Tickets and MaxPass Questions

[jodyb]

Doing my research and planning for November 2020 Mother daughter (ages 67 and 29 !) trip to Disneyland, and trying to figure out the budget. Saving every dollar helps, so I'm considering only getting MaxPass on part of the trip. Would love advice from the Disneyland vets (we are long time WDW people, and this will be a first. My daughter has never been to Disneyland and I was there many many moons ago...) Anyway, this is what I'm thinking, please correct me if your mileage varies:

We will be there 5 nights, so for sure 4 park days, and possibly another half day depending on when our flights leave/arrive. So this is what I'm assuming from my research: We do need park hoppers, and will feel frustrated by having to stay in only one park per day. MaxPass looks amazing. WAY better than having to stress 60 days in advance about which park we will be in on which day!! I love that you don't worry about getting FP until the actual day you are physically in a park! woo hoo! So freeing. That said, the cost of MP adds up, so here's my question. Say I get 5 day park hoppers for $790. To get MP added on for all of them takes us all the way to $940. So I'm thinking, what if I get the 5 day hoppers with no MP, but then when we are there, we perhaps add MP for one, two, or even three of the days.. $790 plus 2 days of MP is $850 - that's saving me $90 that we could use for other things like food and souvenirs... I think since we'll be in the parks for sure 4 days, for 2 of those days we can be more laid back and not chasing after FP's... getting the lay of the land... and for the other 2 we can get MP and commando through the rides we want. Your thoughts? Or am I nickel and dimeing myself and causing undue hassle? Also, is my assumption that we "need" hoppers correct? We could save even more by just getting one-park-per-day... how frustrating would that be? We never get hoppers at WDW - it's too exhausting IMO to run from one park to another.. but at DL it looks so easy..

 

[pocketwatches]

You don't save any money getting a maxpass up front so you might as well wait and see if you feel you need it.(weekends might be good) If you go from the 20th to the 29th you might want to get all the help you can because its going to be thanksgiving week Busy lol. If you go at the start of the month it shouldn't be to bad. You can almost count this as a fast pass for every ride because they're already half the wait.

As for the hoppers that's had to say. Personally i didn't go with them as I don't have the will to run from one park to another anymore. I would think about fitness levels of the group, how long each day you plan on going and how many rides do you really want to go on. If you're going 4-5 days you should be able to do and see everything without maxpass or hopper as long as you go from the 1st to 19th.

 

[jodyb]

... without maxpass or hopper as long as you go from the 1st to 19th.

Thank you! This is helpful. Our dates are November 8 to 13 OR December 6 to 11 (haven't decided yet- I have hotel reservations for both weeks and am still trying to figure out which time to go You are right - getting non-hoppers will save us even more, and maybe we really don't need the hoppers, so that's something else to consider. I'm looking at prices now for tickets from places other than directly from Disney, and they are cheaper too! So I seem to be finding ways to chop off the entrance price... more money for other things!

 

[CastAStone]

If you're going 4-5 days you should be able to do and see everything without maxpass or hopper as long as you go from the 1st to 19th.

I agree with this except that the hoppers will make it much easier to see all of the nighttime entertainment, some of which only happens on Friday-Sunday that time of year.

 

[pocketwatches]

Thank you! This is helpful. Our dates are November 8 to 13 OR December 6 to 11 (haven't decided yet- I have hotel reservations for both weeks and am still trying to figure out which time to go You are right - getting non-hoppers will save us even more, and maybe we really don't need the hoppers, so that's something else to consider. I'm looking at prices now for tickets from places other than directly from Disney, and they are cheaper too! So I seem to be finding ways to chop off the entrance price... more money for other things!

I would recommend undercovertourist and AAA(if you have it) for tickets. I wouldn't know for packages but just normal tickets they're both really good. The undercovertourist website has a very nice crowd-calendar if you haven't seen it. It looks like both your dates would be nice but December would be little better for crowds.

If you go with the disneyland.com tickets you could try some of the 5%ish off giftcard tricks.

 

[mouschievous]

Call LMTC (Last Minute Travel Club). They currently have 5 day hoppers for $326!

When we went with the whole family last year, we didn't get park hoppers for various reasons. By 5:00 on our DCA day, we were bored. There were no fast passes available until 9, and there was nothing we wanted to wait in line for 45 minutes or more to ride. If we'd had hoppers, we would have left and gone to DL for sure. Instead, we found ourselves just hanging out on a bench, trying to figure out what to do until the FPs we held for later that night were good. We ended up waiting in the 2 hour RSR line, but that's a whole other story!

Anyway, my point is that yes, you can do without hoppers, but after having done it, I don't want to do it again! So this time we got 5 day hoppers without MP from LMTC. We can go where we want, we don't have to schedule meals or entertainment around which park we think we want to do that day, etc. And we'll by MP for the days we want it.

 

[Paigesmom2013]

We are taking our first trip this spring and did not get hoppers, mostly because we have younger kids and the extra cost. But we bought Maxpass because it seems so much easier. If you get bored at one park, you could always walk around Downtown Disney and come back. Or hang out at your hotel for a bit.

 

[Etonduf]

Check out LMTC as @mouschievous mentioned. We saved enough to cover the cost of maxpasses, though you have to add that onto your tickets--LMTC doesn't sell them with MP included. Also, that's a weird justification on my part--I was going to get MP no matter, but I tell myself I saved enough to pay for it

My family goes every other year for a couple of days and always get hoppers. On a five-day trip I'd be tempted to get single-park tickets. But for a WDW person it's tough to understand how convenient it is to bounce between the two. Just a walk across a plaza and through security.

 

[Where's Wall-E]

I would agree with Max Pass can be decided day-of to help with the budget. However, with the convenience of the two parks so close I can't imagine not getting park hoppers. If one park gets too crowded or you just simply feel like a change, you just hop over within a matter of minutes.

 

[goooof1]

Hoppers.....definitely !! ~~flexibility~~ very easy and NO you do not have to go through security again !
Yes, I would wait on maxpass and decide day to day.... depending on crowds, what you want to do, etc...

 

[jodyb]

Thanks everybody! I think it makes sense for us to get the 5 day park hoppers and then add MaxPass for a couple of the days. And thanks for the tips on where to get tickets. I wasn't going to purchase them this far in advance, but the consensus on some other sites seems to be that ticket prices are about to take a hike (up), so it might be good to lock them in.

 

[maleficent55]

I’m a maxpass and park hopper everyday kind of person...I can’t imagine feeling trapped in one park and I will never do Disneyland without maxpass again. Especially since it includes photopass

 

[disneedee]

Photo pass is included in that max pass. That is probably the cost of one ride photo. definetly get it on the first couple of days and then decide day by day

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Doing my research and planning for November 2020 Mother daughter (ages 67 and 29 !) trip to Disneyland, and trying to figure out the budget. Saving every dollar helps...

LMTC Disneyland tickets no longer available?/UPDATE: Now Available by Phone! -- see the last few pages for the phone number and agent to call for tickets and prices.

 

[SeattleTink]

I’m a maxpass and park hopper everyday kind of person...I can’t imagine feeling trapped in one park and I will never do Disneyland without maxpass again. Especially since it includes photopass

Me too! I cannot imagine not having a hopper or MaxPass. It is worth every penny, in my humble opinion. MaxPass saves so much time and your feet! When you already walk so much in the park, no more walking to kiosks to get FastPasses.