Can't seem to wrap my head around Maxpass

[Nohal]

I'm used to FP+ at DW but having a hard time trying to figure out Maxpass.

If you buy it through Disneyland web site are the tickets automatically linked to your account?
Can you buy for 2 tickets and have them linked?
Does each person have to have it on their phone?
How do you redeem the FP for a ride?
Can you have more than one FP at a time like DW?
Buying 5 day PH do I need to buy it for all days?
If I don't need to buy for all 5 days (getting in the afternoon the first day), where do I add it to tickets?
We are not staying at a Disney owned hotel.

 

[mom2rtk]

1) Not sure if they automatically link on the tickets bought through DL website.
2) Yes, you can link your tickets together on the app.
3) Only one person in your party needs to have the app on their phone.
4) To redeem, you can scan the code on your phone or you can scan the physical ticket.
5) You can have more than one FP at a time, depending on return times. You don't schedule prior to that day though.
6) If you buy through the DL website, it's all the days or none. If you buy without MP then add it day of, you can add it as many or as few days as you like.
7) You buy it each day on the app. It's very simple to do.
8) Doesn't matter where you're staying.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Sometimes it's easier to see something in action.
These 2 videos will give you a basic overview of how MP works:

 

[VandVsmama]

Those videos describe it very well. If you want to purchase MP ahead of time, you have to buy it for all of the tickets at the same time when you buy the tickets on the DL website.

OR you can purchase MP from the DL app on your phone that morning right after you enter the park. It’s very easy. Requires you to have a credit card linked to your login ID on the DL app.

You do not have to buy it for every day you are there. In that case, buy it each day you want and do not buy it at the time you purchase your tickets.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

So far, you've been given great advice. I too was a little scared to try this but it worked a charm for us. Mind you, I had all our tickets on my phone as DH is technologically disadvantaged and the kids don't have phones.

I'm used to FP+ at DW but having a hard time trying to figure out Maxpass.

If you buy it through Disneyland web site are the tickets automatically linked to your account? I don't think so. I believe you need to buy the MP through the app and then you follow the prompts to attach it to the ticket through the app.
Can you buy for 2 tickets and have them linked? I'm not sure what you mean by linked, but as long as you're using the app, yes, it'll link the tickets together when you make your selection as it will prompt you to click the ticket you want attached to that specific FP.
Does each person have to have it on their phone? No. I had all our tickets on my phone in the app and that worked just fine. As it's also linked to the ticket, if the person scans their hard ticket, that'll work for redemption too.
How do you redeem the FP for a ride? This is the fun part! You can either use your phone (the app), or the ticket itself. There's a stick with an electronic Mickey head on it as you approach the FP line before going in. The CM will ask you to scan your app (the ticket on the app) or your ticket. When the sweet *ding* sounds and Mickey's head turns green, you're in! Just remember a couple of things: It will ONLY work for the ride you've FP'd ONCE (many people I saw tried to repeatedly use it not realizing it was a one-use-only thing), it won't work more than 2-5 minutes PRIOR to your return time (I saw many people wonder why they couldn't get in when THEY wanted to instead of when their FP was good for), and finally, if the app hasn't refreshed your return time FP (it just shows that you have one, not that you can redeem it), you can just swipe back until you get to the tickets in the app and use the ticket bar code to enter.
Can you have more than one FP at a time like DW? Yes! This FP window opens at either the time you can go back OR 90 minutes. So, if you make a RSR FP at 9am but it won't redeem til 2pm, then you can make another FP at 10:30 for, say GotG, and then once that one is redeemed, if it's still before 2pm, you can make another one! At one point, I ended up with 3 FPs I believe, just based on return times for FPs.
Buying 5 day PH do I need to buy it for all days? This is a personal choice. We did only because after day 1 we were hooked with the ease of making FPs at the gate once we were through, instead of running all over the parks to get the paper FPs (even though I scrapbook and it would be AWESOME to have little paper things for the books, the saving on my feet was golden). It costs $10/day/person, so for a family of 4 it really added up over the 5 days. But as it includes photos too, it was worth it just for the PP+!
If I don't need to buy for all 5 days (getting in the afternoon the first day), where do I add it to tickets? The second you enter the gates and your tickets show you're in, you can purchase through the app any time. I had my credit card info attached to the app, and thanks to online shopping, I know my CVV code on the back, so you need to remember that and then just follow the prompts through the app. Easy-peasy.
We are not staying at a Disney owned hotel. TOTALLY doesn't matter! This isn't a 'hotel only' thing (well... not right now at least. Let's not give Disney any ideas), so anyone is free to add it to their tickets as soon as they enter the gates.

