MaxPass before park opens?

[disneylover102]

I know that to use MaxPass you have to have entered the park for the day. We always get there plenty before the park opens and they generally let us in 30 minutes early and hold us back at some point. Can you reserve MaxPass during this 30 minutes? (For example, with an 8 AM opening, if I was let in at 7:30 AM, could I get a FP on the app at 7:30 AM or 8 AM?)

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

You can obtain a fastpass through MaxPass before the park opens once you have passed through the gates. I believe the earliest return time will be 1/2 hour after official opening time.

 

[midnight star]

Yes, as long as they scan your ticket at the turnstile. When I went in December, we were towards the front of the main gate line, and they scanned our tickets (around 7:40am ish). We were able to reserve max pass for an 8:30am return time for Space mountain.

 

[poptart90]

Yep, I've reserved 30 minutes before...if not earlier. Once you get through the turnstiles, I'd check immediately to see if you can book.

 

[Little E]

Forgive my ignorance...I'm WDW vet but a DL newbie and still trying to wrap my brain around MaxPass. This summer, we are checking in to DL Hotel in the afternoon, and not hitting the parks til the next morning. We are only in the parks two days, so I want to be able to enjoy as much as possible and not get hung up trying to figure out how to get MaxPass. If I'm understanding correctly, I can't purchase MaxPass at guest services or at DL Hotel when we check in, I need to purchase when we get to the par?. If we go early, like OP has outlined, 7:30 am for an 8 am opening, can we purchase MaxPass at 7:30 when we arrive, or do we have to wait until park opening?

TIA for you help!

 

[mom2rtk]

Forgive my ignorance...I'm WDW vet but a DL newbie and still trying to wrap my brain around MaxPass. This summer, we are checking in to DL Hotel in the afternoon, and not hitting the parks til the next morning. We are only in the parks two days, so I want to be able to enjoy as much as possible and not get hung up trying to figure out how to get MaxPass. If I'm understanding correctly, I can't purchase MaxPass at guest services or at DL Hotel when we check in, I need to purchase when we get to the par?. If we go early, like OP has outlined, 7:30 am for an 8 am opening, can we purchase MaxPass at 7:30 when we arrive, or do we have to wait until park opening?

TIA for you help!

Unless you purchased the tickets from Disney directly with MaxPass already added, you have to wait until you scan into the parks for the day. It's not a big deal though. Just make sure you have a CC added to your account on the app ahead of time and know the 3 digit code and you'll be fine.

 

[Little E]

@mom2rtk Thanks! I did purchase tickets directly from Disney...they are part of our package with the DL Hotel. We don't go to DL til July. Can I call Disney and add MaxPass now to our tickets, or do I have to purchase them after we scan in to the parks on our first day there? It seems like it would be easier and more efficient to purchase them now from Disney so they are part of our package, but I don't know if I can do that?

 

[mom2rtk]

@mom2rtk Thanks! I did purchase tickets directly from Disney...they are part of our package with the DL Hotel. We don't go to DL til July. Can I call Disney and add MaxPass now to our tickets, or do I have to purchase them after we scan in to the parks on our first day there? It seems like it would be easier and more efficient to purchase them now from Disney so they are part of our package, but I don't know if I can do that?

That I can't tell you. I guess it wouldn't hurt to call and ask? But honestly, it's not that hard or time consuming to do it as you enter the park. It was particularly easy for me since I just had my 17 year old do it each day. I could loan you the 17 year old. She'd be more than happy to help.

 

[Little E]

Hhahahahahhaa... @mom2rtk, too funny! DH and I are going with our DSs...one is 16 and one is 13. So, I should just have one of the teens manage the tech? I can definitely do that! Good advice!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

@mom2rtk Thanks! I did purchase tickets directly from Disney...they are part of our package with the DL Hotel. We don't go to DL til July. Can I call Disney and add MaxPass now to our tickets, or do I have to purchase them after we scan in to the parks on our first day there? It seems like it would be easier and more efficient to purchase them now from Disney so they are part of our package, but I don't know if I can do that?

