Can anyone share experiences using Max Pass with large groups?

[SeiterClan]

Looking to hear about people's experiences booking a large group ie. 10 people FP's using Max Pass especially during busy times?!? We are going this summer & obviously want to maximize the amount of rides we do together especially the headliners now that all of my 6 kids are tall enough for everything! Any advice or insights to share would be so appreciated!

 

[JKalai]

You can set a "party" with Maxpass so you can book one fastpass for all party members on the app. When you approach the FP scanner, each member can either scan their individual paper ticket or if they have their own phones, it will show up on their app. If there are a limited number of phones, all fastpasses will show up on the phone that made the reservation. You just have to swipe left on the page with the FP barcode.

It's really easy and 1000% worth it.

 

[Malcon10t]

We do it. We have tickets linked to everyone's app. Then one person can make FP for everyone, or just those wanting to ride that ride. It is much simplier than it even sounds. You can have one group riding GOTG while another rides Soarin'. (If they are available at the same time.)

 

[SeiterClan]

We do it. We have tickets linked to everyone's app. Then one person can make FP for everyone, or just those wanting to ride that ride. It is much simplier than it even sounds. You can have one group riding GOTG while another rides Soarin'. (If they are available at the same time.)

That's great! Do you feel like you were able to accomplish alot ie. good availability of FP rides for your large group for times you wanted especially during busy times? We are going at the beginning of August & I have never been then but know it's busy! We will only have time for 1 day at DCA & 2 at DL but will have EMH privileges for all 3 days because we are staying at PPH. Just trying to sell my husband on Max Pass for our family even though for our family of 8 it will cost us $80/day!

 

[Winnowill]

We were there during Hell Week (between Christmas and New Year's) for two days with MaxPass, and we rode everything in DCA twice, everything at DL at least once, some twice, and saw a couple of shows. MaxPass was worth every penny - no need to fight through a crowd of people to FastPass machines, 90 minutes between passes. Just note that, at the very busiest times, FPs are gone for just about everything by 4:00 pm (though you may still be holding some with later return times), and, after your first one, it's entirely likely that you'll have to wait the full 90 minutes for every pass.

 

[SeiterClan]

We were there during Hell Week (between Christmas and New Year's) for two days with MaxPass, and we rode everything in DCA twice, everything at DL at least once, some twice, and saw a couple of shows. MaxPass was worth every penny - no need to fight through a crowd of people to FastPass machines, 90 minutes between passes. Just note that, at the very busiest times, FPs are gone for just about everything by 4:00 pm (though you may still be holding some with later return times), and, after your first one, it's entirely likely that you'll have to wait the full 90 minutes for every pass.

This is very encouraging! @Winnowill Did you have a pretty big group you were booking for? We are a group of 10 that love rides so what you accomplished during a busy time is giving me hope that we can so a lot during the busy summer season.

 

[JKalai]

That's great! Do you feel like you were able to accomplish alot ie. good availability of FP rides for your large group for times you wanted especially during busy times? We are going at the beginning of August & I have never been then but know it's busy! We will only have time for 1 day at DCA & 2 at DL but will have EMH privileges for all 3 days because we are staying at PPH. Just trying to sell my husband on Max Pass for our family even though for our family of 8 it will cost us $80/day!

The regular paper fastpasses and Maxpasses are separated into two different allotments, so there is much more availability. The last time I did it last year, I was able to book fastpasses one after another. We were riding rides all day. The trick is to book another one as soon as you scan your fastpass at the scanner.

 

[SeiterClan]

The regular paper fastpasses and Maxpasses are separated into two different allotments, so there is much more availability. The last time I did it last year, I was able to book fastpasses one after another. We were riding rides all day. The trick is to book another one as soon as you scan your fastpass at the scanner.

That's a good tip! I didn't know that the FP's were allotted separately, I thought they all came from the same pool? Hope I can catch on to Max Pass quickly this summer & that they don't raise the price before our trip!

 

[DizneyMommy]

The regular paper fastpasses and Maxpasses are separated into two different allotments, so there is much more availability. The last time I did it last year, I was able to book fastpasses one after another. We were riding rides all day. The trick is to book another one as soon as you scan your fastpass at the scanner.

We discovered this too, we had friends with us on the 4th and 5th of January and they had bought Maxpass. We don’t have it on our AP’s so we didn’t have it. She was consistently getting FP return times way earlier than the FP machine would distribute for us. She had to stop using it so we could actually ride together. Now we know next time we tour with someone who buys Maxpass we had better buy it that day too!

Which really annoys me... I feel like we got the FP rug pulled out from under us and got shoved to the back of the line unless we pay extra now.

 

[JKalai]

That's a good tip! I didn't know that the FP's were allotted separately, I thought they all came from the same pool? Hope I can catch on to Max Pass quickly this summer & that they don't raise the price before our trip!

