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

[paradesintherain]

Appreciate the feedback. Is Space Mountain, Buzz, etc. similar to the WDW version?

No, they're both quite different. And I'd say they're both better than their WDW versions. But Buzz is still a target game so you may want to prioritize other things

 

[disneylover102]

That plan seems fine but you may not have luck getting DCA FPs that late in the day on the 30th.

Space and Buzz are very different. Space is smoother but has less drops. I personally like the WDW version better because of the drops but most people like the DL version better because of the music with the ride (which is Star Wars right now!). On Buzz you can actually pick the gun up which is HUGE.

 

[ab21au]

Just a tip. We used MAXPASS on RSR on Tuesday 2-3pm return time and the FP line was up the street and CM said about 15min but it took 45 min. (standby was showing 80min) Next day we went early with MAXPASS and it was just about walk on. We went back after lunch on that day and it was worse so didn’t ride it. So my tip is if you want to ride it, do it early if possible. (IMO while it is a good ride, it is not a ride worth waiting 45min or longer for).

 

[Rich M]

Just a tip. We used MAXPASS on RSR on Tuesday 2-3pm return time and the FP line was up the street and CM said about 15min but it took 45 min. (standby was showing 80min) Next day we went early with MAXPASS and it was just about walk on. We went back after lunch on that day and it was worse so didn’t ride it. So my tip is if you want to ride it, do it early if possible. (IMO while it is a good ride, it is not a ride worth waiting 45min or longer for).

That usually indicates that it was down at some point and that people received anytime FP. This is usually the reason for the long line. I usually wait to get a FP for it in the evening as I like the ride after dark and have ran into the no wait and the long wait both times. I will say they seem to let a ton of FP through more than the regular line when this does happen.

 

[lcp9]

Just a tip. We used MAXPASS on RSR on Tuesday 2-3pm return time and the FP line was up the street and CM said about 15min but it took 45 min. (standby was showing 80min) Next day we went early with MAXPASS and it was just about walk on. We went back after lunch on that day and it was worse so didn’t ride it. So my tip is if you want to ride it, do it early if possible. (IMO while it is a good ride, it is not a ride worth waiting 45min or longer for).

Yes, we were there Tuesday and the line for FP return was all the way past Luigi's. I would have been disappointed except we had gone there at park open and walked on. haha. It went down a couple times while we were there, so I think that's why. HMH was the same...crazy waits.

 

[Julia M]

Planning a trip with 4 park days.....two at DL and two at DCA. Sunday November 17-Wednesday November 20. I know Sunday will be busier, but what about the weekdays? I'm willing to purchase, but from what I understand, there are just 10 ride across both parks with FP. I'm not sure if it's really going to make much of a difference.
Any guidance?

 

[midnight star]

You will get varying opinions but here are my pros and cons for maxpass:
Pros:
- Saves time and energy so you don't have to walk to the kiosks to get fastpasses
- You only have to wait 90 minutes vs 2 hours to get your next fastpass
- You can pick up cancelled fastpasses unlike with the regular ones
- If you have a large group, it's easier to manage b/c you can schedule different rides for different people all at once rather than run to all the different kiosks

Cons:
- Costs extra; although this is probably why it works so well; not everyone uses it
- If you are international it's hard to use data plans
- If you don't have a good data plan at all
- If the app breaks down it is kind of useless

 

[midnight star]

Oh another thing, even on non-crowded days, I have found maxpass to be helpful. You can get on the rides back to back. Also on days where it's unexpectedly crowded, it is such a saver!

 

[smartlabelprint]

This was the first trip we bought it with our ticket because we bought convention tickets let’s direct from Disney. I usually save buying through last minute travel, getaway today, etc. Anyway...I prefer buying them each day, as needed.

We have little kids and it allows us to spend more time on fun in the park instead of wasting that time walking between kiosk to something else while we wait & then back to the ride.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Planning a trip with 4 park days.....two at DL and two at DCA. Sunday November 17-Wednesday November 20. I know Sunday will be busier, but what about the weekdays? I'm willing to purchase, but from what I understand, there are just 10 ride across both parks with FP. I'm not sure if it's really going to make much of a difference.
Any guidance?

There are seven rides with FP at DCA and 10 at Disneyland, so it’s 17 total.

In your position, I’d probably buy it on the first day (assuming you’re rope-dropping at DL?) and try it out. Then you can make an informed choice about whether or not to grab it on your other days.

