Max Pass for afternoon arrival

[Mabel67]

Hi,all!
We (two adults) will be arriving at the park around 2pm tomorrow. We plan to go directly to French Market to eat, grabbing a fastpass for Indy along the way. Is it worth it to get Maxpass for the remainder of the day? DL is open until midnight and CA until 11pm. I'm just wondering if there will still be enough fast passes available going into the evening to make it worthwhile. FWIW we will also be at parks using Maxpass on Tuesday and Thursday.

Maybe it would be best to just wander tomorrow, enjoying things as they come?

Thank you!

 

[Cactus girl]

YES! Do it! We arrived at 4 on Sunday and went to DL. We did so much more than I thought possible. A part of me really misses being a fast pass runner, but you may find you can grab some that open up in less than 30 minutes and just keep walking from ride to ride.

 

[mom2rtk]

You can wait until you get there and see which attractions still have FP left and what times they are issuing.

 

[MacMama0930]

You can wait until you get there and see which attractions still have FP left and what times they are issuing.

What she said. Max Pass value will be clear if you monitor the availability as you arrive via the app. Indy can run out of FP, although probably not for a late closing like that. But just check the app and see how many fast passes are available and that’ll tell you whether you should purchase it.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hard to say but probably not in your case.

 

[az4boys]

We (family of 6) arrived at 3:30pm on January 3rd and it was a pretty busy day. We have MP on our AP's and we were able to get several FP's that day that we wouldn't have been able to get with traditional FP. We got some for BTMRR for 4:10 when the kiosk was distributing much later. It is really hard to give advice on if it is worth it. If you are trying to get on a few FP rides, I would do it for $20. Disneyland is so expensive that the extra $20 for the added convenience is worth it (to me).

 

[ebenmax]

We (family of 6) arrived at 3:30pm on January 3rd and it was a pretty busy day. We have MP on our AP's and we were able to get several FP's that day that we wouldn't have been able to get with traditional FP. We got some for BTMRR for 4:10 when the kiosk was distributing much later. It is really hard to give advice on if it is worth it. If you are trying to get on a few FP rides, I would do it for $20. Disneyland is so expensive that the extra $20 for the added convenience is worth it (to me).

I’m not sure I really understand Max Pass.
How did you get a 4:10 FP for BTMRR when the kiosk was later? I thought it would be the same returns times only you get the advantage of not having to walk to the kiosk. You get FP from your phone. Can you choose the times for your pass using Max Pass?
Trying to get an understanding of the system before we go in June...
Thanks!!

 

[mom2rtk]

I’m not sure I really understand Max Pass.
How did you get a 4:10 FP for BTMRR when the kiosk was later? I thought it would be the same returns times only you get the advantage of not having to walk to the kiosk. You get FP from your phone. Can you choose the times for your pass using Max Pass?
Trying to get an understanding of the system before we go in June...
Thanks!!

Sometimes a person will cancel a FP on their account, and that goes back into the hopper for MaxPass users only. In the absence of cancellations, the kiosks and MP should be roughly the same.

 

[az4boys]

Sometimes a person will cancel a FP on their account, and that goes back into the hopper for MaxPass users only. In the absence of cancellations, the kiosks and MP should be roughly the same.

This. Both traditional and Maxpass FP users can cancel FP's, but only Maxpass users can pick up those cancellations. Later in the day I'll check what is available several times in a row to see if something will pop up.

 

[sherilaine]

For an extra $20 to add MP for 10 full hours in the park - I'd say go for it!!

 

[MonocularVision]

I’m not sure I really understand Max Pass.
How did you get a 4:10 FP for BTMRR when the kiosk was later? I thought it would be the same returns times only you get the advantage of not having to walk to the kiosk. You get FP from your phone. Can you choose the times for your pass using Max Pass?
Trying to get an understanding of the system before we go in June...
Thanks!!

The standard explanation is that people are cancelling their FPs. Personally, with the behavior we have observed, I am not sure that is always the case.

