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

[bethwc101]

You will lose your MM if you haven’t used it yet when you upgrade, FYI.

We are going M,W,F so no loss there.

 

[Boku41]

We just got back from Disneyland. On the morning of the last day, the ticket booths were empty so I went and asked if there was a way to upgrade our tickets and still get in that day. I was told no, but that I could upgrade when we left or in the parks on the app. All day I tried to find a way to upgrade in the park on the app but couldn't find a way to get the 5 day ticket cost applied. Even my tech savvy 20+ year olds couldn't find a way. I then went about 5pm to the ticket booths again and was told I would have to come back out on our way home and the ticket booths closed right at closing. So we all came out before we had expected and went through the agonizingly slow process of getting annual passes. They also told me I had to have the actual paper ticket from the first day to show how much they were worth. Luckily I still had them in my backpack. I don't know why we had to have them and I don't know why this process should take more than 2-3 minutes instead of over an hour. ( We had 9 of us.) She had to write on each paper ticket the value of the ticket and also the cost of the annual pass. Then she wrote a couple of more things on the ticket that I didn't understand. She even scanned each ticket and looked at the picture and then the family member to make sure they corresponded so we had to have the whole family there. Crazy process given the technology involved.

We did get the full cost of the tickets applied including the discount we received from Undercover Tourist.

 

[twodogs]

We just got back from Disneyland. On the morning of the last day, the ticket booths were empty so I went and asked if there was a way to upgrade our tickets and still get in that day. I was told no, but that I could upgrade when we left or in the parks on the app. All day I tried to find a way to upgrade in the park on the app but couldn't find a way to get the 5 day ticket cost applied. Even my tech savvy 20+ year olds couldn't find a way. I then went about 5pm to the ticket booths again and was told I would have to come back out on our way home and the ticket booths closed right at closing. So we all came out before we had expected and went through the agonizingly slow process of getting annual passes. They also told me I had to have the actual paper ticket from the first day to show how much they were worth. Luckily I still had them in my backpack. I don't know why we had to have them and I don't know why this process should take more than 2-3 minutes instead of over an hour. ( We had 9 of us.) She had to write on each paper ticket the value of the ticket and also the cost of the annual pass. Then she wrote a couple of more things on the ticket that I didn't understand. She even scanned each ticket and looked at the picture and then the family member to make sure they corresponded so we had to have the whole family there. Crazy process given the technology involved.

We did get the full cost of the tickets applied including the discount we received from Undercover Tourist.

We went through the same process in October, but we were able to enter on our last day after we upgraded because it was a good to go day. It was so painful, slow and frankly ridiculous. We had UCT tickets also, so I am not if that is what made us unable to upgrade in the app, but I tried every way I could think of to do it in the app and no go. It simply would not apply the ticket cost no matter how I tried to do the upgrade. In June when we were also there, I bought the tickets directly from Disney, and I know we could have upgraded those in the app and had the cost applied, as we nearly did it that trip, but we didn’t. In any case, the process at the ticket window is beyond annoying and should literally take 5 minutes in my opinion.

Fair warning to others, @Boku41 and I had the same issue, so do not plan your trip around being able to upgrade in the app and have the cost applied. It may work, and for your sake, I hope it does. But it may not, and then you are stuck with the speed of the person at GS...

 

[sunflare]

We just got back from Disneyland. On the morning of the last day, the ticket booths were empty so I went and asked if there was a way to upgrade our tickets and still get in that day. I was told no, but that I could upgrade when we left or in the parks on the app. All day I tried to find a way to upgrade in the park on the app but couldn't find a way to get the 5 day ticket cost applied. Even my tech savvy 20+ year olds couldn't find a way. I then went about 5pm to the ticket booths again and was told I would have to come back out on our way home and the ticket booths closed right at closing. So we all came out before we had expected and went through the agonizingly slow process of getting annual passes. They also told me I had to have the actual paper ticket from the first day to show how much they were worth. Luckily I still had them in my backpack. I don't know why we had to have them and I don't know why this process should take more than 2-3 minutes instead of over an hour. ( We had 9 of us.) She had to write on each paper ticket the value of the ticket and also the cost of the annual pass. Then she wrote a couple of more things on the ticket that I didn't understand. She even scanned each ticket and looked at the picture and then the family member to make sure they corresponded so we had to have the whole family there. Crazy process given the technology involved.

They are definitely being inconsistent on this, then. The CM we had in the morning of our last day of tickets (4 day hoppers with maxpass, Christmas Eve) said she could upgrade us and give us a blockout ticket, but we would have to rebuy maxpass for the day because we weren't adding it to our Flexpass. We opted to come back about halfway through the day and upgraded (before we did any shopping and after we did everything we wanted with maxpass) and got upgraded and given our courtesy blockout. I don't think it was pixie dust since it was two different CMs, two different booths and we had to get a manager involved because we had hard tickets from Costco (different procedure than regular tickets).