Hope this helps clear things up a bit for you.

 

[Kristi1357]

I have a question about Maxpass that I've searched & searched, and cannot find the answer for:

• 6 of us are going in April
• 2 families
• 5 cell phones/apps
• One 10 year old without a phone/his own app

I am wondering how we all link our tickets so one person can grab fast passes with maxpass. Do we each scan all 6 tickets into our phones? I think that's what we do but I really can't find the answer to this one. I'd like to have it all set up ahead of time to save time and confusion. I think I am hung up thinking of Florida's mydisneyexperience system.

I do understand we need to purchase maxpass day by day just after we enter the park. We are planning maxpass for 3 of our 5 park days.

TIA!
Kristi

 

[Niltiac]

I am wondering how we all link our tickets so one person can grab fast passes with maxpass. Do we each scan all 6 tickets into our phones?

You have two options for this. If everyone has a separate Disney account they want to use, then yes, you each scan the tickets into your app. Your second option (if you're comfortable with everyone having access to your account), is to scan the tickets into only one account and then have everyone log in to that account on their phones. That saves you scanning the tickets into each and every phone separately (although that really doesn't take too long if you want to do it that way).

 

[LittleMissMagic]

I have a question about Maxpass that I've searched & searched, and cannot find the answer for:

• 6 of us are going in April
• 2 families
• 5 cell phones/apps
• One 10 year old without a phone/his own app

I am wondering how we all link our tickets so one person can grab fast passes with maxpass. Do we each scan all 6 tickets into our phones? I think that's what we do but I really can't find the answer to this one. I'd like to have it all set up ahead of time to save time and confusion. I think I am hung up thinking of Florida's mydisneyexperience system.

I do understand we need to purchase maxpass day by day just after we enter the park. We are planning maxpass for 3 of our 5 park days.

TIA!
Kristi

For that situation, I would suggest each family choosing one person to be the dedicated Maxpass buyer/FP maker. Each family would scan all tickets onto one person in their family's phone and purchase Maxpass through that person's account. So then you only have to have two people (the head of each family) coordinate when/what attraction to make FPs for.

 

[JohnR5101]

A couple of different scenarios: If all 6 will be together basically all the time, and riding the same things, I would scan ALL tickets into a couple phones. That way one person can reserve passes for the whole group at once - you will all get the same time window. Also, you can choose at any time to get passes for a subset of that group on the phone if some don't want a certain ride. Having it on multiple phones is a good backup for when one phone runs out of battery and you can then just go to the other one.
The second scenario is if the two families will do a lot of things separately and only do a few rides as a whole group. Then I would still have multiple phones with things scanned in, but only for that family. I haven't used it since September so I'm not sure if you can pick a sub group of tickets once on the phone and then it will remember that group the next ride. Or if you have to exclude the ones who don't want to ride each time to get a pass. If so its more convenient to set it up with just the ones you want in the first place.
But the bottom line is that you can get passes for anyone and everyone that is scanned into your device. Oh, and if you make a mistake you can cancel a pass and then make another reservation. Lets say you get a pass to RS for the whole group, then someone says they would rather do GotG. You cancel their FP and make another one for GotG. Of course it does not mean that the time windows of 2 different rides will match up. Then anyone can use their hard ticket (main entry ticket) to redeem the FP at the ride - they don't need to have the phone with them.

 

[Kristi1357]

Thanks so much!

 

[DizneyMommy]

Just keep in mind they scan the FP twice on some rides. Once as you enter the line and once farther up. Make sure more than one person has them on their phone or that everyone has their ticket to be scanned. We tried once to use it on my phone when I thought I could just scan for them at line entry, but then I had to dig out the AP’s when the kids went on a ride without me because no way I was handing my phone over to them!

 

[sherilaine]

Just keep in mind they scan the FP twice on some rides. Once as you enter the line and once farther up. Make sure more than one person has them on their phone or that everyone has their ticket to be scanned. We tried once to use it on my phone when because I thought I could just scan for them at line entry, but then I had to dig out the AP’s when the kids went on a ride without me because no way I was handing my phone over to them!

This is for sure the case for Space Mountain - you have to have the MP on your app to scan or have your ticket to scan at both entry to the queue and at the meeting point of FP with standy line. It was the only ride where we found we had to do this though.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

This is for sure the case for Space Mountain - you have to have the MP on your app to scan or have your ticket to scan at both entry to the queue and at the meeting point of FP with standy line. It was the only ride where we found we had to do this though.

