On my recent trip to Disneyland, I was fortunate enough to have complimentary MaxPass added to my ticket. So of course, totally worth the (no) cost! But would I do it if I had to pay for it myself?
Answer as usual with me is “it depends.” It costs $10/per person/per day. If money isn’t a huge concern to you, then I’d say no question at all - get it. If you have just a couple of people, then the price is reasonable also. But if you’re like me and have a family of 5, MaxPass will run you $50/per day and if you do 3 days at Disneyland, that’s an additional $150.
Now as cheap as I am, I’d probably still do it. The thing about Disneyland is that FastPasses aren’t included at all like at Disney World. So without MaxPass, you’ll be waiting in every line. If it’s not a crowded day, this might not be a big deal.
Here’s how it works… Once you are in a park (your ticket must have been scanned at the entrance), you go on the mobile app and pick your FastPass time. When I was there, I was able to do this every few minutes. As soon as you enter the queue for your time, you can pick a new FastPass.
Keep in mind that not all rides have FastPass. I sadly didn’t get to ride Peter Pan this trip since the line was always over 45 minutes and I had limited time due to training. But on the rides that offer FastPass, I didn’t wait more than 5 minutes. That’s huge on Radiator Springs Racers, Incredicoaster and some of the more popular rides.
Also as a bonus, you receive downloads of all of your PhotoPass pics for each day that you get MaxPass!! I LOVE the pics that Disney photographers capture and that alone may be worth the price. Check out just a few of the pics I downloaded…
One difference on the pics is that on the in-ride photos you have to be sure to record the number of your picture as you leave the ride and attach it to your account through the app. Simple process but it is a step more than just having it automatically added via your MagicBand at Disney World.
One advantage of MaxPass is that you don’t really have to decide ahead of time. Once you’re at Disneyland, it’s a simple process to purchase MaxPass on your app (be sure you’ve already downloaded the Disneyland app before you get there!).
There are a lot of differences between the Land and the World and on a future post, I’ll go through them. The main difference here is that MaxPass makes Disneyland seem much more spontaneous. Even though you have to spend some time on your phone picking your FastPasses throughout the day, you don’t have to spend any time before your trip deciding what to do. For a planner like me, I thought I would hate that. But it was a nice change to do things on the fly!!
Please give me a call if you’re thinking of heading to any Disney or Universal Destination. I can help you understand what you need to do ahead of time or wait until you are there and can save you stress and headaches!! And best of all, it’s free to book with me!!
** The $10/per person/per day price is considered the “introductory price” of MaxPass. I haven’t heard of a price increase but keep in mind that the price may have changed if you are reading this post at a future time.