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

[sherilaine]

Yes, you can only book as many as the time windows allow - we have taken longer than 3 hours breaks before though - say leaving around 2 and going back around 7 - especially on long park days like 8AM to midnight.

 

[sherilaine]

OK - so we plan to break at 4:30 and return at 7:00. I'm just confused (in my A Type brain), at what time I should start looking to book that 7:00 FP. The system is just very fuzzy to me. .

By the time you leave the park at 4:30 you will have become familiar with the process of using the app - it does not take long to get the swing of. What time you leave the park has nothing to do with when you can book the next fastpass - it will be 90 minutes after the last one you would have booked - so that is why I like to set a timer - and then I do not lose any time and book the maximum number of passes we can within the day.

 

[EmJ]

OK - so we plan to break at 4:30 and return at 7:00. I'm just confused (in my A Type brain), at what time I should start looking to book that 7:00 FP. The system is just very fuzzy to me. .

I think it depends on the ride. From what I can gather, some rides like Buzz may have 7:00 FP availability late in the day, while others like Radiator Springs Racers may be distributing 7:00 FP at 11:00 am.

I am a Type A Worrier/Planner Extraordinaire as well. I have a color-coded Excel sheet planning every day of our trip, and have noted multiple "reminders" to myself to check throughout the day for certain FPs at certain times (as if I could forget, lol). People here would die if they saw it and I actually believe them that it will be useless when we get there and we'll end up just going with the flow once I actually start using MaxPass.

But, in the meantime, I'm very attached to my Excel sheet and it was fun to make

 

[JJ2017]

I think it depends on the ride. From what I can gather, some rides like Buzz may have 7:00 FP availability late in the day, while others like Radiator Springs Racers may be distributing 7:00 FP at 11:00 am.

I am a Type A Worrier/Planner Extraordinaire as well. I have a color-coded Excel sheet planning every day of our trip, and have noted multiple "reminders" to myself to check throughout the day for certain FPs at certain times (as if I could forget, lol). People here would die if they saw it and I actually believe them that it will be useless when we get there and we'll end up just going with the flow once I actually start using MaxPass.

But, in the meantime, I'm very attached to my Excel sheet and it was fun to make

You are my hero!!! Ha. And you are also running the April Board that I'm very thankful for!

 

[sherilaine]

I do like the flexibility that maxpass gives you and honestly until you start using it you don't appreciate how easy it is! Because you never know how quickly the FP windows can move for some rides, we find ourselves often having several passes later in the day that we have stacked during the day - and then there are times when you can book a fast pass that is ready to open up almost right away and those depend on where you located between the two parks. I liked to plan, I was the FP runner in my family - I was the one who had it all worked out and now, while I am still the one holding the phone barking at my family about when and what we are doing, I am less stressed at least.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

OK - so we plan to break at 4:30 and return at 7:00. I'm just confused (in my A Type brain), at what time I should start looking to book that 7:00 FP. The system is just very fuzzy to me. .

It depends a TON on the day. To illustrate:
Last Wednesday, Feb. 12, was a VERY EMPTY day. So, at 4:26pm, FP return times looked like the first return time I listed here, with tons of immediate availability and very little "evening" available. This Tuesday, Feb. 18 was a CROWDED day. The latest FP capture I did was at 1:06pm, so that's 3 hours and 20 minutes earlier in the day, and look how different the return times are - they're the second return time in bold.

Again, the first listed return time is from 4:26pm on Wednesday, Feb. 12; the second, bolded, return time is from 1:06pm on Tuesday, Feb. 18. Three and a half hours earlier in the day, but six days later:

Autopia: 5:00, 4:25
Big Thunder: 4:25, 6:45
Buzz: 4:45, 3:40
Goofy's Sky School: 4:25, 2:25
Grizzly: closed for Refurb, 2:00
GOTG: 5:35, 6:40
Haunted Mansion: closed for Refurb
Incredicoaster: 6:35, 3:00
Indiana Jones: 5:35, 9:05
IASW: 4:25, 2:45
Matterhorn: 6:40, 8:35
Monster's Inc: 4:25, 2:35
RSR: gone, gone
Roger Rabbit: 4:30, 2:50
Soarin: 5:15, 5:55
Space Mountain: 6:30, 9:55
Splash Mountain: 4:25, 5:15
Star Tours: 4:25, 4:45
Toy Story: 8:40, gone

This is why I say FP availability varies a lot. RSR alone has run out by 10:30am and after 4pm this month alone.

