Ridemax reviews?

[cristyhas3]

I've heard of Ridemax, but don't know a whole lot about it. Tonight, my step-brother ( who is a computer programmer and Disney fanatic) was telling me that I *had* to get it for our trip in March. He has 5 kids, and he said it made all the difference for their family at the parks.

What is your experience?

 

[danaesacto]

I've heard of Ridemax, but don't know a whole lot about it. Tonight, my step-brother ( who is a computer programmer and Disney fanatic) was telling me that I *had* to get it for our trip in March. He has 5 kids, and he said it made all the difference for their family at the parks.

What is your experience?

I have used it and loved it. You tell it what you must do, what matters least and what kind of park goer you are. I will use it when we go in March. If you try it and dont like it, than just dont follow it the rest of your days. Just make sure to finalize your plan at the last minute- like the day before you go. It will have the most current updated info available.

 

[aussie shaz]

We loved it when we used it in August 2011. Going again in May and will purchase it again. We would not go to Disneyland without it.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I would love to get it.

BUT..... Is it set up for Cars Land also? Do they have somewhat accurate times for that?

I won't pay $15 without knowing if I am set for ALL areas of both parks.

We got it before CL and loved it. We finished every ride we wanted to go on during our MM and had time to spare. But the opening of CL makes me wear of any ride planning things.

 

[dmband]

Never heard of it
Looks interesting but I don't really see how people need these things
Maybe first timers or something but people who go annually prob have it figured out
I still might give it a try, heck it has money back guarantee

 

[danaesacto]

They send people into the parks regularly to time things out and tweak their formulas. They will have CL understood by now. That is why you play around with it all you want early, but finalize at the last minute, so you will have most current updates.

The reason you would want it is to maximize your experience. If i am going to spend all this money going, i want the most i can squeeze into a day (not just rides- shows, parades etc). Ridemax just tells me what order to do things in.

 

[helenb]

Have they put out a Mac version yet? Last time I went I boguht it before realizing that it was a PC-only download...

 

[lvdis]

I really wanted to use it for our upcoming trip in June, but our first day is a Sunday (Father's day) and Ridemax says you can't get a plan for a Sunday visit. Sunday was the day I was most worried about, so now I don't know what to do.

From http://www.ridemax.com/order.php -

We’re closed on Sundays

We've made the personal decision to not gather wait time statistics on Sunday, and you won't be able to select Sunday as your "visit date" in RideMax. We do, however, offer advice for using RideMax to map out a Sunday visit in our "Tips & Hints" pages, and many customers have reported success using this advice to plan a Sunday visit.

 

[Blue32]

I really wanted to use it for our upcoming trip in June, but our first day is a Sunday (Father's day) and Ridemax says you can't get a plan for a Sunday visit. Sunday was the day I was most worried about, so now I don't know what to do.

From http://www.ridemax.com/order.php -

We’re closed on Sundays

We've made the personal decision to not gather wait time statistics on Sunday, and you won't be able to select Sunday as your "visit date" in RideMax. We do, however, offer advice for using RideMax to map out a Sunday visit in our "Tips & Hints" pages, and many customers have reported success using this advice to plan a Sunday visit.

If you use the Saturday Itinerary for Sunday you should be fine.

We used it for our trip in November and liked it. It is especially helpful if you go during busy times in the parks.

I am a planner, so I really enjoyed playing around with the software to get an idea of wait times for certain rides at different times of the day. As much as we spent on our trip, I figured that $15 was a small price to pay for the benefit of the software.

I thought it was also nice to have on my labtop so I could adjust a few things while on my trip at the hotel. And it made coming up with a plan for our last day in the parks really nice.

 

[Whistlebee]

We've used RideMax and we love it! It worked perfectly fine for us on a Sunday. We chose Saturday to work our plans off of (per their website's instructions) and it worked great. However, if you are going on a Sunday that is a holiday that may be different. You could always email them or message them on Facebook and ask what day they suggest using for Father's Day. If the parks are fairly empty I don't think it matters as much but when they are busy Ridemax is awesome!!!

