There are a billion Disney blogs out there so I’m definitely not going to write in detail about Disneyland because that job is more aptly suited for someone who lives in SoCal with an annual pass! But I did recently go to Disneyland last week and tried out the new MaxPass, which my friend Emilie who went in March highly recommended that I use. A few people have already asked me what it is after I got back, so I figured I’d write a little about it and my experience with using it while it’s fresh in my mind. Oh yes, and we did get to see some of the Pixar Fest stuff, and it’s a serious hype going on!

Though I was never an Annual Pass holder, this was probably my 9th or 10th visit to Disneyland now, and I’ve seen the park change and evolve over the years and seasons, including when CA Adventures first opened! If you’re not familiar with FastPass, it’s basically a free virtual queue where you obtain a pass for a popular ride that offers it. With the pass, you return to the ride at a later designated window of time so you can go into the FastPass line, bypassing a lot of the wait.

MaxPass was introduced last July (2017), and it’s basically like FastPass on steroids. For a fee. But it can be worth it! In fact, I thought it was quite useful during our most recent trip. I was a little clumsy with using the app at first, but I got better as the day went on. So here’s some of my tips and tricks in using the app and why the MaxPass may be worth it for you too!

• What is Disneyland MaxPass?
• How do I set up my Disneyland MaxPass?
• How do I use the MaxPass for FastPasses on rides?
• How do I use the MaxPass for PhotoPass?
• Why should I buy Disneyland MaxPass over using FastPass?
• Tips and Tricks to get the most out of MaxPass and the Disneyland App

What is Disneyland MaxPass?

MaxPass is Disneyland’s new “paid FastPass and PhotoPass” to put it simply. It costs $10 per person, per day to use the MaxPass. Or $75 for the year with an Annual Pass. You do need to use the Disneyland App from your phone to utilize MaxPass.

Once you have purchased it, you can book and cancel your Fast Passes from your phone. If you have a Park Hopper, you can book Fast Passes for either park.

Additionally, included in your MaxPass areall the photos that the PhotoPass people take for you that day! The picture below was taken by a PhotoPass photographer. You can download all of them directly to your phone and even add borders and stickers however you want.

How do I set up my Disneyland MaxPass?

The official Disneyland Video above makes it pretty easy to see how to add MaxPass and use it, but I’ve also written it out here below, which is how we did it. ( I didn’t watch this video beforehand but found it kind of helpful afterwards…oops!)

1. The first thing you should do is to set up a Disney Account. Then you should make sure you have the Disneyland App downloaded on your phone.
2. Once you have your tickets, either pre-purchased or in the parks, you can link your tickets to your app. I recommend doing this prior to entering the park if you do have your tickets so everything is all set up and ready to activate as soon as you scan your tickets and enter the park!
3. To link your ticket, look under Park Info & Entry (this should be the first category on your screen) and the third item should be “My Tickets.” Tap this button. You will have an option to buy tickets or link tickets. Hit “Link Tickets” and you can either scan the bar code on your tickets or enter the bar code number.
4. Name each ticket for each person and you are all set! This “mobile ticket” is what you will scan for all your FastPass entrances so you don’t need to use your physical ticket, which used to be a pain in the butt (because I lose things all the time lol).
5. Once you enter the park, refresh the app and go to “Get FastPass with Disney Max Pass.” It will walk you through the process after you click “Get Started.”
6. Create a FastPass Party, then go to Payment, then agree to Terms and Conditions, and you’re done!

Travel Pearl: If you can set up a Payment Method on your account before entering the park, this will make the process even quicker. Also, one person can manage the whole group through their app. If multiple people want access to this task, make sure to link all the tickets in their account too! My husband also linked mine to his app, in case he wanted to update the Fast Passes.

How do I use my Disneyland MaxPass for FastPass on Rides?

Go to the “Get FastPass” section again, and it will ask you for which park you want to see FastPass times. The rides that still have FastPass and their return times will be listed, and all you have to do is click on the time you want to reserve the FastPass and confirm your party!

Once you book a FastPass, it will also tell you the next time you can book a new FastPass, which is usually no later than 90 minutes at the most. You might be in line for a ride when you can book the next one, so this is where the MaxPass is pretty useful in that you can be in 2 places at once! (Traditional FastPasses mean you have to physically go pick up a new FastPass.)

When your window to return to a ride is available, simply pop into the FastPass line and head to the shorter line into the ride! The app also gives you a notification during the return time. You’ll have to scan your mobile ticket (or physical ticket) and scroll through the tickets of everyone in the group to get through to the line.

Travel Pearl: Some popular rides require you to show your FastPass TWICE. Once at the entrance to the ride and once again closer to the front of the line, so don’t put your tickets/phones away so quickly. This is to prevent people from hopping the standby line into the FastPass line when they’re further inside the queue. They also take your picture when you enter the park, so they know whose face is linked to which ticket!

Also, do note that FastPasses RUN OUT. The first one to run out is usually Radiator Springs* and the return time can be super late in the day (afternoon to evening), even when checking FastPass less than hour after the park has opened! Toy Story Midway Mania also ran out of Fast Passes not too long after Radiator Springs, but we were lucky to snag it sooner. Midway Mania is probably my favorite ride between both parks! It looks a little weird right now while Pixar Pier is under construction, but the ride is still running and just as popular!

AND, do note that FastPasses can NOT be acquired through MaxPass for World of Color or Fantasmic. You still have to physically pick those up, although World of Color is not currently playing as of last week. =( But it is absolutely my favorite show, over Fantasmic and right up there next to the OG fireworks show! If you haven’t seen it before, it’s a must!