I do not appear to be in the majority with this opinion, but in my experience, MP does not have a ton of value on a DCA-only day if you’re rope-dropping and have someone willing to act as a FP runner. It’s certainly still nice to have (FPs for TSMM and IC are waaay in the back, you can pick up cancellations, you can re-ride easily, etc.), but if you’re just trying to hit the headliners once in a day, that’s pretty easily accomplished at DCA if you rope-drop and run for the seven available FPs. Since you guys have two DCA-only days, if you’re looking to cut costs, I probably wouldn’t pay on those days. If you don’t mind paying to save your feet and ride more, then go for it!

 

[SeiterClan]

@Skyegirl1999 or anyone who has advice I would love to get some thoughts on how to tour the parks this coming Saturday Nov. 9th. Hubby & I will be flying into SNA at 9:25am & Uber to hotel to drop off luggage then head straight to the parks. We will only be going this day & will have PH's & buy Max Pass plus plan to stay until they kick us out after midnight! Our priorities are to enjoy the Holiday time as we've never been but also have some must-do's which are:
Haunted Mansion Holiday(at least once maybe twice!)-NBC is hubby's favorite!
SW Land & the Millenium Falcon ride-have never been & wondering if we should use SR for the ride or just watch app for less busy time
POTC
Indy-use SR or FP?
Small World Holiday-use FP?
Watch castle lighting w/snow & fireworks later
Ride PP at end of night
At DCA:
RSR-use SR or FP to ride at night?
TSMM-FP or try the Buddy Pass line if available
Soarin-use FP
Incredicoaster-use SR or FP?
Guardians-use FP?

Is this even doable since we are arriving later in the morning? Hoping to be scanned in by 10:30am-11am at the latest! Any help about best order to accomplish this list would be great!

 

[2tinkerbell]

We are getting 5 day Park Hoppers. If I get there and decide that we want to add MaxPass, can I do that for all the days at once or do I have to add it every day?

TIS

 

[twodogs]

We are getting 5 day Park Hoppers. If I get there and decide that we want to add MaxPass, can I do that for all the days at once or do I have to add it every day?

TIS

Can only be one day at a time if you don’t buy it for all the days when you buy your ticket initially. But it is very quick to do each day on the app.

 

[dieumeye]

@Skyegirl1999 or anyone who has advice I would love to get some thoughts on how to tour the parks this coming Saturday Nov. 9th. Hubby & I will be flying into SNA at 9:25am & Uber to hotel to drop off luggage then head straight to the parks. We will only be going this day & will have PH's & buy Max Pass plus plan to stay until they kick us out after midnight! Our priorities are to enjoy the Holiday time as we've never been but also have some must-do's which are:
Haunted Mansion Holiday(at least once maybe twice!)-NBC is hubby's favorite!
SW Land & the Millenium Falcon ride-have never been & wondering if we should use SR for the ride or just watch app for less busy time
POTC
Indy-use SR or FP?
Small World Holiday-use FP?
Watch castle lighting w/snow & fireworks later
Ride PP at end of night
At DCA:
RSR-use SR or FP to ride at night?
TSMM-FP or try the Buddy Pass line if available
Soarin-use FP
Incredicoaster-use SR or FP?
Guardians-use FP?

Is this even doable since we are arriving later in the morning? Hoping to be scanned in by 10:30am-11am at the latest! Any help about best order to accomplish this list would be great!

I'll take a stab at offering some tips. But definitely look at the FP tips at the top of this thread to see what FPs run out earliest and plan around that.

First things first, I'd plan for it to be a busy day since it's the start of Holiday time. I'm basing this on the fact that the start of Halloweentime finally brought in the locals after a light summer. But honestly, you never can tell. I was at the park this past Sunday and crowds felt surprisingly light.

The trickiest things will be RSR and HMH. When you enter the park, RSR return times will probably already be in the afternoon, and HMH probably won't be too far behind. I'm going to say RSR will likely run out before HMH, but you should probably grab whichever one has the latest return time when you enter the park. Grabbing either one early will mean you have to wait the 90 minutes, but it'll guarantee a FP for whichever you choose. If in doubt, remember that RSR has single rider line and HMH does not. Once you sort this out, the rest is easier.

Small World Holiday. Keep an eye on FPs just to make sure you don't miss the window, but they are usually available later into the day... although the fast that it's opening weekend might make them go quicker.

For MF:SR, just watch the app for short wait times. You'll probably see a short standby time sometime during the day. There is single rider, but if the line is past the stairs back into the hallway, it's not necessarily going to be much faster than a 30 minute standby line.

Indy, TSMM, Soarin', IC, and Guardians just get FP when available or jump into the single rider, or standby lines as the opportunity arises.

