RideMax Critique Plus Conventional and Unconventional Usage on August 1-4 Trip

[HydroGuy]

First let me say that I am a RideMax fan. I am a software developer, and think RideMax is a creative piece of software and I hope it achieves increasing success. Any comments that are not strictly positive are intended to help others better understand what it can and cannot do. FYI, the RideMax website is www.ridemax.com.

We went to DLR on Aug 1-4. I bought RideMax in May and experimented with it for several months. I consider myself a DL veteran. The unconventional RideMax usage proved to be the most valuable for us.

UNCONVENTIONAL USAGE

The wait time data in RideMax is designed to allow people to achieve the itineraries. Thus the wait time data typically overestimates actual wait times. With this caveat, I spent several hours before our trip dumping RideMax itinerary data into Microsoft Excel. I used mathematical curve fitting routines to create daily wait time profiles of all DL rides. I did the same for DCA. I printed out the DL data for each day, and the DCA data for the same day was printed on the other side. The screen capture http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa174/HydroGuyCO/rmdata.jpgshows the printout for DL on Monday Aug 1. I referred to the daily sheet numerous times throughout our trip, as we typically were not following a strict RideMax itinerary but were deciding on which rides to go based on previous experience, how we felt at the moment, and projected RideMax wait times.

CONVENTIONAL USAGE

I printed up a conventional RideMax itinerary for DL on Aug 1 and for DCA on Aug 2. We ended up not following the Aug 1 itinerary, but we did follow the Aug 2 DCA daytime itinerary although California Screamin' was down which changed things a bit. I did not print anything up for Aug 3 or 4, as we planned a lot of shows on Aug 3 and on Day 4 I expected (correctly BTW) that we would be hitting rides we missed and going one last time on our favorites.

Typically we did not follow a RideMax itinerary, but I had an approximate plan in my head and collected a lot of FastPasses to give us choices. In four days we never waited in a line longer than 20 minutes, and made it on every single DL ride once, all of the big rides two to four times, and most of the DCA rides as well. We also made it to all the shows and parades except for Block Party Bash at DCA.

Here are my observations on RideMax:

1. As many know, RideMax creates an itinerary that allows you to get on more rides than you otherwise might. The less you know about DL and DCA, the more valuable RideMax is. And the more crowded DL and DCA are, the more valuable RideMax is. Rather than you spending time in the crowds and heat trying to figure out what to do next, RideMax helps make that decision for you. This appeals to many people.

2. Our kids saved up a lot of money before our trip and they wanted to spend it at DLR. They ended up spending way more time in stores than I had planned. I discouraged them from doing this early in the morning when the lines were real short, but other than that it happened spontaneously. It would have been a real downer to disallow this because of RideMax. I was OK with this, because of the flexible plan I had in my head and my FastPass collecting. One way to work around this is to use the "slow" RideMax touring option which allows more times between rides. Another way is to only use RideMax for parts of days (e.g., use it for the day schedules but let the evenings be completely spontaneous).

3. RideMax typically overestimates wait times, and occasionally is way off. One evening we went to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at 9:15PM. This was during the first showing of Fantasmic!, BTW. RideMax gave a wait time of 40 minutes, while the actual standby wait time was about 9 minutes. In general, RideMax was slightly conservative on wait times.

4. RideMax does not handle very well cases where you want to go on the same ride multiple times. If we specified we wanted to go on a ride twice in one day, usually RideMax scheduled the two times on the same ride back-to-back. Typically we would rather go on the ride at different times of the day. The Day 2 DCA schedule worked for us because we did not know DCA very well, and we only scheduled rides once.

