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

[bethwc101]

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.

I will definitely be doing that. Thanks for the input. I would normally go straight to the AP so I can block out at least two of our days, but we will be getting discount tickets. And from what I've read, even with the discount tickets, they apply the full value of the ticket to the AP and that's an offer I don't want to pass up.

 

[twodogs]

I will definitely be doing that. Thanks for the input. I would normally go straight to the AP so I can block out at least two of our days, but we will be getting discount tickets. And from what I've read, even with the discount tickets, they apply the full value of the ticket to the AP and that's an offer I don't want to pass up.

Unfortunately they do NOT always bridge the gate price of discount tickets when you upgrade to an AP. Many of us (myself included) did get bridged, but it is not guaranteed. Certainly I felt the same way you did, that it would help with the pricing if they did bridge the full value, but be prepared that it may not happen. Several on these boards have not been bridged. I hope it works for you, and it sounds like you have a good plan.

 

[bethwc101]

Unfortunately they do NOT always bridge the gate price of discount tickets when you upgrade to an AP. Many of us (myself included) did get bridged, but it is not guaranteed. Certainly I felt the same way you did, that it would help with the pricing if they did bridge the full value, but be prepared that it may not happen. Several on these boards have not been bridged. I hope it works for you, and it sounds like you have a good plan.

Well, I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.

 

[Peachy0118]

Whew. Read (okay skimmed) all 65 pages and I am a little confused about something...
We have 5 day park hoppers in April. So, on our last day, if we are in the park and want to upgrade, we can do so through the app, if I'm understand correctly, and apply the costs of our tickets to our passes.
My questions are:
1. If we close down the park, can we wait to pick up our physical passes the next time we come, even if it is a couple months out? Instead of leaving to go do it?
2. I know the expiration date gets adjusted from when you first enter the park instead of when you purchase, but what about in that case when you are purchasing while in the park?

Or am I totally confused?

 

[twodogs]

Whew. Read (okay skimmed) all 65 pages and I am a little confused about something...
We have 5 day park hoppers in April. So, on our last day, if we are in the park and want to upgrade, we can do so through the app, if I'm understand correctly, and apply the costs of our tickets to our passes.
My questions are:
1. If we close down the park, can we wait to pick up our physical passes the next time we come, even if it is a couple months out? Instead of leaving to go do it?
2. I know the expiration date gets adjusted from when you first enter the park instead of when you purchase, but what about in that case when you are purchasing while in the park?

Or am I totally confused?

Upgrading in the app has not always applied the cost of the tickets to the upgrade, but if it does, it will show this in the app so you will know before you upgrade. Another poster here did not notice it was not applying his ticket cost, and upgraded in the app at full price and had a difficult time getting a refund.

1. You can pick them up on another trip if you want to, but you will need the physical pass to get discounts on dining and merch (other than Mobile Ordering). Make sure you aren't hopping or leaving and planning to re-enter the park after you upgrade unless you can book a Flex Pass reservation for that day when you upgrade (not applicable if it is a "good to go" day), otherwise you will not be able to get back in the parks that night (unless a GS CM gives you a block out pass for that night).
2. Expiration date will be adjusted to one year from the date that you first used the tickets you are upgrading. I don't know how this works if you purchase in the park.

 

[twodogs]

Well, I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Will keep my fingers crossed for you too!!

 

[dukeybootie]

Are there any renewal discounts for the flex pass? I am coming up on one year and don't see any discounts, incentives, or promotions so far. Any reason not to wait to renew until my next (new) visit after my current flex pass expires?

 

[Peachy0118]

Are there any renewal discounts for the flex pass? I am coming up on one year and don't see any discounts, incentives, or promotions so far. Any reason not to wait to renew until my next (new) visit after my current flex pass expires?

Oh, wondering about this as well. We are going for the first time in 12 years in April, and DH is seriously thinking about going for this pass when we are there to ensure we go back a couple times in the same year (we are looking forward to Avengers and more Star Wars!). A consideration is renewal process and prices. Nowhere near the deciding factor, but a factor.