We have found that they often don't use the second set of scanners for many rides, but they are there and I have occasionally seen them in use. This last week though, like you, my family reports that Space was the only one they had to double-scan for.

 

[cinabc]

For that situation, I would suggest each family choosing one person to be the dedicated Maxpass buyer/FP maker. Each family would scan all tickets onto one person in their family's phone and purchase Maxpass through that person's account. So then you only have to have two people (the head of each family) coordinate when/what attraction to make FPs for.

Coordinating Maxpass for different groups is difficult. I recommend that one person have all the tickets linked to their account to make FPs when the group wants to ride together. When I went in January, I had my family's tickets linked to my account and a friend had his family's tickets on his. When we would try to book a FP, the times would be very different for our groups even though we we looking at the same time. I linked my tickets to his account and we were able to get FPs at the same time.

 

[sherilaine]

We have found that they often don't use the second set of scanners for many rides, but they are there and I have occasionally seen them in use. This last week though, like you, my family reports that Space was the only one they had to double-scan for.

It is easy for people to hop the line from stand by to FP while walking up the queue - which is why I believe you need to do the second scan once you get to the top - otherwise many people would likely hop over the low little chain.

 

[Niltiac]

We have found that they often don't use the second set of scanners for many rides, but they are there and I have occasionally seen them in use. This last week though, like you, my family reports that Space was the only one they had to double-scan for.

I haven't been since December but off the top of my head I remember doing a second scan for Space, RSR and Toy Story. There might be others but I don't remember. The only time I saw them bypass the second scanners was once when they were obviously not working. The safe bet is to always send people with their tickets if you split up. I've heard it works to use photocopies of the ticket so that's an option for children who can't be trusted to keep track of their ticket.

 

[GrrArrgh]

Haunted mansion also scans twice. Maybe not all the time, but they did earlier this week and I think they did back in January.

I've found it's faster for one person to scan everybody's passes who will ride together instead of having people scan in separately. But with such a large group, more than one person should be able to do this so you have the option to split up into smaller groups. If you can print out the tickets, anyone with the app and a registered account can add the tickets to their account by scanning them into the app. You can buy maxpass and start making fastpass reservations as soon as you enter the park.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

When scanning for large groups, be sure not to block the scanners so that other guests also can scan and get through to the lines. Sometimes when one person scans for a large group, the other members of the group tend to hang around the scanners and block all the lanes so that no one else can get through until their group is done.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Scan all tickets into your app/login. Buy MP after entering the parks by opening the app and clicking get MaxPass. It will walk you through it. Honestly, it confused me until I just tried it. You get the hang super fast. Don’t worry about scanning your tickets multiple times in lines, you can always pull your phone/tickets out a second time if need be- CMs don’t keep it a secret and God knows 75% of the people around you don’t know it either, definitely nbd!

Seriously though. You will be fine. It’s made for anybody who is tech savvy enough to download an app to be able to navigate- you just need the chance to try it

Fwiw I’m opposed to buying MP with your original ticket purchase. 3/3 trips I’ve found that I didn’t want MP for 1 or 2 days- it’s exhausting keeping up with all those MPs! Was always glad I didn’t put the money out ahead of time. (And I’m a fairly fit millennial for the record!)

One time saver is add your credit card to your Disneyland login before going. Admittedly you will still have to put in the security code each time you purchase MP but 3 digits beats the whole card!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Haunted mansion also scans twice. Maybe not all the time, but they did earlier this week and I think they did back in January.

I've found it's faster for one person to scan everybody's passes who will ride together instead of having people scan in separately. But with such a large group, more than one person should be able to do this so you have the option to split up into smaller groups. If you can print out the tickets, anyone with the app and a registered account can add the tickets to their account by scanning them into the app. You can buy maxpass and start making fastpass reservations as soon as you enter the park.

Forgot that one. We had to scan the second time for Mansion last week too. At Buzz and Thunder the second scanners were covered and not in use all the times we rode last week. They never even routed the fastpass line at Thunder around the second set of scanners the three times we rode. The second set of scanners on Soarin' and RSR were also covered up last week during each of our rides. Toy Story because of all the construction isn't using any of the fastpass return scanners right now; CMs are scanning people in using handhelds. We didn't ride Goofy's, Grizzly, Matterhorn, or Splash (closed for refurbishment), and Roger we only did standby since it was 5 minutes when we went by. Star Tours and Guardians don't have a second set of scanners.