My understanding is that you had to purchase MaxPass at the time you purchased the tickets directly from Disney OR you can add it to your ticket daily after entering the park for the day. Yes, if you pass through the turnstile before park opening time, MaxPass will be available to you to purchase before the park opens. It really is a very quick process if you are prepared. I did it on 5 occasions before I renewed my annual pass and simply purchased it as an add-on for the year. You want to have the Disneyland app on your phone. Know your password, have a credit card attached to the account, and know the 3 or 4 digit CVV code on the card. I believe you can also pre scan your party's tickets into your account which also will save time.

 

[mom2rtk]

Hhahahahahhaa... @mom2rtk, too funny! DH and I are going with our DSs...one is 16 and one is 13. So, I should just have one of the teens manage the tech? I can definitely do that! Good advice!

Sounds like you've got it covered! It's not a complicated system. But my daughter enjoyed being in charge of it. And honestly, I loved that she was on top of it, always thinking ahead of what we might want to get next. It was just one less thing for me to think about.

Just make sure you are all logged into your account and anyone can add it or book the next FP. Sometimes her phone did better with it (because it's newer) and sometimes mine did better (because I don't use up all my data in the first 2 days after I get it. ) So if hers wasn't working, I just gave her mine to try.

My one piece of advice is to make sure you have your FP ready to scan before you get to the ride are. That way if the wi-fi or cell reception isn't great, you won't have to stand around trying over and over. You can always just scan your tickets at the ride, but we sometimes ended up with an anytime FP (because a ride was down) and I wanted to be sure we didn't use it by mistake. Plus I think my daughter enjoyed scanning from the phone.

 

[sherilaine]

If you purchase your tickets from Disney then they will already be attached to your account on the app - correct? Then you just add the maxpass once through the gate.

Are you able to take a screen capture of a FP on the app and use that as you head to the FP return line so you do not have to use as much battery or data?

 

[mom2rtk]

If you purchase your tickets from Disney then they will already be attached to your account on the app - correct? Then you just add the maxpass once through the gate.

Are you able to take a screen capture of a FP on the app and use that as you head to the FP return line so you do not have to use as much battery or data?

You can do a screen grab of your plans, but you'd need to do each FP separately to scan those I think (remember, I subcontracted out tech services to my 17 year old ). But you can just scan your ticket. I just hated trusting the system not to use any "any time" FP we happened to have (even though it shouldn't).

 

[bluecruiser]

But you can just scan your ticket. I just hated trusting the system not to use any "any time" FP we happened to have (even though it shouldn't).

I think this is where it makes sense to scan the FP screen from the app. Because logic says that would tie it to the specific FP instead of trusting the system to use the right FP when you have an "any time" FP as well as a regular FP.

 

[MonocularVision]

I don’t think that is how it works. I believe the bar codes in the app are just the barcodes for your tickets. I don’t think they have unique codes for those FPs. I say this because one time when riding BTMRR with MaxPass, my daughter accidentally swiped the wrong way and “rescanned” a FP for the ride that had already been scanned. It ended up using the Multiple Experience FP for that person that got double scanned.

 

[cmpeter]

We were there on Sunday. Park opened at 8:00 and they started scanning tickets and letting folks in at 7:30...we entered then. I have an AP, but scanned my dd's park ticket and purchased Max Pass for both of us as soon as we entered. We selected our first Fast Pass (GOTG) and got a return time of 8:05 am. We headed to Starbucks and grabbed breakfast and waited for rope drop.

Max Pass also let us book passes from our hotel (Tropicana) when we went back for an afternoon rest. LOVE MAX PASS...worth every penny.

 

[Cactus girl]

Yes, you can reserve a fast pass as soon as you enter—for either park. That means if you have DL early entry at 9 and CA doesn’t open until 10 (like yesterday) you can get in at 9 and book your RSR for 10:30. It was crazy, before they even started allowing people into CA, the RSR fast passes were well past 1pm return time.

 

[katyringo]

Yes, you can reserve a fast pass as soon as you enter—for either park. That means if you have DL early entry at 9 and CA doesn’t open until 10 (like yesterday) you can get in at 9 and book your RSR for 10:30. It was crazy, before they even started allowing people into CA, the RSR fast passes were well past 1pm return time.

This is exactly what we did during Christmas week. We started with magic morning in Disneyland park and booked fastpass for RSR at 7am before DCA was even open. Got a return time for 830.