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

[Skyegirl1999]

I haven't been following this thread since July 4th, when reservations for DISNEYLAND and BOTH were mostly unavailable, although in the final hours of July 4th they both became briefly available, then unavailable, then available, etc. as people apparently cancelled their reservations.

Has anyone been keeping track of subsequent "Reservation Unavailable" days? I'm curious to know for how many days in the summer Disneyland wasn't available for the Flexpass. I assume reservations were available for California Adventure each day during the summer.

I haven’t seen any others reported.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

I haven't been following this thread since July 4th, when reservations for DISNEYLAND and BOTH were mostly unavailable, although in the final hours of July 4th they both became briefly available, then unavailable, then available, etc. as people apparently cancelled their reservations.

Has anyone been keeping track of subsequent "Reservation Unavailable" days? I'm curious to know for how many days in the summer Disneyland wasn't available for the Flexpass. I assume reservations were available for California Adventure each day during the summer.

There have been no other “unavailable” days.

 

[sgrap]

There have been no other “unavailable” days.

August 17th was unavailable off and on during the couple weeks prior to that date.

 

[midnight star]

I haven't been following this thread since July 4th, when reservations for DISNEYLAND and BOTH were mostly unavailable, although in the final hours of July 4th they both became briefly available, then unavailable, then available, etc. as people apparently cancelled their reservations.

Has anyone been keeping track of subsequent "Reservation Unavailable" days? I'm curious to know for how many days in the summer Disneyland wasn't available for the Flexpass. I assume reservations were available for California Adventure each day during the summer.

June 24 was blocked( the day SWGE opened to the public). But then later that day it became unblocked. Disney probably blocked it expecting floods of people but that didn’t happen, so they opened it up.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Here is a crappy glitch in the Flex Pass: I emailed Disneyland to double check that my Flex Pass would start the first day I walked in the gate with the pass, not the date I ordered or made my first reservation. They answered that yes, the pass expires one year from the first time in the gate.
BUT our APs that expired October 2018 are causing a problem, because I called today to buy new Flex Pass with MaxPass APs and was told our passes would start today even though our first day in the Parks will be tomorrow, because we are doing a "reactivation".
Also was told MaxPass won't work for a full 24 hours from when I purchase, so if I call in tomorrow to buy the APs, or go to the ticket booth when we get to the Parks tomorrow evening, we won't be able to use MaxPass tomorrow at all, and she didn't think the ticket booth could do anything to help get MaxPass working immediately.
This is annoying, and I do need that pass to go 365 days from tomorrow, not from today, because of the days in 2020 we would schedule for our last visit on the AP.
We want to be able to get into Disneyland tomorrow evening since it is open until 11 and DCA closes at 9, so I will need a reservation for DL tomorrow (DCA is Good To Go).
I am going to call one more time to see if I get a different answer from a different agent but if any previous AP holders know of a workaround for this silliness I'd love to know about it.
ETA: I called again this afternoon and the CM told me I would indeed lose a day "reactivating" my long expired AP on the phone, but I was not being punished for being a previous AP holder, that I should believe I am getting the "convenience" of reactivating my AP on the phone so I would not have to wait in line at the ticket booth.
I tried to explain that if not a punishment it is certainly a payment ---I am paying 1 day of my AP to receive not having to wait in line at the ticket booth tomorrow. That might seem reasonable at 1 day, but what about people who need to buy Flex AP 30 days ahead to make a reservation? They will only get an 11 month pass, not an annual pass. This seems to only affect people whose APs have expired.
For the MaxPass not updating, she asked a supervisor and the supervisor agreed that the DL app might take 24 hours to show MaxPass. This still makes zero sense to me because she indicated this is because the app needs time to recognize the reactivated APs. I'm pretty sure this will NOT be true and that MaxPass WILL show up instantly once we "reactivate" tomorrow because my AP numbers are still in my app---I tried to enter my AP just to see what happened, and it gave me a message that the number is already linked to my account.
So the plan is to call in tomorrow, "reactivate" our APs and hopefully be able to make a reservation for the next 2 days without an issue, and roll those for a total 4 day trip.
Will update about the MaxPass showing up. If MaxPass fails she said I can go to City Hall to get some sort of MaxPass hack (probably just a few Fastpasses is my guess). My goal is to not wait in line at all unless it is for a ride!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Here is a crappy glitch in the Flex Pass: I emailed Disneyland to double check that my Flex Pass would start the first day I walked in the gate with the pass, not the date I ordered or made my first reservation. They answered that yes, the pass expires one year from the first time in the gate.
BUT our APs that expired October 2018 are causing a problem, because I called today to buy new Flex Pass with MaxPass APs and was told our passes would start today even though our first day in the Parks will be tomorrow, because we are doing a "reactivation".
Also was told MaxPass won't work for a full 24 hours from when I purchase, so if I call in tomorrow to buy the APs, or go to the ticket booth when we get to the Parks tomorrow evening, we won't be able to use MaxPass tomorrow at all, and she didn't think the ticket booth could do anything to help get MaxPass working immediately.
This is annoying, and I do need that pass to go 365 days from tomorrow, not from today, because of the days in 2020 we would schedule for our last visit on the AP.
We want to be able to get into Disneyland tomorrow evening since it is open until 11 and DCA closes at 9, so I will need a reservation for DL tomorrow (DCA is Good To Go).
I am going to call one more time to see if I get a different answer from a different agent but if any previous AP holders know of a workaround for this silliness I'd love to know about it.

