Flex Pass Superthread: Disneyland Resort Introduces New Annual Passport that Combines Value and Flexibility

[midnight star]

Hmmm this is not inspiring a lot of confidence. I thought we could make this pass work as non-local, taking a couple weekend trips through the year. But if we don't have a reasonable chance of getting dates at the 30-day mark (with flights booked) that is a question mark...

Anyways, watching with interest. Thanks for all the reports.

That’s kind of how I feel. I’m local. But due to my work schedule I can only go to the parks on weekends (generally Saturdays). So that’s means I would have to rely solely on reservations for this pass. I know the reservations have opened and closed a lot, but I’m too used to just showing up at the park whenever. This seems too stressful to wake up and reserve a date.

 

[TraceyDisney2008]

We are coming from December 2nd to 6th and was planning on buying flexpass but am now worried that the 6th will be hard to book. What time are reservations open? Would anyone suggest us just buying a 5 day pass and then upgrading on our last day to flex pass. We were hoping to use the AP discount for our food and shopping purchases through the week but we really want/need to be able to enter the parks on Friday the 6th.
If we buy a 5 day with maxpass will we be credited the whole price when buying the flexpass plus maxpass?

 

[twodogs]

We are coming from December 2nd to 6th and was planning on buying flexpass but am now worried that the 6th will be hard to book. What time are reservations open? Would anyone suggest us just buying a 5 day pass and then upgrading on our last day to flex pass. We were hoping to use the AP discount for our food and shopping purchases through the week but we really want/need to be able to enter the parks on Friday the 6th.
If we buy a 5 day with maxpass will we be credited the whole price when buying the flexpass plus maxpass?

To be sure that you can get in, you should buy the 5 day ticket with MP and upgrade on the last day. It is only a 10% discount on food/merch, so you will need to decide if that is worth risking not being able to enter the parks for a whole day of your trip. If you buy the tickets with MP already attached when you purchase the tickets (from Disney, and possibly from UCT), then the value of the MP that you purchased should automatically be applied when you go to upgrade your ticket. If you plan to add MP on day by day when you are in the parks, either the money you paid for MP will not be applied to the Flex pass upgrade, or you will have to have a ticket window CM manually apply the credits, which some people have been able to do and some have not.

 

[socaldisneylover]

The days that are blocked are all of the days that are also blocked on the So Cal Select Pass.

It seems like they just blocked a bunch of new dates overnight. And while weekend days had 1 park open and the other blocked, now they're both blocked. And it's like they suddenly decided......let's block all the Fridays as well at both parks.

 

[bwvBound]

FWIW, WDW's MDE app is experiencing difficulties with FP+ reservations. Last weekend, the Disneyland app had troubles account log in and MaxPass reservations. Today, I tried to show someone the Play app and it couldn't login.

Perhaps the problem isn't so much the Flex AP Reservations but Disney's systems, on a larger scale. I'm sure someone is working hard to restore all features.

 

[GlowTheWeird]

True. This morning it wasn’t allowing me to log into the app period. It kept saying error try again later. I knew it was the correct password, and it wasn’t giving a password error . It eventually let me log in, after I turned my phone off and back on. Never had to do that before.

 

[SoCalDisneyFan2708]

Get used to it folks when it comes to reservation days being unavailable. This pass has only been available for 6 months. As more and more of the older AP’s expire more people will see the price of the flex pass and what it has to offer on the surface. Without knowing the ins and outs of the Flex pass and it’s potential downfalls it’s going to be a no brainer for people to switch over from whatever pass they currently have. From the Sig AP POV it’s a massive amount of savings to switch over. From the SoCal AP POV you have the ability to go on some weekends for a small increase in price.

So with all of those new potential Flex passholders just think about how hard it is going to be get those weekend reservation spots. Selfishly I’m not a fan of this pass at all. It makes it hard to know when it might be a light or heavy day when it comes to crowds. I’m kinda like @midnight star in that I’m local and my best day to go is Saturday nights with me working 6 days a week. I have the Sig Plus pass and Saturday’s used to be the best time to go with all the blackouts on the rest of the passes. Oh well, we all gotta adapt and make the best of the situation.

 

[GlowTheWeird]

So I agree that the flex will get harder to schedule but something has to be going on that the reservations are not available at 7am on the dot for even a minute. Nothing . Already blocked. There has to be some availability of not small. I imagine it will be like making a fast pass for seven dwarf mine train where you need to wake up and be ready at the exact time it opens for reservations or you miss out.

 

[ZCarroll]

the last several years I've really started to wonder, why don't they just sell dated tickets and require reservations for multiday passes? Wouldn't that solve a ton of issues? When I was at the parks recently there was one day we came in to a different security check point than usual and there was *nobody* there besides my family... (9/17/19 at DTD) and I was asking the people that worked there if it was always so much less crowded there and they told me it was just completely random and no one had *any* idea in the slightest what the crowds would be like and that it was a big issue because they would think there would be crowds and have extra staff (which was the case right there... the employees outnumbered the guests!) and then they would have fewer people working later when huge crowds came and have to call in emergency extras. How can a billion dollar service industry function like that?!? It's absurd to me... and for the most part tourists have to plan their trips, at least weeks, if not months and even years in advance so it's not like it would be an issue for most people buying daily tickets. I'm just really surprised they went with Annual Pass members needing to schedule/reserve dates rather than requiring tourists to do so first -then they could block pass members based on tourist crowds rather than trying to guess and making the whole experience miserable for everyone with people travelling long distances trying to guess when would be a good time for them. It just makes no sense to me at all... does anyone understand the reasoning?

...and now that I think about it, how does this all work with the flex pass if you want to reserve dining or other packages that are further out than the days you can reserve for the Flex pass? Seems like that might create some frustration with cancellations needing to be made...

