What is maxpass and do we need it?

[JENR]

We will be heading to Disneyland the end of April to the first week of May. We will have 4 day park hoppers and wanted to know what the maxpass is and do we need it? I am very familiar with Disneyworld as we go several times a year and we are annual pass holders but I am not familiar with Disneyland at all. We have only been once and that was 4 years ago.

Thank you.

 

[chickapin parterre]

do you like roller coasters and thrill attractions?

 

[Sue M]

We used it in Sept. it was great. You can make FPs on your phone thru app every 90 min. It was a huge time saver not having to criss cross the parks collecting paper FPs, and you can make a FP at either park, say your in DL and having lunch you can make a FP for an attraction at DCA. We go at rope drop and while in standby queue we’re making our first FP.
It Max Pass also includes photopass.

 

[ebharris]

This article was helpful to me:

https://disneylanddaily.com/a-fastpass-guide-for-disneyland-and-california-adventure/

Based on that, we are not going to get it on day #1 and then will see once we are there. At $10 a day x 4, x 5 days... $200 USD (I’m in canada) felt like too big of a hit, but maybe once we are there we will decide it’s necessary.

 

[DizneyMommy]

I would suggest getting at least one day! Use it for a day you either have charcacter meals scheduled, plan to visit characters a lot (Mickey and Minnie’s houses particularly) for the PhotoPass part of it, OR pack in the big rides that have longer waits and use the MaxPass for FastPasses to its fullest that one day, then standby or use old fashioned fastpasses the other days. You can still get a FP without it, you just have to walk over to the ride instead of using the app.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Also you can always buy it in just one phone if you just want the photos, that way it is only $10 and you can scan all of the photopass cards they give you into the one person’s account

 

[Disney Dudette]

I would suggest getting at least one day! Use it for a day you either have charcacter meals scheduled, plan to visit characters a lot (Mickey and Minnie’s houses particularly) for the PhotoPass part of it, OR pack in the big rides that have longer waits and use the MaxPass for FastPasses to its fullest that one day, then standby or use old fashioned fastpasses the other days. You can still get a FP without it, you just have to walk over to the ride instead of using the app.

Thanks for sharing this! I had no idea MaxPass included photopass. So, does this mean all of the photos from character meals and meet and greets are uploaded to your Disneyland App and then those photos can be downloaded for me to have printed myself somewhere? Or does it just put them all on my phone and I have to purchase each one that I want to have after that? Sorry, I am not really familiar with how photopass works!

 

[DizneyMommy]

Thanks for sharing this! I had no idea MaxPass included photopass. So, does this mean all of the photos from character meals and meet and greets are uploaded to your Disneyland App and then those photos can be downloaded for me to have printed myself somewhere? Or does it just put them all on my phone and I have to purchase each one that I want to have after that? Sorry, I am not really familiar with how photopass works!

Free downloads of everything! Only anything taken the day you paid for MaxPass though. It is waaaay cheaper than the WDW photo service! You can log in on your computer when you get home and download them there too. Make sure when you go to the character meals you tell them you have MaxPass and show them your phone with the app open and they will give you a code I think to get them. I haven’t done that yet but it sounds like that was other peoples’ Experience. For ride photos, you just need the code that shows on the screen with your photo and you enter that in the app.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

For the OP:
This thread will give you lots of helpful info, including some on FP at DLR and MP: A DLR Guide for WDW Vets.

 

[Disney Dudette]

Free downloads of everything! Only anything taken the day you paid for MaxPass though. It is waaaay cheaper than the WDW photo service! You can log in on your computer when you get home and download them there too. Make sure when you go to the character meals you tell them you have MaxPass and show them your phone with the app open and they will give you a code I think to get them. I haven’t done that yet but it sounds like that was other peoples’ Experience. For ride photos, you just need the code that shows on the screen with your photo and you enter that in the app.

Awesome! Thank you so much!

 

[DizMe]

I don't use it. I can see why it would be a great thing to have, I'm just not willing to spend the money. I just use the regular FP system and it works fine for us. If the money isn't a big deal, then it would be a nice thing to have. I'd just rather spend the $50/day on other things, plus I already have Photopass.