That doesn’t make any sense to me. You old pass expired right? And why wouldn’t MaxPass work immediately? This all sounds strange.

 

[mamapenguin]

Here is a crappy glitch in the Flex Pass: I emailed Disneyland to double check that my Flex Pass would start the first day I walked in the gate with the pass, not the date I ordered or made my first reservation. They answered that yes, the pass expires one year from the first time in the gate.
BUT our APs that expired October 2018 are causing a problem, because I called today to buy new Flex Pass with MaxPass APs and was told our passes would start today even though our first day in the Parks will be tomorrow, because we are doing a "reactivation".
Also was told MaxPass won't work for a full 24 hours from when I purchase, so if I call in tomorrow to buy the APs, or go to the ticket booth when we get to the Parks tomorrow evening, we won't be able to use MaxPass tomorrow at all, and she didn't think the ticket booth could do anything to help get MaxPass working immediately.
This is annoying, and I do need that pass to go 365 days from tomorrow, not from today, because of the days in 2020 we would schedule for our last visit on the AP.
We want to be able to get into Disneyland tomorrow evening since it is open until 11 and DCA closes at 9, so I will need a reservation for DL tomorrow (DCA is Good To Go).
I am going to call one more time to see if I get a different answer from a different agent but if any previous AP holders know of a workaround for this silliness I'd love to know about it.

Please update after you activate your pass what the status of your Maxpass ends up being the first day. We will be in a similar situation next month and I will be very disappointed if Maxpass doesn’t work on the first day.

 

[midnight star]

At a nail salon right now and just heard an advertisement on the radio for the flex pass and the electrical parade. First time I’ve heard an advertisement for those on a non-Disney news outlet.

 

[Mcky36]

Here is a crappy glitch in the Flex Pass: I emailed Disneyland to double check that my Flex Pass would start the first day I walked in the gate with the pass, not the date I ordered or made my first reservation. They answered that yes, the pass expires one year from the first time in the gate.
BUT our APs that expired October 2018 are causing a problem, because I called today to buy new Flex Pass with MaxPass APs and was told our passes would start today even though our first day in the Parks will be tomorrow, because we are doing a "reactivation".
Also was told MaxPass won't work for a full 24 hours from when I purchase, so if I call in tomorrow to buy the APs, or go to the ticket booth when we get to the Parks tomorrow evening, we won't be able to use MaxPass tomorrow at all, and she didn't think the ticket booth could do anything to help get MaxPass working immediately.
This is annoying, and I do need that pass to go 365 days from tomorrow, not from today, because of the days in 2020 we would schedule for our last visit on the AP.
We want to be able to get into Disneyland tomorrow evening since it is open until 11 and DCA closes at 9, so I will need a reservation for DL tomorrow (DCA is Good To Go).
I am going to call one more time to see if I get a different answer from a different agent but if any previous AP holders know of a workaround for this silliness I'd love to know about it.

