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

[twodogs]

Lets hope that "Flex" really stands for flexibility that gives passholders more control over their usage and that they don't make the mistake of pricing it out of most people's grasp. That doesn't benefit them either if people aren't willing to pay for it.

I always laugh at the title of this thread because to me the "flex" that this pass requires is flexibility of the PASSHOLDER, not of DLR. DLR can be completely inflexible, cutting off entry/reservations whenever they want. The passholder has be flexible to not be allowed entry on a day that they want to enter, because they got this pass for a lower price than a pass that lets the passholder be completely inflexible (Sig Plus).

 

[cruisehopeful]

My Signature expires 9/16. I just renewed online as a FlexPass. It says my Flexpass will start the day after my Signature expires. As lovely as that is, I want to make a reservation for 9/29 and I see no way to do this. Does anyone have any insight as to how I can make a reservation for 9/29 or do I have to wait until my Signature expires to make the reservation as my Flex Pass?

Reply to self, lol. My AP page has now been updated and I am able to make a reservation. It shows my Sig expiring and then renewing as Flex.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Reply to self, lol. My AP page has now been updated and I am able to make a reservation. It shows my Sig expiring and then renewing as Flex.

Thanks for updating. We’re contemplating renewing my husband as a Flex (which is why I’ve been actively following this), so I have been curious how a Signature-to-Flex renewal works.

 

[embracejg]

No faster option. Try the ticket booths in the evening-like after dinner. Sometimes the lines can be short after park closing too but they usually only have a few windows open so it can still be slow.

Unfortunately I have to do this around early afternoon as that's when I'm arriving. Heading straight to the park after flying into SNA. Fingers crossed it's not too bad around then.

If they are really serious about making the Flex Pass the future and moving to a reservation system to control the Passholders they need offer varying tiers of Flex Passes and make them appeal to everyone. Keep something like the current one that appeals to locals (have additional tiers/options/prices for more or less days or longer reservation periods, etc.). Have other types that allow for more than 2 days at a time (but make them consecutive or within a 7-14 day period) and allow reservations further out for people that are traveling to DLR and have to make other advance planning (flights, hotels, cars, etc.).

What I really want is a WDW version of this pass, but that wouldn't make much sense for Disney.

 

[pharmama]

Unfortunately I have to do this around early afternoon as that's when I'm arriving. Heading straight to the park after flying into SNA. Fingers crossed it's not too bad around then.

You don’t need the physical card to enter the parks. They can scan it from the app. You only need the physical card for regular FastPass and for discounts. You can at least get AP dining discounts at locations with mobile ordering if you order thru the app on an account with an AP. Maybe all that will allow you to put off the ticket booths a bit if lines are long when you arrive?

 

[Rich M]

Anybody have an "optimal time" (least wait to a ticket booth CM)? Better yet, several "optimal times"...eg. 7am, 9 pm, etc. I have to make a trip in with the family to the ticket windows to get my upgrade done and I live about 80 minutes away. Evening optimal times would be most appreciated.

I think it also depends when you plan to come to do it. I am at Disneyland now and yesterday around 1 PM there was nobody in line at the ticket booths on the DTD side. I would suspect on the weekends it will be more crowded. One thing to note when talking to the front desk of my hotel they said they have seen a spike in reservations for when the Halloween Parties start. As of yesterday all but one was sold out.

 

[Rich M]

Wanted to update my question about the AP popcorn bucket. We were able to successfully purchase one with having the FlexPass.

 

[gillep]

Does anyone know if you can get the AP merchandise and discounts by showing the AP as active on your phone without having the physical card?

 

[pharmama]

Does anyone know if you can get the AP merchandise and discounts by showing the AP as active on your phone without having the physical card?

They are supposed to ask for the physical card and not accept the app. That said, sometimes people get lucky and the app is accepted, but I wouldn’t count on it.

The exception is that if you mobile order food from an app/account with an AP it will apply the AP discount to your order.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Does anyone know if you can get the AP merchandise and discounts by showing the AP as active on your phone without having the physical card?