5. RideMax is very FastPass savvy, and can take advantage of the late FastPass rule, Enhanced FastPass and disconnected FastPass attractions. But it is not designed to handle runners. This is where you have a group and one person (the runner) goes to get FastPasses for everyone while the group goes to another ride, waits in line, shops in a store or orders lunch. For example, in mid-morning when my family made their way from Main Street to the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes I snuck off to get a FastPass for Space Mountain. Then I joined them in the Davy Crockett line. On another evening my family grabbed a spot for the Parade of Dreams, and I snuck over to Buzz Lightyear to get a FastPass and then came back to join them for the parade. By doing things like this, I got FastPasses for all of the major rides and we usually had these available to go on any FastPass ride in the afternoon or evening. This kind of parallel time efficiency is obviously beyond RideMax, but it can make a big difference. Since many of the FastPass rides have wait times of 45-120 minutes, if you can pick up FastPasses more efficiently this can save you several hours in line and allow you to get on even more rides than even RideMax can. But you have to know what you are doing, and be up to speed on all the FastPass tricks. If this is not you, then let RideMax decide for you.

6. On all four days we were at DLR, rides were down. California Screamin' at DCA was down all four days. Space Mountain was down several times on Day 2, Splash Mountain opened 2 1/2 hours late on Day 3, and Indy was down for four hours mid-day on Day 4. If you are heavily dependent on RideMax you might have missed one of these major rides which might be a big disappointment. If you are knowledgeable enough about DLR and FastPass, you can work around it better than RideMax can because you can make on the spot decisions.

7. I did not like how RideMax made assumptions about how long you might spend on certain open-ended attractions. Examples are Tom Sawyer Island, Redwood Creek Challenge and the Animation Studio. If I remember right, RideMax always assumed 40 minutes on these. In fact, we spent 90 minutes at the Animation Studio, which is where our itinerary broke down for the day because RideMax had allowed only the 40 minutes. We spent about 30 minutes on Tom Sawyer Island, and maybe 20 on Redwook Creek Challenge (which we did not like really like - maybe because we live in the forest in Colorado - plus we skipped the Brother Bear show). RideMax could be improved by allowing you to enter how long you want to spend at such rides. Based on forums such as this, I expected we would spend 90-120 minutes at the DCA Animation Studios, but I could not tell this to RideMax.

8. If you have it in mind to do all the rides at DL or DCA in one day, I found that RideMax could create an itinerary that allowed you to do this during our high season trip in August. On our EE day it would have been fairly easy. My ten-year old tinkered with RideMax before our trip, and tried to convince the family that we should do all DL rides on one of our days, just to say we did. But nobody wanted to do this because it allowed very little time for an afternoon rest. If we ever decided to do this on another trip, I would let RideMax plan it for me because there are way too many decisions even for a vet like me to make this happen with on the fly decision making.

9. Note that RideMax does not include Monorail or the Disneyland Railroad on its list of attractions, because they consider these "transportation". If you want to do these when using RideMax, you will need to do them during a scheduled break or RideMax "free time"..

10. I corresponded five or six times with RideMax, and their response was always within 24 hours and very helpful. From their e-mails, website and documentation, it is clear that the RideMax author is a DLR enthusiast and really wants you to have a good time.

11. The RideMax Help system gives you many tips and tricks which are regularly updated, so if you buy RideMax you should read these.

12. RideMax documentation strongly encourages you to get buy-in from the group for using RideMax before your trip, rather than trying to force an itinerary on a group.

Check our full trip report to be posted in the next day or two.

[CindyH]

Thanks, this was very informative! Very interesting observations about RideMax; it probably wouldn't have worked for us (the boys love the Monorail and we rode it several times each day). I wound up being the runner for our family as well; it was great to go back to the BWPPI after lunch knowing that we already had FPs for Buzz and Soaring.

[Michelle2]

Wow, that was very informative. I was wondering about getting Ridemax on our upcoming trip....Can't wait until your trip report!

[karylrocks]

I really enjoyed your report on RideMax. It was very timely in that I just spent about 20 hours in the past week running scenarios and making adjustments to optimize the plan. Some of your observations were just what I had suspected. I became suspicious of the wait times when RideMax indicated a wait time of 100 minutes for Splash Mountain just before closing on a Wednesday night. :eek: I just figured that if they are too long, that will just put us a little ahead of schedule and allow for short shopping and bathroom breaks. I do wish it would include strategy for EE; what I did was put in all the FL rides for a non-EE day (Wed) and then move them all up one hour and slightly shorten the wait times for EE on Thursday.

