The Best $15 You'll Spend at Disneyland

When you think of a Disney vacation you might think about all of the awesome attractions you want to be sure to hit before vacation inevitably comes to a close. But how are you going to do the more than 50 rides that Disneyland has listed on their website?

The answer is Disney MaxPass.

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What exactly is MaxPass? It’s a paid version of Disney’s FastPass reservation system, where guests can make FastPasses right from the Disneyland app on their smartphone. If you have a park hopper ticket you can even make Fastpass reservations for both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure’s most popular attractions at the same time.

There are over 20 attractions that you can use MaxPass and FastPass for between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, including the Incredicoaster, Radiator Springs Racers, and Splash Mountain.

MaxPass is currently $15 a day per person, but it has become a major time saver for many people, especially since everything can be done on your phone while touring the park and waiting in line for something, or even when you stop for a bite to eat.

Gone are the days of having to get up early to be at Disney California Adventure to race back to Cars Land and snag a coveted paper FastPass for Radiator Springs Racers.

With all of the time you’ll save not having to pick up paper FastPasses you’ll be able to ride a couple more attractions in those first few hours of the parks being open, which is when it’s the least crowded.

When you want to make a FastPass reservation with MaxPass all you need to do is open the Disneyland app, scroll down to MaxPass and click on what park the attraction you want to make the reservation for. Once you find the attraction tap on it and click the time slot to reserve.

MaxPass will give you the time you are able to make your next attraction reservation. We like to make an alarm on our phone for that time so we don’t miss it and continue to do that throughout the day so we can ride as many things as possible.

On my most recent trip to Disneyland I purchased Disney MaxPass for two out of the three days I was in the parks and it was a huge timesaver and convenience factor for the trip. In fact, within my first two hours at Disneyland Park I was able to do six attractions, including Matterhorn Bobsleds, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain! Many days these three attractions have some of the longest waits at Disneyland.

Even though Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is now open at Disneyland and will be open at Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World August 29, the attraction is not currently offering FastPass or MaxPass. Disney has said it will in the future, so MaxPass is going to be a must when that happens if you’re wanting to pilot the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy with a minimal wait time.

If you’re crunched for time and want to get the most out of your trip to the Disneyland Resort there are some attractions that MaxPass really serves as a must for. Over at Disneyland Park those attractions are Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones Adventure, Matterhorn Bobsleds and Space Mountain. At Disney California Adventure MaxPass is used to its full advantage on Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, Incredicoaster and Radiator Springs Racers.

With the purchase of MaxPass, you also get all of your on-ride photos and any Disney PhotoPass photos you take for free as part of the purchase value. The photos come with unlimited downloads and are available from places like character dining locations, attractions, character meet and greets, and Disney PhotoPass photographers around the parks! This is a great way to capture memories of your vacation and make sure everyone in your family is in the photo.

MaxPass is quite possibly the best $15 you will spend at Disneyland Resort. Not only is it a huge time saver, but the ease of use and convenience of it cannot be passed up. In fact, I wouldn’t do Disneyland Resort without buying MaxPass.