Very curious about Ridemax...

[JazzyCatsAtDLR]

Do you think it would be worth $15 for a 3 - 4 day trip in mid-January? It seems interesting, but I want to be sure it's worth the money before I buy it. I'll have a two year old with he, so I'd like to avoid as many lines as possible. Thanks!

 

[aussie shaz]

Definitely worth it. I would never do Disneyland without it. Why wait in longer lines than you have to?

 

[Girimama33]

It wouldn't be worth it to me.
I have been going to Disneyland my entire life, and never felt the need to use one...and I have a subscription to Touring Plans. I typically have a general idea where to start, but wouldn't plan my day ride by ride. Especially with a 2 year old. He may likely see something he wants to do, and then the whole plan goes out the window. You are going to be there enough time, during a slow time to experience everything you want to.

 

[julieheyer]

How does it work? I've new used it and am not sure how it would help over the apps with wait times?

 

[Baxhappyplace]

Love Ridemax! We always go during the summer so it is really needed then. This time we are going during Thanksgiving and the first week of December. I am still going to use it. The way I look at it is you spend a small fortune to go to Disneyland, why waste your time in line when you could be doing other things. It is $15 well spent, small investment for your trip.

 

[idohair]

What EXACTLLY is it?

 

[SaraBeth07]

It was worth it to me (and I hope it pays off)! We're going for 3 days at the end of this week and I was overwhelmed with gathering info on here and making an itinerary on my own. We've never been to Disneyland so I welcomed the help!

 

[NiceOneSimba]

We'll be using it in January, too.

We used it in September two years ago, and even in the offseason, it was incredibly effective. We experienced a number of times where we walked onto a ride, only to discover that a line had built while we were riding. My husband, who is NOT a planner by nature and was very against being so scheduled, even insisted we subscribe again when we went the next time the next summer.

I find that if you use it in the morning, it's possible to get a TON done. Then, in the afternoon, if you want to be more flexible and relaxed, that's an option.

Recent reports seem to indicate they've got the Fastpass thing down pretty well now, which was my biggest concern.

It's only $15. For me, minimizing my waiting time is worth far more than that.

 

[Blue32]

What EXACTLLY is it?

Doing a quick internet search would tell you... but it's an online software program that let's you input the attractions you want to do and it will give you the "best" order to do them in according to wait times, the actual time you are in the park, ect.

It's a helpful tool if you don't have an idea of how the wait times build at certain attractions. If you are very familiar with the parks and how the attractions load, how the wait times build, it might not be worth the money.
But it's $15 and fun if you like to plan or would like to really maximize your time in the park.

 

[sharksfinatic17]

We have used RideMax for Disney World and Disneyland and California Adventure. For DW I believe it is a must (especially in the summer). We used RideMax for Disneyland a few years ago, the park wasn't very crowded, and we flew through everything. Upon reflection we decided it probably isn't that necessary for the low crowd levels. That being said, this year we are visiting DLR January 1-5. We will be using RideMax because of the anticipated crowds.

 

[HydroGuy]

This is a few years old but gives you an idea of what RideMax is about for those who asked...

"RideMax Critique Plus Conventional and Unconventional Usage on August 1-4 Trip" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=885134

 

[JazzyCatsAtDLR]

Thank you all! I too have been going to Disneyland my whole life and I know my way around the park. Normally, planning to get the most in wouldn't be an issue, but my SIL keeps trying to shorten the trip and to make it on MLK Jr. Weekend rather than the week before. I know, even though she's the one who has made it this way, she is going to be almost unbearable, so I want to use every time saving resource available to me.

 

[aussie shaz]

It's only $15, so it's probably worth it, but if you're very familiar with the parks, you probably won't need it.
We used it on a few days at the beginning of our trip to make sure we did everything we wanted. Some things needed to be changed because rides were closed etc, but we worked around it really easily.
By the end of our trip (10 days) we would call our planning "ChrisMax". Chris is my husband and he had the planning down to a t, without Ridemax. Of course, all of his original info came from using Ridemax in the first place.

 

[kathy884]

Has anyone tried both Ridemax and the touringplan.com customization touring plans? Sounds like both offer a ride order optimization. // I used the touringplans.com custom plans for WDW last month, and they worked great. But on these boards I hear they specialize more in WDW than they do Disneyland. I did buy a touringplan.com subscription to Disneyland too though.

Curious about differences in these too. Very tempted to pick up a Ridemax program too. I do love these kinds of optimization programs.

 

[sharksfinatic17]

I am planning on using both for our next trip because I am expecting huge crowds. I want to plan and then have a back up plan.

 

[Blue32]

Has anyone tried both Ridemax and the touringplan.com customization touring plans? Sounds like both offer a ride order optimization. // I used the touringplans.com custom plans for WDW last month, and they worked great. But on these boards I hear they specialize more in WDW than they do Disneyland. I did buy a touringplan.com subscription to Disneyland too though.

Curious about differences in these too. Very tempted to pick up a Ridemax program too. I do love these kinds of optimization programs.

I have TP for DLR right now and I have used Ridemax in the past for DL and WDW. I have to say I like Ridemax a bit better. You can't put the attractions in the order you want like you can with TP, but there are many ways to come up with different plans by adding and subtracting attractions, changing start times ect. I also think I believe some of Ridemax wait times are maybe more accurate but I really have no proof of that. Just wish Ridemax was as cheap at TP!