Disneyland to introduce MaxPass (New Fastpass & New Fastpass Attractions) - Now with Poll

[DLgal]

Will paper FPs be available at the 2 new added rides or will they be an extra perk to only those that spend the $10?

Paper FP will be available.

 

[mom2rtk]

"Hi Jason. Disney FASTPASS will continue to be available to Guests in the same manner as it is today (by obtaining a FASTPASS ticket at attraction kiosks) at no charge. As an added Guest service, we are making it possible for Guests who purchase Disney MaxPass, or select Annual Passes, to obtain a FASTPASS return time using the Disneyland App."

For all we know they might revamp their entire line of APs soon and add new levels to include this option.

It's really hard to have a solid opinion on any of this without knowing all the info for AP holders. Even those without an AP will be affected by what happens with that massive block of guests.

 

[Aust]

As an international visitor I can see good and bad sides to this. n the good - I invest a LOT of money and time getting myself and my family to Disneyland (14 hour flights each way and tens of thousands of dollars all up), and we can only manage such a trip roughly every 3 years. When I'm there I don't want to be standing in lines longer than I need to. We made really good use of Fastpass on our last trip which enhanced our experience, and if I have to pay a little more on top of the large budget for the trip to make it easier that's ok.

However - the lack of wifi is a big problem. Data rates for overseas phones are ridiculous.

 

[DLgal]

For all we know they might revamp their entire line of APs soon and add new levels to include this option.

It's really hard to have a solid opinion on any of this without knowing all the info for AP holders. Even those without an AP will be affected by what happens with that massive block of guests.

Maybe, but they just restructured the AP program last year. I imagine that was to prepare for this. Seems like they wanted to differentiate the Signature level from the others in order to justify the prices. I can't see them adding additional AP options at this time. I can definitely see them simply upgrading the current Photopass download perk of the signatures to also include the FP perk.

However, they know that a lot of families have one member with a signature level pass while the rest have Deluxe or lower, just due to the parking benefit. The catch is needing everyone in your family to have MaxPass to use the FP benefit. Those families will likely opt to purchase the MaxPass benefit for the rest of the family, even if one member gets it included.

It's a way for Disney to squeeze more money out of families who use this strategy. Like mine.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Any word on whether getting a show FP will block your ability to get ride FPs? (WOC would block you out for the rest of the day if that was the case. If Fantasmic uses FP when it starts up again that could be a very tricky situation).

This was a question I had myself.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Will paper FPs be available at the 2 new added rides or will they be an extra perk to only those that spend the $10?

This is the question I had. If no one else can get FPs for them then we are all doomed to even longer lines.

Paper FP will be available.

Do we really know that? I didn't pick up on it anywhere.
Then there is the issue of Disney not really knowing how to manage apps and websites real well. How many times have we all had those malfunction on us? What will they do when people paying $40 a day per family can't get the app to load or update?
In any event we won't be going to DLR this summer, we are going to see the real Matterhorn this time! So I'll sit back and see how all this sorts itself out.

 

[VandVsmama]

The Disney Parks blog post and other newspaper and online articles state that paper FP will remain in place.

 

[DLgal]

This is the question I had. If no one else can get FPs for them then we are all doomed to even longer lines.

Do we really know that?

It was stated in the original announcement. The announcement of the additional Fastpass attractions was separate from the Max Pass part. They stated that paper fastpass will continue to be available for free.

 

[Robinjay]

Wow, just wow. I read through this thread and the Disney blog. Interesting that on the blog Disney only responded to certain questions and not all and most responses from Disney seem scripted or cut and pasted.

I don't mind running around Disney for FPs as I feel like I get exercise, but I don't like feeling left out of something that is available for no upcharge at DW either. The availability of wifi is great there and it is hard at DL/CA to stay off the app due to the lack of wif and drain on my data usage.

I also don't appreciate that they released this without all of the details available, especially for APs (since I am one).

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

I'm one of those people who swapped from WDW to DLR because of FP+. I would have preferred to keep legacy FP as it was, but I'm not terribly upset about this. (Ask me again later though when I see how much the price of park tickets go up in a few weeks). But we're once a year visitors who buy Photopass, so the difference in cost is negligible.

I'd still rather not have this digital at all because I think FPs will disappear much faster.

But I'm terribly happy there is no advance scheduling. Having FPs for a popular attraction gone before the day begins is what turned me off to FP+. Also it appears from this that there's none of the insane tiering that they have at WDW so rerides on headliners will continue to be possible just like before.

In all of WDW, there are only two attractions, neither of which is a headliner, that regularly have no FPs left at rope drop, and they're not even very good attractions. (Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Frozen Ever After.)

 

[Metalliman98]

Seriously. Stop posting articles with partial information. It's so annoying. And I can't imagine she loves having to spend all day "copy/pasting" the same two responses over and over again.

You really think Erin has any control over what she can/can't share? She's just the messenger who has to deal with the snarky responses from everyone about the lack of information. I feel somewhat sorry for her....only somewhat because this is the career she chose, and I'm sure she is well compensated.

 

[alvernon90]

In all of WDW, there are only two attractions, neither of which is a headliner, that regularly have no FPs left at rope drop, and they're not even very good attractions. (Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Frozen Ever After.)

Things must have changed pretty radically since I was there in October 2015, then, because all parks had at least some attractions that had no FPs left in the morning. We did the "throwaway campsite" trick to get extra MBs so we would try to book three new FPs first thing each morning when we arrived at a park. We were never able to get our first choices for all three. The tiered parks were worst, if I recall correctly.

