If you're prepared to pay the $10/person for Maxpass, it's way more convenient and totally worth it.
1. As soon as you scan into the park, regardless of whether the park is open yet or not, open the DL app on your phone.
So you're saying to go through all the steps of attaching MaxPass to each ticket before you go through the gates? Not actually booking a MP?
I was under the impression no one could acquire an actual MP for a ride until their ticket was scanned into one of the parks for the day.
2. In the main screen of the app (tap the Mickey icon at the bottom to get there) there will be a section titled "My Plans" and underneath that, "Get Maxpass."
3. Open that, and it will ask you to scan the barcodes on the tickets you are buying Maxpass for.
4. It will go through the whole $10/day charge and bill the cc on your account.
5. After you've paid, then you can "Book Fastpass" in that same "My Plans" section. You choose the tickets that want a fastpass, choose a park, and then it will give you a list of all of the available Maxpass rides and the return times. You click on a ride/return time, it will ask you to confirm you want that return time, you say yes, then under "My Plans" it will now show a fastpass for that ride/return time.
6. With Maxpass, you can book a new FP either when the return time window for your next booked fastpass opens, or 90 minutes later (not the 2 hours that paper fast passes have to wait.) So to leverage this the best, look for quick return times and book a couple of those in a row, and then book one that has a further return time. I.e. a few weeks ago, we went and got a 9:25 return time for HM, at 9:25 booked a 9:30 return time for BTMRR, and at 9:30 booked 10:30 return time for SM. If you're doing hoppers, you can do the same thing regardless of park, but you can't hold passes simultaneously at each park like you used to.
Nice example for everyone to use.
7. To get onto a ride with FP you have to scan your actual park ticket (either paper, or on the phone.) In our experience, the paper ticket in a clear ID holder on a lanyard was a lot faster at the scan checkpoints than a phone. They do not accept or issue paper fastpasses anymore.
In October we didn't use MP.
The FP machines issued a paper FP with the time info it had tied to our ticket.
This paper FP was only for info, to use FP at the ride the CM scanned our ticket.
8. If a ride goes down that you're holding a fastpass for, it will automatically convert to a "Multiple Experience" pass which is a general fastpass you can use for about anything - you'll see the ride options listed (usually excludes RSR, maybe GOTG, whatever.)
You still have the option to do paper fast passes like normal, but Maxpass is 100% worth the money especially if you have a lot you want to do in one day. If you personally aren't riding rides, you may not want to pay for Maxpass, but it will make coordinating a little more difficult if you want to ride a FP ride with them (you'll need a paper fastpass for same return time.)
Once you see it it's fairly self-explanatory!