At the very least it lets you know how long each of the rides are and you can tell what rides have much longer lines in the middle of the day. I love using it and would say that it is definitely worth the money.

[HydroGuy]

I really enjoyed your report on RideMax. It was very timely in that I just spent about 20 hours in the past week running scenarios and making adjustments to optimize the plan. Some of your observations were just what I had suspected. I became suspicious of the wait times when RideMax indicated a wait time of 100 minutes for Splash Mountain just before closing on a Wednesday night. :eek: I just figured that if they are too long, that will just put us a little ahead of schedule and allow for short shopping and bathroom breaks. I do wish it would include strategy for EE; what I did was put in all the FL rides for a non-EE day (Wed) and then move them all up one hour and slightly shorten the wait times for EE on Thursday.

At the very least it lets you know how long each of the rides are and you can tell what rides have much longer lines in the middle of the day. I love using it and would say that it is definitely worth the money.The late night standby wait times for Splash and BTMRR were usually very conservative. Not a big deal for us, because we always had FP.

At midnight, RideMax predicted 80 minutes for Splash while the reality was closer to 30-40 minutes. The BTMRR was less than 10 minutes at midnight, and RideMax has 30 minutes. On the other hand, their 30 minute Indy prediction at midnight was about right. The big hitter is Space Mtn. My data had Space Mtn midnight wait times of 40 minutes, while the reality was 100 minutes according to the posted wait times at the ride. Note that RideMax has updated their data in the last few weeks. Mine was based on data available prior to July 27.

[Pezalicious]

Does RideMax include shows and parades in the plans? It sounds like it would be an interesting system to check out, but I'll want to see the parades, fireworks, Fantasmic, and Billy Hill & the Hillbillies. I suppose I could use the system unconventionally and add that stuff in myself, but changing it that drastically seems like it might defeat the purpose. I'd like to do a test day where I plan the day, using the knowledge I have of the parks, and then one where I try to stick to RideMax.

[HydroGuy]

Does RideMax include shows and parades in the plans? It sounds like it would be an interesting system to check out, but I'll want to see the parades, fireworks, Fantasmic, and Billy Hill & the Hillbillies. I suppose I could use the system unconventionally and add that stuff in myself, but changing it that drastically seems like it might defeat the purpose. I'd like to do a test day where I plan the day, using the knowledge I have of the parks, and then one where I try to stick to RideMax.No. You can schedule "break times" to cover shows. But it is not included.

[kieran2]

I loved the way you packaged the Ridemax information. They should cut a deal with you to sell an "add on" for more on the fly touring!

How did you compile the dataset for manipulation in excel? Seems like that would be a pretty time intensive task, but maybe I'm not being creative enough. I just subscribed to Ridemax for a January trip and I'd like to be able to create at least a poor man's version of what you did - we have a wide set of ages (daughters 4 and 9, son 12) and I'd like ro be able to make sure there aren't stretches where someone feels they are geting shut out of "their" kinds of rides. Ridemax isn't very amenable for that, but it seems like your format would be.

[HydroGuy]

I loved the way you packaged the Ridemax information. They should cut a deal with you to sell an "add on" for more on the fly touring!

How did you compile the dataset for manipulation in excel? Seems like that would be a pretty time intensive task, but maybe I'm not being creative enough. I just subscribed to Ridemax for a January trip and I'd like to be able to create at least a poor man's version of what you did - we have a wide set of ages (daughters 4 and 9, son 12) and I'd like ro be able to make sure there aren't stretches where someone feels they are geting shut out of "their" kinds of rides. Ridemax isn't very amenable for that, but it seems like your format would be.I would love to create a post that explains this - and as many of you know am quite open with my strategies. However, RideMax is concerned about people mining their data and, although I know how, I avoid sharing how as I do not want to contribute to potential data mining. I have the process fairly automated. It was a bit time consuming to setup at first, but now it is fairly quick. One thing you can do which is time consuming but will help is to play with your park starting and opening times in order to see wait times at certain times of the day.