I let my Deluxe Pass expire in September 2018. In June I purchased at Flex Pass at the ticket booth with Max Pass and used it 5 minutes later (both the ticket and the Maxpass.) They could see at the gate that we were previous annual pass holders and it didn't make any bit of difference. I don't think the person you were talking to has the right information.

 

[Katiebird]

MaxPass taking 24h to activate makes no sense when you can buy it from the app daily.

We had passes that expired January 2019 and was able to buy flexpasses in July 2019 online, without involving CS.

Our passes did activate when we made the first reservation, which was 2 days before we entered the park. That part was kind of a bummer especially as others on here have had the activation date be first day of use.

Keep in mind next year is a leap year, too, for dates purposes. So if your pass activates on 8/26/19, it will expire on 8/25/20.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

I let my Deluxe Pass expire in September 2018. In June I purchased at Flex Pass at the ticket booth with Max Pass and used it 5 minutes later (both the ticket and the Maxpass.) They could see at the gate that we were previous annual pass holders and it didn't make any bit of difference. I don't think the person you were talking to has the right information.

Thanks! That is helpful info. Did you keep your old pass numbers and just use your phone right then to check in at the gate (as opposed to getting a new paper copy you had to turn in later for fresh passes, or have to enter new pass numbers on your phone. The phone CM thinks the only way to keep old AP card numbers is if you pay over the phone.)

 

[Katiebird]

Thanks! That is helpful info. Did you keep your old pass numbers and just use your phone right then to check in at the gate (as opposed to getting a new paper copy you had to turn in later for fresh passes, or have to enter new pass numbers on your phone. The phone CM thinks the only way to keep old AP card numbers is if you pay over the phone.)

Not who you quoted, but we just bought new passes in the app. They're not connected to our old passes in any way and we had to go to the ticket counter the first day to get our actual cards. Other than not needing to go to the ticket counter (which took 15 minutes early evening) what is the benefit of trying to keep the old card numbers?

 

[Mcky36]

Thanks! That is helpful info. Did you keep your old pass numbers and just use your phone right then to check in at the gate (as opposed to getting a new paper copy you had to turn in later for fresh passes, or have to enter new pass numbers on your phone. The phone CM thinks the only way to keep old AP card numbers is if you pay over the phone.)

Hmmmm....good questions. I did not have the old passes with us. They gave us a new numbers and new tickets -the hard cards. (BTW- the ticket CM did say that going forward we would need to keep these hard tickets indefinitely as they don't give new ones anymore, even if you let them lapse.) I scanned the new card into the app right there at the ticket booth so they could confirm that everything worked and MaxPass was loaded onto my account. Once we confirmed that the new tickets/MaxPass were loaded into the app, I went to the gate and used the tickets to scan into the park and made a fast pass reservation (on the app) as soon as we walked in.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Hmmmm....good questions. I did not have the old passes with us. They gave us a new numbers and new tickets -the hard cards. (BTW- the ticket CM did say that going forward we would need to keep these hard tickets indefinitely as they don't give new ones anymore, even if you let them lapse.) I scanned the new card into the app right there at the ticket booth so they could confirm that everything worked and MaxPass was loaded onto my account. Once we confirmed that the new tickets/MaxPass were loaded into the app, I went to the gate and used the tickets to scan into the park and made a fast pass reservation (on the app) as soon as we walked in.

