Do I Need RideMax for End of September?

[Mugglemama]

We used to have AP's, but haven't in a few years, and it seems like crowd patterns have changed somewhat since then. We went in August last year (the first time we had gone in the busy season in 10 years...), and RideMax saved us.

This year we will be there on September 29th and 30th (a Monday and Tuesday), and I just don't know whether or not to go ahead and get the RideMax subscription? I'm hoping the lines are short enough that we won't really need it (would much rather just get to wander the parks and go on the rides that we're interested in at the time), but would hate to be stuck without a RideMax itinerary if lines are long.

Maybe I should just go ahead and get it, but hope for an empty park? That way, I'm covered either way?

Opinions? Ideas? Suggestions? THANKS!!!

 

[DangerMouse]

A Monday and Tuesday in September . . . my guess is that most rides will be walk-on. I wouldn't purchase ridemax for that time. Just use Hydro's tips for collecting FP's early and often, and then "IF" there are any lines later in the day, you won't have to wait at all.

Have a great trip!

 

[avalon451]

I would guess crowds will be minimal; you're on weekdays, non holiday in off season. It'll probably be great. You know Hydroguy's tips, right? Get there before opening and collect FPs? If not, you might want to review them: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520483

I don't think you'd need the itineraries. However, Ridemax is just plain fun to play with and to anticipate your trip with. For $15, it's almost worth it just to have fun fooling around with it and planning!

 

[HydroGuy]

A Monday and Tuesday in September . . . my guess is that most rides will be walk-on. I wouldn't purchase ridemax for that time. Just use Hydro's tips for collecting FP's early and often, and then "IF" there are any lines later in the day, you won't have to wait at all.

Have a great trip!

I agree that RM will not have much value in this case. Interestingly, RM also agrees. This is what they say on their website:

http://www.ridemax.com/faq.php#Q3

Are there times of the year when RideMax is more useful than others?

As much as we'd love to sell as many RideMax subscriptions as possible, we have to admit that if we were going to the park on a Wednesday in the middle of January, we might decide to skip using the RideMax software -- the park attendance is simply so sparse that it's hard to justify making such a detailed plan.

As you might imagine, RideMax is most useful during the busier times of the year. These busier times include:

• Spring break, from mid-March until the end of April.
• Summer, from early June until the end of August.
• Christmas vacation, beginning from the week before Christmas until New Year's Day.
• Other holidays, including President's Day, Memorial Day, and Thanksgiving weekend.
• For Disneyland, any Friday evening or Saturday.

The least busy time of year for Disneyland is weekdays from early January until the end of February, with the exception of President's day weekend. If you are fortunate enough to be planning a trip to the resort during these months, just skip the RideMax plan and have a good time!

Of course, if you really want to use RideMax during this early part of the year, we won't complain -- it should still save some time waiting in line, the results just aren't as dramatic as they are when Disneyland is more crowded.

 

[Mugglemama]

thanks for the responses everybody!

dangermouse - thanks for the well wishes! i would think that the rides would be basically walk on, as well.

hydroguy - thanks for posting the info from the RM site. i had read the entire site through last year before our august DLR trip, but had forgotten about this info.

avalon - i agree, RM is SOOO much fun to play with! i must have created half a dozen theoretical itineraries last year before printing out one to actually use, lol.

i'm going to give myself a few more days to decide. it's only $15, so even if i go ahead and get it but don't need it, it won't be like i wasted much money on it.

 

[Sherry E]

We used RM for the end of September last year - only because we hadn't been to DL in years, there were many new things to see and we thought it would helpful to make an itinerary as a guideline so we didn't have any down time where we all scratched our heads and wondered where to go next, which has happened a lot in past trips. Also, we had people who planned to be with us for fixed periods of time, so we had to know how much we could squeeze in while each person was there. It was very fun to play around with the different variations of the agenda, and I liked how RM will tell you if there is just not enough time in your day to do everything you want to do. Of course, sometimes you can make it all work anyway, but it is good to know if you are cutting it close.

