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

[Reepicheep]

I was pretty annoyed that my husband couldn't visit DL all summer, but people who paid less could.

Exactly. If I had bought a Deluxe pass before the Flex came out, I'd be very annoyed. And if I had bought a Signature pass in order to get summer access to Disneyland, I'd be even more annoyed.

When the Flex was first announced, I assumed the majority of summer days would be totally blocked for it. On June 1, I started watching the availability calendar for the Flex, expecting to see those block out days, but they never materialized.

If I was a local, I'd certainly buy a Flex pass. It seems to be a no brainer. In the event block out days suddenly become common, then at some point in the future the pass could always be converted to a Deluxe or Signature, with no harm done.

 

[Reepicheep]

Thank you! So on nonreservation days, is it good for both parks then?

As a general rule, that seems to be the case, but there are exceptions. I checked the next two months, and September 6 and October 7 are non-reservation days for CA, but a reservation is required for Disneyland. I imagine there are more days like that, but I didn't check farther into the future.

 

[Katiebird]

For us it didn’t make sense to get signature for the parking - it’s a $550 difference, so 22 parking charges (less if you account for higher discounts in the parks, but that’s harder to quantify). We’re unlikely to pay for parking more than ~15 times (we go 1-2 times per month, but some of those we stay overnight and park at the hotel), so we’ll likely still save money with flex.

We’re local-ish, so we also never go for more than 2-3 days a a time, and I don’t plan more than a few weeks out anyway, and we can easily change weekends if we needed to. There is one day we can’t change all year due to DD performing with her dance team, but it’d still be cheaper for us to just buy a day ticket for that day should we not be able to get a reservation.

I personally think that reservations will continue to be easy to get at 30 days out, but it will be interesting to see what happens to dates a few days to a week out in the coming months.

 

[ardanxela]

Thank you! So on nonreservation days, is it good for both parks then?

Yes, it's a park hopper just like any other annual pass.

 

[gillep]

FWIW, I upgraded DDs from an LMT ticket so you don’t have to go to the window. Before the purchase was complete in the app I could see that it was crediting me the full gate price and not what I paid LMT.

Can you do this at any time or do you need to be at DL to do this even from the app? For instance, could I purchase LMT tickets now, scan them into the DL app and upgrade to the FlexPass in the app now even though my trip isn't until mid-October? I want to recommend my friend do this to save on tickets but not if she can't upgrade until we are in DL.

 

[AcuraTL]

Can you do this at any time or do you need to be at DL to do this even from the app? For instance, could I purchase LMT tickets now, scan them into the DL app and upgrade to the FlexPass in the app now even though my trip isn't until mid-October? I want to recommend my friend do this to save on tickets but not if she can't upgrade until we are in DL.

From my experience, you have to scan inside the park before the upgrade option would appear in the App.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Can you do this at any time or do you need to be at DL to do this even from the app? For instance, could I purchase LMT tickets now, scan them into the DL app and upgrade to the FlexPass in the app now even though my trip isn't until mid-October? I want to recommend my friend do this to save on tickets but not if she can't upgrade until we are in DL.

I purchased tickets in May, direct from Disney during the 3 day ticket deal. I was given the option thru the app to upgrade to APs before I went to the parks, but maybe because they were purchased direct?

 

[sgrap]

20 minute is good. It took us 45. CM wasn’t happy that we didn’t bring our expired AP cards with us, kept saying next time bring them because they reuse them. Not fun that it took so long but I wanted to do it at the window because we were upgrading LMT tix.

It was at least 90 minutes in the hot sun waiting, though. We were all starting to feel sick. We are from out of state, so I knew that we had to wait in line to get the actual passes anyway.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

It was at least 90 minutes in the hot sun waiting, though. We were all starting to feel sick. We are from out of state, so I knew that we had to wait in line to get the actual passes anyway.

Not fun . I only waited a few minutes to get to the window then felt bad for the people behind me that it took so long. They should come up with an easier system

 

[sgrap]

Not fun . I only waited a few minutes to get to the window then felt bad for the people behind me that it took so long. They should come up with an easier system

I know, the gal at the desk worked the entire time except when she was getting her supervisor's approval. She typed and typed and typed. She physically wrote with a sharpie a bunch of numbers on our hopper tickets and then had to type them in something. It's obviously quite a process. There has to be an easier way for Disney to do this, especially with the amount of people who upgrade (it was a lot just watching during the 90minutes of waiting). Those people could all be in the parks or downtown Disney spending $! ;-)

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

I know, the gal at the desk worked the entire time except when she was getting her supervisor's approval. She typed and typed and typed. She physically wrote with a sharpie a bunch of numbers on our hopper tickets and then had to type them in something. It's obviously quite a process. There has to be an easier way for Disney to do this, especially with the amount of people who upgrade (it was a lot just watching during the 90minutes of waiting). Those people could all be in the parks or downtown Disney spending $! ;-)

Yep I saw the sharpie too. Seems so old school

 

[sgrap]

Yep I saw the sharpie too. Seems so old school

I love me some Sharpies (I have a Sharpie drawer so it's pretty much an addiction), but there has to be a more efficient way with modern technology!