In my experience they always want to see the actual pass. I am also asked for my drivers license at the same time.

 

[AndrewC]

I can't believe that Both parks are showing as unavailable at 4:30 PM. I am not as shocked about them closing off DL, but CA Adventure too? Except for a couple of rides, the wait times there do not seem that awful.

This would be a rough issue if you’re park hopping. You could exit Disney with an existing reservation for DCA and then not be able to re-enter Disneyland because it’s unavailable. If you didn’t check ahead of time you could exit BOTH parks and be screwed stuck in the middle waiting for reservations to become available again.

I think if you scan in once you should be able to jump back and forth all day and maybe only be considered “gone” (and thus needing a new reservation) if you’ve been out of both parks for like 2+ hours.

I assume “good to go” days never suddenly change to “unavailable”, right?

 

[pharmama]

This would be a rough issue if you’re park hopping. You could exit Disney with an existing reservation for DCA and then not be able to re-enter Disneyland because it’s unavailable. If you didn’t check ahead of time you could exit BOTH parks and be screwed stuck in the middle waiting for reservations to become available again.

I think if you scan in once you should be able to jump back and forth all day and maybe only be considered “gone” (and thus needing a new reservation) if you’ve been out of both parks for like 2+ hours.

This isn’t how the Flex Pass works. You don’t need a new reservation to re-enter a park on the same day no matter how long you’ve been out of a park. So if you make a “Both Parks” reservation for a certain day, your AP does function like a park hopper ticket for the day.

The reservations switching to unavailable in the afternoon/evening would only affect a Flex Pass holder who never had a reservation for that day at all but decided that afternoon/evening that they wanted to go to the parks (in other words, a local).

A situation where you could be stuck in the Esplanade unable to re-enter would only occur if there was a capacity gate closure at the park you were trying to re-enter and would not be reservation related.

I assume “good to go” days never suddenly change to “unavailable”, right?

I don’t believe any “good to go” days have switched to reservation required thus far. This would constitute a change to the blockout calendar which, while something Disney has shown they’re willing to do, is usually accompanied with more announcement.

 

[gillep]

They are supposed to ask for the physical card and not accept the app. That said, sometimes people get lucky and the app is accepted, but I wouldn’t count on it.

The exception is that if you mobile order food from an app/account with an AP it will apply the AP discount to your order.

In my experience they always want to see the actual pass. I am also asked for my drivers license at the same time.

Thank you both, we have always had the physical card in the past so I wasn't sure. We will figure out how to swing by a ticket booth to get the card.

 

[Rich M]

Just wanted to add a note today about adding the MaxPass on to your flex pass. I know there is a lot of people who go back and forth on the value it brings when the park is not crowded but I can tell you after being there on Tuesday and Wednesday when it was completely empty that the MP is still worth every penny even on non busy days. Even on a ride with 10 or 15 minute wait it becomes a walk on and in a lot of cases at least saves you some extra steps which at Disney can be worth everything. We got in the park on Tuesday around 10:45 AM and by 12:45 we had already used 5 FP and had a 6 for when we were going to return after our mid day break. We ended up with 13 FP throughout the whole day and even closed the day with 2 anytime FP from Space Mountain breaking down twice. I can not stress that for me the MP will be a plus and forever will be a game changer for our Disneyland experience. I highly recommend everyone adding to there Flex Pass. Remember you just need to use it for 10 park days to get your money's worth but honestly even if I wouldn't get 10 visits I would still want it.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Just wanted to add a note today about adding the MaxPass on to your flex pass. I know there is a lot of people who go back and forth on the value it brings when the park is not crowded but I can tell you after being there on Tuesday and Wednesday when it was completely empty that the MP is still worth every penny even on non busy days. Even on a ride with 10 or 15 minute wait it becomes a walk on and in a lot of cases at least saves you some extra steps which at Disney can be worth everything. We got in the park on Tuesday around 10:45 AM and by 12:45 we had already used 5 FP and had a 6 for when we were going to return after our mid day break. We ended up with 13 FP throughout the whole day and even closed the day with 2 anytime FP from Space Mountain breaking down twice. I can not stress that for me the MP will be a plus and forever will be a game changer for our Disneyland experience. I highly recommend everyone adding to there Flex Pass. Remember you just need to use it for 10 park days to get your money's worth but honestly even if I wouldn't get 10 visits I would still want it.