 

[azdisneylover]

Well, I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Wishing pixie dust in abundance to you and yours on your upcoming trip!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Are there any renewal discounts for the flex pass? I am coming up on one year and don't see any discounts, incentives, or promotions so far. Any reason not to wait to renew until my next (new) visit after my current flex pass expires?

Disney eliminated renewal discounts for all levels of passes. Risks in not renewing a pass are possible price increase, fear of elimination of a pass category, or loss of grandfathered in benefits. The last two considerations are unlikely to be a concern with the flex pass although the first is always a possibility, especially at this time of year. With the number of reservation-required days with the flex pass though, it is certainly worth considering when the first visit after a renewal will be because there will certainly be instances when it is wiser to let the pass lapse and start over again with tickets that you then upgrade to a flex pass. I'm thinking of those people who started by using tickets during a time period (holiday periods usually) with multiple days blocked out in a row who may be returning at such a time just after their pass was up for renewal.

 

[dieumeye]

Are there any renewal discounts for the flex pass? I am coming up on one year and don't see any discounts, incentives, or promotions so far. Any reason not to wait to renew until my next (new) visit after my current flex pass expires?

To help protect against price increases, you can always buy the pass ahead of time, because it doesn't "activate" until you actually visit the park for the first time. I'm not sure what the allowed window is between buying and using for the first time, but that's what I did when I got my recent Sig pass.

When you buy it, it'll display that it's valid until a year after you bought it, but when you visit for the first time, the date will reset to be valid until a year after that first visit.

 

[dukeybootie]

If I buy a new pass to lock in the current price and let my existing AP expire, would best practice be to bring the old AP card to an esplanade booth for reactivation on the first new day of use? Even if it was, say, four months after expiration?

Edit to add: I suppose one benefit of renewing online would be to avoid dealing with the esplanade booth lines and hassle (which are not insignificant). Not sure if that is worth extending a new AP by a week, month, etc.

 

[dec2009mama]

I've read thru but still have questions:

~if I enter the park with my park hopper ticket then at some point during the day go to GS to upgrade to the flex AP but that day is fully reserved I've read that it will be up to the CM to "pixie dust" us with a blocked date pass, right?
~if I have been given a blocked date pass for the fully reserved day (say a Saturday) -- can I still make reservations immediately for Sunday and Monday if they are available?
~if I wait until I leave the parks to upgrade, how soon can I make a reservation?
~if I have reserved a Friday and Saturday and also need a reservation for Sunday, when can I do that? As soon as I scan into the parks on that Friday?

 

[karrit2000]

If I buy a new pass to lock in the current price and let my existing AP expire, would best practice be to bring the old AP card to an esplanade booth for reactivation on the first new day of use? Even if it was, say, four months after expiration?

Edit to add: I suppose one benefit of renewing online would be to avoid dealing with the esplanade booth lines and hassle (which are not insignificant). Not sure if that is worth extending a new AP by a week, month, etc.

I'm no DL AP expert but the reason behind purchasing a new pass & not activating it until you actually visit is to lock in the current price fending off a future price increase and having a full year from date of activation to use the new pass. Forget about your old pass. If you complicate matters by trying to use an old card they may set the activation date to correspond to your old pass expiration so you could possibly lose 4 months of useage. I know for WDW you can buy a new pass but not assign it to anyone until you actually plan to use it.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I know for WDW you can buy a new pass but not assign it to anyone until you actually plan to use it.

Disneyland doesn’t let you do that anymore. You have to assign a name to the pass at time of purchase, at least when purchasing online directly from Disney.

 

[twodogs]

I've read thru but still have questions:

~if I enter the park with my park hopper ticket then at some point during the day go to GS to upgrade to the flex AP but that day is fully reserved I've read that it will be up to the CM to "pixie dust" us with a blocked date pass, right?
~if I have been given a blocked date pass for the fully reserved day (say a Saturday) -- can I still make reservations immediately for Sunday and Monday if they are available?
~if I wait until I leave the parks to upgrade, how soon can I make a reservation?
~if I have reserved a Friday and Saturday and also need a reservation for Sunday, when can I do that? As soon as I scan into the parks on that Friday?