P.S. I realize the side-by-side would be a lot more useful if the time of day was the same for both; I just happened to have these two lists still undeleted on my phone, and I don't have access to my other data at this moment.

 

[EmJ]

It depends a TON on the day. To illustrate:
Last Wednesday, Feb. 12, was a VERY EMPTY day. So, at 4:26pm, FP return times looked like the first return time I listed here, with tons of immediate availability and very little "evening" available. This Tuesday, Feb. 18 was a CROWDED day. The latest FP capture I did was at 1:06pm, so that's 3 hours and 20 minutes earlier in the day, and look how different the return times are - they're the second return time in bold.

Again, the first listed return time is from 4:26pm on Wednesday, Feb. 12; the second, bolded, return time is from 1:06pm on Tuesday, Feb. 18. Three and a half hours earlier in the day, but six days later:

Autopia: 5:00, 4:25
Big Thunder: 4:25, 6:45
Buzz: 4:45, 3:40
Goofy's Sky School: 4:25, 2:25
Grizzly: closed for Refurb, 2:00
GOTG: 5:35, 6:40
Haunted Mansion: closed for Refurb
Incredicoaster: 6:35, 3:00
Indiana Jones: 5:35, 9:05
IASW: 4:25, 2:45
Matterhorn: 6:40, 8:35
Monster's Inc: 4:25, 2:35
RSR: gone, gone
Roger Rabbit: 4:30, 2:50
Soarin: 5:15, 5:55
Space Mountain: 6:30, 9:55
Splash Mountain: 4:25, 5:15
Star Tours: 4:25, 4:45
Toy Story: 8:40, gone

This is why I say FP availability varies a lot. RSR alone has run out by 10:30am and after 4pm this month alone.

P.S. I realize the side-by-side would be a lot more useful if the time of day was the same for both; I just happened to have these two lists still undeleted on my phone, and I don't have access to my other data at this moment.

You are a secret Excel lover too, I can tell

 

[Skyegirl1999]

You are a closet Excel lover too, I can tell

This whole thread started because I am a data nerd; I've been tracking FP returns since May 2018. I kind of suck at Excel, though, and I don't pull data at consistent enough times to make a pretty graph or anything. Alas.

WDW is spreadsheet-able. A Disney cruise is fairly spreadsheet-able. Disneyland is... not, at least not in my experience. But I'm sure all your spreadsheet work will serve you well by giving you a good sense of the parks overall.

 

[JJ2017]

It depends a TON on the day. To illustrate:
Last Wednesday, Feb. 12, was a VERY EMPTY day. So, at 4:26pm, FP return times looked like the first return time I listed here, with tons of immediate availability and very little "evening" available. This Tuesday, Feb. 18 was a CROWDED day. The latest FP capture I did was at 1:06pm, so that's 3 hours and 20 minutes earlier in the day, and look how different the return times are - they're the second return time in bold.

Again, the first listed return time is from 4:26pm on Wednesday, Feb. 12; the second, bolded, return time is from 1:06pm on Tuesday, Feb. 18. Three and a half hours earlier in the day, but six days later:

Autopia: 5:00, 4:25
Big Thunder: 4:25, 6:45
Buzz: 4:45, 3:40
Goofy's Sky School: 4:25, 2:25
Grizzly: closed for Refurb, 2:00
GOTG: 5:35, 6:40
Haunted Mansion: closed for Refurb
Incredicoaster: 6:35, 3:00
Indiana Jones: 5:35, 9:05
IASW: 4:25, 2:45
Matterhorn: 6:40, 8:35
Monster's Inc: 4:25, 2:35
RSR: gone, gone
Roger Rabbit: 4:30, 2:50
Soarin: 5:15, 5:55
Space Mountain: 6:30, 9:55
Splash Mountain: 4:25, 5:15
Star Tours: 4:25, 4:45
Toy Story: 8:40, gone

This is why I say FP availability varies a lot. RSR alone has run out by 10:30am and after 4pm this month alone.

P.S. I realize the side-by-side would be a lot more useful if the time of day was the same for both; I just happened to have these two lists still undeleted on my phone, and I don't have access to my other data at this moment.

I love looking at numbers. Thank you, super helpful!

