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Thread: DInseyland new Flex Passport

  1. #1
    Fun is wherever you find it... olegc's Avatar
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    DInseyland new Flex Passport

    Disney Parks Blog posted this
    https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...d-flexibility/
    there is also a story on MP by AVP.

    Its a great value - but for me I tend to go a lot on a whim because I'm the only one with a pass in my family (well, empty nesters now) and I tend to go when Im travelling past and I have time. Short trips. I can think this is also an attempt to curb that kind of behavior. I think for others who can plan weekends that works.

    The only drawback I predict? it may be difficult to keep up with which days end up being blocked because so many people make reservations (and then cancel later?). I can also see how this will allow Disney to manage access a lot easier (increase/decrease blocks based on predicted ticket sales).

    "[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney

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  3. #2

    I'm definitely intrigued. Depending on how hard it is to actually get the reservations, I might consider this when my Signature pass expires (December). I usually plan a couple of weeks out for weekends, though not a full month. For weekdays I generally decide on a whim, but those are the "good to go" days without reservations. Hmmmm. It's a huge savings, but I'm only cautiously optimistic until I see how the reservation system plays out.


  4. #3

    I've talked to some friends who see this as a sort of answer for those who want more than a 5 day ticket. This works for relatives who know they'll visit more than once a year, but don't need a full blown AP. If you can plan visits with a string a good-to-go days, then reserve 2 days more, that would be like having a 5+ day ticket. For my friends, they tend to stay in nearby hotels, so parking wouldn't be an issue. This pass wouldn't fit our needs well right now, but I could see it working well for certain friends and family.


  5. #4
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    I actually had this come up in a survey a bit ago (either earlier this year or last year). I thought it was crazy from the get go. It wasn't just Disneyland Resort they were asking about with this but if Universal was to do it was well and different options of ways it would work with days to go, how many and price points. I can see it being something that could actually get way to confusing for some people though. There are those that already get confused over simple things Disney does in the parks. IMO it seems silly to add another AP to the mix. Even if its one that someone has to plan ahead and book the day to go with Disney having some control over limit of those in the parks. That is something I can see being a big issue too with those that try to book the days you have to but get left out in the cold because they are snatched up. Honestly I don't know many people that this kind of option works for but I am sure there will be plenty out there who will give it a go. I just know we don't plan that far in advance to go. Its super rare and I can imagine that is the case with most locals as well. The price point is what I can see lure guests to give it a try though. Yet I don't see how this is going to help with managing crowds at this point. They are now going to be adding so many more to the crowds...more so the days that don't have reservations. SMH With SWGE opening is this being added into the mix going to make summer even worse then if it wasn't? Yes they would have to set a reservation for the summer days in either park but I can see that being a battle and lots of issues coming from it there.

    I did see they would dig people though that do not cancel in enough time if they can't make it on reservation days. It sounds like after 3 they can't do them anymore for whatever they decide I guess. I can see this being a problem that will upset those that are not best at remembering to cancel in time.

    All I know is that we will see how this all plays out and I know the article posted here says they can see this expanded to other passes if it works but honestly I hope it isn't or they give us at least an AP or 2 that are options free from the reservation system. This kind of set up doesn't work for many of us at all for a variety of reasons.

    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

  6. #5
    Fun is wherever you find it... olegc's Avatar
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    My other thoughts were that now introducing a middle-price-tier pass - they creates an opportunity for raising prices on the top tiers even more and I would expect another increase (except for Flex - for now) in the next few months. Could Signature go up another 100? 250? 500?. David Koenig made a comment online that this has a very similar structure to Moviepass. While that one failed miserably - and I can see similar issues with Flexpass - Disneyland wont go away from this. It will continue since now they can tweak days and make changes on the fly as the pass is in use.

    Lots of speculation right now - but I have until next april to decide.

