL the old school FastPass. Good thing that Park is so small & intimate. Magic Bands are truly magic because you can use them for everything.
Fantastic Review:
Lastly, thanks for the review on the new Fantasmic. It is far better in Anaheim than at WDW (not sure why they simply didn’t replicate the whole thing) and we were nervous that the “new” version was simply a method to deliver more LASERS. I must admit that Happily Ever After has left us Forever Missing Wishes at WDW — the music is awful and the storyline is a mush of Disney characters that have nothing to do with each other. Then I thought they might do something similar in Anaheim with my BELOVED show. I agree with you — the Pirates montage is truly jarring. Let’s keep it animated, People! But if the rest worked well for you, we feel it will work well for us, too.
Okay, thanks again for your awesome blog and really wonderful detailed articles that are informative AND fun to read.
Peace,
Skye Christina
You’re spot on with the Max Pass. We went last may and the photo pass cost was so insane. (They didn’t have the option of pay for the whole week). And it was a bummer. The Max pass would definitely be cheaper for the photos. You could also just purchase one Max pass if all you are interested in is the photos ($30 for your three days) and just do regular fast passes…
Hey Tom, what do you think about the annual pass holder rate of 75$?
Do you think it’d be worth it for me? I’m also considering buying it sometimes if say, a out of town friend is visiting the theme parks with me
Well, I’m not going to purchase it as an Annual Pass add-on, but YMMV.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we get roped into buying it when out of town friends visit, though. Depending upon how many out of town friends you have, it might make sense to just buy it proactively.
As an out of towner, I will never purchase max pass. I feel it is nickel & diming us for something that worked perfectly well before & I will just use the regular fast pass. Please don’t support this initiative under the guise of out of towners needing it. Regular fast pass works just as well for tourists as it does for locals! Just educate your out of town visitors! We were just there July 5-9 & were amazed how well the fast pass worked – we were able to have as many as 3 or 4 at a time occasionally, as the return window was almost immediate. We spent 10 minutes collecting fast passes & then spent the next hour riding the attractions. It was really surprising to us that the parks & fast passes weren’t busier in July!
Hi Tom, slight typo “Disneyland and Disneyland are” should this line read, Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure.? Very interesting article,thank you.
As someone with knee issues, I’m more than willing to drop down the cash if it means I don’t need to race to get fast passes for every ride. I can see it being very useful for folks with disabilities too.
Thank you for going over this in detail. I had a lot of questions when this was first announced and you answered most of them.
Only questions I have left are, does everyone in a group need to book the same maxpass/fastpass rides together if they’re linking up as a group for other rides? Can more than one person have the app and scanned in ticket info on their phones at the same time? And do you need to scan the tickets into your phone every day you use them?
1. At the “create a FastPass party” you should have the option to exclude people from booking a specific FastPass (just like at Walt Disney World).
2. I’m not totally sure. We’ll have to try this out next time.
3. Once you’ve scanned in a ticket (multi-day or Annual Pass) once, you should be good thereafter.
I’m also curious about how it would work if you purchase MaxPass for part of a group. My daughter likes thrill rides, but my son doesn’t. So say we get MaxPass for my daughter and my husband, but not my son and myself, and we all want to do Toy Story Mania together, how does that work? Can a MaxPass holder still get a regular FastPass from the FastPass machine? Or if they book a MaxPass at the same time we book FastPasses, would they be at the same time?
Thanks for doing all the research for us!
Allison, I had the exact same thought when I was reading Tom’s (always) great info. We have a family member with knee trouble and there is only so much ground we can cover in a day. It’s a shame Disneyland is upselling what Disneyworld already includes in its ticket prices, but we will pay the additional amount to preserve those steps for better fun!
I agree. I have problems walking and one thing I hated about FP was the extra walking usually involved. This would be worth it to me to save those extra steps.
Thanks to Tom for explaining this. I kept hearing about Maxpass but wasn’t exactly sure how it worked.
For people with disabilities, there is also a free Disability Access Service (DAS). You can ask for it at info booths or city hall. It’s basically a Fastpass service for those with disabilities and it works the same way. You get a return time and, instead of waiting in the queue, you can wait somewhere else. You can also use this in conjunction with Fastpass so you can have one of each at a time.
Can you explain the Max Pass/Photo Pass connection please? I’ve heard people say you can do the photo pass for $10 a day so that would be worth it. But I can’t verify it for sure. Thanks.
That is correct. As of right now, PhotoPass is included with the MaxPass purchase. For some people, that alone will make it worthwhile.
Oh awesome! We haven’t been in years and years and are coming as a just us, as in no kids next spring and for the pictures alone it will be worth it for us. Love the info you hare and the terrific pictures.
I used it all day on the 19th with my son and we thought it was fantastic. The only two rides that were longer than 10 minute wait was Peter Pan and Pirates. We had a hopper pass and we did more rides than any time we visited. Most fast pass rides we did two or three times in the day. Being able to get in a fast pass ride and book your next ride that second was fantastic. The only bad thing about it was that I could only use my phone for fast passes and nothing else. My battery ran out around 7pm but we got there when the park opened at 8am. I will take that over waiting in long lines. If you do ten fast pass rides, that is 1 dollar a ride. If you saw star tours was 45 minute wait and for $1 you could skip 80% of the line. That’s a deal.
“If you saw star tours was 45 minute wait and for $1 you could skip 80% of the line. That’s a deal.”
