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

[Erin M]

Strange, they were all showing unavailable earlier today and last night. Thank you for getting me to look again.

I'm going to be keeping a close eye on it for the next few weeks. I have a reservation for the 1st and 2nd of February, but I also need one for the 1st of March. The March trip is a one day trip so it's a MUST. The Feb trip is five days, so I could relinquish the Feb 1 date if I had to. However, I am pretty sure I'm on a plane to Anaheim when the clock strikes 7am for the March 1 open window. If I did my math right? Math is hard yo! I've only done reservations once so I'm still getting the hang of it. My plan right now is to get to the park as fast as possible on Feb 1, scan in, then book the March 1 date. I am hoping since it's a Sunday it won't become unavailable.

 

[MonocularVision]

I currently have a monitor running that pulls the full AP calendar out (for the next 12 months) and stores it in a database (along with full history) every 10 minutes. I can see that Flex days go “Unavailable” to “Reservation Required” several times a throughout every day. I am planning on releasing an app that will provide a better interface to this data and have notifications for changes. If anyone is interested in a specific day, I can manually grab the info and post here for now.

 

[twodogs]

I currently have a monitor running that pulls the full AP calendar out (for the next 12 months) and stores it in a database (along with full history) every 10 minutes. I can see that Flex days go “Unavailable” to “Reservation Required” several times a throughout every day. I am planning on releasing an app that will provide a better interface to this data and have notifications for changes. If anyone is interested in a specific day, I can manually grab the info and post here for now.

 

[Erin M]

I know this is highly skilled knowledge of computers and code and stuff, but this is also magic.

 

[Mark_E]

Gonna be arriving into my hotel around 9pm Sunday. Do you think it's worth headed down and buying my annual pass that evening so I can get it linked to my app etc. Obviously I'd go into the park for the last hour if I could but with it being a reservations required day, would I be able to?
My concern is buying it Monday morning if there's any issues I wouldn't be able to get a BG for Rise.

 

[twodogs]

Gonna be arriving into my hotel around 9pm Sunday. Do you think it's worth headed down and buying my annual pass that evening so I can get it linked to my app etc. Obviously I'd go into the park for the last hour if I could but with it being a reservations required day, would I be able to?
My concern is buying it Monday morning if there's any issues I wouldn't be able to get a BG for Rise.

If you know you are buying a pass, why not buy it on the app when you arrive (it will have an expiration of one year from purchase, but you can go to GS later in the trip and they will adjust to one year from first use; you can pick up the plastic card then too). This way, if you get crunched for time that night, you won't need to go to GS since you will have the pass in your App, and that is all you need to try for a ROTR BG the next morning. Then once that is over, you can go to GS any time to get the plastic card and have them adjust your date. If reservations are still available that night, you can book a reservation again straight from the app, right after you buy your pass in the app.

Personally, if you are sure you are buying the pass, and reservations are currently available for Sunday night, I would just buy it today on the app, make Sunday's reservation, and then go to GS as above when you have time in your trip. The plastic pass is needed for discounts, but again, it may not be needed until later in your trip since you can scan in from the app and they give you a paper pass at the gate to use until you have time to get the plastic one.

 

[Mark_E]

I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying a pass, but I’m an airline employee on a layover and as you know, flights etc sometimes change last minute and hotels subbed etc so until I’m there, in Anaheim, I won’t be 100% sure enough to buy it in the app.

 

[Tylerrog94]

Am I able to book my first set of days immediately after buying my passes online or do I have to wait until I have them physically?

 

[queso2992]

You can book them immediately.

 

[Tylerrog94]

You can book them immediately.

Thank you so much!

 

[gregoz]

Posting a little update from our trip this weekend. We were there Friday night, Sat, Sun, and part of today (Monday). Every day but Friday was Reservations Required, so I was only able to book Saturday and Sunday in advance of course. Since it was a holiday weekend, I was concerned about getting Monday. We scanned in Saturday, and after going through the crazy of getting a BG for ROTR, I went to book for Monday. But the entire ticketing system crashed that morning due to the ROTR BGs process. So I could not book Monday. The “make a reservation” stayed grayed out. Since it looked like reservations were available, and we were going through a very busy day, I decided to wait it out until MN, assuming that the system would roll over, and I would be able to book Monday. I woke up at 2am, button was still grayed out. UGH. I tried to do it on the app and on the website, but no go. Nothing I could do at that point, so rechecked at 6am when I got up, and it let me make the reservation for Monday.

I think this was an issue due to ROTR crashing the ticketing system (no one could book Max Passes for over an hour Saturday morning, did not recognize anyone’s tickets etc). The next day, when I scanned in for Sunday, it fairly immediately changed to allow me to make another reservation. Of course at that point, I didn’t need another reservation, ha ha!

One last thing, we did an upgrade of tickets in October from our tickets, and had a long stint at GS doing this. No idea why this took 45 minutes at the window, but it did. One DD was not with us, so we bought her FP on the app about a month ago. We had to go to GS to get the plastic card, and this took less than one minute. So I wish we could have upgraded in the app in October, but it would not apply the value of our tickets to the FP, as others have experienced. The CM at GS did volunteer to change the expiration date on DD FP that I bought through the app to one year from first use (it said one year from purchase when I bought it).