It's hard to nail down an exact plan of "do this first, then that" for everything, but the nice thing about MaxPass is that you can keep an eye on wait times and FP times and make decisions as needed throughout the day.

Have fun!

 

[SeiterClan]

I'll take a stab at offering some tips. But definitely look at the FP tips at the top of this thread to see what FPs run out earliest and plan around that.

First things first, I'd plan for it to be a busy day since it's the start of Holiday time. I'm basing this on the fact that the start of Halloweentime finally brought in the locals after a light summer. But honestly, you never can tell. I was at the park this past Sunday and crowds felt surprisingly light.

The trickiest things will be RSR and HMH. When you enter the park, RSR return times will probably already be in the afternoon, and HMH probably won't be too far behind. I'm going to say RSR will likely run out before HMH, but you should probably grab whichever one has the latest return time when you enter the park. Grabbing either one early will mean you have to wait the 90 minutes, but it'll guarantee a FP for whichever you choose. If in doubt, remember that RSR has single rider line and HMH does not. Once you sort this out, the rest is easier.

Small World Holiday. Keep an eye on FPs just to make sure you don't miss the window, but they are usually available later into the day... although the fast that it's opening weekend might make them go quicker.

For MF:SR, just watch the app for short wait times. You'll probably see a short standby time sometime during the day. There is single rider, but if the line is past the stairs back into the hallway, it's not necessarily going to be much faster than a 30 minute standby line.

Indy, TSMM, Soarin', IC, and Guardians just get FP when available or jump into the single rider, or standby lines as the opportunity arises.

It's hard to nail down an exact plan of "do this first, then that" for everything, but the nice thing about MaxPass is that you can keep an eye on wait times and FP times and make decisions as needed throughout the day.

Have fun!

Thank you these are great tips! I will definitely study up on the tips from this thread

 

[Skyegirl1999]

@Skyegirl1999 or anyone who has advice I would love to get some thoughts on how to tour the parks this coming Saturday Nov. 9th. Hubby & I will be flying into SNA at 9:25am & Uber to hotel to drop off luggage then head straight to the parks. We will only be going this day & will have PH's & buy Max Pass plus plan to stay until they kick us out after midnight! Our priorities are to enjoy the Holiday time as we've never been but also have some must-do's which are:
Haunted Mansion Holiday(at least once maybe twice!)-NBC is hubby's favorite!
SW Land & the Millenium Falcon ride-have never been & wondering if we should use SR for the ride or just watch app for less busy time
POTC
Indy-use SR or FP?
Small World Holiday-use FP?
Watch castle lighting w/snow & fireworks later
Ride PP at end of night
At DCA:
RSR-use SR or FP to ride at night?
TSMM-FP or try the Buddy Pass line if available
Soarin-use FP
Incredicoaster-use SR or FP?
Guardians-use FP?

Is this even doable since we are arriving later in the morning? Hoping to be scanned in by 10:30am-11am at the latest! Any help about best order to accomplish this list would be great!

Hmm. While this list is theoretically possible, I'm not sure it's actually possible because of timing. You got some good tips from @dieumeye, but here are some additional thoughts:
1. In order to watch the fireworks/castle lighting, you're going to need to be in DL by 8:45ish at the latest (and that's just to hang out somewhere on Main Street), and you won't be able to get back over to DCA. So, anything you want to do in DCA will have to be wrapped up by then.
2. After fireworks could be a good time to hit maybe one DL ride, then SW:GE, popping out to hit Peter Pan at the end of the night. Keep in mind that it's a little hard to maneuver around right after fireworks, so it's probably 10:15 before you're actually in a ride line. If you haven't been to SWGE yet, you'll want at least a little bit to walk around there, and then honestly that line could be up to an hour - it really varies and it's hard to predict crowds, but I think it will be pretty busy with the long weekend and the start of holiday stuff. It's possible that you could hit SWGE right after, do the ride, and still have an hour left to ride other stuff? But it's hard to bank on the park emptying out on a Saturday like it is on some other nights of the week.

So, that means that by 8:30ish, you'll need to accomplish everything you want to do except castle/fireworks, one DL ride (maybe IJ or HMH, assuming you can get a properly-timed FP for it?), SWGE, and PP. Now, you could just go to SWGE earlier in the day and use single-rider or hit a low wait time, but that will mean eating some time earlier in the day, and you're still going to be limited to DL stuff later in the night. I'd also be a little worried about ride breakdowns, and keep in mind that the FP return lines can get loooong later in the day if stuff has broken down and people have multi-experience passes to use...