 

[EmJ]

This whole thread started because I am a data nerd; I've been tracking FP returns since May 2018. I kind of suck at Excel, though, and I don't pull data at consistent enough times to make a pretty graph or anything. Alas.

WDW is spreadsheet-able. A Disney cruise is fairly spreadsheet-able. Disneyland is... not, at least not in my experience. But I'm sure all your spreadsheet work will serve you well by giving you a good sense of the parks overall.

This is actually true. I spreadsheeted the heck out of LEGOLAND too, if you can believe it. I didn't actually end up using much of it in its final form, but just the process teaches me a lot about the park layout, the times that different things open and close, the popularity and typical line behaviors of certain attractions, places to retreat to in the event of rain/heat/overstimulation/etc. All of that information becomes very useful when adjusting on the fly. Plus I basically get to (mentally) go on vacation all year long. This has been my primary hobby since last April, haha.

 

[sherilaine]

A good suggestion is to look at the app ahead of time - if you are going to be there during a Saturday when the park is open from 8AM until midnight and the Disney expects crowds to be reflective of a Tier 4 or 5 one day ticket - then you can take a look and see what the return times look like and get a feel compared to say a mid week day when there are shorter hours. If you are going during peak times such as spring break or easter though, then often times the week days have weekend hours too.

The number of hours in a day has a lot to do with the number of fast passes and how quickly they can run out as does whether the park is running at full capacity or not (for example if they have both sides of Incredicoaster open vs. just the one side). So if anyone is considering buying maxpass only on specific days you will get far more bang for your buck if you buy it on a day with the longer park hours I think.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

This is actually true. I spreadsheeted the heck out of LEGOLAND too, if you can believe it. I didn't actually end up using much of it in its final form, but just the process teaches me a lot about the park layout, the times that different things open and close, the popularity and typical line behaviors of certain attractions, places to retreat to in the event of rain/heat/overstimulation/etc. All of that information becomes very useful when adjusting on the fly. Plus I basically get to (mentally) go on vacation all year long. This has been my primary hobby since last April, haha.

I’m not spreadsheet-y, but I researched the HECK out of our first Disney cruise and we did ALL THE THINGS. And I booked us on a 2nd, 14-night cruise before we even went on the first one (sort of like how some people are already planning a second trip for next spring, cough cough).

Disney cruise FB groups are a huuuuuuge planning rabbit hole. You’d love it.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

One last point on the “planning” front: Planning is great, research is great, preparation is great, blah blah...

The reason you’ll see a lot of us frequent park-goers “warn” people not to get too attached to their plans is that ALL TOO OFTEN we run into groups where one person is clutching a print-out from Touring Plans or RideMax or whatever... and the day is not going even slightly the way they “expected,” and they’re disappointed and freaking out and greatly thrown off by this. And it’s causing them to feel disappointed and flustered instead of feeling magic. And that’s a shame, and it’s why a bunch of us are always droning on and on about unpredictability and variables and flexibility and all that.

Disneyland is very, very unpredictable. I’ve gone hundreds and hundreds of times and “study” a lot about crowd patterns and such, and I still get very surprised some days. That doesn’t mean a person shouldn’t research! It just means you have to expect the unexpected when it comes to plans.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

I arrived today as my bf is here for a conference. He has to work the conference in the a.m. and we're thinking of tapping at Park open and then going back to the hotel. We can make fastpasses for later in the afternoon while not being in the park as long as we tapped in the morning right? If so, what time do they usually allow people in for an 8am open?

We've logged 30+ WDW trips but first DL trip since I was 7 so super excited! I appreciate all the great threads/posters on the DL forum here!

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I arrived today as my bf is here for a conference. He has to work the conference in the a.m. and we're thinking of tapping at Park open and then going back to the hotel. We can make fastpasses for later in the afternoon while not being in the park as long as we tapped in the morning right? If so, what time do they usually allow people in for an 8am open?

We've logged 30+ WDW trips but first DL trip since I was 7 so super excited! I appreciate all the great threads/posters on the DL forum here!

Yes, and lately it’s been earlier normal because of the ROTR craziness, so they may let you in pretty early, but if you’re talking tomorrow, there’s a Magic Morning, so that complicates things. I’d guess 7:20-30? But maybe earlier. And there will be long lines by then.

