*No longer relevant* (Maxpass/Fastpass: an overview and some strategy)

[Etonduf]

Once I went maxpass, I'll never go back

I think if I were going solo, or with a group of (adult) friends who wanted to take advantage of single-rider lines, I'd be fine skipping maxpass. But with two kids in tow, we want to ride together--and spouse and I don't want to spend valuable family time being FP runners. We like that MP gives us a way to structure our day and make it more predictable for our kids, but still gives us freedom to roam without worrying about physical proximity to the next kiosk. We don't measure our trip by how many rides we take, but I am confident that we ride a lot more with MP than we would without it.

We wouldn't both to pay for ride photos or pictures from the CM photographers, but we happily take advatnage of that with MP and find that it adds value.

 

[Etonduf]

I think it's especially worth it if you don't know the parks well. We would have lost a lot of time trying to find the kiosks, I think, especially on our first day, when it was the first trip for 9/10 of us, and I hadn't been there in 20 years.

That said, it is 100% a luxury and not a must have. We just prefer it. Booking FPs while in line is delightful, and we got SO MANY PHOTOS, which I love. It was nice to actually be in some of them, too!

This is also a great point. My first trip as an adult (having gone once as a small child), I felt like I couldn't take very good advantage of the fastpass kiosks because I simply didn't know the layout well. That was before I found disboards, so it would be much less of a factor now. People could offset that pretty easily by learning from posts by people like @BadPinkTink and others who lay out good strategies.

 

[asumom]

The ones I use are

1. Star Tours
2. Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run

Indiana Jones does have single rider but any time I have tried the wait time was not fast, and I gave up.

The full list from Disney website is

1. Goofy's Sky School
2. Grizzley River Run
3. Incredicoaster
4. Indiana Jones
5. Matterhorn
6. Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run
7. Radiator Springs
8. Space Mountain
9. Splash Mountain
10. Star Tours

We haven't been to Disneyland in a few years and I know things change. . Is there a map or list showing the location of the fast pass kiosks?

 

[BadPinkTink]

We haven't been to Disneyland in a few years and I know things change. . Is there a map or list showing the location of the fast pass kiosks?

Usually they are beside the rides, or very nearby, you can't miss them. They have signs above them and will show the Return Time.

Just look on the Disneyland Map for the ride and when you get to the entrance you will see the kiosks.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Interesting, you did 16 rides with Maxpass, I average 20 rides a day, without Maxpass.

That’s a pretty good average. I tried to recreate my trip from memory, and believe that we got 17 MaxPass rides at DL on 12/29 and 15 at DCA on 12/31. We of course also did several rides and shows in both parks that don’t have MP.

Total attractions at DL was 30+ and 20+ at DCA. We arrived two hours after opening time both days, and left DCA over 2 hours before closing time.

No way would we have had this type of result without MaxPass.

 

[roctavia]

I didn't see this in the main max pass thread, but... If we are adding max pass to our tickets, can you do that in advance anywhere or only once you've scanned into the park for the day? Can you add it once you enter for early morning magic or do you have to wait until official park open? Just trying to figure out how to be efficient

 

[mouschievous]

@roctavia , you can't do it in advance but you can do it as soon as you've scanned in. One morning, we didn't have MM but we did have an early dining reservation and I was able to add it as soon as we scanned in for our 7 something A.M. dining reservation.

 

[Beck & the Beast]

I didn't see this in the main max pass thread, but... If we are adding max pass to our tickets, can you do that in advance anywhere or only once you've scanned into the park for the day? Can you add it once you enter for early morning magic or do you have to wait until official park open? Just trying to figure out how to be efficient

If you want to add it for all days of your trip, you can link your tickets in the app and add MaxPass on ahead of time. If you only want to do single days, you have to wait until you’ve been scanned into the park each day.

 

[roctavia]

@roctavia , you can't do it in advance but you can do it as soon as you've scanned in. One morning, we didn't have MM but we did have an early dining reservation and I was able to add it as soon as we scanned in for our 7 something A.M. dining reservation.