[DisneyDork1969]

I would love to create a post that explains this - and as many of you know am quite open with my strategies. However, RideMax is concerned about people mining their data and, although I know how, I avoid sharing how as I do not want to contribute to potential data mining. I have the process fairly automated. It was a bit time consuming to setup at first, but now it is fairly quick. One thing you can do which is time consuming but will help is to play with your park starting and opening times in order to see wait times at certain times of the day.

Thanks for the info! That's what I plan to do with my upcoming Thanksgiving trip: playing with the opening & start times. I wanna see how things go if I get to the park at 8:30, 9:00 or 9:30am (I hope NOT thou...!)...I have noticed that if I plug-in all the Fantasyland rides, RM will assign some to early morning and the rest at late-night/closing time (Peter Pan at 11pm??)...I think by having a RM plan in hand and then using all the Fast Pass tricks, I should be able to survive DL over the Thanksgiving weekend...Thanks!

Jon C / DisneyDork69 on TWITTER!

[JustAKid]

CONVENTIONAL USAGE

5. RideMax is very FastPass savvy, and can take advantage of the late FastPass rule, Enhanced FastPass and disconnected FastPass attractions. But it is not designed to handle runners. This is where you have a group and one person (the runner) goes to get FastPasses for everyone while the group goes to another ride, waits in line, shops in a store or orders lunch.



Okay...I thought I knew about FP but I guess not cause I've never even heard of Enchanced FP!! What exactly is that, and on which rides do I utilize it?

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Okay...I thought I knew about FP but I guess not cause I've never even heard of Enchanced FP!! What exactly is that, and on which rides do I utilize it?

This thread is from 2005!!! No more enchanted FPs....:rotfl:

[JustAKid]

This thread is from 2005!!! No more enchanted FPs....:rotfl:

OMG! How is it possible that I didn't look at the time stamp?? I totally just assumed that Hydro had posted it today. HOW FUNNY!!!! :lmao::lmao::lmao:

Well...never-you-mind about my question. I feel sheepish...:flower3:

[HydroGuy]

FWIW EFP was a perk offered until Jan 2007 (I believe) whereby visitors who booked trips through AAA and stayed at the Disney hotels could get FPs without the delays in between. For example, one could get a Space FP and then go immediately to Indy and get a FP and then go from there to Splash and get one, etc. It allowed users to get lots of FPs.

[madjohn]

Thanks for all the great info.

I am going for one day with family in December. I have already purchased ridemax and have used this type of planning in the past for both DL and DW. My thinking right now is to do one of two things.

One---Tell ridemax I am not using fast pass and plan on being the runner in the morning and save up all my fast passes for the evening. I am planning to tell ridemax that I am only staying until about 5 and then use the fastpasses in the evening. Or

Two--decide what rides to do in the morning and what rides to do in the evenining and just make two ridemax plans One for am and one for pm. I figured in this way I would have a little more control over the software.

any thoughts would be great

thanks
John

[Leofoenget]

The biggest problem I had with RM re the FP collection, was, it had me zigzagging across the park. I would be at say Pooh, and it would say "send runner to get a Space Mtn FP" then the next ride would would be Roger Rabbit, then after that would send you to BUZZ. Why couldnt you skip RR go to Buzz THEN once you are in TL send runner to get the Space FP? Other than that, I was always way ahead of schedule.

[Hound 109]

edit - Looks like Leofoenget & I had similar thoughts & posted them at the same time. :)

RideMax is great for ride order & times etc.....but use HG's FP collection strategy along with Ridemax's ride strategy. :)

Thanks for all the great info.

I am going for one day with family in December. I have already purchased ridemax and have used this type of planning in the past for both DL and DW. My thinking right now is to do one of two things.

One---Tell ridemax I am not using fast pass and plan on being the runner in the morning and save up all my fast passes for the evening. I am planning to tell ridemax that I am only staying until about 5 and then use the fastpasses in the evening. Or

Two--decide what rides to do in the morning and what rides to do in the evenining and just make two ridemax plans One for am and one for pm. I figured in this way I would have a little more control over the software.

any thoughts would be great

thanks
John

John, I'm guessing you know that MOST important is getting there early (before Gen. Adm. opening). Nothing beats the first 2 hours of touring & FP collecting.