I would definitely do that if that’s the only either/or scenario.
If someone told me: you can either pay $0 or $1 to skip 80% of the 45 minute wait, I’d choose $0, though. 😉
We just did one day at Disneyland today and had Max Pass. We are a family of 3 and really liked it. I liked not having to run over to places to get the fast pass. We have a 6 yr old and that was hard. We were able to knock out our top rides in 3 hours with it on a busy summer day. It was also more intuitive coming from Disney World’s system. Downsides: there is no reliable wifi and cell service was sketchy for DH and I ( Verizon and Sprint). Also, wish I could choose times like Disney World. We had to pass on some we wanted because they were too quick.
Thanks for the feedback on your experience with MaxPass! 🙂
The resort is working on adding wifi theoughout the parks, though it’s still just hotspots as of now.
I saw on another site a screen shot of a max pass that was issued at 11:50am, and had a return time of 11:55-12:55, but the next maxpass would not be available until 12:25, which is 30 minutes after the return time begins! Is this something that is being applied to all fast passes (even the ones “run” for in the parks) or just max passes? Odd that they would make something you pay extra for more restrictive, though it may be intended to prevent the max pass people from taking over all available fast passes quite as quickly? I’ve not seen this addressed on line anywhere. Can you advise? Thanks Tom!
You know, I don’t remember what the instant FastPass policy is for the paper ones on the next FastPass, now that I think about it. In those scenarios, we’ve just used the FastPass immediately (what’s the point of walking away?) and by the time we were done, we were able to pull another FastPass.
Now, that could be because the attraction plus walking to the next took us 30 minutes, or that 30 minutes could be a built-in buffer for MaxPass only to prevent people from really leveraging the system. My guess is the former (since these systems are mostly the same on the backend), but I’ll check next time we are in the park!
Thanks. I’ll look forward to that reply. When we were just in the parks a week or two ago, we found that the next passes were available as soon as the window opened even if that window was immediate. So we were able to have 3 or more fast passes at a time. It worked really well on Paradise Pier. We started at Goofy’s & grabbed one there, then picked one up for Toy Story, and then for Screamin. Then we’d run over to get our racers or Guardians pass & return to work our way back on the rides from Screamin to Goofy’s. And we could usually grab another one for any given ride as we got off (especially Screamin & Toy Story), before heading on to do the next attraction. We also would do this starting with Soaring over the World as it regularly had immediate (or very quick return times). We used the app to check what time fast passes were being issued for and would tweak the order we’d get them if necessary. We rode so many attractions so many multiples of times & were amazed at how well it worked. We’ve always used fast pass before, but this was by far our most successful trip with it (July5-9) and we were dreading going in July before we got there. It was fantastic though! Sorry, that’s the long version of confirming that when the return time opens quickly on paper reminders, the next pass is indeed available as soon as the window opens. I suspect that the 30 minute window on max pass may indeed be a buffer to prevent people from really leveraging the system, as you said, but am still surprised by this, as that makes it “less valuable” given you are paying for it, than the free system (unless they’ve changed the free system too, which would suck)! Thanks for all your great posts & info. Love the blog!
We are considering it for ONE person only, purely for the photopass. The app currently shows the wait times and what time FP is being distributed for, and so we will simply use a runner for the FP themselves. There’s 5 of us going, it’s not worth it for us all to have MaxPass the entire time.
I thought I read somewhere that if one person purchases Maxpass, then everyone in the same party had to purchase it. I would really like to know if that is true. Because I would totally be on board for purchasing only one just for the picture downloads.
So long as your accounts aren’t all linked together, how would Disneyland know who is in your party? The only scenario I could see that happening in is those who purchase a vacation package–even then, Disneyland’s system is not very sophisticated.
I didn’t even think of people who might want MaxPass for that. Smart move!
“One thing to know is that the FastPass systems in Disneyland and Disneyland are now connected”
Do you mean California Adventure?
I just really wanted to emphasize Disneyland. 😉
How does the Photopass access work with this? Is there a more limited time that the photos are available for download compared to normal? If not, it would seem like a cost savings for out-of-state visitors that want the Photopass photos to have one or two people (depending on the group size, length of stay, etc.) purchase Maxpass and then just get their Fastpasses from the kiosks with the rest of their group. Unless I’m misunderstanding something about how the system works…
The pictures is why my group is justifying MaxPass for our upcoming trip. Once we discounted what we would have paid for the daily photopass purchase, the cost per person came down significantly and is well-worth saving the steps the fast pass runner (me!) would have had to take.
It works as normal. So, as another reader mentioned, you can come out ahead by having one person in your party purchase MaxPass, and then just using the kiosks for FastPasses.
At least, during the “introductory” period of MaxPass. If Disney sees a lot of 1/person parties buying MaxPass and using it heavily for PhotoPass, I’m sure that perk will be cut quite quickly.
I know you can’t get MPs until after entering a park…and I know there is no geofencing to prevent one from getting a MP after leaving a park. When is it possible to get one from the other park? If I enter DL in the morning, go to my hotel for a break (or even just exist in DL), can I get a DCA MP before entering DCA? Or am I limited to only DL? After I cross over to DCA, can I still get MPs for DL? Or am I now limited to the park I was most recently in?
eh, disregard, I can’t read closely…I see that you answered this just below the matterhorn fp sign.