Flex Pass Superthread: Disneyland Resort Introduces New Annual Passport that Combines Value and Flexibility

[mamapenguin]

Platinum pass.

I had one of those for WDW that expired in August-platinum there is 365 days a year, parking, photopass and 20% merchandise discount. So it would be more like platinum plated.....

 

[twodogs]

Has anyone else ever noticed this under their Flex Pass in the app? Mine says “Gold Pass may have...” I think it’s the first step to turning all of the passes into different tiers of reservation passes...

I just got the Flex Pass and my app says this also. I agree with OP that I hope they actually do allow an upgrade to 3 days reserved at a time. We often make long weekend trips, and it seems a lot of the times we want to go, all 3 days are reservations required... I would pay to do this upgrade if it were offered.

 

[pharmama]

Yeah, I noticed this several months ago and posted about it too. Nothing announced yet but I agree that they will eventually try to move most passholders over to some kind of reservation based pass...

 

[AndrewC]

Got my FlexPass Oct 19th and was very pleased with how it worked out. Used it with reservations on the 20th, 26th, and 27th (which originally was Disney only but the day before “both parks” became available). Then I used it under “good to go” 21st - 24th. I would say for me the dining discount was 50/50 for me on if it applied. One stupid thing I did was pickup the pass on Saturday Oct 19th but didn’t plan to enter the park until the 20th. That would have been fine and my expiration date would have expired a year from my first park experience, BUT I ended up having lunch in DTD to avoid parking fees the day I picked up the pass and used the AP discount, which “activated” the pass and updated the expiration date. My bad :-/

Overall I like how the pass works, and I’m not even a local. I do wish you could make a 3rd reservation for a nominal fee, $10-$15/tix or something. It would help us out of towners make sure we can maximize our days with park access.

 

[mentos]

On my app it just appeared with the "the price of your ticket may be applied to upgrade to annual pass." and something about going to the ticket booth to upgrade.

But now that I'm remembering my underage son was able to have two annual passes at a time. Like posted they just asked for his birthday. When wife got asked for ID is when we hit the snag

Good luck. Let us know what happens!

Update: I’m in possession of two AP’s!

Sort of. My DLX is still active and expiring soon. I bought a one day ticket on Saturday (was blocked out) and immediately upgraded to Flex pass with payments. Became active on my app where it lives.

Haven’t visited a booth or presented ID yet...but I can’t imagine what they could do at that point (I’ll go next month after my DLX pass expires)

 

[Aurora0427]

I just got the Flex Pass and my app says this also. I agree with OP that I hope they actually do allow an upgrade to 3 days reserved at a time. We often make long weekend trips, and it seems a lot of the times we want to go, all 3 days are reservations required... I would pay to do this upgrade if it were offered.

Totally agree... we come from San Diego frequently and when we take out of state guests it would be really nice for us to be able to know we have that third day reserved. For us, 3 days is the sweet spot to be able to get everything done that we like without feeling rushed. We decided not to take my in-laws over Thanksgiving because we were concerned that the reservations would book up. We’d absolutely pay for a 3 day option!!!!

 

[Jperiod]

I'm surprised Thanksgiving week isn't blocked more yet. We will be there Dec 1-7, which involves 3 reservation days, Sunday the 1st, Friday the 6th, and Saturday the 7th. I'm trying to decide which days are most likely to block out early (and which I can live with a CA rez only).

 

[MychaelP]

. I do wish you could make a 3rd reservation for a nominal fee, $10-$15/tix or something. It would help us out of towners make sure we can maximize our days with park access.

If they did that, they could also add blockout tickets back for other levels of passes too. I'm still not sure why they don't to be honest.

 

[Jaina]

To all those helped me out with my "when should I upgrade to a Flex pass and be blocked out of the park for the day" conundrum, I finally decided it wasn't worth the stress. I realized since I'll have different family members doing several trips with me throughout the year, I'll just my one-day ticket upgraded (probably to a 2-day pass) and reassign it when we're going to need a ticket. I went ahead and bought my Flex pass and already reserved the day we're planning to be there in a little over 2 weeks! So I should be able to go to the ticket booth the day before when we're at Downtown Disney Friday evening and get my physical pass, so then we can use it for discounts when we're at Disneyland the next day. Win-win. Will they change my expiration date for me when I pick it up? Will I have to ask for that, or does it happen automatically when I first enter the park? I am so excited about this pass! I have wanted to be in a place financially and baby-wise for like 15 years now to get an AP!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... Will they change my expiration date for me when I pick it up? Will I have to ask for that, or does it happen automatically when I first enter the park? I am so excited about this pass! I have wanted to be in a place financially and baby-wise for like 15 years now to get an AP!