J
1. Yes. Some have reported pixie dust and some have reported not getting pixie dust. It is a risk.
2. You should be able to reserve your days immediately upon buying the pass. I assume the ”blocked day” pass is just a separate ticket, not linked to your new AP at all, so you should be able to book both days right away (but I am not sure about this; I am sure that once you buy the pass, you can immediately book reservations; just not sure how the blocked day ticket would work).
3. Once you do the upgrade and pay the difference, you can make your reservations immediately on the app.
4. In theory, you can book Sunday as soon as you scan in on Friday. HOWEVER, we were there opening weekend of ROTR, and we had Saturday and Sunday booked, and then needed to book Monday also (a holiday). After we scanned in Saturday, it would not let me book Monday. The system crashed due to ROTR BGs, and no tickets were recognized nor fast passes could be booked for an hour. The system took a long time to reset, and I was not able to book Monday until about 6am Sunday morning. I checked all day Saturday, Saturday night, and even at 2am Sunday (thinking maybe the system would reset at Midnight), but still not able to book. So most of the time, yes, you can book as soon as you scan in (which is what happened on Monday when we scanned in (Sunday also crashed the ticket system, so we were again locked out from a new reservation but it didn’t matter since we had reserved Monday at that point and that was the final day we needed)).

 

[PHXscuba]

I did some basic searching but didn't find the answer to this:

I have a 2-day 1-park ticket with MaxPass, bought through Ares. I am thinking of upgrading it on the second day IF there are still reservations left for that day (a Saturday) in case the CM doesn't have a blockout pass for me. Would my MaxPass return times transfer over with the switch the AP? Like if I did the transaction at 3:00 pm and had a RSR return time of 6:00 pm?

Thanks. I would do it midday on day 2 to have the discount before our dinner reservation and souvenir shopping.

 

[MonocularVision]

4. In theory, you can book Sunday as soon as you scan in on Friday. HOWEVER, we were there opening weekend of ROTR, and we had Saturday and Sunday booked, and then needed to book Monday also (a holiday). After we scanned in Saturday, it would not let me book Monday. The system crashed due to ROTR BGs, and no tickets were recognized nor fast passes could be booked for an hour. The system took a long time to reset, and I was not able to book Monday until about 6am Sunday morning. I checked all day Saturday, Saturday night, and even at 2am Sunday (thinking maybe the system would reset at Midnight), but still not able to book. So most of the time, yes, you can book as soon as you scan in (which is what happened on Monday when we scanned in (Sunday also crashed the ticket system, so we were again locked out from a new reservation but it didn’t matter since we had reserved Monday at that point and that was the final day we needed)).

When you can make your next reservation after entering the park is very YMMV. There are reports of people being able to make a reservation right after entering. And there are reports of them not being available until the next morning (as you experienced). Both reports have been seen on this board and on an AP Facebook group my wife is on.

I don’t think your experience had anything to do with anything crashing.

 

[socaldisneylover]

I did some basic searching but didn't find the answer to this:

I have a 2-day 1-park ticket with MaxPass, bought through Ares. I am thinking of upgrading it on the second day IF there are still reservations left for that day (a Saturday) in case the CM doesn't have a blockout pass for me. Would my MaxPass return times transfer over with the switch the AP? Like if I did the transaction at 3:00 pm and had a RSR return time of 6:00 pm?

Thanks. I would do it midday on day 2 to have the discount before our dinner reservation and souvenir shopping.

Seems very unlikely. I imagine the FP is tied to the pass you're converting, and won't be applicable on the AP.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

Seems very unlikely. I imagine the FP is tied to the pass you're converting, and won't be applicable on the AP.

I did some basic searching but didn't find the answer to this:

I have a 2-day 1-park ticket with MaxPass, bought through Ares. I am thinking of upgrading it on the second day IF there are still reservations left for that day (a Saturday) in case the CM doesn't have a blockout pass for me. Would my MaxPass return times transfer over with the switch the AP? Like if I did the transaction at 3:00 pm and had a RSR return time of 6:00 pm?

Thanks. I would do it midday on day 2 to have the discount before our dinner reservation and souvenir shopping.

When I upgraded our tickets to Flex passes in the middle of the day, all of our MaxPass return times carried over.