So I think your issue is that you have too many big-ticket "to-dos" over at DCA, it it will be hard to do all of those because you're arriving late AND you have additional things you want to do at DL - so you need to spend an hour or two at DL earlier in the day, which would only leave a few hours to hit all the DCA headliners - probably not possible. I'd scale back your expectations for riding all of those DCA rides - at the very least, prioritize a couple you REALLY want to hit, and view the others as bonuses. Also keep in mind that Festival of Holidays and entertainment and all sorts of fun stuff will be going on besides rides.

One major tip I have is DON'T grab a FP with a 90-minute wait when you get in. Refresh until you find a cancellation for something you want that's soon. You have so many FP rides that you want to hit, and around 10:30-11:00am, you'll probably see a bunch of cancellations. So, you should both jump in line for something (single rider for RSR? Or POTC?), and both have your apps up with your tickets loaded and just refresh until you see something that you want soon in the park you're in. Then head to that. We hit four rides between 3:30-6pm on crowded Saturday, October 26 by just refreshing and grabbing cancellations - we'd only have had time for 1-2 rides if we'd taken 90-minute waits. It does mean staring at your phone for awhile (and bring chargers!), but you can get a lot done mid-day that way. By the late afternoon/evening, there's a lot less cancelling because there's not much available for people to cancel for, if that makes sense.

Hope that's kind of helpful! Good luck, and enjoy the holiday joy!

 

[SeiterClan]

Hmm. While this list is theoretically possible, I'm not sure it's actually possible because of timing. You got some good tips from @dieumeye, but here are some additional thoughts:
1. In order to watch the fireworks/castle lighting, you're going to need to be in DL by 8:45ish at the latest (and that's just to hang out somewhere on Main Street), and you won't be able to get back over to DCA. So, anything you want to do in DCA will have to be wrapped up by then.
2. After fireworks could be a good time to hit maybe one DL ride, then SW:GE, popping out to hit Peter Pan at the end of the night. Keep in mind that it's a little hard to maneuver around right after fireworks, so it's probably 10:15 before you're actually in a ride line. If you haven't been to SWGE yet, you'll want at least a little bit to walk around there, and then honestly that line could be up to an hour - it really varies and it's hard to predict crowds, but I think it will be pretty busy with the long weekend and the start of holiday stuff. It's possible that you could hit SWGE right after, do the ride, and still have an hour left to ride other stuff? But it's hard to bank on the park emptying out on a Saturday like it is on some other nights of the week.

So, that means that by 8:30ish, you'll need to accomplish everything you want to do except castle/fireworks, one DL ride (maybe IJ or HMH, assuming you can get a properly-timed FP for it?), SWGE, and PP. Now, you could just go to SWGE earlier in the day and use single-rider or hit a low wait time, but that will mean eating some time earlier in the day, and you're still going to be limited to DL stuff later in the night. I'd also be a little worried about ride breakdowns, and keep in mind that the FP return lines can get loooong later in the day if stuff has broken down and people have multi-experience passes to use...

So I think your issue is that you have too many big-ticket "to-dos" over at DCA, it it will be hard to do all of those because you're arriving late AND you have additional things you want to do at DL - so you need to spend an hour or two at DL earlier in the day, which would only leave a few hours to hit all the DCA headliners - probably not possible. I'd scale back your expectations for riding all of those DCA rides - at the very least, prioritize a couple you REALLY want to hit, and view the others as bonuses. Also keep in mind that Festival of Holidays and entertainment and all sorts of fun stuff will be going on besides rides.

One major tip I have is DON'T grab a FP with a 90-minute wait when you get in. Refresh until you find a cancellation for something you want that's soon. You have so many FP rides that you want to hit, and around 10:30-11:00am, you'll probably see a bunch of cancellations. So, you should both jump in line for something (single rider for RSR? Or POTC?), and both have your apps up with your tickets loaded and just refresh until you see something that you want soon in the park you're in. Then head to that. We hit four rides between 3:30-6pm on crowded Saturday, October 26 by just refreshing and grabbing cancellations - we'd only have had time for 1-2 rides if we'd taken 90-minute waits. It does mean staring at your phone for awhile (and bring chargers!), but you can get a lot done mid-day that way. By the late afternoon/evening, there's a lot less cancelling because there's not much available for people to cancel for, if that makes sense.

Hope that's kind of helpful! Good luck, and enjoy the holiday joy!

@Skyegirl1999 Thank you for all the tips! I should have clarified more on our must-do list & noted that any of the stuff at DCA is more nice to do instead of have to do Main goals are to enjoy the Holiday treats & atmosphere plus hit our faves which are mainly at DL plus see Star Wars & the MF ride only because we have not been yet! Gonna have to start watching the app to see about what times look like on Friday to get an idea...are the rides I listed that have SR all pretty quick or does it depend? Also how exactly do you refresh to try to get better times with MaxPass? I need a step-by step guide or visual lol... I have only used MaxPass twice for trips!