 

[dmband]

Have they put out a Mac version yet? Last time I went I boguht it before realizing that it was a PC-only download...

FAQ says no but front page says yes and shows 3 Mac products

Thinking of trying tourplans
It seems to have much better reviews in a search and is far less

 

[kayleigh83]

LOL Trust me - it's great!! I talk about it all the time! At this point people probably think I work for them or something! But after our trip in July I would never do a trip without it.

It is very flexible - you have to spend a little bit of time tweaking it to get it perfect, but it still leaves plenty of free time. It is just very nice because it lets you make sure that you are using your time wisely rather than just wandering aimlessly, and this translates to less time in line, more time in rides. I think 20 minutes was the most we spent in any line up, and we were there in late July a month after Carsland opened, it was busy! Even though we regularly saw posted wait times of 45-75 minutes, our itinerary was planned so that we never had to wait in those lines, we had always had those rides planned for less busy times of day! We probably got to ride a lot more attractions than your average guest during our trip.

100% worth it IMO. I would honestly pay double what they charge for this program, because it helps me get my money's worth out of my vacation, which is so important.

 

[cmpeter]

Have they put out a Mac version yet? Last time I went I boguht it before realizing that it was a PC-only download

I thought they had an online version. I am pretty sure that's how I used it for WDW this past summer.

l have read on here that Touring Plans isn't as accurate for DL/CA as it is for WDW. I did use TP for WDW (along with Ridemax) and found it great for that trip.

I plan on using Ridemax for our February trip as we are bumping into President's Week. I wouldn't if I was going earlier.

 

[Baliezer]

I use it every two weeks. It has saved us so much time. We rarely wait more than twenty minutes in any line. You can program your starting and ending times so that you are able to do half a day at Disney and the other half at California Adventure. The wait times are pretty accurate and you can add as many breaks as needed, schedule parades, lunches, fireworks, etc. The only problems I have encountered are when rides are shut down, then you have to deviate from the plan and come back to the ride later on. I also frequently change my plan around while I am in the park, on my cell phone. My husband says that I take Disney too seriously. I say it's better to plan than to end up waiting in line.

 

[utkilts]

I am really glad I found this. I have a trip planned for the end of this month. We have ONE day at disneyland on Memorial day, then the two days following. I assume it is going to be pretty busy that day. However, we were going into this knowing that we AS the adults would have to give up some rides so the kids could ride everything they wanted. Which is fine. However, I saw this RIDEMAX program and I am hoping it can help us. It was really nice to see some RECENT comments on this program, as most things are several years old. Has anyone used it recently? Like during the busy spring break season?

Thanks for all the help. This is a great resource.

 

[CrAzY4DL]

I've used it several times over years and most recently at the end of January. We'll be there using it this Thursday and Friday, I'll post a review in my trip report.

 

[TheChapman6]

Hmm, I paid for touring plans but now I'm wondering if I should buy this too? Some tell me if it's worth it to do both?

 

[lovebug33]

I didn't like it. I felt that it was way too commando for me, with times and all that. It stressed me out, so I sent it back. I'd rather just use touring plans.

 

[utkilts]

After looking, I am buying both of them. Touring plans is only 7.00. If I end up using that over the Ridemax, then I will ask for a refund on the Ridemax. 22 dollars is not that much if it keeps my 7 and 3 year old out of some long lines (and saves me some time in planning the whole thing)

 

[momof4fans]

I bought it for our July trip. I've read on this board that people sometimes do a schedule for the morning, leave the hotel during the heat of the day and then return and do non-scheduled in the evening to allow for a more relaxed pace. That sounds good to me. Get the favorite rides in early and then play the rest of the day by ear. Best of both worlds. I hope it works. I'm counting on it!