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I am a HUGE Disney fan, and I specifically adore Disneyland in California. When MaxPass was introduced, my family was unsure about it. We had our FASTPASS routine down pat, and this was going to put a kink in our plan. The Disney Photo Pass was already available for purchase, so we didn’t see the benefit of having photos included in the MaxPass. We have visited a few times since Disney’s MaxPass system was launched and let me tell you: we were wrong. This system is a game changer in the best way. I’m going to go into detail about what the MaxPass is, how to use it, and why it really is a great deal.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

What is Disney’s MaxPass?

MaxPass is a ticket add-on you can purchase when you buy your park ticket. It currently costs $20 per person per day (1). When you sync up your park tickets with your Disneyland app you have access to all the features MaxPass has to offer. These include getting FASTPASSES for a shorter wait on the most popular attractions, and viewing photos taken by Disney employees during your time in the park. Photos include those taken on attractions, during special dining experiences, character meet-and-greets, and picture taken by Disney photographers at designated PhotoPass locations, including Magic Shots! These photos may take a couple of hours to go from a camera to the app, but once they are loaded you can easily download and share them!

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How to Use Disney’s MaxPass

Download Disneyland App

The Disneyland app is required to use a MaxPass, so you will need to download it and create an account. Once you have your tickets, open the Disneyland app and scan the tickets of everyone in your party. This will allow one account to make FASTPASS reservations for your entire group. This account is also where all of the photos from your trip will be located. If others in your party want access to photos and FASTPASSES, they will need to download the Disneyland app and sign into your same account. Multiple people can sign in to one account without any trouble.

FASTPASS

Disney create their FASTPASS system as a way to allow guests to hold their spot in line, thus creating a decrease in wait time for these guests. Previously, someone in your party would take all the park tickets to the ride you want a FASTPASS for and put them through a machine which popped out a FASTPASS ticket for each person. While you can still do this, MaxPass has made the process much quicker and easier.

Instead of walking across the park for a FASTPASS, you can request a FASTPASS on the Disneyland app from anywhere in the park! This means a lot less time running from one attraction to the next, and ultimately more time to enjoy other experiences Disney has to offer. You are only allowed to get a FASTPASS every so often, so make sure you make note of what time your next FASTPASS is available and get a new one as soon as you can. More details on the FASTPASS system and how to best use it will be coming in a later post. Subscribe to get email updates when a new post is published!

Attraction Photos

These are photos taken while you are on a ride. In the original Disneyland Park, photos are taken on Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. In Disney’s California Adventure, photos are taken on Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, Radiator Springs Racers, and the Incredicoaster. These photos are typically sold individually, but they come with your MaxPass purchase! After these attractions, you are dropped off in a room where you can view the photos recently taken on the ride. Each photo had an 8-digit code at the bottom to make claiming your photo easier.

To claim your photos, simply open the Disneyland app and type in the 8-digit code under your photo. That’s it! Within a few hours your photo should be available on the app! One tip to keep in mind: the photos in the post-ride gallery change quickly, so when you find yourself, have someone take a quick photo of the code in case it disappears before you get a chance to type it in. If you don’t get the code in time, don’t worry! Just ask a cast member at the photo booth for the code. They are happy to help!

Other Park Photos

Popular photo spots in the park often have a Disney PhotoPass photographer ready to snap a picture of your group! When you are done taking pictures, open up your app and go to the photos section. There should be a bar code which the photographer scans to connect your photos with your account. After a couple of hours, the photos should be on the app and ready for download! These photographers are around the park, at special dining experiences, and at character meet-and-greets. All of these photos go right to your app with a quick scan of the bar code.

Why MaxPass is a Great Deal

Let’s say you have a family of four. In my experience, a three-day park-hopper is the ideal ticket to see and do everything Disneyland has to offer. At $20 per person per day, the MaxPass in this scenario would total to $240, not including any additional fees. A Disney PhotoPass is a disc of your photos and costs $99, but does not include attraction photos which are about $35 per print. These also do not go directly to your phone. Disney PhotoPass + One Week costs $78, which does allow you to download photos directly to your phone. The only downfall here is the photos are only available for 7 days, where the MaxPass keeps your photos available for 45 days. If you only wanted the MaxPass for photos, you could only purchase the MaxPass for one ticket which would significantly reduce the cost, and depending on how many days you are staying it could be the cheapest way to get all of your photos on your phone quickly.

MaxPass is the best option because of the FASTPASS feature. Time is money, especially at Disneyland. The time you save by using the MaxPass is really worth it. In all honesty, I would purchase the MaxPass even if it was just for the FASTPASS feature, it’s that useful!

So, is a MaxPass worth it? If you just want it for pictures, then no. Other options are cheaper depending on what you really want out of your Disney experience. Would I recommend getting Disney’s MaxPass? Absolutely!

What are your experiences with Disney’s MaxPass? What other questions do you have about the MaxPass? Let me know by leaving a comment!

Anna’s Pick of the Week

I have this backpack an I use it every time I visit Disneyland! While it is small, it fits much more than I had anticipated. While at the parks I have been asked by people of all ages where I got it. Well, now you know!