    "[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney

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    Curious since I haven't seen something but the DCA only pass is gone right? I know I figured it was probably a test at the time to see how many they could sell of those and assume this is kind of similar in the manner of trying something different but this time could either stick, change/add other versions of this AP or just disappear without a word. Yet at the end of the day its not going to help crowding as some articles online seem to be pushing in the headlines. Its the typical misleading go to used IMO to push something like this, price hikes and changes that get made to any tickets/APs. It will be interesting to see how it sells and how it works out for those that do go for that pass though.

    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

  8. #7

    Hmm, I am a first time AP, got a Deluxe for my bday back in August. I am up in NorCal and so far my trends have been planning at minimum a couple weeks out.
    So far after my initial down payment on the Deluxe and adding MaxPass, my monthly payments are just a smidge higher than what the monthly on what a Flex would be. I have more block out days but don't have to worry about making reservations.

    Couple questions -

    Do you have to put a down payment down?

    The website says "get reservations for one or both parks" Is this based on availability at the time you make a reservation or are there going to be dates which one park (likely DL) is blocked out?


  9. #8
    Fun is wherever you find it... olegc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NickP View Post
    Hmm, I am a first time AP, got a Deluxe for my bday back in August. I am up in NorCal and so far my trends have been planning at minimum a couple weeks out.
    So far after my initial down payment on the Deluxe and adding MaxPass, my monthly payments are just a smidge higher than what the monthly on what a Flex would be. I have more block out days but don't have to worry about making reservations.

    Couple questions -

    Do you have to put a down payment down?

    The website says "get reservations for one or both parks" Is this based on availability at the time you make a reservation or are there going to be dates which one park (likely DL) is blocked out?
    THe blockout schedules are posted online for this pass - but its unclear to what effect reservations may have to the dynamic nature of planning access. And since you have to reserve both parks separately I would assume for now you need to do both. in the future would they set up more blocks on Dland than they do on DCA? could be.

    As far as down payment - this pass is handled like any other pass. If you do monthly payments then yes there would be a down payment.
    "[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney

  10. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by tea4two View Post
    I've talked to some friends who see this as a sort of answer for those who want more than a 5 day ticket. This works for relatives who know they'll visit more than once a year, but don't need a full blown AP. If you can plan visits with a string a good-to-go days, then reserve 2 days more, that would be like having a 5+ day ticket. For my friends, they tend to stay in nearby hotels, so parking wouldn't be an issue. This pass wouldn't fit our needs well right now, but I could see it working well for certain friends and family.
    I saw this question posed in various comments, and I'm curious as to what the answer is. The reservation-necessary dates for DL and DCA are different. Is a reservation only good for one park or for both parks? If there's a day when both DL and DCA are reservation-necessary dates, can you book both parks with one request or do you have to use your 2-reservations-per-month on that one day if you're going to want to park hop?


    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post
    I did see they would dig people though that do not cancel in enough time if they can't make it on reservation days. It sounds like after 3 they can't do them anymore for whatever they decide I guess. I can see this being a problem that will upset those that are not best at remembering to cancel in time.
    Yes, that would be a problem, but it's also a consequence for not remembering. You have until one minute before midnight the night before to cancel without incurring a penalty. If you can't be bothered to do that and free up the space for someone else to be able to go, yeah, that's not cool. It's similar to the dining reservations. You have to cancel the day before or pay a fee of $10 per person on the reservation.


    I think it's an interesting idea for an AP. I'm guessing they're trying to catch the people who aren't willing to pay for the higher-level APs or who might not have/will not renew. It would definitely be a change in how someone plans a trip to the parks, but if you're willing to adapt, it's a good deal to pay the lower price and still have good access to the parks. And, we've had this discussion for a long time now. Disney loves APs because they get guaranteed money but ideally, they'd want APs who come on days when it's not very crowded and stay away on days when day guests are already filling the parks. This is kind of a way to make that more of a reality by limiting how many APs with the pass can enter a given park.