When we go to reserve via MaxPass, we (3-4 of us) will all go into the app at the same time to check FP availability. We will often all see wildly different times. And if you go back out and in, it can keep changing. Personally, my theory as a developer, is that you are getting different cached values on different servers. I also suspect that the pool of FPs for the standard system and pool for MP holders is maybe not entirely shared.

Regardless, your time will always be at least as good as the standard, posted times.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

The standard explanation is that people are cancelling their FPs. Personally, with the behavior we have observed, I am not sure that is always the case.

When we go to reserve via MaxPass, we (3-4 of us) will all go into the app at the same time to check FP availability. We will often all see wildly different times. And if you go back out and in, it can keep changing. Personally, my theory as a developer, is that you are getting different cached values on different servers. I also suspect that the pool of FPs for the standard system and pool for MP holders is maybe not entirely shared.

Regardless, your time will always be at least as good as the standard, posted times.

While there may be other explanations, we’ve actually watched our cancelled FPs pop up in the system from another phone (and they were gone by the next refresh). So that certainly is ONE reason, even if it’s not the only one.

 

[az4boys]

The standard explanation is that people are cancelling their FPs. Personally, with the behavior we have observed, I am not sure that is always the case.

When we go to reserve via MaxPass, we (3-4 of us) will all go into the app at the same time to check FP availability. We will often all see wildly different times. And if you go back out and in, it can keep changing. Personally, my theory as a developer, is that you are getting different cached values on different servers. I also suspect that the pool of FPs for the standard system and pool for MP holders is maybe not entirely shared.

Regardless, your time will always be at least as good as the standard, posted times.

I think one reason why several users will get wildly different times is that when you do a search and you are told there are fast passes available, you are putting a temporary hold on those fast passes so you have time to claim them. The next person (who could be standing next to you and searching just a fraction of a second off), will get whatever is available when they search, but it won't include the ones just offered to you.

Regardless of how exactly it works... it works. It is fun to see what you can get later in the day just by searching a few times in a row.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Yeah, I will often find passes for rides which have ended distribution for the day. And I always refresh if something isn’t convenient.

There isn’t a specific refresh option. The best way I’ve found is to go “Back” one page to where you select which park you want. Then reselect the park in question and see what times pop up for the pass.

Before I start searching I will check the overall map to see what time is currently being distributed so I know if the offered time is good or just the normal one.

 

[Linkura]

Yes, definitely. Worked great for us when we arrived around 12:30 on our arrival day. We were able to do HMH, ST, GG, BTMRR, and RR with FP, and did Splash and IJ with Single Rider by 6:30PM.

 

[disneylover102]

I would do it. Popular rides at Disneyland (Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, etc) should all be available at 2 PM and for a while after that too. At California Adventure, they may or may not be available for RSR but probably will for everything else. I would recommend getting MP because you’ll still have 10 hours in the park, and in getting MP you’ll be able to get a new FP every 90 minutes instead of every 2 hours.

 

[disneylover102]

Yes, definitely. Worked great for us when we arrived around 12:30 on our arrival day. We were able to do HMH, ST, GG, BTMRR, and RR with FP, and did Splash and IJ with Single Rider by 6:30PM.

Sorry to change the subject a little here, but how was the IJ single rider line? When we went in June it was horrible and the line never moved. Is it better now?

 

[Linkura]

Sorry to change the subject a little here, but how was the IJ single rider line? When we went in June it was horrible and the line never moved. Is it better now?

Nope. It was 30 min standby, took at least 30 minutes for SR. But at least we were warned by the CMs before we went to the SR line that it was going to be as long as standby.

Splash, though, was fantastic. I think there was a 45 minute standby wait. We didn't wait more than 15 and were in the same log.

 

[mfleeting]

It’s completely worth it. Our first day in November we got there about 1 and decided no fast pass let’s just have an easy day. We barely did anything and regretted not spending the money for max pass.

 

[Mabel67]

Thanks for the info everyone! We ended up not getting MaxPass our first day. Our flight was delayed, and then one piece of checked luggage was 'delayed' (by over 1.5 days!!), so we were later getting to the park than planned. Still had fun without it.