Thanks! I bet they state 24 hours to MaxPass to cover their behinds in case there is a glitch.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

Thanks! That is helpful info. Did you keep your old pass numbers and just use your phone right then to check in at the gate (as opposed to getting a new paper copy you had to turn in later for fresh passes, or have to enter new pass numbers on your phone. The phone CM thinks the only way to keep old AP card numbers is if you pay over the phone.)

Is there any reason why you want to keep your old pass number? Our passes expired in August of last year. I upgraded one-day tickets to Flex passes my daughter and I in May. I also purchased a Flex Pass outright for my husband in July. We had no issues with our Max Passes, they all worked immediately. And our expiration dates were one year from purchase, but we also used them on the same day we purchased them.

We also went and picked up new AP cards on our way out of the parks and the CM didn’t say anything about needing to keep our plastic cards indefinitely, even if we let them expire.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Not who you quoted, but we just bought new passes in the app. They're not connected to our old passes in any way and we had to go to the ticket counter the first day to get our actual cards. Other than not needing to go to the ticket counter (which took 15 minutes early evening) what is the benefit of trying to keep the old card numbers?

The entire benefit would be not going to the ticket counter at all! Now I am mostly irritated on behalf of people who do not get their full year of AP because of this weird attitude towards expired passes even though this glitch is not covered in writing anywhere, as admitted by the two CMs.
Heck, I should get dollars off for saving them all that plastic or at least get credit I could redeem for a few plastic straws
I think they should make it easier to get another AP instead of harder. But they sort of do, by keeping my expired AP numbers in my app/online, but the paying AP days in order to avoid ticket booth irks me.

 

[Katiebird]

The entire benefit would be not going to the ticket counter at all! Now I am mostly irritated on behalf of people who do not get their full year of AP because of this weird attitude towards expired passes even though this glitch is not covered in writing anywhere, as admitted by the two CMs.
Heck, I should get dollars off for saving them all that plastic or at least get credit I could redeem for a few plastic straws
I think they should make it easier to get another AP instead of harder. But they sort of do, by keeping my expired AP numbers in my app/online, but the paying AP days in order to avoid ticket booth irks me.

My situation has nothing to do with our expired passes - the fact that we’d had passes previously never came up during the entire process. There’s been inconsistency from the CMs at the ticket booths about when the year starts for flex pass, but I’ve never heard of it having anything to do with previous passes.

Is there a reason you want to reuse the old pass numbers rather than just buying “fresh” passes? Honestly going to the ticket booths is not a big deal if you wait until early evening to do it. Takes 10-20 minutes maybe.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

My situation has nothing to do with our expired passes - the fact that we’d had passes previously never came up during the entire process. There’s been inconsistency from the CMs at the ticket booths about when the year starts for flex pass, but I’ve never heard of it having anything to do with previous passes.

Is there a reason you want to reuse the old pass numbers rather than just buying “fresh” passes? Honestly going to the ticket booths is not a big deal if you wait until early evening to do it. Takes 10-20 minutes maybe.

I always seem to get the newbie when I visit the ticket booth and I would rather be on a ride 10 minutes after I get to Anaheim instead of plodding through the ticket encounter. The inconsistencies like you mentioned, and lack of clear written info guests or CMs can refer to for answers are not Disney level customer service.

 

[Katiebird]

I always seem to get the newbie when I visit the ticket booth and I would rather be on a ride 10 minutes after I get to Anaheim instead of plodding through the ticket encounter. The inconsistencies like you mentioned, and lack of clear written info guests or CMs can refer to for answers are not Disney level customer service.

You can still be on a ride... you just need to go to the ticket booth at some point the first day. I guess if you really won’t do that, then you are stuck having to buy it over the phone instead, so that’s the downside. Hopefully it all works out, good luck and have a great trip!

 

[Cholula]

If you use a regular ticket, then upgrade at the ticket booth, can you still enroll in the monthly payments as a CA resident? Or can you only do that ahead of time online?