When you get it you will realize that the paper fastpass return times will be much longer than Maxpass. 7 times out of 10, the return times will be within 5 minutes of booking compared to 3 or 4 hours (except for Radiator Springs Racers and Mission: Breakout). Also check throughout the day because random availability will pop up for people who cancel their fastpasses for RSR and Guardians.

 

[Winnowill]

This is very encouraging! @Winnowill Did you have a pretty big group you were booking for? We are a group of 10 that love rides so what you accomplished during a busy time is giving me hope that we can so a lot during the busy summer season.

No, it was just three of us, but I don't see any reason why it would be any more difficult for a larger group until FPs start to run out.

 

[SeiterClan]

When you get it you will realize that the paper fastpass return times will be much longer than Maxpass. 7 times out of 10, the return times will be within 5 minutes of booking compared to 3 or 4 hours (except for Radiator Springs Racers and Mission: Breakout). Also check throughout the day because random availability will pop up for people who cancel their fastpasses for RSR and Guardians.

@JKalai So when you look at the app for a FP ride & it gives the time it is distributing FP's for that is for those that have to scan at that particular rides FP machine instead of on the app with Max Pass?

 

[SeiterClan]

We discovered this too, we had friends with us on the 4th and 5th of January and they had bought Maxpass. We don’t have it on our AP’s so we didn’t have it. She was consistently getting FP return times way earlier than the FP machine would distribute for us. She had to stop using it so we could actually ride together. Now we know next time we tour with someone who buys Maxpass we had better buy it that day too!

Which really annoys me... I feel like we got the FP rug pulled out from under us and got shoved to the back of the line unless we pay extra now.

That is so interesting because I have read/heard from here & DL bloggers that they come from the same pool but that doesn't make sense based on what you & others have been experinecing...

 

[DizneyMommy]

That is so interesting because I have read/heard from here & DL bloggers that they come from the same pool but that doesn't make sense based on what you & others have been experinecing...

Nope. I do not believe that for a second. We were standing in tomorrowland looking at the FP return times and looking at her Maxpass and her times were 3-4 hours earlier than the machines.

 

[JKalai]

@JKalai So when you look at the app for a FP ride & it gives the time it is distributing FP's for that is for those that have to scan at that particular rides FP machine instead of on the app with Max Pass?

If I recall correctly, the app will show the Maxpass time not regular fastpass. I don't quite remember because we rode so many rides that day that the wait times didn't matter!

 

[DizneyMommy]

@JKalai So when you look at the app for a FP ride & it gives the time it is distributing FP's for that is for those that have to scan at that particular rides FP machine instead of on the app with Max Pass?

Our experience was that was the time the machines were distributing but MaxPass can get earlier times.

It could be not a different pool but rather people canceling them also, freeing them back up. The machines won’t go back in time and offer those but the app could I suppose. That seems unlikely as often as it happened but she was only searching for 2, so it’s possible

 

[Niltiac]

I have heard that MaxPass and regular Fast Pass are actually pulling form the same "pool", but that MaxPass often shows earlier times available because MaxPass users are able to claim FP canceled by others. This more or less matches up with our experience because (using MaxPass), we would often see a really late return time (closely matching the paper FP return times), then refresh a few times and suddenly a really early time pops up, refresh again and it's back to the late return times. I haven't tested that enough times to say for sure that they're pulling form the same pool though.

 

[smchristy]

You can set a "party" with Maxpass so you can book one fastpass for all party members on the app. When you approach the FP scanner, each member can either scan their individual paper ticket or if they have their own phones, it will show up on their app. If there are a limited number of phones, all fastpasses will show up on the phone that made the reservation. You just have to swipe left on the page with the FP barcode.

It's really easy and 1000% worth it.

This is a great description...

We had a party of 9 the last week of September and Maxpass worked great for us. We had two parties of 2 and one party of 5. I scanned everyone's tickets into my phone and "controlled" the fast-passes. I also scanned everyone in at the scanner. It was smooth and easy. If someone didn't want to go on a ride I would leave them off the fastpass when I reserved it.

 

[SeiterClan]

This is a great description...

We had a party of 9 the last week of September and Maxpass worked great for us. We had two parties of 2 and one party of 5. I scanned everyone's tickets into my phone and "controlled" the fast-passes. I also scanned everyone in at the scanner. It was smooth and easy. If someone didn't want to go on a ride I would leave them off the fastpass when I reserved it.

Awesome! @smchristy Did you feel like you could get FP's for all the rides you wanted when you wanted them ie. you didn't miss it getting them for a certain time/day because your group was so big???

 

[smchristy]

It really was an easy process to to manage and we had no issues getting FP's for everything we wanted, multiple times a day. It was easier in DL than it was in DCA. The Guardians and RSR FP's were harder to come by. As soon as I scanned us in at a ride I was making the next FP reservation.