I think i would go with number ONE (but maybe have Ride Max run thru 6:30pm). I LIKE Ridemax alot for ride order....but I much prefer HydroGuy's FP collection strategies to RideMax's (which sometimes has you backtracking across the park)....& feel i can squeeze them (as a FP collection runner) while still following ridemax's ride sequence. Still, (when i used RM) i'd only follow it about 80% of the time.

Will you be park hopping that one day? (& which day of the week will it be?)

If you haven't already done so, I recommend you read all of HG's FP tip threads (linked in his signature). You might also find my trip report (linked below) helpful if visiting for just one day.

Have fun. :thumbsup2

:)

[HydroGuy]

As Hound knows from previous discussions, it is not a knock on RM to say that its FP collection is not as agressive as it could be. RM is trying to create an itinerary for the whole day - it is not focused solely on FP.

To other posters, RM does try to minimize walking too. It is the total wait time for rides and walking time that it minimizes. If it has you zigzagging that is what is required to minimize overall walking and waiting time. I would think the zigzags would be worse on really crowded days because the ride lines are longer and it makes more sense to do lots of walking. On less crowded days it would be opposite.

Also, if you do use the FP runner option then, yes, the runner will be sent all over the place. If you do not like that then you may want to turn the runner option off.

For the PP, if you want to follow an itinerary then I think the best option is to just add everything in and let RM schedule the evening too. But it sounds like you know your way around DLR and if you are comfortable making your own decisions then the option of only scheduling the day and getting FPs on your free time slices may work best.

[madjohn]

edit - Looks like Leofoenget & I had similar thoughts & posted them at the same time. :)

RideMax is great for ride order & times etc.....but use HG's FP collection strategy along with Ridemax's ride strategy. :)



John, I'm guessing you know that MOST important is getting there early (before Gen. Adm. opening). Nothing beats the first 2 hours of touring & FP collecting.

I think i would go with number ONE (but maybe have Ride Max run thru 6:30pm). I LIKE Ridemax alot for ride order....but I much prefer HydroGuy's FP collection strategies to RideMax's (which sometimes has you backtracking across the park)....& feel i can squeeze them (as a FP collection runner) while still following ridemax's ride sequence. Still, (when i used RM) i'd only follow it about 80% of the time.

Will you be park hopping that one day? (& which day of the week will it be?)

If you haven't already done so, I recommend you read all of HG's FP tip threads (linked in his signature). You might also find my trip report (linked below) helpful if visiting for just one day.

Have fun. :thumbsup2

:)

Yes I am familiar with FP collection. I get in line about 30/45 minutes before park is open and I am the runner for the family. I usually send the wife and kids to a ride they want that I would skip and I go immediately and get first FP. Usually for splash mountain or space mountain. I then closely watch the time and get each additional FP as soon as the first time passes. I usually have 4/5 by lunch time. I like to hold on to them and wait until later when the crowds start coming in the afternoon.


We are going on December 18, friday. We are not park hopping. We will be in DL only.

any additional help is always appreciated.

John

[wwomant]

We are going to Disneyland the busiest week of the year, the week after Christmas! So we are going to be using Ridemax for the first time. I would love to use the "normal" touring speed, because when I use this it really makes a difference in how many rides we can do in a day. But it will be very crowded and we're going with 7 people, 5 adults and 2 children in strollers. Is it unrealistic to think we can do "normal" touring speed? Should we choose "slow" touring speed?

[Nala83]

The slow touring speed is designed just for this situation- a large group, including small kids that need to be loaded in and out of strollers. (Even stroller parking will take longer during such a busy time of year.)

I'd stick with slow. If you want to try the "normal" speed, just be prepared to skip a few things along the way so that you stay on schedule. Whatever you do, don't miss the fastpass pick-up times. You'll need those that week!