 

[coasternut22]

We plan on going Dec 26-30 (*cring* we're DL/WDW vets so we know what we're getting into). We're a party of five. We're going 3 of those 5 days so we are getting 3-day parkhoppers and plan to upgrade to Flexpass with Maxpass on Dec 30. Those days happen to be Flexpass blackouts, but since we are using a 3 day hopper, we don't think there will be a problem upgrading on the third day as we are leaving the gates. My questions are 1) is there any issue with this, and 2) can I really upgrade and purchase Maxpass on the app rather than stand in a 1-2 hour line as we leave the park? I anticipate all lines that week to be madness. The website says you can but are there any catches I need to be aware of? Thanks

 

[sgrap]

We plan on going Dec 26-30 (*cring* we're DL/WDW vets so we know what we're getting into). We're a party of five. We're going 3 of those 5 days so we are getting 3-day parkhoppers and plan to upgrade to Flexpass with Maxpass on Dec 30. Those days happen to be Flexpass blackouts, but since we are using a 3 day hopper, we don't think there will be a problem upgrading on the third day as we are leaving the gates. My questions are 1) is there any issue with this, and 2) can I really upgrade and purchase Maxpass on the app rather than stand in a 1-2 hour line as we leave the park? I anticipate all lines that week to be madness. The website says you can but are there any catches I need to be aware of? Thanks

Do you have to go to get your physical card? That's what kept me from just upgrading online.

 

[starry_solo]

I agree with you. I have Signature and my husband has Deluxe. We expire in about 2 weeks. We can both get a Flex pass for the price of my Signature alone. I am still thinking it all over. I have the option to buy parking with the Flex pass if I renew, but it looks like I'd need to use the parking 8 times in the year to break even and I am not sure that I'd park that often. I never visit as much as I intend to.

The big discounts have been great with Signature, but I think I only visit about 6 days/year and I was pretty annoyed that my husband couldn't visit DL all summer, but people who paid less could. The visit counter is a joke. It says I visit way more than I do. I remember one year when I visited 11 times and it said I visit over 40 times. Even if it counted all of my park hopping as different visits. I know I didn't visit nearly as many times as it says that I did.

Wait, you have the option to purchase parking if you downgrade to the Flex? What's the price on that?

 

[AcuraTL]

We plan on going Dec 26-30 (*cring* we're DL/WDW vets so we know what we're getting into). We're a party of five. We're going 3 of those 5 days so we are getting 3-day parkhoppers and plan to upgrade to Flexpass with Maxpass on Dec 30. Those days happen to be Flexpass blackouts, but since we are using a 3 day hopper, we don't think there will be a problem upgrading on the third day as we are leaving the gates. My questions are 1) is there any issue with this, and 2) can I really upgrade and purchase Maxpass on the app rather than stand in a 1-2 hour line as we leave the park? I anticipate all lines that week to be madness. The website says you can but are there any catches I need to be aware of? Thanks

We purchased our tickets from UT (4 day hoppers with MP) and we upgraded on the last day on our way out using the App and the full amount including MP was credited towards the Flexpass as we only had to pay $169 more each. On our way out, we stop by the ticket booth to pick up our physical cards, or you could wait until your next visit to pick them up.

 

[coasternut22]

We purchased our tickets from UT (4 day hoppers with MP) and we upgraded on the last day on our way out using the App and the full amount including MP was credited towards the Flexpass as we only had to pay $169 more each. On our way out, we stop by the ticket booth to pick up our physical cards, or you could wait until your next visit to pick them up.

This is perfect as we prefer to purchase UT tickets. Right now they are advertising 4 day PH with MP for $410 (DL website is showing $380 + 60 = $440). So you mean to tell me that $440 will be applied towards the upgrade (which basically includes $60 in MP) and not just the $380? This is even better as we were debating paying for the $45 per person over three days for our trip. If it will get applied towards the $599 flex pass, then this is a no brainer. Thanks a lot for your post.

 

[AcuraTL]

This is perfect as we prefer to purchase UT tickets. Right now they are advertising 4 day PH with MP for $410 (DL website is showing $380 + 60 = $440). So you mean to tell me that $440 will be applied towards the upgrade (which basically includes $60 in MP) and not just the $380? This is even better as we were debating paying for the $45 per person over three days for our trip. If it will get applied towards the $599 flex pass, then this is a no brainer. Thanks a lot for your post.

You got it. I did research before our trip and confirmed if you purchase tickets with MP, the full amount will be credited towards the Flexpass. If you just buy hopper tickets and add MP per day, you will only get the hopper tickets value towards the Flexpass.

 

[pharmama]

Do you have to go to get your physical card? That's what kept me from just upgrading online.

You need the physical card for FP machines (if you’re not using MaxPass) but the big one is discounts. Policy is that you must show the physical card for dining and merch discounts. Some people report that the app has been accepted but it’s very hit or miss. The one “loophole” for dining is mobile ordering. If you mobile order from an app that has the AP scanned into it then you will be able to apply the AP dining discount to your mobile order.

 

[sgrap]

This is perfect as we prefer to purchase UT tickets. Right now they are advertising 4 day PH with MP for $410 (DL website is showing $380 + 60 = $440). So you mean to tell me that $440 will be applied towards the upgrade (which basically includes $60 in MP) and not just the $380? This is even better as we were debating paying for the $45 per person over three days for our trip. If it will get applied towards the $599 flex pass, then this is a no brainer. Thanks a lot for your post.

We just paid $340 for 5-day park hoppers through Last Minute Travel Club, and had the full price of $395 applied to our Flex Passes.