Welcome to the AP family, girl! Give yourself a great big virtual hug from me! Just to be safe, check your expiration date when you go to the ticket booth -- that's an AP tip no matter which level AP you get. (In other words, don't ever trust Disney to do anything "automatically" or correctly!) Will you be adding MP? Depending on how many days you'll be in the parks in the coming year, it might make sense, even If it's just for PP.

 

[Jaina]

Welcome to the AP family, girl! Give yourself a great big virtual hug from me! Just to be safe, check your expiration date when you go to the ticket booth -- that's an AP tip no matter which level AP you get. (In other words, don't ever trust Disney to do anything "automatically" or correctly!) Will you be adding MP? Depending on how many days you'll be in the parks in the coming year, it might make sense, even If it's just for PP.

Thanks!! I already added MP. I'll just have to go enough that it pays for itself, right? And yes, I'll check the expiration date! I should have time that Friday evening before to do all that!

 

[mentos]

If they did that, they could also add blockout tickets back for other levels of passes too. I'm still not sure why they don't to be honest.

If my recent behavior as a blacked out guest is any indication, probably because they don't need to?

I was in a "must go" situation last week so I ended up shelling out $145 for the ticket. Luckily, since I was a few weeks away from pass expiration, I just upgraded that ticket to a pass that day and just moved my future pass expiration back 3 weeks.

If I recall correctly, the last time I saw blackout dates was the final weeks of the MSEP in August 2018. I'd love to see them back, I factor them into my cost-benefit analysis when I select a pass.

 

[twodogs]

I am trying to understand the trend of reservations. A weekend like the upcoming Veteran’s Day weekend books up almost instantly for DL (Saturday and Sunday) though DCA is still bookable for Saturday. Then a week like Thanksgiving doesn’t book up right away, and only just today does DCA book up for 11/29 (Friday after Thanksgiving) and you can still book DL for all the days of Thanksgiving. Why??

Do locals like to go more on 3 day Holiday weekends rather than big holidays like Thanksgiving? Is it that Thanksgiving is a weeklong holiday so that spreads out crowds better than a 3 day weekend? I ask because we are considering coming for MLK weekend and we would have to reserve Saturday and Sunday at 30 days, and then hope that we could get Monday after we use Saturday. Just trying to gauge it since we have to fly in.

Any thoughts on why Veteran’s day booked so quickly? Also is MLK going to be a possible nightmare due to projected opening of ROTR?

 

[Cookiemonster156]

Anyone know why Nov 29 DCA is booked up? Doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[Mcky36]

I am trying to understand the trend of reservations. A weekend like the upcoming Veteran’s Day weekend books up almost instantly for DL (Saturday and Sunday) though DCA is still bookable for Saturday. Then a week like Thanksgiving doesn’t book up right away, and only just today does DCA book up for 11/29 (Friday after Thanksgiving) and you can still book DL for all the days of Thanksgiving. Why??

Do locals like to go more on 3 day Holiday weekends rather than big holidays like Thanksgiving? Is it that Thanksgiving is a weeklong holiday so that spreads out crowds better than a 3 day weekend? I ask because we are considering coming for MLK weekend and we would have to reserve Saturday and Sunday at 30 days, and then hope that we could get Monday after we use Saturday. Just trying to gauge it since we have to fly in.

Any thoughts on why Veteran’s day booked so quickly? Also is MLK going to be a possible nightmare due to projected opening of ROTR?

This upcoming weekend is a 3 day weekend for Veteran's Day and ALSO the the start of the holiday season at the resort (begins this Friday 11/8). I think that's why it is expected to be so crowded.

 

[dieumeye]

Anyone know why Nov 29 DCA is booked up? Doesn't make any sense to me.

Day after Thanksgiving? Probably because it’s a long holiday weekend.

 

[midnight star]

Any thoughts on why Veteran’s day booked so quickly? Also is MLK going to be a possible nightmare due to projected opening of ROTR?

That's the first weekend of the holiday season. So I'm sure it will be crowded. Last year I remember Small World was 95 minutes at one point

 

[twodogs]

I guess MLK weekend might be similarly crazy with ROTR opening the Friday of the long weekend...

 

[midnight star]

I guess MLK weekend might be similarly crazy with ROTR opening the Friday of the long weekend...

Potentially. I wonder if people will come since it was no secret that DL was slow when the first ride and land opened...

 

[twodogs]

Potentially. I wonder if people will come since it was no secret that DL was slow when the first ride and land opened...

Maybe, but they are handling this opening differently than they did the opening of SWGE with the reservation period, etc (unless they change something on short notice). I guess there are some that haven’t seen SWGE and are planning a trip as soon as ROTR opens, but I can’t imagine it is enough people to overwhelm the parks. I don’t expect that ghost town feeling we had when we went during the 3rd week of June this year, during the reservation period (that was amazing!). The other wild card is that ROTR may have technical issues and not actually open 1/17/2020, so that could put a ripple in a lot of people’s plans!