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

We are going to Disneyland the busiest week of the year, the week after Christmas! So we are going to be using Ridemax for the first time. I would love to use the "normal" touring speed, because when I use this it really makes a difference in how many rides we can do in a day. But it will be very crowded and we're going with 7 people, 5 adults and 2 children in strollers. Is it unrealistic to think we can do "normal" touring speed? Should we choose "slow" touring speed?

I would make a plan for both, start with the one for normal pace and switch to the slow pace if needed. As Nala says, it will be crowded, so making your way through the crowds may take more time than usual, but I would assume/hope that Ridemax takes that into account already. When we were there last week, we used Ridemax a couple of times including a busy Sunday (using Saturday's data) during holiday season. Our group included two adults, two children, and one stroller to park. I found that Ridemax on "normal speed" gave us more than adequate time to go from one attraction to another. So much time, in fact, that we ended up squeezing in extra rides in between times and ending our last ride well ahead of schedule. I guess we could have sat and soaked up the atmosphere more, but we had two daughters who were wanting to squeeze in as many extra rides as possible on our last day.

[DirkLogan]

I am a disney vet, one of those darned Socal AP people. I bought the Ride Max software and think it is great. I would say that I agree with your assessment of the software. It is definitely better for someone with less experience in the park. I have been so often, I can feel my way through the park pretty efficiently. I like what you did with the spreadsheet, I started doing something like that but didn't have time to complete it before our last trip.

I would like to see a few things added to the software:

- make a combined DLR, DCA day. I usually do DLR until noonish when the crowds start swelling and then hop over to DCA for a few hours to hit our favorites over there and then back to DLR one last time. I would like to be given the option to hop at the most efficient times too.

- I think he could easily add the shows, but I hadn't thought off the break times in place of the shows. It only offers two break times though.

- I would like to see flexibility in choosing times to visit the open ended rides like you mentioned.

- And ultimately, I would like it to be an app for an Iphone so I get make changes on the fly.

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

I would like to see a few things added to the software:

- make a combined DLR, DCA day. I usually do DLR until noonish when the crowds start swelling and then hop over to DCA for a few hours to hit our favorites over there and then back to DLR one last time. I would like to be given the option to hop at the most efficient times too.

- I think he could easily add the shows, but I hadn't thought off the break times in place of the shows. It only offers two break times though.

- I would like to see flexibility in choosing times to visit the open ended rides like you mentioned.

- And ultimately, I would like it to be an app for an Iphone so I get make changes on the fly.

:thumbsup2 I second all of this!!! In addition, I think they might need to re-think their no-Sunday tour plans. With the addition of so many So Cal Annual Passes that are blocked on Saturday, but not Sunday, I don't think you can assume any longer that Saturday's patterns are going to be the same.

[HydroGuy]

I would like to see a few things added to the software:

- make a combined DLR, DCA day. I usually do DLR until noonish when the crowds start swelling and then hop over to DCA for a few hours to hit our favorites over there and then back to DLR one last time. I would like to be given the option to hop at the most efficient times too.

- I think he could easily add the shows, but I hadn't thought off the break times in place of the shows. It only offers two break times though.

- I would like to see flexibility in choosing times to visit the open ended rides like you mentioned.

- And ultimately, I would like it to be an app for an Iphone so I get make changes on the fly.The WDW version has shows added so it is only a matter of time before the DLR version has that too. And I believe they are working on an iPhone app that uses real time wait times to project what wait times will be like later tha day.

[wwomant]

I am a disney vet, one of those darned Socal AP people. I bought the Ride Max software and think it is great. I would say that I agree with your assessment of the software. It is definitely better for someone with less experience in the park. I have been so often, I can feel my way through the park pretty efficiently. I like what you did with the spreadsheet, I started doing something like that but didn't have time to complete it before our last trip.

I would like to see a few things added to the software:

- make a combined DLR, DCA day. I usually do DLR until noonish when the crowds start swelling and then hop over to DCA for a few hours to hit our favorites over there and then back to DLR one last time. I would like to be given the option to hop at the most efficient times too.

- I think he could easily add the shows, but I hadn't thought off the break times in place of the shows. It only offers two break times though.