I grok your evangelizing for WDW with the zeal of the converted, but their FP+ system is not all sweetness and light, even for the people who take the effort to exploit the loopholes. In my opinion, the overall experience at DLR will still be better than WDW if for no other reason than the ability to walk across the plaza to the other park. (Of course, there are other reasons WDW is worse, but no need to pollute this thread with that debate.)

 

[VandVsmama]

I think that Disney:

• will announce the AP pricing for MaxPass when they announce the AP price increases for this year.
• will raise AP and regular ticket prices by the end of February like they did the last 2 years. Especially since there is >1 promotion going on right now that ends on 2/28.
• will only include MaxPass for "free" in the Signature Plus and Premium APs. All others will be able to purchase it, but for an add-on price.
• will increase the cost/day price of MaxPass based on how the DL-going public reacts when MaxPass becomes operational. And when I say "reacts," what I really mean is how much additional revenue MaxPass brings in. $20/person/day is too high, but I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually raise it to $15/day and it will be $20/day by the time Star Wars Land opens.
• will include "free" MaxPass for each DLR hotel guest as a promotion when Star Wars Land opens.
• is going to use this to control crowds at the back of the park when Star Wars Land opens.
• purposely has different marketing, operational, & business strategies based on the different markets they operate in. For example, Tokyo Disneyland has a ticket you can purchase which only gets you access to the shops. No attractions. That would never fly here in the US, but it's popular in Japan because of unique aspects of Japanese culture. Frankly, Disney is pretty smart by making certain things unique in each park. For example, each Haunted Mansion is slightly different. They're not all the same. You don't go to WDW expecting HM to look exactly like the DL HM. POTC at WDW is a tad different than DL. POTC at Shanghai DL puts the Anaheim DL to shame, but would you go to DL **expecting** POTC to be the same as Shanghai DL? No.

Lots of people go to DL, having been to WDW many times before, saying, "BUT IT'S DIFFERENT THAN WDW!" And lots of people who go to WDW, having been to DL many times, and say, "BUT IT'S DIFFERENT THAN DL!" Don't expect the WDW version of FP+ at DL. It's not going to happen. And don't go to WDW expecting the DL version of FP. Disney has spent millions and millions of $$ investing in the FP+ system at WDW and it's there to stay. But that's a business model that just will not work at DL given the very different make up of DL park guests. Disney Corp has even said so.

Therefore, if you want a WDW-style experience with FP's, in which you can book your FP reservation before you arrive and be guaranteed certain ride times and such, then you should go to WDW.

If MaxPass totally flops, then they'll cancel the program and go with some other solution. But I suspect that enough people will pay for it that it will stick around at least through the first year of Star Wars Land being open. Disneyland is a corporation. They're a for-profit company and have to provide a return on investment to their shareholders. I guarantee you that an organization as large as Disney does not announce a major thing like this without having done a LOT of market research and cost/benefit analysis ahead of time. I'm not trying to defend their decision to do all of this. Just providing a different point of view.

 

[snootchiebootchies]

I'm sorry if this has been answered already but did not find this information while skimming through this thread. When will Toy Story Midway Mania be brought into the FASTPASS system? Is it imminent? Just asking as we will be there in about a couple of weeks.

 

[DLgal]

I'm sorry if this has been answered already but did not find this information while skimming through this thread. When will Toy Story Midway Mania be brought into the FASTPASS system? Is it imminent? Just asking as we will be there in about a couple of weeks.

No dates or estimates were given by Disney.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

This is the question I had. If no one else can get FPs for them then we are all doomed to even longer lines.

Do we really know that? I didn't pick up on it anywhere.
Then there is the issue of Disney not really knowing how to manage apps and websites real well. How many times have we all had those malfunction on us? What will they do when people paying $40 a day per family can't get the app to load or update?
In any event we won't be going to DLR this summer, we are going to see the real Matterhorn this time! So I'll sit back and see how all this sorts itself out.

Its my understanding that those two attractions will start utilizing fastpass asap so I'm not sure what would lead you to believe that when they roll out maxpass suddenly those two attractions will no longer be available to those using paper fastpass.

I myself have never had an issue with the MDE app. Not saying others haven't and the Disneyland app won't but I don't foresee major issues.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

and they're not even very good attractions. (Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Frozen Ever After.)

Oh my goodness! My entire family LOVED Seven Dwarfs Mine Train!!! We must have ridden this attraction 5 times.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I don't think grabbing FPs from your phone is only saving "a tiny bit of walking." If you are waiting in line for Space Mountain, it takes more than a tiny bit of walking to grab a Splash Mountain FP -- it takes giving up your place in the standby line. And even if you aren't currently waiting in a line when your FP window opens up, on a crowded day it can be quite a bit of effort to get from Tomorrowland to Splash and back again.

You still may not think it is worth the money, but what you are saving is not nothing. That will be especially true if you can reserve FPs for either park rather than the park you are in at the moment.

Well, it's pointless TO ME. I thought that it was fairly obvious I was stating my own opinion on it. Based on our touring style, it really only saves a tiny bit of walking...if any at all. We never go much out of our way for fast passes. We rarely, if ever, make a specific walk to a place JUST for a fast pass. Actually, on our last trip I don't recall using more than a couple fast passes. I suspect that we will next time since we have to go in the summer when it's more crowded. But I still don't see us wandering too far for a fast pass. So, for MY FAMILY, it would be pointless to spend $150 on this.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

I would have preferred the FP+ magic band system from WDW to $10 to use my own phone to book FP. I think it will unfortunately give people willing/able to spend extra money an unfair advantage. Rides like RSR will be even harder to get FP for. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I just don't feel like it's going to be good.

 

[VandVsmama]

What do you want to bet they do the MaxPass go live to coincide with Spring Break crowds?