Should I get tour guide mike or ride max?

[bostonheart]

Hi there,

I've been here before when planning my 2006 trip. Now I am planning our 2009 trip. I used a few different guide books last time as well as ride max software. Do you reccomend signing up with TG mike or doing ride max? Or both?
Pros and cons?

Thanks

Erin

 

[creativeamanda]

Hi there,

I've been here before when planning my 2006 trip. Now I am planning our 2009 trip. I used a few different guide books last time as well as ride max software. Do you reccomend signing up with TG mike or doing ride max? Or both?
Pros and cons?

Thanks

Erin

I prefer RideMax, as I have found the information on TGM rather outdated. It's also fun to plug in the rides and see the different orders that it gives you.

Have fun planning your trip!

 

[Clare Voince]

I never tried ridemax. I love TGM's least crowded parks charts that he gives you for each day. It doesn't give you an itinery of what rides to go on when, but it helped a TON in avoiding crowds.

 

[oddBotkins]

RideMax will plan a daily park itinerary complete with time to be at each attraction, anticipated wait, when to get and when to use fastpass, takes into consideration any breaks for lunch, dinner, etc. and the location of lunch, dinner, breaks, so as to limit the traversing the park to get there. I'm gonna use it within 48 hours. When I return I'll post my opinion but for now I'm impressed and feel like I'm gonna get my money's worth.

 

[prettypixie]

I am trying to figure this out myself. I did purchase Ride Max but I can't seem to get the plans to work for my trip and I am seriously considering TGM which I have used in the past. TGM crowd levels have always been accurate. I think Ride Max is an excellant tool for a new visitor who is really trying to "max"imize their "rides" and attractions.

 

[Dorisk3]

Does Ridemax give you "best day" recommendations?

 

[vicki_c]

They're really very different - it kind of comes down to what kind of info you're looking for and what kind of plan you want.

TGM (as you know if you used it before) is more about a vacation philosophy, and while he has sample plans, works best to make your own plan using his advice. It's more flexible to me than RideMax. There are some items that are not entirely up to date, but it's not a huge amount. But there is also a LOT more info on TGM than on RideMax. RideMax will spit out a very pretty timed plan for you to get in all the things you want in the best order. (I'm playing around with RideMax for our next trip, but it is making me a little nervous - I don't want to be a commando, but I think I can make it work for us).

They're just very different, IMO, so it really comes down to what you're looking for, I think.

Edited: Also, TGM has excellent forums; RideMax does not have a forums section. RideMax does give park recommendations but I haven't looked at them, since I use TGM for that exclusively.

 

[karensi]

I subscribed to both TGM and RideMAx for our most recent trip ( last month ).
Although I used both I think if I had to choose one I would go with TGM. I love his least crowded parks charts and as mentioned before the forums are very helpful. Alot of very helpful, well informed people, Disney loving people there

That being said, what I did, was, I kind of tried to take the best of both sites and used what I felt would work best for our family.
We went April 25 to May 1, and never waited for more than a short while on any line.

Karen

 

[lessit]

Does Ridemax give you "best day" recommendations?

Yup, so do UG and TGM. I compared all three "best days" recommendations and they were all basically the same. For the money I would get UG and Ridemax and skip TGM.

 

[DaveStroem]

I felt that RideMax was the best $18.95 that I spent on my entire Disney trip.

There is a user thread that is linked in my signature.

 

[DaveStroem]

I am trying to figure this out myself. I did purchase Ride Max but I can't seem to get the plans to work for my trip and I am seriously considering TGM which I have used in the past. TGM crowd levels have always been accurate. I think Ride Max is an excellant tool for a new visitor who is really trying to "max"imize their "rides" and attractions.

Please come over to the RideMax user thread and we will try to help out. One thing about RM is that sometimes the most optimized plan does not always make since to the veteran disfan.

 

[ekatiel]

I felt that RideMax was the best $18.95 that I spent on my entire Disney trip.

There is a user thread that is linked in my signature.

ITA!! It totally MADE our trip. The longest thing we waited for was 12 minutes for the Country Bear Jamboree (now if RideMax had only told me that would be a complete waste of time-- wait, it DID-- it rates the attractions, and I'm pretty sure it only got two stars -- I guess I should have paid more attention to those ratings when I was making my plans!! Anyhow, we rode all the major stuff-- all waits under ten minutes. It was funny, though, seeing all the UG and TGM people racing to Buzz Lightyear while we walked on Astro Orbiter, then did Buzz Lightyear (still with no wait ). --Katie

 

[lesliejmorris]

I am using both. This is my first trip with the whole family and my third but last one was 10 years ago. So, TGM is invaluable and Ridemax is just plain fun to look at all the options you have. I am bringing my RideMax printouts along with TGM tips and plans so that I have multiple options if my day falls apart.

TGM is great to teach you how to tour the parks at any given time, great especially if you are not a veteran.

 

[kaymom]

Tour Guide Mike is more of a vacation philosophy if you will. Gives you best days, but also gives you what to do when. I really like the forum there and everyone has been so helpful. I looked into both. I haven't used Ridemax, but I will say, if I had been left to my own devices, I would have loaded up my schedule to the Max and probably come home totally exhausted. Glad to have TGM info for that alone! UG is also a great book and if you have the book you get free access to the online site which gives crowd levels and best/worst parks. You'll definitely have a better vacation than most just because you are going to plan it and not wing it with a park map at 10am!

 

[wwlees]

Does RideMaxx take Space Mountain's closure into account for MK visits over the summer?

 

[vicki_c]

Well, it's not available to pick from your attractions list, so yes, it takes that into account. How that impacts the rest of what RM tells you to do, I don't know.

(If you haven't seen RM -- YOU pick the attractions for your plan, so at any time you could always NOT pick it, even when it was open, and the plan is established accordingly, just using the attractions you have chosen).

 

[srwarden1928]

Of your two, I choose RideMax. I do subscribe to RideMax. I also subscribe to touringplans.com. I have not yet been convinced that subscribing to TGM would suit my way of planning.

 

[creativeamanda]

Does RideMaxx take Space Mountain's closure into account for MK visits over the summer?

I decided to pull up RideMax to answer your question for you. The answer is yes. If there is a closed attraction, it's taken out of the list for that day. So Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Transit, etc are not in the list for the days they are closed. Another thing I like is they stay up to date with showtimes and therefore get you to the shows on time, as well. There are also, as someone stated, ratings for each park. Best and worst parks are also on the Hints and Tips button in the program.

 

[DaveStroem]

RideMax is not a static software that once you download it is locked in. You select your attractions on a particular date. The software then goes to his server and gets the data. Since Mark is at the parks several times a week, the data is fresh and can be changed if he sees anomalies like Space Mountain shutting down.

 

[Penumbra]

This is exactly what I wanted to ask about. Thank you.