ug vs tgm vs ridmax

[bukosluvswdw]

We have been to Wdw many times and have used the unoffical guide for a touring plan. I am new to this forum and new to TGM and Ridemax. If you guys could give me the differences between TG, TGM and Ridemax as well as the pro's and con's would be great. I am wandering of I could use all three for our trip in August or should we just stick to one plan. Any help would be greta. Oh by the way, I love this forum and everyone's imputs and suggestions have been awesome.

 

[semo233]

Personally, I think it depends upon what you are looking for.
I did both TGM and Ridemax last year. All I really wanted was a touring plan for the park visits. This was what Ridemax got me. You enter in the date you want to go to a specific park, what rides/shows you want to do, breaks you want to take, and it will spit out an itinerary for you. I did each park for each day so that we could decide on a day to day basis.
TGM has TONS of information, but I was drowning in it. Too wordy for me, but if you feel you need a little more gentle guidance, then this might be for you. There are boards there where you can ask questions and see who is going at the same time as you, etc.

Good Luck whatever you decide.

 

[tiggspring]

We used ridemax in May for our first trip back in 15 years. I also am a diehard unofficial guide fan and was using their site to compose my own tour
($7 to join enhaced service) when I found ridemax. Once I used it I was hooked! It elimnated my need to research wait times etc. It is not as pretty as the custume one I was doing at Unoffical guide which posts each ride on a map but it was effecient and very accurate! The only thing that was off was the wait time needed to see the light parade otherwise spot on. If you want "just the Facts" with a list of where to go and why, this is the one for you. If you need a prettier version or more explanation you might want to check out Tourguide Mikes site. I have heard it is good but never used it. Also if you google ridemax+coupon code you can useualy find a discount. I think mine was 5 dollors off. Good luck

 

[vicki_c]

The most succint answer I can give (I really ought to come up with a canned version)!

Touring Plans - has canned touring plans, crowd prediction calendars / recommended parks for each day, place you can upload your own plan and put it on a map. Around $8 for a year, or free if you purchase the Unofficial Guide to Disneyworld. No forums. Not really any info on the site about the "whys" of the attraction order, so can be problematic if you get really messed up in your touring (for example - you might not be able to easily move the #3 recommended ride to the #10 position without waiting in long lines). I think the plans work well though - I don't use them any longer, but have in the past.

TGM - sample plans, but not exactly the same as a "canned" plan - more of a starting point for making your own plan. Recommended parks for each day, broken out into AM and PM, much more of an online book with an involved user community. Good forums with lots of support for TGM's touring approaches (vs. here on the DIS where there's tons of info - but you get a lot of different ideas on how to do things - TGM forums are more to support his philosophies). Cost $20 or so for one trip's planning. There's a lot more time invested using TGM because a lot of it is about learning how to efficiently tour the parks vs. just creating touring plans.

RideMax - creates a custom plan for you based on what attractions you want to see, what time you're arriving/departing for the day, etc. It's highly automated and gives specific times for arriving at each attraction, how long it takes to walk to the next one, etc. Price (can't remember) - $20 ish for 3 months, $40 ish for a year. No forums. Also has recommended parks for each day. So the easiest way to have a customized plan, but you need to follow it fairly closely to be successful, at least for the morning hours. We followed it to some extent on our last trip, just because I wanted to try it out. I thought the estimated wait times in their plans were pretty accurate. A few things they recommended I didn't do, because I didn't agree (but I have lots of trip experience to back up my opinions).

There are fans and detractors of all three. I know TGM and RM offer money-back guarantees, not sure about TouringPlans.

I have used all 3 - TGM works best for me and my family.

 

[Miss Monorail 1971]

Thanks for posting this, I was wondering the same thing. I've always used ug but I think I might try TGM. DD will be going for the first time without a stroller and DM is 4 months out from a knee replacement. I want to maximize my time so we can have a lot of rests. I better get crackin because my ADR day is in 7 days.