What ended up happening was that it POURED rain on our first night and second day there - the day that our other friends were coming to join us - and so nobody was in the parks and we walked right onto everything...except Nemo. There is just no way around that line, rain or no! In fact, it was so wet and messy outside that I didn't even pull out the RM itinerary on the second day because I didn't want to be carrying soggy paper around with me.

 

[jason417]

I have RideMax and for those days they are making the following wait time predictions in the mid afternoon...

Space Mountain: 40 min
Indiana Jones: 20 min
Haunted Mansion: 25 min
Splash Mountain: 65 min
Peter Pan: 30 min
Thunder Mountain: 18 min

That tells me they are predicting the park to have about half as many people as a summer day.

 

[Leofoenget]

I have it because my subscription is for a year. I would not buy it JUST for an end of Sept trip, but if you plan on using it for Christmas you could buy it for 3 months and use it for Christmas too. I will run a few plans only because I have it already but I bet it won't be necessary.

 

[Mugglemama]

jason & leo - THANKS! it's really nice of you to run a sample RM itinerary for me! thanks a lot! let's see...65 minutes for splash seems like a lot, but we could get FP's. i don't think 30 minutes for PP or 25 minutes for Indy is too bad at all. (of course, we typically get there before opening so that we can run to PP as soon as the park opens, lol...just to be able to walk on without waiting).

sherry - thanks for your input. i hope it doesn't rain while we are there, lol. even though it means lines would likely be short, i just would really hate dragging all 4 kids around in the rain.

 

[Disney Dreams]

Am I the only one that thinks part of the theme park experience is just doing whatever you want to next, as opposed to having to stick to a schedule? Ick - schedules are for a work day. Maybe it's just me.

 

[Mugglemama]

Am I the only one that thinks part of the theme park experience is just doing whatever you want to next, as opposed to having to stick to a schedule? Ick - schedules are for a work day. Maybe it's just me.

don't get me wrong, i ENJOY just doing "whatever" much more. but with 4 kids in tow, and only 2 days to spend in the parks (which will have much shorter hours of operation during our visit), i don't want to spend unnecesary time in lines, etc. long lines typically mean that me or my husband generally have to get out of line at least once to take one kid or another to the restroom. plus, if it's hot at all, i have one child who is REALLY prone to heat exhaustion, and he could easily pass out if we have to stand in the heat for too long. sooo, finding reasonable ways to cut down on time spent in lines makes the most sense for us.

we used to have AP's, and also lived 25 minutes from DLR. during those years, we would go on weeknights after work, and sometimes it seemed we were nearly the only people in all of Disneyland. it was SO great to get to just meander and go on whatever sounded good at the time, but i've learned that planning these trips from across the country is a whole different ball game, lol.

 

[Sherry E]

sherry - thanks for your input. i hope it doesn't rain while we are there, lol. even though it means lines would likely be short, i just would really hate dragging all 4 kids around in the rain.

I am one of the very few who is not thrilled with being in DL in the rain - at least not in pouring rain. I get the benefits of short lines and things when it rains, but when it is pouring like it did last year when we were there, it was really just inconvenient. My friends just found a sheltered bench to sit on and plopped down. We couldn't do anything because they didn't want to be walking around, getting soaked. I couldn't take any pictures of anything because my camera would get water-logged. My glasses were totally water-streaked and I couldn't see in front of me. It was not good. I don't mind being there in light rain or drizzle, because that is manageable, but I have been to DL and DTD twice during big downpours and both times it was too messy to get anything done. Everything got soaked - purchases, food, cameras, whatever. The best part is when it lets up, and the park is still fairly empty, and then you can walk right onto rides, which we did. But we wasted a lot of time sitting on a bench because my friends didn't want to go out in pouring rain.

Am I the only one that thinks part of the theme park experience is just doing whatever you want to next, as opposed to having to stick to a schedule? Ick - schedules are for a work day. Maybe it's just me.