 

[Skyegirl1999]

@Skyegirl1999 Thank you for all the tips! I should have clarified more on our must-do list & noted that any of the stuff at DCA is more nice to do instead of have to do Main goals are to enjoy the Holiday treats & atmosphere plus hit our faves which are mainly at DL plus see Star Wars & the MF ride only because we have not been yet! Gonna have to start watching the app to see about what times look like on Friday to get an idea...are the rides I listed that have SR all pretty quick or does it depend? Also how exactly do you refresh to try to get better times with MaxPass? I need a step-by step guide or visual lol... I have only used MaxPass twice for trips!

You just keep clicking the park and then hitting the back arrow here. Click park, click back arrow, click park, click back arrow. If you see one, you have to be quick on clicking and confirming!

 

[SeiterClan]

You just keep clicking the park and then hitting the back arrow here. Click park, click back arrow, click park, click back arrow. If you see one, you have to be quick on clicking and confirming!


View attachment 450234

Perfect thank you!

 

[mel2014]

Hmm. While this list is theoretically possible, I'm not sure it's actually possible because of timing. You got some good tips from @dieumeye, but here are some additional thoughts:
1. In order to watch the fireworks/castle lighting, you're going to need to be in DL by 8:45ish at the latest (and that's just to hang out somewhere on Main Street), and you won't be able to get back over to DCA. So, anything you want to do in DCA will have to be wrapped up by then.
2. After fireworks could be a good time to hit maybe one DL ride, then SW:GE, popping out to hit Peter Pan at the end of the night. Keep in mind that it's a little hard to maneuver around right after fireworks, so it's probably 10:15 before you're actually in a ride line. If you haven't been to SWGE yet, you'll want at least a little bit to walk around there, and then honestly that line could be up to an hour - it really varies and it's hard to predict crowds, but I think it will be pretty busy with the long weekend and the start of holiday stuff. It's possible that you could hit SWGE right after, do the ride, and still have an hour left to ride other stuff? But it's hard to bank on the park emptying out on a Saturday like it is on some other nights of the week.

So, that means that by 8:30ish, you'll need to accomplish everything you want to do except castle/fireworks, one DL ride (maybe IJ or HMH, assuming you can get a properly-timed FP for it?), SWGE, and PP. Now, you could just go to SWGE earlier in the day and use single-rider or hit a low wait time, but that will mean eating some time earlier in the day, and you're still going to be limited to DL stuff later in the night. I'd also be a little worried about ride breakdowns, and keep in mind that the FP return lines can get loooong later in the day if stuff has broken down and people have multi-experience passes to use...

So I think your issue is that you have too many big-ticket "to-dos" over at DCA, it it will be hard to do all of those because you're arriving late AND you have additional things you want to do at DL - so you need to spend an hour or two at DL earlier in the day, which would only leave a few hours to hit all the DCA headliners - probably not possible. I'd scale back your expectations for riding all of those DCA rides - at the very least, prioritize a couple you REALLY want to hit, and view the others as bonuses. Also keep in mind that Festival of Holidays and entertainment and all sorts of fun stuff will be going on besides rides.

One major tip I have is DON'T grab a FP with a 90-minute wait when you get in. Refresh until you find a cancellation for something you want that's soon. You have so many FP rides that you want to hit, and around 10:30-11:00am, you'll probably see a bunch of cancellations. So, you should both jump in line for something (single rider for RSR? Or POTC?), and both have your apps up with your tickets loaded and just refresh until you see something that you want soon in the park you're in. Then head to that. We hit four rides between 3:30-6pm on crowded Saturday, October 26 by just refreshing and grabbing cancellations - we'd only have had time for 1-2 rides if we'd taken 90-minute waits. It does mean staring at your phone for awhile (and bring chargers!), but you can get a lot done mid-day that way. By the late afternoon/evening, there's a lot less cancelling because there's not much available for people to cancel for, if that makes sense.

Hope that's kind of helpful! Good luck, and enjoy the holiday joy!

DCA is actually open until 11 pm on Saturday, so my thought is that it might be better for them to watch the fireworks from Main Street and then exit out and over to DCA to do RSR single rider and GotG in the 10-11 hour (I'd avoid the Pixar Pier area in case of crowds for the second WOC showing and instead try to do those rides earlier in the day) before popping back over to DL after the fireworks crowds have dissipated to hit up MFSR and PP before the midnight DL closing.