Thank you for sharing!!! I've been lurking for a while but finally decided to ask a question since I am trying to do the same thing as you in a couple of weeks.

Question for others who tried to use Flex pass for 3 straight days on a long weekend: Have you been lucky reserving a Monday at midnight Sat night as twodogs did?

We are going Presidents day Weekend (Feb 15-17).... We are arriving in Anaheim Sat afternoon, so I have Sun & Mon booked right now, because those will be our 'full' days, but we'd like to get in Sat night of course, too... It sounds like it's possible (but a slight risk) to reserve Sat-Sun now and then reserve Monday after midnight Sat night (or right after scanning in, in case that randomly works). Any thoughts/advice appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[mel2014]

Thank you for sharing!!! I've been lurking for a while but finally decided to ask a question since I am trying to do the same thing as you in a couple of weeks.

Question for others who tried to use Flex pass for 3 straight days on a long weekend: Have you been lucky reserving a Monday at midnight Sat night as twodogs did?

We are going Presidents day Weekend (Feb 15-17).... We are arriving in Anaheim Sat afternoon, so I have Sun & Mon booked right now, itbecause those will be our 'full' days, but we'd like to get in Sat night of course, too... It sounds like it's possible (but a slight risk) to reserve Sat-Sun now and then reserve Monday after midnight Sat night (or right after scanning in, in case that randomly works). Any thoughts/advice appreciated!

Thanks!

We upgraded from 3-day park hoppers at the end Veteran's Day weekend and were glad we hadn't bought the FlexPass upfront because Monday ended up being "reservations unavailable" for Disneyland when we checked throughout the weekend and when we checked again on Monday.

By contrast, while there were periods of time when Martin Luther King day was unavailable to reserve for Disneyland, when I checked that weekend, for curiosity's sake, it was open for both parks.

So I think it's a crapshoot. DCA has had far fewer "reservation unavailable" days than DL (Veteran's Day weekend both Saturday and Sunday ended up unavailable for both parks presumably because of the start of the holidays and the holiday food festival, which seemed to bring in droves of people to DCA), so I would guess if you booked both parks for Saturday and Sunday, you have a good shot at DCA for Monday, which I would say is a better option than writing off Saturday, but I guess it depends on your park priorities and what time in the afternoon you will arrive, although with a midnight park close, you can get a lot done even arriving at 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

Also, I was able to make a new reservation each day immediately after scanning in during a January visit.

 

[Aurora0427]

My parents bought three day discounted tickets with max pass through Undercover Tourist, and they received the full $400 per AP credit. They only needed the tickets Disneyland gave them after scanning the paper UC Tourist tickets the first day. The entire process took less than ten minutes. This was Sunday, 1/26.

 

[OKC Disney Fan]

Is there a particular time of day that reservations are open for 30 days out? We are traveling from out of state so I got on first thing this morning to books 2/29 but I keep getting an error message. It's a little before 8am CST where I am.

 

[MinnieMama09]

Is there a particular time of day that reservations are open for 30 days out? We are traveling from out of state so I got on first thing this morning to books 2/29 but I keep getting an error message. It's a little before 8am CST where I am.

It opens at 7am PST...there’s been a couple times when there was a 1-2 minute delay but it should open right at 7 normally. I’ve done this many times 30 days out when I was worried about busy weekends!

 

[OKC Disney Fan]

It opens at 7am PST...there’s been a couple times when there was a 1-2 minute delay but it should open right at 7 normally. I’ve done this many times 30 days out when I was worried about busy weekends!

Thank you! We bought Flex Pass last year but our trips between then and now were all "All Good" days so this is the first time we have had to make reservations.

 

[julieheyer]

I tried to get tickets at 7am my time and the app let me add them but not confirm them. At 7am Ca time I was able to confirm them. Just wanted to post that. I now see the comment above mine, but wanted to add that even if the app lets you select that day to reserve, it won’t confirm it til 7am local Disneyland time.

but, I got my day!! Hoping to get my next day tomorrow! Yay!!

 

[bethwc101]

Situation question. If I purchase park hoppers in advance and we are planning on going to park M,W,F.
M i use park hoppers to scan in to park. Then upgrade at ticket booth to flex pass later in the day.
Will i then need to book M as one of my days, or will I still have access to M and be able to book W,F?

 

[Rich M]

Just looked at the reservations today for the next 30 days and no days blocked out. So far this pass as been great for our needs.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Situation question. If I purchase park hoppers in advance and we are planning on going to park M,W,F.
M i use park hoppers to scan in to park. Then upgrade at ticket booth to flex pass later in the day.
Will i then need to book M as one of my days, or will I still have access to M and be able to book W,F?

People have definitely reported that they needed to immediately book that current day when upgrading to a flex pass. This is why I had my son wait to upgrade until he had left the parks for the last time on his last day of our Thanksgiving trip. When he was completing the upgrade process at the ticket booth though, the CM handling the upgrade offered him a blockout pass without us requesting one. My son declined since he was leaving for the day. I have seen a few recent reports of others also being offered blockout passes for the day of upgrade to flex, but I have also seen at least one report on this board of someone who upgraded to flex around the same time as my son did who did not get a blockout pass. Since it matters to you, I guess that would be something to definitively establish with the CM at the window before proceeding with the upgrade.