I can see what you mean, For many, many years, when we would all go to DL, we never had a set plan. We all kind of knew what we would like to do and just played it by ear. However, over the years I began to notice that my companions were losing patience with crowds and lines, and so they were not as up for doing certain things anymore that we had once done. We ended up on many occasions having a lot of down time (wasted time), where we just sat there, asking each other where to go next and nobody seemed interested in anything that was suggested. Or we would end up at a restaurant when the line was at its most crowded, and everyone got cranky. Then, we would get home and think, "Oh! I should have gone on this!" or "We should have gone in that shop." And we are not AP holders, so if we only got one or two trips a year, we would not have many chances to go back and do what we missed the last time. So, I have found that with a sort of loose agenda - meaning at least making a list of what things we know we NEED to do or see while there, even if not down to the exact times - it helps us have guidance and direction! We know that after we get out of X ride or shop, we have somewhere else to go. Even though the Ride Max plan kind of backfired last year, we didn't have as much down time EXCEPT for when it rained. We got a lot done. If it hadn't rained, we would have gotten more done. But we also schedule in rest breaks in the afternoon at the hotel too, which are crucial now for refreshing and rejuvenating and resting feet! Then, we hit the parks again in the early evening and have a second wind. We don't do everything as an exact science, down to times and minutes - in fact, this is the first year we are trying PS for multiple restaurants - but it does help to have a loose plan of action. We tried the 'winging it' thing in the past, and that either created chaos in large groups of people or it led to dead ends where nobody could figure out what to do!

But each group of people is different, and some people can do the spontaneous Disney agenda better than others can.

 

[HydroGuy]

Am I the only one that thinks part of the theme park experience is just doing whatever you want to next, as opposed to having to stick to a schedule? Ick - schedules are for a work day. Maybe it's just me.

You are of course not the only one, but there are a significant number of people who go to DLR with the philosophy above and have a negative experience. They say it is too crowded and the lines are tool long and they could not get on the rides they wanted. They leave DLR and some say "never again". Having a schedule with some intelligence behind it (like a RideMax itinerary) can help some people have a better experience.

Personally I am in between. I do not like having a rigid schedule, but I also do not like winging it completely. I like to follow what I call "informed spontaneity" during our trips. We work a basic strategy for the day with spontaneous desires informed by knowledge of how things flow - and then have the best experience we possibly can. My kids have seen the 90 minute Space Mtn lines as we pass them with our FPs and are pretty spoiled by now. They rarely tolerate a line more than 20 minutes anymore.

 

[Disney Dreams]

"informed spontaneity"

That sounds exactly like what I love. Great term!

And I do recognize that the "no kids" part does make winging it easier.

 

[jason417]

We typically do a mixture in our trips... RideMax is great for the first 4 hours the park is open. We use that as our time to commit to rides and during that time the plan is to get on the rides we want as efficiently as possible. We also use RideMax for the post-fireworks hours. A couple of times we have thrown all the Fantasyland rides into RideMax and let it spit out a plan and often they will all fit into about 90 minutes if those 90 minutes are 10:30pm-midnight. We call it the "Fantasyland Power Hour". The middle of the day we just use FastPasses and do whatever strikes our interest at the time: sometimes that's DCA, sometimes shopping, sometimes a nap at the hotel.

As with many things in life, RideMax is awesome when used in moderation. I'm the type that loves to just go from ride to ride. My wife prefers soaking in the atmosphere so we use the above approach as a compromise.

 

[DahliaRW]

We'll be there both of those days! Our last two in the park. Since we're bringing 2 little ones we opted for 5 days so we'd have plenty of time to do what we wanted and time to let the little ones rest!

No advice on the RideMax, but I thought it was neat you'll be there when we will.

 

[Mugglemama]

dahlia - let's hope for low crowds and no rain, lol!!

 

[emum]

We'll be there then, too I was wondering the same thing about RideMax, so thanks for asking