Totally agree with everything you said but have one small correction to add. You only need 7 visits to make the MaxPass pay off because the daily price is $15 and the annual pass add-on price is $100.

 

[Rich M]

Totally agree with everything you said but have one small correction to add. You only need 7 visits to make the MaxPass pay off because the daily price is $15 and the annual pass add-on price is $100.

Thank you for that correction. I thought it was $10 when I added it to my 3 day park hopper prior to upgrading to the Flex Pass. So I am way ahead now.

 

[EmJ]

This isn’t how the Flex Pass works. You don’t need a new reservation to re-enter a park on the same day no matter how long you’ve been out of a park. So if you make a “Both Parks” reservation for a certain day, your AP does function like a park hopper ticket for the day.

The reservations switching to unavailable in the afternoon/evening would only affect a Flex Pass holder who never had a reservation for that day at all but decided that afternoon/evening that they wanted to go to the parks (in other words, a local).

A situation where you could be stuck in the Esplanade unable to re-enter would only occur if there was a capacity gate closure at the park you were trying to re-enter and would not be reservation related.



I don’t believe any “good to go” days have switched to reservation required thus far. This would constitute a change to the blockout calendar which, while something Disney has shown they’re willing to do, is usually accompanied with more announcement.

Are changes to the blockout calendar common? That would HUGELY affect my plans to upgrade to a FlexPass and, frankly, to return to DL at all in 2021, as we have planning to upgrade our 5 day tickets at the end of our late-March 2020 trip to be able to visit again in early March 2021.

Of course, I know that the blockout dates for March 2021 aren’t available yet and will check them before we buy, but if it stays the same as March 2020, all the days we would go are “good to go” days.

 

[pharmama]

Are changes to the blockout calendar common? That would HUGELY affect my plans to upgrade to a FlexPass and, frankly, to return to DL at all in 2021, as we have planning to upgrade our 5 day tickets at the end of our late-March 2020 trip to be able to visit again in early March 2021.

Of course, I know that the blockout dates for March 2021 aren’t available yet and will check them before we buy, but if it stays the same as March 2020, all the days we would go are “good to go” days.

They are not common, I would not stress about this. The last big change they actually ADDED days to some lower level passes in early June of 2018 and announced it just a few weeks beforehand. I'm sure you can find threads here about it. Lots of non AP folks here we really upset because they had planned their dates based on a bunch of passes being blocked out and then the tables turned...

 

[EmJ]

They are not common, I would not stress about this. The last big change they actually ADDED days to some lower level passes in early June of 2018 and announced it just a few weeks beforehand. I'm sure you can find threads here about it. Lots of non AP folks here we really upset because they had planned their dates based on a bunch of passes being blocked out and then the tables turned...

Okay whew. I spent a good part of the drive into work telling DH about all the stuff I want to do in 2021. He was all, “You mean when we go in March?” And I said, “No, in 2021. Like in two years from now.”

I’m lucky he humors me

 

[taaren]

A question for other Flex passholders (and passholders in general): what's the fastest way to get your physical pass? I upgraded my 3-day ticket to a Flex pass through the Disneyland app when I was there in June and I'm making my first trip back soon. Am I stuck just waiting in line at the ticket booths to get my actual pass or is there some faster option?

We're going to upgrade a 3 day ticket with Maxpass to a Flex pass with Maxpass this weekend ... I didn't know you could do it on the app. Can you do monthly payments on the app? Would be great to skip the booth altogether this trip.