 

[midnight star]

So I agree that the flex will get harder to schedule but something has to be going on that the reservations are not available at 7am on the dot for even a minute. Nothing . Already blocked. There has to be some availability of not small. I imagine it will be like making a fast pass for seven dwarf mine train where you need to wake up and be ready at the exact time it opens for reservations or you miss out.

That's kind of crazy. Usually Disneyland isn't competitive like WDW. But if the days are getting blocked right at 7, the competition is starting to go up (or has gone up).

 

[MinnieMama09]

It must be glitching (hoping)...many dates opened back up! Even for this coming weekend and into Veteran’s Day weekend if anyone is still trying to reserve!

 

[twodogs]

Saw all those “reservations unavailable” dates this morning and freaked out a little since we planned on upgrading to FP after our trip this weekend. However, just looked now and only one day is unavailable to reserve for DL (11/9) and only 2 days unavailable to reserve for DCA (10/20 and 10/26). So that is much better. It is tough if you have to fly in like we do, and you like to do 3 park days that are typically Fri-Sun. Not sure how this pass will work for us, be we are going to try it and see this year.

 

[GlowTheWeird]

Seems to be super glitchy. I’m cool with that, but I do anticipate as more get the flex pass it could get competitive to get those reservations. so glad it opened back up.

 

[midnight star]

Seems to be super glitchy. I’m cool with that, but I do anticipate as more get the flex pass it could get competitive to get those reservations. so glad it opened back up.

I would still book early as you can to be safe. Then cancel if you decide not to go.

 

[midnight star]

So with all of those new potential Flex passholders just think about how hard it is going to be get those weekend reservation spots. Selfishly I’m not a fan of this pass at all. It makes it hard to know when it might be a light or heavy day when it comes to crowds. I’m kinda like @midnight star in that I’m local and my best day to go is Saturday nights with me working 6 days a week. I have the Sig Plus pass and Saturday’s used to be the best time to go with all the blackouts on the rest of the passes. Oh well, we all gotta adapt and make the best of the situation.

Oh yeah! I forgot how Saturdays were the low crowd days last year with the blockouts. I wonder if the reservations are what is making Saturdays busier? I thought it would be because people found out Saturdays were a good day to go, so they decided to go then. Or those who didn't give up their lower passes upgraded to the higher ones?

 

[twodogs]

If there is a day that requires reservations for both parks, but only one is available to book at that time (one park’s reservations are full when I reserve), what happens if “both parks” reservations become available later? I think it says in the fine print that you can’t modify a reservation, you have to cancel and rebook (if you have two days booked at that time; if you just have one day booked, maybe you could book “both parks” for the same date you already have one park booked, and then cancel the single park reservation). So I wonder if you release your “one park” reservation for a date and try to grab a “both parks“ reservation for that same date, is there a chance that the ”both parks” will disappear before you can confIrm it (like Fast Passes sometimes disappear in MP before you can confirm them), and then I might also have lost my “one park” reservation because I had to cancel it to try to book “both parks”? I hope this is making sense....

Here is a concrete example based on current availability. Say I have these two reservations:
10/25 Both Parks
10/26 DL only (DCA is booked up currently, but I would like to book both parks this day)

Then say on some day prior to 10/26 (or even on that day?), I see reservations open up for “both parks”. Do I have to cancel DL only for 10/26, then book “both parks” for 10/26? Is there a risk that I cancel DL, can’t book “both parks” because someone else grabs it first, and then I try to go back and reserve DL only for that date, but it is gone now??

 

[gillep]

I tried to book the 16th at 7 am but it was already showing as Reservation Unavailable. At 7:09 it was open again and able to book but very glitchy. It is still open now so I am not sure what was going on at 7 am.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I tried to book the 16th at 7 am but it was already showing as Reservation Unavailable. At 7:09 it was open again and able to book but very glitchy. It is still open now so I am not sure what was going on at 7 am.

Disneyland typically doesn’t release things at the exact time listed like WDW does. It’ll go up a bit earlier or later (or weeks later, in the case of dining reservations lately!)

 

[bwvBound]

FWIW, I've crossed this bridge twice. For each, with trepidation, I cancelled the reservation for one park and immediately rebooked as Both Parks. Good luck!

If there is a day that requires reservations for both parks, but only one is available to book at that time (one park’s reservations are full when I reserve), what happens if “both parks” reservations become available later? I think it says in the fine print that you can’t modify a reservation, you have to cancel and rebook (if you have two days booked at that time; if you just have one day booked, maybe you could book “both parks” for the same date you already have one park booked, and then cancel the single park reservation). So I wonder if you release your “one park” reservation for a date and try to grab a “both parks“ reservation for that same date, is there a chance that the ”both parks” will disappear before you can confIrm it (like Fast Passes sometimes disappear in MP before you can confirm them), and then I might also have lost my “one park” reservation because I had to cancel it to try to book “both parks”? I hope this is making sense....

Here is a concrete example based on current availability. Say I have these two reservations:
10/25 Both Parks
10/26 DL only (DCA is booked up currently, but I would like to book both parks this day)

Then say on some day prior to 10/26 (or even on that day?), I see reservations open up for “both parks”. Do I have to cancel DL only for 10/26, then book “both parks” for 10/26? Is there a risk that I cancel DL, can’t book “both parks” because someone else grabs it first, and then I try to go back and reserve DL only for that date, but it is gone now??

 

[gillep]

FWIW, I've crossed this bridge twice. For each, with trepidation, I cancelled the reservation for one park and immediately rebooked as Both Parks. Good luck!

I have also successfully done this once, good luck indeed.