- I would like to see flexibility in choosing times to visit the open ended rides like you mentioned.

- And ultimately, I would like it to be an app for an Iphone so I get make changes on the fly.



This is my first time using it, and just from a planning perspective I agree with all these, in addition I think it would be great if you could make multi-day plans, because I'm sure that when you're going for 3 days that some rides will have shorter lines on one of the days.

I also wish that you could specify a particular time of day you'd like to ride certain rides, like IASM Holiday at night, or the water rides right before you leave the park (so you don't have to walk around all wet), etc.

[wwomant]

Nala83 & 3TinksandanEyore,

Thanks for the advice. I'll think I'll print plans for both, and I'm sure we'll quickly figure out which speed we should stick with. After thinking about it though I realized that I'd much rather error on the side of having too much time on the slow plan than have our group rushing around from ride to ride all day just to fit in a few extra rides.

[monicatb]

I'm using Ridemax for the first time. This will be our first time at DLR too and we are WDW vets. I've been playing around with Ridemax and it has been great, not for the overall day, but for segments of the day. I would say I'm using it in an unconventional way. I'm just stuck with our tomorrowland morning. We'll be there for opening (park opens at 8 am and we'll be there at 7:20 am) on Friday before Easter Sunday (yes, crowded). My original plan was to FP Space, ride Autopia, Matterhorn, Buzz, Astro Orbiter, Star Tours and Space with FP (weren't planning to go back to DL that evening), and then go to DCA for 9:30 am opening. When I fed RM with this information, it said it wasn't possible to do it in my time frame (8 am-9:15 am). So then I took out Autopia, and still there's no way we can do this. RM has long waiting times for that first hour of the park for almost all of the rides in Tomorrowland. From my WDW experience, I would think this is doable if we're right there for rope drop, but am I overestimating waiting times at DL or is RM very conservative? From your experience, do you think this plan is doable or is RM right on target?

[HydroGuy]

I'm using Ridemax for the first time. This will be our first time at DLR too and we are WDW vets. I've been playing around with Ridemax and it has been great, not for the overall day, but for segments of the day. I would say I'm using it in an unconventional way. I'm just stuck with our tomorrowland morning. We'll be there for opening (park opens at 8 am and we'll be there at 7:20 am) on Friday before Easter Sunday (yes, crowded). My original plan was to FP Space, ride Autopia, Matterhorn, Buzz, Astro Orbiter, Star Tours and Space with FP (weren't planning to go back to DL that evening), and then go to DCA for 9:30 am opening. When I fed RM with this information, it said it wasn't possible to do it in my time frame (8 am-9:15 am). So then I took out Autopia, and still there's no way we can do this. RM has long waiting times for that first hour of the park for almost all of the rides in Tomorrowland. From my WDW experience, I would think this is doable if we're right there for rope drop, but am I overestimating waiting times at DL or is RM very conservative? From your experience, do you think this plan is doable or is RM right on target?Is it a Magic Morning day? What day of the week?

[monicatb]

This is for Friday, April 2nd. We'll do MM the day before for Fantasyland rides.

[HydroGuy]

This is for Friday, April 2nd. We'll do MM the day before for Fantasyland rides.OK, now that I look at your goals it is too much to fit into 75 minutes. I usually budget 30 minutes to ride Space Mtn with FP - time to give the FP, wait in a partial line, ride the ride, and exit. Even if there were no lines at all it of course takes time to walk to each ride and ride it. You are trying to fit too much into 75 minutes. I would say it is not worth getting to DCA by 9:30 if you're going to miss something at DL.

I would play with RM and let it guide you to a plan that works. You may be able to do better than RM once you are there, but for now it will give you an idea of what to expect.

When I went to Epcot for the first time I did what you are doing and RM convinced me I had too much on my plate for one day. So I backed off.

[monicatb]

Ok, I will do that. I just asked my kids about the Tomorrowland rides, and they want to do Space, Buzz, Autopia and Matterhorn, and if time, Star Tours (same movie as in HS) and Astro Orbiter (like Dumbo). I just moved Autopia to our previous day, with FP, so that's out of the way. I ran Ridemax with Space, Buzz & Matterhorn and it's doable, so we'll play it by the ear with ST or AO. Thanks for the advice.