Can you add it from the App once you're scanned in, or do you need to go to a ticket booth somewhere?

 

[Disneypro1]

You can still use FP like always if not maxx pass correct? Last time we went my park ticket was FP. (2018) The machine gave me a reminder.... I was able to get at least 10FP that day in early July.

 

[mouschievous]

@roctavia yep, just add in the app. We never visited a ticket booth and we added it all 3 days we were there.

 

[Disneypro1]

Interesting, you did 16 rides with Maxpass, I average 20 rides a day, without Maxpass.

Yes. We do very well also with normal FP. Just have to be where you want to ride at the moment you can get another FP. It works very well!!

 

[chickapin parterre]

when you go grocery shopping and only have 6 items to purchase, do you still stand in line for a checker or do you use the self check-out?

I also was very skeptical...but on December 9th the busiest non-holiday of the year for 2019 it saved our party of 6 and allowed for the adult children to board other attractions while we chose more adult friendly maxpass attractions. And as the end of the day approached, more attractions were available to us via Maxpass then standing in line .

As a single visitor, I would not use Maxpass because my choices are my own and I know the lay-out of how the lands and fastpass work.

so do you use fastpass checker at the grocery store at the discretion of the store management or self-check out to max out the time for the rest of the day?

 

[BadPinkTink]

when you go grocery shopping and only have 6 items to purchase, do you still stand in line for a checker or do you use the self check-out?

Irrelevant, as there is no extra cost to me , the consumer to use one or the other.

There is an extra cost to use Maxpass.

But to answer your question, yes I have stood in line for the checker instead of using the self service check out.

 

[Disneypro1]

Irrelevant, as there is no extra cost to me , the consumer to use one or the other.

There is an extra cost to use Maxpass.

But to answer your question, yes I have stood in line for the checker instead of using the self service check out.

Agreed. If one uses FP as they should. They will get more FP than using max pass. I am not opposed to it. I just find FP easier to use and hey. It’s free. 15.00 for 4 of us is still 60.00. I like being a FP runner. It’s fun and I get satisfaction in doing it. Knowing how to best use FP is the strategy. If you use it right. You can get 15-20 FP all day everyday. And in the end. 60.00 is a lot of money not to throw away. And that’s just one day. Going 3 days or so. That adds up.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Agreed. If one uses FP as they should. They will get more FP than using max pass. I am not opposed to it. I just find FP easier to use and hey. It’s free. 15.00 for 4 of us is still 60.00. I like being a FP runner. It’s fun and I get satisfaction in doing it. Knowing how to best use FP is the strategy. If you use it right. You can get 15-20 FP all day everyday. And in the end. 60.00 is a lot of money not to throw away. And that’s just one day. Going 3 days or so. That adds up.

Not sure I completely agree. On busy days, traditional FP distribution will eventually end but MaxPass goes on and on.

 

[chickapin parterre]

Not sure I completely agree. On busy days, traditional FP distribution will eventually end but MaxPass goes on and on.

......and that is the crucial observation....Maxpass goes on and on..............

 

[alvernon90]

Not sure if it's still possible, but one of our favorite uses of MP was repeat rides for rides with immediate FP return windows. Using MP you could book a FP for whatever ride has the immediate return window, then use it immediately, and book another one while waiting to board. Get off ride, get back in FP return line, rinse and repeat. Only worked for part of the day, but great fun when it did. Has Disney closed that loophole?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We haven't been to Disneyland in a few years and I know things change. . Is there a map or list showing the location of the fast pass kiosks?

The paper maps (free at the turnstiles and at the Information Kiosks) show which rides have FP -- usually the machines are near the ride entrance, but you can always ask the CMs at the ride to show you where the FP machine is located. Sometimes the machine is across the way, sometimes it is further away -- never be afraid to ask!

 

[Indiana Scott]

According to my phone, MP saves us roughly 1.5 miles of walking every day.
That alone makes it invaluable to us!