Disneyland Questions, who has been lately?

[kuhltiffany]

Yes, I looked at the big long "official" thread on this, but our Canadian section is just such more friendly... We're heading to DL in March for 3 days before a cruise. We went about 5 years ago, so have been before, but that was when they had the paper fastness system. I wish they had the same as WDW, as I know how to use that one to my advantage, but this new, pay Maxpass system has me wondering, is it worth it? Is it best used with a park hopper? Any advice appreciated!

 

[damo]

We were there in May. We loved the MaxPass. Yes, you can use it with the parkhopper.

 

[isabellea]

Went with DH in April 2018 (see TR in my signature -- missing the last day) and MaxPass is 100% worth it. We decided to cancel our August DCL cruise because it's too expensive and instead will go to California with the kids and planning on getting 5-day tickets with AM for DLR. For the days we will be at the parks RD to fireworks we will buy MP for all of us for sure. Still unsure about the days we will only visit the parks a few hours (see thread I did on the Disneyland forum).

I consider my home park WDW (been 9 times) but my favourite is now DLR and one of the reason I now prefer DLR to WDW is MaxPass.

 

[deedubb]

We were there Aug 2018 and Aug 2019, 5 park hoppers with MaxPass. It is worth every penny and much better than the FP+ system at WDW. I would never do DLR without MaxPass. I think park hoppers are the way to go as well, given the ease of it. We often go between the 2 parks several times/day.

 

[TammyLynn33]

Same we were there in August and loved them( maxpass) . It’s so much more laid back even day of dining reservations
Have fun

 

[isabellea]

We were there Aug 2018 and Aug 2019, 5 park hoppers with MaxPass. It is worth every penny and much better than the FP+ system at WDW. I would never do DLR without MaxPass. I think park hoppers are the way to go as well, given the ease of it. We often go between the 2 parks several times/day.

Same we were there in August and loved them( maxpass) . It’s so much more laid back even day of dining reservations
Have fun

How is August weather and crowds in August? Any week that is better?

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Another vote in favor of the Maxpass system! One thing I like is when you make a new Fastpass reservation, the app will show you what time you can make your next reservation. So I set a reminder in my phone for that time so I don't forget about it. And as PPs have mentioned, it can be used with Park Hopper. So if you are in Disneyland but you see a Fastpass open for Radiator Springs Racers, you can get it and then make your way into the other park.

An added perk is that it comes with all your photopass downloads (even though there are significantly fewer photographers out and about than at WDW).

 

[Chickinvic]

Disneyland's fastpass system kicks butt over WDW's IMO. I hope they never change it. I find WDW completely unfair. At least at DL you have to be there to get them and it doesn't completely favour only those who stay onsite. End of rant lol.

 

[cari12]

How is August weather and crowds in August? Any week that is better?

Late August is better as the California schools go back mid-August I believe. Locals have a huge affect on crowds.

 

[isabellea]

We'll probably leave California Aug 25 (kids start school on Aug 26) so I'll try to plan our time there at the end of our trip. Thanks!

 

[deedubb]

How is August weather and crowds in August? Any week that is better?

Weather is amazing. They get virtually no rain in Aug and humidity is non-existent.

We prefer early Aug because the lower tier annual pass blockouts end around Aug 20 or so. DLR is more of a locals park, so a lot of the crowd is often annual pass holders.

 

[deedubb]

Here are the blockout dates for some of the annual passes. As you can see, they are blocked out for close to 2 months in the summer, so when it ends in mid Aug, the floodgates open.

 

[Mathmagicland]

If you have options for August travel, definitely go the first two weeks. As @deedubb notes, once the blocked passes open up, DL gets VERY crowded with local APs who have been blocked all summer and want to catch the summer happenings before those end on Labor Day weekend.

 

[Bossy22]

We have used maxpass and have not used maxpass and it really depends on your touring style. We go for 5 days and "may" do one day. For us, with younger kids (all 10 and under) we do so many nonfastpass rides that the regular fastpass is more than sufficient. We always buy maxpass for my ticket though to get the ride photos and photopass photos. If you love just fitting in tonnes of fastpass rides it is probably worth it. If you like doing all the rides and shows than you probably don't need it!

 

[Sue M]

I think MaxPass is worth it. Best used with hopper to get the max value out of it. If you’re young and don’t mind running all over the place picking up paper FPs you can get by without MaxPass. My friends family went, and her son has 4 children. Getting 6 MaxPass everyday was just too expensive for them and they did ok with paper FPs.

 

[kuhltiffany]

We've got a large group so decided against Maxpass. I'm ok with using the old paper system. My mom found something that mentioned a trial of a Fastpass kiosk in Tomorrowland from October, but I haven't been able to find out if it's still there or not, has anyone heard of this?

 

[westcoastminnie]

We've got a large group so decided against Maxpass. I'm ok with using the old paper system. My mom found something that mentioned a trial of a Fastpass kiosk in Tomorrowland from October, but I haven't been able to find out if it's still there or not, has anyone heard of this?

I heard it was still there earlier this month. The DL website says this:

Tomorrowland Attractions
FASTPASS selections for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Space Mountain and Star Tours – The Adventures Continue are distributed in front of the Tomorrowland Theater as well as in the Disneyland app via Disney MaxPass.

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/fastpass/
We don’t mind doing paper Fastpass, but we’ve been a lot so know the system well. We’ll sometimes do MaxPass for one person for 1 day, for the photo opportunities. Or if we want to do a ride focused day and we know it’s going to be busy!

 

[gypsy_at_heart]

I was just there last father's day (my dad's gift) and I loved maxpass. It made everything so easy and quick.

My dad did have DAS as well due to his disability, but when he was napping my mom and I made full use of maxpass and loved it. And honestly, even when he was with us, sometimes it was actually easier to just maxpass it than run all over the park getting return times for my Dad from the kiosks. There were tons of maxpass return times open and we managed to do a lot.