*Try Single Rider for Radiator Springs if you can’t get a FastPass, which is what we decided to do. We technically could have booked a Radiator Springs pass but the return times were near a parade time inside Disneyland park, so we decided to get Toy Story Midway Mania passes instead.

How do I use my Disneyland MaxPass for PhotoPass?

In your app, under the menu, scroll down to My Photos. Tap “Show PhotoPass Code” and show this to any PhotoPass photographer who takes your photos to scan, and all the photos they take will be linked to your app! You’ll get a notification when the photos are ready to be viewed as well and they organize the photos into batches when they were taken.

For any RIDE photos (Space Mountain, Radiator Springs, etc.), you can link your photos from the ride onto your app! No more buying individual photos! Simple tap “Link Photos” under the My Photos section and type in the ride code for your photo after you get off your ride and find your ride picture!

You can see ours from Space Mountain below, which is much higher quality than the ones you see on the TV screen after the ride! Also, who the heck wears sunglasses on Space Mountain?! Apparently, my husband…..

However, there are some rides that don’t have this system yet, like Astro Blasters. You can still email yourself a picture, but the quality is not as good as the ones they send you for the ride pictures on PhotoPass.

And if you want to see where the PhotoPass locations are, simply go to the map in your app (tap or pull down the Character Icon) and scroll across the menu at the top which starts with “Attractions.” There is a section to show “PhotoPass” on the map (the 6th options after scrolling)!

Travel Pearls: Photos on your app can be downloaded in resolution as high as 5MB files! You can also go back and add borders and stickers and there are a LOT to choose from! Photos expire 45 days from the date they were taken.

And…ask for a “Magic Shot,” from your PhotoPass photographer and they can make other Disney characters appear in your photo later on! The most popular ones I’ve seen are Tinkerbell in your hands or Stitch sitting beside you. One time, the photographer even added Mickey and Friends hang gliding  above the Golden Gate Bridge in the California Adventures entrance! (That bridge isn’t actually there anymore….)

Why should I buy the Disneyland MaxPass over using FastPass?

FastPass is still available at the park and it is FREE. Just letting you know that! So why is using MaxPass advantageous?

Time.

That’s the biggest advantage. You can be in two places at once! While waiting in line for a ride, you could be signing up for the next ride without needing to run to a FastPass distributing machine! Or you could be walking to the ride as you’re booking a FastPass to be used right as you get there! This is super helpful when you are going between parks with a Park Hopper! And if you decide to cancel a FastPass, you can do so easily as well on the app.

Also, the time until you can get your next fast pass is 90 minutes with MaxPass, while it is 2 hours (120 minutes) for a regular FastPass!

Other advantages include:
1) Saving paper, which I’m all about
2) Being able to book FastPasses for everyone in your group
3) THE PHOTOS. Where you used to have to pay for the pictures you wanted, for a mere $10 per person, you get digital files for every single photo you took during the day!! This to me is worth it right here!

With a free PhotoPass, you can still log in to see your photos, but the quality is a LOT smaller and I used to have to take screen shots of these photos to get them (see below), but this time I was able to get high quality photos straight on my phone! Totally worth it to me, especially if I can get pictures WITH my husband, who is usually taking the photos for me or we’re selfie-ing. I love a good selfie, but sometimes you wanna see your whole outfit in a picture, y’kno?? 😛

AND you can add cool stickers and borders afterwards however you please! You could also do this online with the free PhotoPass, but again size of image is limited and the photo above with my Disney fanatic friend was the best quality I could pull from the Internet. Still better than nothing, but I probably can’t print a good picture of that!

Tips and Tricks to Get the Most out of MaxPass and Disneyland App

• Save a screen shot of your photo pass and tickets. If you are even more hard core, make your PhotoPass QR code the locked screensaver on your phone for the day so the photographer can easily scan it!
• • Save a shot of your tickets too for FastPass scanning and this will save you from needing to open your Disneyland app all the time (a battery killer).
  • Have a POWER BANK, as your app will definitely consume a lot of phone battery. This Anker one is slim and tiny and will do the trick; we love all the Anker Power Banks! My mom likes this one which comes in Pink and other colors too but it may not charge as many times as the other one I liked.
• Reservations for anywhere you dine can be seen on the app. I booked a reservation for Blue Bayou online through my account and it showed up when I downloaded my app!
• Use TouchID or FaceID to log into your app. This also saves time each time you open the app.
• Use the app to note the Show Timesthroughout the day, especially if you’re hopping between parks. Different parks have different parades sometimes.
• Sometimes FastPasses are not worth it when standby time is relatively short (10-15 min).  You may as well book a FastPass for somewhere else more popular while you wait in line!

Bonus Travel Pearl: There IS a Starbucks inside Disneyland, but it’s not labeled as such. Look for “Market House” on your right hand side while walking down Main St. towards the Castle. It will be on a corner and it’s literally a Starbucks in disguise RIGHT INSIDE the park, but they won’t advertise it as such, even on the App. They apparently take your Starbucks gift cards and will scan your Gold Cards for points too. But……no birthday drink vouchers accepted, as we found out. Womp womp. But there’s one really close outside in Downtown Disney!

Okay, there you have my tips and guide to using the app for setting up and using your MaxPass! Hope you find the MaxPass as useful as I did! It gets a little pricey if you have a large group to pay for, but I’d recommend at least one person have it for the pictures if anything! 🙂

Happy Travels,

Jasmine