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

[Tinkerbell19672]

Reporting back, by phone while on the road ( please forgive the typos ):

I forgot to try this until 4 PM on Thursday. While in line for the Matterhorn Bobsleds, I booked a reservation for Saturday, July 6th, a third consecutive day. I was entirely successful booking a reservation for both parks. So, while I didn’t do it first thing in the morning after passing through the turn styles, I didn’t have to wait until Friday morning. hope this helps!

Thanks so much, that’s great news!

 

[kristensideaoffun]

Thanks so much, that’s great news!

I had a similar experience today. I have a reservation for both parks today and tomorrow. I forgot to make a new reservation right when I entered DL this morning at 8am, but was able to make a new reservation for both parks when I remembered at around 9:30am.

 

[Cookiemonster156]

I dont know how it happened, but my brother went to Disneyland yesterday with only California reserved on the app. The first thing he did was pick up the physical passes at the ticket booth and change the expiration date to July 4th.

He mentioned a supervisor helped him out, but Im not sure if they gave him a blackout pass or added a reservation for them. Discounts, maxpass, and other AP perks worked as intended during the day as well.

Update: Supervisor added a Disneyland reservation to the existing California reservation. Physical pass was used at both park entrances to enter.

 

[Katiebird]

I had a similar experience today. I have a reservation for both parks today and tomorrow. I forgot to make a new reservation right when I entered DL this morning at 8am, but was able to make a new reservation for both parks when I remembered at around 9:30am.

This seems to be inconsistent. We’re here now, with reservations for today and yesterday. All day yesterday I was unable to make a new reservation, until this morning. It still showed the 7th and 8th as reservations all day yesterday.

However now today, the 8th has fallen off and it will let me make a new reservation. As of this morning I had reservations for the 8th and 11th and it’s letting me make another.

 

[Seaera]

Yes, however, your Flex Pass will be activated when you make a reservation. So your Fast Pass will expire 1 year from the day you make your first reservation, as opposed to 1 year from the first day you use your pass in the park.

I just got off the phone with a cast member and she told me that the expiry date would be a year from when you first enter the park.
I wanted to make sure of the expiration date as I want to be able to use for a trip next summer as well. Can anyone confirm this that has activated their pass and used already?

 

[Katiebird]

I just got off the phone with a cast member and she told me that the expiry date would be a year from when you first enter the park.
I wanted to make sure of the expiration date as I want to be able to use for a trip next summer as well. Can anyone confirm this that has activated their pass and used already?

I bought and made a reservation on the same day, and then activated 3 days later (July 5 and July 7). My pass started on day of purchase/reservation.

The CM said they’ve been asking the higher ups to change that, so it’s possible it could change. CMs also have the ability to change the dates, so some might get lucky.

I’m not sure what happens if your purchase/reservation dates aren’t the same.

 

[laugard]

Hmm. I'm going this week and originally planned to buy a park hopper and upgrade at the end of the day to ensure my expiration date was the same as when I first used the pass. But then I saw MrLincoln's post where he was able to have the expiration date changed from his purchase/reservation date to the use date when he first used it in the park. That, along with the fact reservations seem easy to get for this week, made me think I should just purchase the Flex beforehand so I could take full advantage of it. Now I'm not too sure. I realize it's only a difference of a few days (or even one, if I do it the day before), but that's actually the difference between a possible Friday or Saturday reservation in 2020 before the pass expires. I'll be curious to see if anyone else posts about their experience with Flex Pass expiration.

 

[gpjacobs]

Hmm. I'm going this week and originally planned to buy a park hopper and upgrade at the end of the day to ensure my expiration date was the same as when I first used the pass. But then I saw MrLincoln's post where he was able to have the expiration date changed from his purchase/reservation date to the use date when he first used it in the park. That, along with the fact reservations seem easy to get for this week, made me think I should just purchase the Flex beforehand so I could take full advantage of it. Now I'm not too sure. I realize it's only a difference of a few days (or even one, if I do it the day before), but that's actually the difference between a possible Friday or Saturday reservation in 2020 before the pass expires. I'll be curious to see if anyone else posts about their experience with Flex Pass expiration.

My husband and I are in the same boat. We planned to buy ParkHoppers then upgrade ... but then we realized we'd be missing out on dining and merchandise discounts. We have time before our trip and will be watching this thread closely!

 

[mamapenguin]

I just got off the phone with a cast member and she told me that the expiry date would be a year from when you first enter the park.
I wanted to make sure of the expiration date as I want to be able to use for a trip next summer as well. Can anyone confirm this that has activated their pass and used already?

The other APs work like that. I called because I couldn’t decide and then ended up buying Deluxe. Mine show expiring 365 from purchase date. CM said that will change when I activate in September. I hope so, because that’s how my WDW AP worked.

 

[pblack]

The other APs work like that. I called because I couldn’t decide and then ended up buying Deluxe. Mine show expiring 365 from purchase date. CM said that will change when I activate in September. I hope so, because that’s how my WDW AP worked.

That is how our Deluxe APs worked last November. I had bought one of them a month or so prior.

 

[GatorChris]

Man, I'm tempted to get this pass for next year. I'll have a lot more flexibility to go each weekday in the summer while my kids are off. But there's always the risk, isn't there? Plus the hassle of only securing two days at a time and then hoping I can get another day once I'm in the park. Not very magical. And I'd be chewing my fingernails to bits wondering if the hotel reservations I made for, say, a 5 day trip will be worth it. Ugh.