 

[twodogs]

They are definitely being inconsistent on this, then. The CM we had in the morning of our last day of tickets (4 day hoppers with maxpass, Christmas Eve) said she could upgrade us and give us a blockout ticket, but we would have to rebuy maxpass for the day because we weren't adding it to our Flexpass. We opted to come back about halfway through the day and upgraded (before we did any shopping and after we did everything we wanted with maxpass) and got upgraded and given our courtesy blockout. I don't think it was pixie dust since it was two different CMs, two different booths and we had to get a manager involved because we had hard tickets from Costco (different procedure than regular tickets).

This just adds to my frustration over the whole process. It should be consistent. Since it is clearly not, no one can count on any one set of rules and therefore no one can plan.

 

[LP and Minnie]

Hi all- I have been following along regarding upgrading tickets to an AP and would love some advice.
We are going to DLR next week and plan to upgrade from 3 day park hoppers to an annual flex pass. Of course, we’re hoping to make this as painless as possible so wondering which option makes more sense:

1) pick up tickets (they were purchased from Costco so they are waiting at hotel for pick up) and go to GS to upgrade that evening before scanning or using the tickets at all. This is a non-park day so I was thinking this might make sense because we won’t be worried as much about the time it takes but are there any cons here or reasons not to do that? We are staying at GCH so no issues with losing the MM.

2) use the three day park hoppers and upgrade on our final day.

 

[twodogs]

Hi all- I have been following along regarding upgrading tickets to an AP and would love some advice.
We are going to DLR next week and plan to upgrade from 3 day park hoppers to an annual flex pass. Of course, we’re hoping to make this as painless as possible so wondering which option makes more sense:

1) pick up tickets (they were purchased from Costco so they are waiting at hotel for pick up) and go to GS to upgrade that evening before scanning or using the tickets at all. This is a non-park day so I was thinking this might make sense because we won’t be worried as much about the time it takes but are there any cons here or reasons not to do that? We are staying at GCH so no issues with losing the MM.

2) use the three day park hoppers and upgrade on our final day.

Depends on which days you are going to the parks. If all are good to go on FP, I would upgrade on arrival night to save time and pain on a park day. If any of them require reservations, then you risk not being able to get a reservation unless you can confirm that reservations are available to book at the time of upgrading. If they are bookable, then I would still upgrade on arrival night. If they are not available to reserve on arrival night, then you can ask if they will give you a block out pass and upgrade you right then, but YMMV as some people have not been offered this.

 

[LP and Minnie]

Depends on which days you are going to the parks. If all are good to go on FP, I would upgrade on arrival night to save time and pain on a park day. If any of them require reservations, then you risk not being able to get a reservation unless you can confirm that reservations are available to book at the time of upgrading. If they are bookable, then I would still upgrade on arrival night. If they are not available to reserve on arrival night, then you can ask if they will give you a block out pass and upgrade you right then, but YMMV as some people have not been offered this.

Ok thank you! The first day actually using the AP (1/12) would be a reservation day but I was hoping that if reservations were still available at the time of the upgrade, a risk that they were still available would be ok. From this board, it sounds like the only day that “sold out” of reservations was the 4th of July. Is that right?

 

[Boku41]

I would imagine that a bunch of people just bought Flex passes these last two weeks like we did. My guess is that there are going to be more and more days closed off going forward.

 

[twodogs]

Ok thank you! The first day actually using the AP (1/12) would be a reservation day but I was hoping that if reservations were still available at the time of the upgrade, a risk that they were still available would be ok. From this board, it sounds like the only day that “sold out” of reservations was the 4th of July. Is that right?

No unfortunately, that is not the only day that sold out. Several days in October sold out, and I know for sure 1/5/2020 sold out (and was sold out long before the holidays). Currently 1/18 is booked up for DL only (can still reserve DCA that day currently). I have been watching the dates for months, and many days have sold out and have been very hard to impossible to get after they sold out. So do not bank on being able to get a same day reservation, depending on when you are going. However, you will be able to see it in real time on your arrival night, so if 1/12 is still available to book when you do the upgrade, you should be able to do the upgrade and book it right away (though one person early on with this pass did have an issue with that, and I think they gave her a block out pass since reservations were available that day but the app was glitching and not letting her reserve it).

If you are going 1/12 and onward, then that is the only reservation required day. Hopefully it will still be open when you go to upgrade. If not, you can ask for a block out pass for that day, though some have not been able to get the CM at GS to give them one. Otherwise, you will have your 3 day tickets and will have to deal with the upgrade on one of the later days of your trip.

 

[socaldisneylover]

Several days in October sold out, and I know for sure 1/5/2020 sold out (and was sold out long before the holidays). Currently 1/18 is booked up for DL only (can still reserve DCA that day currently). I have been watching the dates for months, and many days have sold out and have been very hard to impossible to get after they sold out. So do not bank on being able to get a same day reservation, depending on when you are going.

