Today was our first trip with the MaxPass. We already had our passes linked so we were ready to go. Overall it was a good experience but there are a few things they could fix.
We took our new route for the first time in the morning, exit 91 at Harbor south to Santa Ana, west on Santa Ana, south on Manchester and take the flyover at Disneyland Way. Worked great. There is also a great view coming in that way of the new construction. The parking booths were single manned (I hate that) and the lines were short but our line took twice as long as the others. The Cast Member was just that slow. Once we got passed that, on to the upper decks. Two lanes open but everyone was in the right lane, we went left and nobody was in front of us. Parking at 7C on Donald level. The entire walk path by the escalators is blocked off for new pavers as has been discussed in other blogs and threads.
Security was empty and the trams were a walk on.
Now to the MaxPass. Nowhere does it say to the least casual observer you have to have your park ticket scanned for entry to make it work. But you do. The Gate Cast Member didn't know about that. Once you get it scanned you are good to go. So here are the first 2 things they need to change. Error messages don't tell you what is wrong, just that something is wrong. Also, it is not obvious that you need to press the FastPass return time to reserve a ticket. DO NOT USE DISNEY WIFI, IT SUCKS.
So, Get your ticket scanned, Link your pass if you have not, in the app find a ride and look at the times, select it and get the FP option, select it and then you will be asked to confirm your party. You can add them or go with what you have (we already had our set up) and then (problem 3) you are taken to a screen that asks you to select a park. Ok, Select the park and now you are given all the FP options. Well, I already knew what I wanted and you made me go through more hoops to get there. Select the time you want for the ride you want and you are in! Woot!
A few things I noticed. If you return time is less than 30 minutes, you will need to wait 30 mins to get another FP OR get to the ride and get through the last scan to make a new reservation. This is different than before MaxPass. So, rides that have one scan like Screamin' and The Bobsleds, once you are scanned you can do another time. Ones like Splash Mountain and the Haunted House, you have to have that second scan. Problem 4. If you don't get that second scan, you have to wait for your time to get the next FP. Today at the Haunted House the second scan was not manned or active. We had to wait for our next FP. Bummer. The grace period starts at 5 minutes before your time to return as with the FastPass before. The Cast Member at Star Tours didn't know that.
Cancelling an FP can be done BEFORE you time but not after it starts. That is problem 5. You will have to wait until your time for the next FP if you don't want to go on that ride.
Now, What if the time for the return is beyond 30 minutes? Well, we left at 12:30 and were having lunch at El Torito about 15 miles away and I opened the app and made a FP reservation for Guardians at 9pm. The wait time for a new FP was 90 minutes. I will have to say we are Signature Plus and I don't know if the time is different for others but that is what I saw.
Here is my impression and summary.
In Park WIFI is worthless. Don't use it, turn off WIFI or forget their network. ----
MaxPass saved us a lot of walking. +++
MaxPass does not give the best error messages ----
The Cast Members are not fully up to speed on MaxPass as of today --
The pass updates in real time so you know when you can go ++++
Any member in your party can redeem the FastPass +++++
Party reservations can be done for each ride by any member in your party so it doesn't have to be just one person all day +++++
Party reservations can be split by ride so you can go on different paths within your party by ride +? (there are only 2 of us, Mrs. binki would make sure I am a permanent resident of the Haunted House if I did this!)
You can make reservations for either park no matter where you are (we made two from 15 miles away) ++
MaxPass will save you a lot of walking. +++++++++++++++++++++++
Overall a good experience. I give Disney a ++++ for the experience and if they fix the few problems I noted (I will let them know) it will be even better. It saved us a lot of walking and I would do it even if I had to pay for it. Just me. I live close by and go there almost every week. For the traveler I think it would be more important to use because of the time savings. JMO
A few other things
Saturdays are still good, lines are short and the entrance to the park is fast. With the new face pic for single day passes it went quick (5 in front of us with that ticket), only signing the ticket was a hold up. That can be done better. Still confusion at the FP entrances. This will work out over time. Some rides are worse than others. There are so many people there that are looking at their phones now. That is ok but they are clogging up the walkways standing there looking at their phones. There are a lot of people that don't seem to know about Fastpass, that is ok. I noticed with the MaxPass in operation some of the rides now fill up on FP by noon that didn't before. Star Tours and Space Mountain today.
We should be there every Saturday most of the rest of the year so we hope to see improvement on the experience but overall I will say again, it is worth it.
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