By Charly SHELTON

With Labor Day coming up and swarms of guests heading to local theme parks, there’s something CV Weekly readers should be aware of at Disneyland – a new feature that changes the game.

Disney’s FASTPASS service has been a mainstay of the Disneyland Resort since 1999 and, despite a bit of confusion from first-time users, it was readily picked up and used by park guests every day since its launch. There have been rumors and concepts circulating that Disneyland would get something like the Magic Band system used in Florida – a Disney-themed bracelet that holds digital copies of guests’ FASTPASSES – and new equipment was installed in the grounds around FASTPASS entrance locations at Disneyland, all but assuring the change. What came out of the switch, though, was much better than the Magic Band. Introducing MaxPass.

MaxPass is a digital add-on which links a park ticket via a smartphone app. The Disneyland app on Android and iOS has come a long way in recent years and now offers digital park tickets, wait times, dining reservations and more. With the addition of MaxPass, guests have the ability to book their FASTPASSES right on their phone. Gone are the days of dads running across the park to go pick up FASTPASSES for Splash Mountain while the rest of the family had breakfast. Now, guests can just pull out their phones and book the passes right onto their ticket. Then, when their party arrives at the attraction, they can just scan the park tickets or the phone to activate the passes. And all members of the party’s MaxPass tickets can be linked to one phone so only one person needs to actually push the button to ensure the whole party gets the same time on their passes.

In addition to the awesome FASTPASS benefits, MaxPass also includes unlimited digital photos from Disney’s Photo Pass. So when guests see a Disney photographer in that tan vest who takes their picture with a really good camera and from the best possible angle, there are an unlimited number of photos that can be downloaded directly to their cellphone. This includes on-ride photos, like Splash Mountain and Guardians of the Galaxy. I remember when this was a $99 add-on. Now it’s included as part of the MaxPass cost.

There is a MaxPass cost, unfortunately. FASTPASS was always a free service, just an added bit of magic at Disneyland. FASTPASS is still available and remains a free service. With all the extras in MaxPass, there is a per-ticket fee to access all the benefits. It’s $10. That’s it! I know prices will go up in the future but, for right now, it’s only $10 per ticket to add MaxPass. That’s worth it just for the photos alone. Or just for the FASTPASS booking alone. And when guests are paying $174 for a park hopper ticket, what’s another $10?

I honestly expected to hate the new service. I thought it was just paying for a service that used to be free. I didn’t take into account how little I had used the FASTPASS service in recent years because I don’t want to run over to Disneyland while
I’m in Disney California Adventure. I’ve seen the Indiana Jones ride enough times that it’s not worth it to wait 85 minutes in line for it, and I’m not going to disrupt my day to make a 45-minute jog over to the other park to pick up the passes. Booking things on my phone allowed me to stay and have coffee with my family in DCA and book FASTPASSES for later in the day when we planned on being over at Disneyland. I can’t say enough good things about this new system.

As we get into the Star Wars Land opening frenzy in 2019, this will be essential for visiting the park. I know it can’t stay at the $10 price point forever, but I enjoy it enough to stick with it as it grows and changes.

For more info, visit DisneyParksBlog.com and search MaxPass.

  Charly Shelton