    ETA: So it seems that other than signature and signature plus, the other current APs do not include parking and do not seem to include an option to add a parking pass. Is that true? So someone who has a deluxe passport has to pay parking each time? Presumably, that would be true for someone with a Flex pass as well. That adds a considerable expenditure to each trip if you're not staying locally.
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  11. #10

    This new pass has my interest. We have bought an AP every other year for quite some time. We get 2 Christmas trips and a few other trips during the year when we have a pass , going cold turkey between Christmas trips in our "off" years. We have Signature passes (w/Maxpass add on) right now that expire in December. Bought the vouchers right before the price increase in early 2018 and activated them in December 2018. They were $924. Our last pass prior to this was a Premium that we bought as gift card from my local Disney Store for $779 the day they announced the current pass structure back in 2016, which was Grandfathered into a Signature Plus! Also they were running the 13 month promotion when we activated those in December 2016. That was the sweetest deal we ever got! Of course when we got our first annual pass way back in the day, I think it was around $100! At the current prices and rising, we we're considering no more annual passes and very limited Disneyland trips after our current passes expire. But with this new option, we might be able to stay in the game. I hope Maxpass is available to add on.

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  12. #11

    I really wish you could reserve 3 days. That is the perfect amount of time for us to travel out there and have a great time. 2 days seems too short and many times 4 gets a little long.

    "If you can Dream it you can Do IT." Walt Disney


  13. #12
    Fun is wherever you find it... olegc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sjhanksaz View Post
    I really wish you could reserve 3 days. That is the perfect amount of time for us to travel out there and have a great time. 2 days seems too short and many times 4 gets a little long.
    Remember - Monday through Thursday for many times in the year its a Good to Go day. So if your three days were Thur Fri Sat, or Sat Sun Mon, that would work. Yes - it wouldn't work for a true weekend. Frankly I don't think the intent was to have it for extended visits. Since a majority of passes I assume are locals, then one day reservations would be the predominant selection.
    "[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney

  14. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by olegc View Post
    Remember - Monday through Thursday for many times in the year its a Good to Go day. So if your three days were Thur Fri Sat, or Sat Sun Mon, that would work. Yes - it wouldn't work for a true weekend. Frankly I don't think the intent was to have it for extended visits. Since a majority of passes I assume are locals, then one day reservations would be the predominant selection.
    Agree. I don't think it was meant for those staying for a few days or so. They would rather those guests buy multi day tickets....which we know there are plenty of guests that do buy APs instead for those trips. Yet if one really wanted the Flex one it would work if you do a trip during those good to go days during the week instead of needing to plan a weekend. The Flex AP seems to be targeted more towards locals that can plan ahead but I do wonder how many can actually do so.
    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

  15. #14

    In case anyone is wondering, the So Cal ticket offer that expires on Thursday can be upgraded to Flex when it comes out on the 21st. We asked at City Hall because my sister wants to get it (she has a day left on the offer ticket) but she works during the week. I would have to be the one to do the upgrade. They told us the ticket could be "validated" as hers so that someone else could upgrade. (Also, purchased were failing for her in the app, so the new upgrades via the app wouldn't work.) But the ticket booth said the best thing to do was upgrade today to a So Cal Select and then get a Flex the next time she goes. I asked if they would let her in that day without a reservation because she was upgrading. They said instead of blockout exceptions they would make same day reservations when you get the pass. I'm not sure if that's really different.


  16. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by AnotherJenny View Post
    In case anyone is wondering, the So Cal ticket offer that expires on Thursday can be upgraded to Flex when it comes out on the 21st. We asked at City Hall because my sister wants to get it (she has a day left on the offer ticket) but she works during the week. I would have to be the one to do the upgrade. They told us the ticket could be "validated" as hers so that someone else could upgrade. (Also, purchased were failing for her in the app, so the new upgrades via the app wouldn't work.) But the ticket booth said the best thing to do was upgrade today to a So Cal Select and then get a Flex the next time she goes. I asked if they would let her in that day without a reservation because she was upgrading. They said instead of blockout exceptions they would make same day reservations when you get the pass. I'm not sure if that's really different.
    Am I correct in assuming that anyone doing this would have their anniversary date back-dated to the date of first use of the three day ticket?

    We considered doing the 3-day So Cal ticket to So Cal Select to Flex pass on their third visit (which was after the new passes were announced, but before they went on sale) but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it (for us) to upgrade. I somewhat regret not insisting that my husband get the pass. My son has no interest in going to Disneyland that frequently - even the three times in 4 months was too much for him.