 

[sherilaine]

I arrived today as my bf is here for a conference. He has to work the conference in the a.m. and we're thinking of tapping at Park open and then going back to the hotel. We can make fastpasses for later in the afternoon while not being in the park as long as we tapped in the morning right? If so, what time do they usually allow people in for an 8am open?

We've logged 30+ WDW trips but first DL trip since I was 7 so super excited! I appreciate all the great threads/posters on the DL forum here!

You will need to go through the gates of the park with your tickets scanned. No tapping.

Then yes you can book fast passes. Keep in mind you can only ever hold one pass per ride at a time.

They will likely start letting people in tomorrow around 7:45 ish. But there will be a line, and likely a very long one just to get in and then leave.

 

[sweethannah]

Is there a thread someone can link me to that will explain stacking FPs for the evening?

To piggy back on this,

Yes, in three hours you’d book two FPs. Depending when your break is and when you’re heading back to the park (not to mention how FP return times are moving that day, which is highly variable), you may already have additional late afternoon/evening FPs waiting from earlier in the day.

From my experience, especially if you park hop, you should get an FP earlier in the day for ride with a long return window and that return window should coincide with your return later that evening. Grab an FP for RSR before they sell out for example and have that one FP banked for later and work your way out from there being mindful of return times and grabbing the rides with the longest return windows first. By using the App you can get an idea of when FP sell out or when the return time fits in with your ideal return time. Depending on how many FPS you plan on grabbing for your morning use there is no reason why you couldn’t have 2 FPs in your 'hands' before you leave for your break but this may effect what you can accomplish in the morning. I would possibly collect a couple of FPs in the morning aiming for an opening to book my next FP around 10-1030... grab RSR. Then 90 minutes later grab one for Incredicoaster if the return time is after dark or Guardians if the timing is right. That would coincide with a potential break for lunch and another FP... hopefully Guardians or Incredicoaster and so on and so on. I’m not sure that makes sense but we’ve stacked with Maxpass once before and found it to be quite easy if you keep an eye on the app and return times.

 

[JJ2017]

To piggy back on this,


From my experience, especially if you park hop, you should get an FP earlier in the day for ride with a long return window and that return window should coincide with your return later that evening. Grab an FP for RSR before they sell out for example and have that one FP banked for later and work your way out from there being mindful of return times and grabbing the rides with the longest return windows first. By using the App you can get an idea of when FP sell out or when the return time fits in with your ideal return time. Depending on how many FPS you plan on grabbing for your morning use there is no reason why you couldn’t have 2 FPs in your 'hands' before you leave for your break but this may effect what you can accomplish in the morning. I would possibly collect a couple of FPs in the morning aiming for an opening to book my next FP around 10-1030... grab RSR. Then 90 minutes later grab one for Incredicoaster if the return time is after dark or Guardians if the timing is right. That would coincide with a potential break for lunch and another FP... hopefully Guardians or Incredicoaster and so on and so on. I’m not sure that makes sense but we’ve stacked with Maxpass once before and found it to be quite easy if you keep an eye on the app and return times.

I do follow this. Thank you!!! And from what I’m reading, as soon as we get scanned into DL, we can start to grab FPs with Maxpass....even if the park isn’t officially open? On top of that, we can grab one for DCA even though we haven’t scanned in there (our plan is to scan into DL and leave right away to start our day at DCA). If DH is signed into my app, can he grab WOC while I grab our first FP?

 

[coaches24]

I tried max pass yesterday with mixed results. Because I’m part of a large group with a set schedule that we have to be at certain places at certain times and cannot be late I had to be very careful of my FP choices. It helped a little but not enough for it to be worth it to me yesterday. I found it too hard to find the return times that would work with my schedule. Also had issues getting the FP to work a couple times. Told me I couldn’t get any FPs for some reason even though it was well past my 90 min window. My schedule today has a lot longer free time from basically 11:30 till 8:30 when we all meet up to try and see the fireworks (if they happen today). So I might give it one more chance as there are several FP rides DD wants to do that she hasn’t had the chance too.

 

[Trspohr2]

So, if we have an ADR for The Plaza at 7:00am, with a park opening at 8:00, should we make sure to be out of the restaurant to try for a RoR boarding group? Also, if I’m reading this correctly, I should be able to grab my first FP at 7am after we enter the park? Last question, will the lines be shorter for guests with an ADR?