 

[8lovesmickey]

We decided to purchase it for our long weekend in April. It's just adults this time so we figure we'll spend the $30 each and see what we think! I do like the ride photos a lot, too, so that makes it even more worth it to us

 

[smartlabelprint]

Also you can always buy it in just one phone if you just want the photos, that way it is only $10 and you can scan all of the photopass cards they give you into the one person’s account

I highly DO NOT recommend this. The photopass photographers are quite limited. As pp said if you're doing a character meal or like to buy ride photos it’s a great deal though.

 

[smartlabelprint]

For others reading the thread I loved maxpass. We have 2 disabled toddlers. We wouldn’t really get to ride adult rides without maxpass. We just bought one to share. We couldn’t use rider swap. Kids couldn’t be patient enough. My sis also had one. While we were at nap we’d let her use our rides too. Toward afternoon We’d start collecting fp for one of us to use that night of one could go for a couple hours after bed. We also went one evening alone and used hers and ours.

 

[DizneyMommy]

I

I highly DO NOT recommend this. The photopass photographers are quite limited. As pp said if you're doing a character meal or like to buy ride photos it’s a great deal though.

I don’t understand? There aren’t photographers everywhere but one photo download alone costs more than the MaxPass, so it’s a killer deal. We’ve usually had a dozen or more photos on the days that our goal is characters. We’ve had photos taken at Mickey and Minnie’s house, the princesses, Frozen meet and greet, on both Main St and in front of Carthay Circle with characters, in front of the castle, in Car’s land when a car character comes out, and more.

 

[DizneyMommy]

For others reading the thread I loved maxpass. We have 2 disabled toddlers. We wouldn’t really get to ride adult rides without maxpass. We just bought one to share. We cousins use rider swap. Kids couldn’t be patient enough. My sis also had one. While we were at nap we’d let her use our rides too. Toward afternoon We’d start collecting fp for one of us to use that night of one could go for a couple hours after bed. We also went one evening alone and used hers and ours.

Sharing someone else’s MaxPass is not allowed, you cannot share ticket media. Maybe I read that wrong but I would recommend the OP not try that.

 

[8lovesmickey]

I

I don’t understand? There aren’t photographers everywhere but one photo download alone costs more than the MaxPass, so it’s a killer deal. We’ve usually had a dozen or more photos on the days that our goal is characters. We’ve had photos taken at Mickey and Minnie’s house, the princesses, Frozen meet and greet, on both Main St and in front of Carthay Circle with characters, in front of the castle, in Car’s land when a car character comes out, and more.

I agree- just one ride photo costs more than one Maxpass. We always grab the Main Street photographers on our way in, too. Also if you can find a photopass photographer in a less busy place, they will often take many pictures for you -- we basically had a ten minute photo session at the statue of Walt & Mickey in DCA. I think that time (before MaxPass) we paid like $80 for unlimited downloads. This seems like a deal!

 

[j9isawesome]

I

I don’t understand? There aren’t photographers everywhere but one photo download alone costs more than the MaxPass, so it’s a killer deal. We’ve usually had a dozen or more photos on the days that our goal is characters. We’ve had photos taken at Mickey and Minnie’s house, the princesses, Frozen meet and greet, on both Main St and in front of Carthay Circle with characters, in front of the castle, in Car’s land when a car character comes out, and more.

A lot of people are very upset that there is no longer a photopass photographer scheduled to be inside the Princess Fantasy Fair meet or Anna & Elsa’s meet. That said there are still photopass photographers on main st, in front of the castle, in carsland, along Hollywood Blvd, with MANY characters & sprinkled all around the parks on busier days. My husband and I usually end up with 10-50 photos from photopass photographers each day of our trips. So imo it’s easily still worth $10 for the free photopass alone even if you don’t care about ride photos

 

[DizneyMommy]

A lot of people are very upset that there is no longer a photopass photographer scheduled to be inside the Princess Fantasy Fair meet or Anna & Elsa’s meet. That said there are still photopass photographers on main st, in front of the castle, in carsland, along Hollywood Blvd, with MANY characters & sprinkled all around the parks on busier days. My husband and I usually end up with 10-50 photos from photopass photographers each day of our trips. So imo it’s easily still worth $10 for the free photopass alone even if you don’t care about ride photos

We had one in both places in January and March. Maybe it’s a seasonal thing?

 

[smartlabelprint]

We had one in both places in January and March. Maybe it’s a seasonal thing?

The theories I’ve read as to why there are less photopass photographers suggest that they’ve taken them away to discourage purchasing the maxpass simply for photos. It’s not seasonal.