I'm giving Ridemax a test drive...

[labattblue]

A couple of things so far as I decide to keep it or get my money back(within the 30 day guarantee)...

- No way to integrate attractions from both parks into a single plan. You can only leave a large break in one plan for your first park and then do a second plan for the other park during that timeframe.

- Some curious placement of attractions. When playing around with a DCA schedule, it puts TSMM in the evening with an estimated 1 hour wait. I'm not sure why they wouldn't put this first thing in the morning?

- No way to include shows or parades into the schedule automatically.

- It allows you to include multiple rides on a single attraction, but not a way to break it up(i.e. once in the morning, once in the evening). Because of this, more than likely it has you riding the attraction back to back.

I may keep it just to gauge attractions wait times and then modify it slightly to fit my needs.

 

[DizNee Luver]

I've never even heard of Ridemax......

 

[CanadianPaco]

We went for 1/5 days in July and used Ridemax! It was fantastic!! We flew through the parks, saw everything we wanted to see (except Nemo-too new and no FP). My suggestion - shorten your list and your touring hours. AND make multiple versions in case soemthing is broken down and not operating.

I made 3 hr touring plans and it worked great to flip flop parks! That's what I'll be doing for April!!!

 

[Pir8girl]

I grew up about 10 miles from Disneyland and went countless times as a child and even for my job several times. I never thought I'd need a computer print out to get around DL.

But I gave it a try and I've been sold ever since. The first time I used it we went on 17 rides and had lunch at the Blue Bayou. We started at rope drop and finished around 3:30 p.m. Which left us plenty of nap and pool time. My kids were quite young at the time so we used the slow walking feature.

I highly recommend this program - and no, I'm not affiliated in anyway. I've used in winter, spring and summer. It's worked great every time.

Worth every penny!

 

[PinkBudgie]

Here is my suggestion as to why they recommend TSMM in the evening. Maybe you can save more time by going on other rides in the morning. If you are going to wait in a long line, do it on one that stays long all day and get on the others first while they are short. I don't know if that is the case, but my point is maybe based on the stats, you don't make best use of your time waiting in line at TSMM.

I've never tried Ridemax but I am thinking about it, maybe. Good to hear your thoughts on it!

 

[avalon451]

I used Ridemax for both my trips last year, but only as an accessory, as you are currently doing-- to gauge wait times, etc. It does have a few shortcomings, like you mentioned. I printed out several different plans for each day, but I always ended up editing it and putting in stuff-- parades, meals, breaks, hopping to DCA, etc.

As far as TSMM, some people say that the fuss to get on it first thing in the AM is more of a pain than just waiting in line. You might wait over an hour by trying to get into line to get in CA early, then following the long queue as it is led back to the Pier area by CMs... etc. Personally, we were able to do single rider, since my DD was old enough to go alone, and that's an awesome alternative. We got on in 10-15 minutes each time.

I found that really knowing Hydroguy's tips, knowing how to collect FastPasses, etc. was a bigger help than Ridemax. I'd recommend Ridemax for somebody who's leaving soon, or who doesn't have time to pore over their plans and get to know the other tips gleaned from these boards. It's a quick fix and effective enough.

That said, I sure had a lot of fun playing around with it!

 

[S. S. Columbia]

I think RideMax is worthwhile, although IMO it's better to get a subscription for 3 months, and not 1 year.

I think it's a good teaching tool, and it helps you to not overplan or underplan your day.

RM doesn't include shows or parades in its DL/DCA itineraries, but you can usually add a "break" for those times. (FWIW, the WDW version of RM includes shows -- he added that in Dec '08.)

RM doesn't seem to maximize the collecting of FPs the way that following HydroGuy's FP tips would.

To get an idea about the waiting time for a ride throughout the day, you can enter the same ride multiple times for the entire day. That will give you some good ideas on when to see some rides/attractions.

RM has an explanation about TSMM in the "Tips & Hints" section ("Toy Story: The Mania!); the "Tips & Hints" section also includes his suggestions about the fireworks, shows, parades, Finding Nemo, etc. Here's his explanation: say you get in line for DCA at 9:15am; at 10:00am you might end up waiting another 30 minutes for TSMM. In that scenario, you wait 1 hour 15 minutes. But he has found TSMM to have a wait of 40 minutes in the mid-afternoon. (I think it also depends on whether DCA is very busy or not.) You could always ask him about this in an e-mail; he's a huge Disney fan and he stands by his product.

HTH

 

[mrsmusic]

I have used Ridemax many times and have always found it to be a very helpful tool. I simply leave a big opening where I want to go back to the hotel to rest for the afternoon on a long day or in the evening if I want to see fireworks/parades etc. You can do a lot of different plans and see which ones work for you.

My favorite is to start early at Disneyland, then take a break on that schedule and go to the DCA schedule. Pick up fastpasses at DLand before leaving and then go to DCA. Go on whatever you have scheduled there and then pick up fastpasses before leaving DCA if you might want to come back. The two parks' fastpasses are not tied together.

Use the late fastpass option. I have never been turned down returning to a fastpass return late. They only seem to care if it's too early. Of course, they could change this, but that's been my experience over several years and visits during all seasons in the park.

Read all the helpful hints they post and don't be afraid to email with questions. They answer very quickly. I only wish the program ran on my blackberry!

 

[HydroGuy]

- No way to include shows or parades into the schedule automatically.

RM for WDW now has shows and parades included. I suspect th DLR version will have it soon.

 

[labattblue]

RM for WDW now has shows and parades included. I suspect th DLR version will have it soon.

Thanks! My trip isn't until August. Hopefully they add it before then. If not, I'll work around it.

 

[PinkBudgie]

RM has an explanation about TSMM in the "Tips & Hints" section ("Toy Story: The Mania!); the "Tips & Hints" section also includes his suggestions about the fireworks, shows, parades, Finding Nemo, etc. Here's his explanation: say you get in line for DCA at 9:15am; at 10:00am you might end up waiting another 30 minutes for TSMM. In that scenario, you wait 1 hour 15 minutes. But he has found TSMM to have a wait of 40 minutes in the mid-afternoon.

This is exactly what I was saying in another thread where I wondered if really made waiting longer to line up at DCA for the sole reason of getting to TSMM early for a "short" line.