I did not make a reservation right away for Sunday 1/5, and CA Adventure filled up fast. Disneyland was still open, but since I wanted CA Adventure, so I could use up my last 3 Sip & Savor coupons, I did not make a reservation there. I kept looking for CA Adventure to open up again, but it never did, and in a few days, DL also became blocked. Kept checking for the past 2-3 weeks, and never saw either available.

What I did have was a booking for Saturday 1/18, for an obvious purpose. My well considered theory is that a lot of Flex passholders placed a reservation for Sunday 1/5, and used their 2nd reservation on Saturday 1/11. Which is why for the past 2+ weeks, Saturday 1/18, which everyone thought would become unavailable quickly, has remained open.

Yesterday, all those folks used up their 1st reservation, with the plan to turn around and reserve 1/18 when it became possible for them to do so. I'm guessing that today some or many of them, are disturbed to see 1/18 is now full at Disneyland. Gee....I wonder why? Sorry, no pity from me. I took off from work early today so I could go use my remaining coupons, and would much rather have done that yesterday.

I'd like to go next Sunday, but am afraid to use my 2nd reservation for that, rather than Sunday 1/19, which I'm guessing is going to become unavailable sometime in the next 7 days. I'm slightly concerned about what effect that insignificant new attraction is going to have on Flex Pass weekend availability. I've found it very rare that there has been a problem getting a Sunday reservation, but that may all change.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Just adding that my friend was able to book 1/5 on 1/3 (she then got stuck in parking hell on Sunday and regretted her choice), but even the “sold out” days do open up from time to time.

I had another friend who had 1/5 for two people and cancelled it while we were away for NYE, so presumably her spots opened up at that point...

Obviously these aren’t things you can bank on, but there is movement on the sold out days.

 

[Katiebird]

There’s quite a bit of movement on “sold out” dates. I checked on 1/5 for nearly 3 weeks and saw DCA open 4-5 times and was finally able to book both parks a few day’s before.

Most of the dates during the fall that “sold out” also had a lot of variability, with several opening up completely a week or so before.
Overall it’s been quite rare to not be able to book a date at 2-3 weeks out, let alone at 30 days. While that may change, I really don’t think it’s going to become a huge problem as long as one can plan ahead and be a bit flexible (or if one can’t be flexible, then be sure to book as soon as the date opens up).

 

[AndrewC]

If my pass says expires 10/18/2020, does that mean it’s only valid until 11:59pm on 10/17 (no admission on the 18th), or should it be valid for admission until park closes on the 18th?

 

[tsumgirl]

If my pass says expires 10/18/2020, does that mean it’s only valid until 11:59pm on 10/17 (no admission on the 18th), or should it be valid for admission until park closes on the 18th?

Per this article (https://disneyparksmomspanel.disney...l-pass-expire-enter-park-expired-date-412589/), you're able to use your pass until the park closes on the 18th.

 

[Mark_E]

If I'm to just rock up on the day to buy a flex pass, what sort of ID will I need?
Will a UK Drivers License be adequate or will I need passport?
I've weighed up the pros and cons of buying a 3-4 day pass and upgrading, but the hour I'd gain from a magic morning would be lost later to upgrade it seems.
How long will the process take to just buy a pass on the morning of? I plan to arrive 7:30-8am on a Monday where the regular park opening is 9am.
Thanks!

 

[MagicalMike]

If I'm to just rock up on the day to buy a flex pass, what sort of ID will I need?
Will a UK Drivers License be adequate or will I need passport?

My Fiancé and I went to Disneyland yesterday and we picked up our Flex Passes. She just used her Australian Drivers License I.D. for it and it wall all good. They just needed a valid I.D. that had name, picture, and birth date on it.

 

[socaldisneylover]

Sunday 1/19 now unavailable at Disneyland

 

[MagicalMike]

Hi Guys!!

My Fiancé and I just got back from Disneyland yesterday! Woohoo!!

I had bought us the FlexPass and yesterday was a good to go day. So we just went to the ticket booth first thing in the morning and picked up our passes. My Fiancé is from Australia and her Australian drivers License I.D. worked fine for getting her pass

They changed the pass design from the Mickey and friends to just an old school looking Mickey logo on it. Also! I bought the passes last month but when we picked up our passes the cast member changed our experation date to 1/28/2021

So we got in the park no problem. I have Maxpass Added onto both our passes and it was my first time (or our first time) using Maxpass. I always stuck with the old paper fastpass. But I'll tell you this, having Maxpass is really worth it.

We got to ride 33 times! Plus some shopping and eating and some pictures.

Also it's super cool being able to download photopass pictures to your phone!

We are going back next week!

Oh! And some people mentioned to me about the upgrade to a Signature so we get free parking. We did the math and the total cost in savings from having free parking vs paying is only $50 for the year. I'm not worried about paying $50 more while only paying $90 a month for 2 passes that I basically have all year for. Plus to upgrade it would have been $500 upfront!

But yeah Flexpass is great I think!

 

[Mark_E]

Thanks!