[DisneyMomma81]

IMO ~ Autopia is pretty lame, it's been a long time since we've been on it.

[sitkamom]

bump

[damaris13]

So glad you bumped this! I don't know how I missed it, and I think this just goes to show the versatility of Ridemax. DH hates the idea of having a strict schedule to follow and having to look at your watch every 5 minutes to make sure you're on schedule. I keep telling him that we wouldn't follow it that way. We'd be using it to make sure we get on every ride we want to.

Thank you, HydroGuy for sharing your massive intel on everything DLR!

[pudinhd]

I think we are going to use RM for our trip in November. We will be going to DL 2 days, but haven't decided if we will also be going to CA. There will be 14 of us - 10 adults, 4 kids - 2 2-kid strollers & 1 wheelchair. It's going to be interesting... :) Thanks for sharing your tips & experiences!!

[MagicPixieDust]

Ok everyone, it's my first post here so please be gentle...I don't know whether this is a stupid question or not, but I just can't work out what to do so I'm going to have to ask it!

We will be at DLR 15 & 16 September. With Fantasmic & fireworks only being on at DL on the Friday (I think anyway, the details aren't up on Disney's website yet to confirm for sure), we need to fit in WOC on the Thursday. My main question is, how are we best to fit this in when planning an itinerary on Ridemax?

I've read that DCA will usually open 30 minutes ahead of schedule for Soarin' and pick up of WOC Fast Passes only which would be 9:30am on the Thursday...should I plan that we will go straight there and get our WOC FPs then start a Ridemax plan for say 10:00am or would we be ok to wait until later in the day to get the WOC FPs and to do something else first (Soarin' maybe, or just head over to DL and start there instead)?

I'm also debating generally about which park we should start off in on both days...Thursday is a MM at DL but an off season weekday, Friday has no MM entry but is the first day of Halloween Time so expected to be pretty busy from what I have read, although not sure if that only applies later on in the day which I guess is when AP holders start arriving?

We've done WDW several times before but this will be our first trip to DL, and with only 2 days we want to fit in as much as we can without driving ourselves completely crazy with exhaustion! If anyone can point me in the right direction with all this it would be appreciated :flower3:

[HydroGuy]

Ok everyone, it's my first post here so please be gentle...I don't know whether this is a stupid question or not, but I just can't work out what to do so I'm going to have to ask it!

We will be at DLR 15 & 16 September. With Fantasmic & fireworks only being on at DL on the Friday (I think anyway, the details aren't up on Disney's website yet to confirm for sure), we need to fit in WOC on the Thursday. My main question is, how are we best to fit this in when planning an itinerary on Ridemax?

I've read that DCA will usually open 30 minutes ahead of schedule for Soarin' and pick up of WOC Fast Passes only which would be 9:30am on the Thursday...should I plan that we will go straight there and get our WOC FPs then start a Ridemax plan for say 10:00am or would we be ok to wait until later in the day to get the WOC FPs and to do something else first (Soarin' maybe, or just head over to DL and start there instead)?

I'm also debating generally about which park we should start off in on both days...Thursday is a MM at DL but an off season weekday, Friday has no MM entry but is the first day of Halloween Time so expected to be pretty busy from what I have read, although not sure if that only applies later on in the day which I guess is when AP holders start arriving?

We've done WDW several times before but this will be our first trip to DL, and with only 2 days we want to fit in as much as we can without driving ourselves completely crazy with exhaustion! If anyone can point me in the right direction with all this it would be appreciated :flower3:Getting a WOC FP is not that hard these days. Working that in with RM just means planning to get your WOC FP in the morning and then stopping your schedule before you have to get in line for WOC in the evening. So you will need to be in DCA in the morning and evening. If you are planning to tour DCA already that day then it is easy to do the above with RM. If not, then you will have to block some time out of the RM itinerary using "breaks".

:wizard:

[MagicPixieDust]

Thanks HydroGuy :thumbsup2