 

[pharmama]

Hmm. I'm going this week and originally planned to buy a park hopper and upgrade at the end of the day to ensure my expiration date was the same as when I first used the pass. But then I saw MrLincoln's post where he was able to have the expiration date changed from his purchase/reservation date to the use date when he first used it in the park. That, along with the fact reservations seem easy to get for this week, made me think I should just purchase the Flex beforehand so I could take full advantage of it. Now I'm not too sure. I realize it's only a difference of a few days (or even one, if I do it the day before), but that's actually the difference between a possible Friday or Saturday reservation in 2020 before the pass expires. I'll be curious to see if anyone else posts about their experience with Flex Pass expiration.

My husband and I are in the same boat. We planned to buy ParkHoppers then upgrade ... but then we realized we'd be missing out on dining and merchandise discounts. We have time before our trip and will be watching this thread closely!

If you know you're going to get the pass the main reason I see to purchase PH's first and then upgrade is if you are going to purchase discount tickets (like from LMT Club) that will hopefully be price bridged to full gate price for your AP. So for example, the current LMT Club price for a 5 day PH is $339.54 whereas the gate price is $395. If you are indeed credited the full $395 for your AP upgrade when you only paid $339.54 you basically just saved $55 on your AP. All that said, price bridging is not guaranteed. But worst case you will still be credited what you actually paid so nothing really to "lose". It has been my experience (on 4 different occasions including a Flex Pass upgrade in May) and others on this board that price bridging does occur on LMT Club tickets and possibly some other discount tickets.

The only other small benefit would be if you are purchasing 3 day or more PH's then you will get 1 Magic Morning (but you'll need to use it before you upgrade).

 

[jodywgirl]

So I will be coming to Disneyland in a couple of weeks.
I have already bought my 4 day park hopper ticket.
I just found out that I am going to be in the Anaheim area again in November and January.
Some of the days I would be there I would need to make reservations
Does anyone have any idea how easy it is going to get reservations on the Flex Pass.
And if you get a reservation for DL and CA is open can you park hop.

Also if I decide to convert my ticket do I have to do it before I enter the park on my last day.

 

[ddwlms]

Convert anytime on your last day. Earlier in the day to get the 10% discount.

We upgraded on the afternoon of June 27th and were able to get a reservation for the very next day. --But they will have sold more passes by then (more people potentially vying for the same allotment of reservations.) And if your days are Thanksgiving break they might have less reservation slots available. (Christmas break is blocked.)

When you reserve, you can pick one park or both. We picked both, just in case we wanted to hop, and got it. -so I imagine that if you pick both and don't get it, that you can try for one or the other.

 

[laugard]

Hi. Just wanted to give an update regarding my experience buying and using the Flex Pass this weekend. I purchased the pass online on Thu, 7/11, the day before my expected visit. I immediately made reservations for both parks for Fri, 7/12 and Sat, 7/13 for me and another person linked on my account. Making the reservations was was super easy. At that point, the AP expiration was showing as 7/10/20.

Lines were long at the ticket booth in the morning, so I ended up just scanning my printout at the gate and getting the temporary 1-day ticket, which was fine for getting my discounts. Later when I went back to the booth, I explained I wanted to get my permanent pass and also make sure the expiration date was updated. The cast member immediately said, "Oh yes, your expiration will be based on your first day in the park!"

The CM did her thing and then showed me a printout which showed the expiration as 7/10/20, explaining the date was different because of leap year. But I pointed out that it should still be 7/11, since my first day in the park was 7/12. She immediately agreed and couldn't understand why it stayed at 7/10. She tried to correct in the system, but couldn't do it. However, she called a supervisor over who easily updated it in the computer and corrected it for the pass and printout. So getting it correct required a minor extra step, but both of them 100% expected the pass expiration to be based on usage, first not purchase.

As an aside, I know a lot will depend on how popular the pass and reservations become moving forward. (And DL is definitely promoting the Flex Pass - it's up everywhere on the ticket booths.) But at least for now, I am loving it. For the people it suits well, it's really a nice option, especially when compared to the SoCal Select Pass and its blocked days. Will be curious to see if my October and December reservations are as easy to come by!

 

[Jperiod]

First day today and we had LMT Club 5 day hoppers bought before the price increase. It wouldn't let us upgrade through the app and said to see a ticket booth. Since we didn't want to exit and stand at the booth and loose precious morning ride time, we purchased MP on the app. When we left, we visited the ticket booth to upgrade. They only gave me a credit of $370 per ticket (the gate price at the time I bought my hoppers, before the increase) and they had to get a lead to approve my MP refund, even though I had the receipt in my email and I explained I would've upgraded through the app this morning, but it wouldn't give me the option.

So sadly, I didn't save $75 per pass like I was hopping when I bought the tickets in January, but I still saved the same as other LMT club tickets are saving now.

My expiration date is 7/12/20, 365 days from today, the date I first used my hoppers.

 

[Minnie84]

Just wondering for those who have purchased a Flex Pass, is the expiration date after 366 days like other APs. For example, our deluxe AP was first used November 12, 2018 and good until and includes November 12, 2019. I know next year is a leap year so it would actually be, for example, Nov. 2, 2019- Nov 1, 2020. But is it active for a 366 day period?

 

[mamapenguin]

It’s 365 including Deluxe. I just talked to a CM on the phone about it last week and others here have reported the same. So because of leap year the start and expiration date are not the same.

 

[sgrap]

Are people having luck with it being adjusted to a year from the first date of use instead of the date of purchase?

 

[Katiebird]

Are people having luck with it being adjusted to a year from the first date of use instead of the date of purchase?

Mine was 365 from when I made the first reservation, not purchase.