  17. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by currence View Post
    Am I correct in assuming that anyone doing this would have their anniversary date back-dated to the date of first use of the three day ticket?

    We considered doing the 3-day So Cal ticket to So Cal Select to Flex pass on their third visit (which was after the new passes were announced, but before they went on sale) but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it (for us) to upgrade. I somewhat regret not insisting that my husband get the pass. My son has no interest in going to Disneyland that frequently - even the three times in 4 months was too much for him.
    Correct, it is backdated. In my sister's case it was about 6 weeks. We had planned to go to DCA for Food & Wine, but that day didn't work out and she was only going to use 2 days on the ticket, so now next year she will be able to do Food & Wine and also the Festival of Holidays. She had been averaging 1-2 days at the parks every year, which costs up to $200, so this is just sort of like condensing a couple of years into one year for her. Plus, I still have parking on my pass, so that helps with cost for her.

  18. #17

    Curious as to how popular this is, it might solve my annual dilemma where my family come to visit but it's during a blackout date so I have to do some crazy wrangling to get tickets or just meet them near Disneyland. If I could have a pass where I could reserve those dates it would be awesome, since I don't go a ton but it would be nice to have the option to meet them in Disneyland any day of their vacation. I'd also like to go to events like tiki day or Adventureland day, but those are always on a Sunday...I really wish they brought back the old so cal pass.


  19. #18
    It was a good day! Malcon10t's Avatar
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    June 23rd is blocked on reservations. Wondering if it is 30 days or 1 month....

    Planning 3 trips at once...

  20. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Malcon10t View Post
    June 23rd is blocked on reservations. Wondering if it is 30 days or 1 month....
    That is interesting. And that's not the first day of the non reservation Galaxy's Edge days either. That's the 24th. ?
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  21. #20

    My friend said that she looked yesterday, she thought a different day was showing as sold out. She and I were speculating that this could be a line of demarkation where it is unavailable because it isn't midnight (or whenever the 30th day becomes available) yet. We agreed that we would look again tomorrow to see if 6/23 is still unavailable or if it is now 6/24.

    If it is truly unavailable (and it may well be) then I am very concerned about what the overall capacity for these passes is. They have only been for sale for a few days so unless a ton of people went to the park (or can you do this upgrade online?) and bought/activated a brand new type of pass AND all wanted reservations at both parks for the day before Star Wars Land officially opens, then either the system is screwy or the capacity is abysmal (or both). I would love to switch my daughter to this pass but I am not going to do so unless I know that if I plan 30 days in advance I can usually get the dates that I want. If I have to plan to be at my computer hitting refresh 30 days in advance of when I think we might go, then I'm better off with a pass that is more user friendly, even if it costs more.


  22. #21
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    I have read there are some glitches with this new pass so it could just be a glitch on it or it could really be full for reservations. I would think at this point a call to Disney would probably be best to find out if its full or not.

    A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!

    According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"

  23. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berry Princess View Post
    I have read there are some glitches with this new pass so it could just be a glitch on it or it could really be full for reservations. I would think at this point a call to Disney would probably be best to find out if its full or not.
    It is 30 days prior, not 1 month. June 23rd will open up at 7 AM PST on Friday May 24. Until then, it will show as unavailable.

    Thursday Night Midnight PST, June 24th(Public Opening Of GE) will show on the calendar with a line through it. Will remain that way until Saturday 7 AM.

    No dates have sold out yet, but do not expect that to be the case for long. Relatively few have the pass....which will change of course. Reservations don't quite get to GE public date yet. As those converge, and more Summer Fridays & Saturdays become available, reservations for certain dates will not be available for very long.

  24. #23
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    I haven't posted in ages! But does anyone have any reviews of this pass? I'm thinking it could be a good option for me, allows for more dates (with reservation) than my old Deluxe had. I usually avoid the parks during summer but I'm thinking maybe of coming down for a couple days before I go back to real life as a teacher. Thanks for the responses in advance.


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