My Final Thoughts on Ridemax

[pokee99]

I bought Ridemax last fall for our trip this spring. I spent many hours trying different itineraries and getting the low-down on the busy rides, and really got an idea of what rides to ride when and what times to avoid other rides.

I brought my PC to the hotel so I could come up with last-minute itineraries for rides we hadn't done yet.

Final result: we used the ridemax itineraries about 10% of the time. I think the reason why was because we have small children that are small enough to be really slow and cranky and old enough to be opinionated about what rides they want to go on and when. This basically rendered Ridemax fairly useless.

I'd say this software is good for adults and older kids/teens that are dedicated to maximizing their day and minimizing their wait times. Any families with small children might find it unuseable. That's not to say it hasn't worked for other families or that the software is inaccurate. I think that it's good software that's usefullness relies on the right type of users.

Our kids got cranky, sick, tired, hungry, thirsty, had to go to the bathroom, were crying, one wanted to do one ride while one wanted to do another. You really cannot stick to a strict itinerary with all these variables.

What is useful is going back to the itinerary to get ideas or times for certain rides that may fit into the day. Printing out several variations for your day could be beneficial, too - because then you can check each variation to see if a ride time fits into where you're at that day.

Another challenging factor to consider with small kids is the Fastpasses. You really do need a 'runner'. That means splitting up several times per day for the runner to go get the fastpasses. That can be inconvenient and less 'family-like' if you keep splitting up all the time.

I still think Fastpass is worth it - heck, I'd even pay more for something that I could use to minimize my line waits even marginally. I think expectations just need to be adjusted when using it. With little kids, you just never know what they're going to throw at you!!!

 

[TheColtonsMom]

This is the exact reason I have never tried ridemax. With a 6 yr old in tow I need to be able to "think on my feet"

Mouse wait worked wonders for us last trip. He wanted to ride BTMRR AGAIN ( about 20 times last trip) I could look and say the line is really long why don't we grab a FP and go ride a couple of other rides or go out to the pirates lair while we wait instead of standing in that line.

Most notably one day we were in TL and my son wanted to go ride IJ. I checked mousewait and found out due to a power problem all of AL & NOS were closed. Saved us a trek across the park that would have led to a disappointed kid.

 

[tzeitel]

Thanks so much for the review! I've been wondering how RM works, good to know how it would affect different age groups

 

[mydisneyobsession]

We just toured the parks in February with our three kids - ages 8,6 and 2 - and had great success with Ridemax. I was so happy to have used it and will definitely use it again. I think the key to our success was building in a lot of breaks. The touring plan helped us minimize our walking and waiting, and the breaks gave us some buffers for dealing with the unpredictability of touring with kids. Also, the exercise of putting together the touring plans was useful as I learned the better times to try different attractions. I felt like I was better able to think on my feet if we needed to make a change of plans because I knew a little bit about what to visit when.

Out of five days we had four highly scheduled days and one Mouse Wait day. The Mouse Wait day was great and more relaxed, but I was happy we had the structured days so we didn't miss anything we wanted to do.

 

[azdoughboy]

I've used RideMax the last 3 or 4 times I've gone with the wife; we know the DL layout inside and out, and knew EXACTLY what we wanted to do. The itinerary is awesome. We used it 85-90% of the time. Even if you don't use it, they have a few pages of tricks and tips that I never considered, i.e. Fantasmic and parade seating ideas. Definitely worth it for me.


BC

 

[OBDisney]

We just got back from our first trip and loved ride max, we have a 3 and 6 year old, I will say they are pretty easy going kids and if we say, we'll do that ride later, we're going to try this now, they were happy.
We played with it a lot before going and this gave us a feel of rides that needed to be done early or late and ones that we could be more flexable on. We would also create new plans each night. We did not follow it 100% of course because things happen, kids need bathroom breaks... but it really helped us and we ended up doing more then planned because of it, we think. We also found that the wait times given were either dead on or a bit longer then our actual wait which was fantastic. I will use it again, it was worth the $15 for our family.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

This is why we have never done it, we have smaller kids. Also, I feel like ridemax would have us rushing all over the park. To me this sounds exhausting. We go for at least 5 days so we never feel like we have to rush, we can take our time and do what we want to do when we want to do it.

 

[ArchOwl]

I used Ridemax with four adults and two kids (ages 6 and 10) last year. The children's parents were a little skeptical of the plan at first, but I made sure to talk to the kids and get their priorities into the itinerary. After the first two hours, the parents and the kids were sold on Ridemax! We had ridden a ton of rides with little to no wait. The kids thought it was magic and were totally on board with it. The adults couldn't believe the difference a little planning could make.

Whenever the kids wanted to ride something that wasn't on the itinerary at the time, I would either show them on the paper when we were going to do it (and the smaller wait time), or I would tell them we would do it in their "free time" (typically a Ridemax itinerary gives you several hours of free time built into your schedule). They were totally happy with that.

It also helped with things like parking and what time to be at the gates, etc. Things you don't always think about, but are important to maximize your time.

We never found Ridemax too restrictive or hard to follow. We mainly used it in the morning and by 1pm or so we had "free time" until about 6pm. Plenty of time for shopping, a nap, or to go on other rides. Highly recommend it.

 

[Piglet99645]

We just got back from our first trip and loved ride max, we have a 3 and 6 year old, I will say they are pretty easy going kids and if we say, we'll do that ride later, we're going to try this now, they were happy.
We played with it a lot before going and this gave us a feel of rides that needed to be done early or late and ones that we could be more flexable on. We would also create new plans each night. We did not follow it 100% of course because things happen, kids need bathroom breaks... but it really helped us and we ended up doing more then planned because of it, we think. We also found that the wait times given were either dead on or a bit longer then our actual wait which was fantastic. I will use it again, it was worth the $15 for our family.

I'm glad to hear both sides of this. This will be a great thread for people searching for Ridemax advice.

We haven't gone yet, but I wanted to note that using Ridemax to PLAN with my 10yo son has been great, because it is helping him to understand that even if we are in Fantasyland for 3 hours doing little kid rides, he WILL get to do space mountain and buzz and pirates later in the day...... I think it will help us while we are at the park for him to understand that he will get what he wants to do even if it is not right this minute.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We are a family of WDW vets soon making our first trip to DLR. After debating back and forth I took the RideMax plunge, hoping to be able to squeeze in everything we want to do in 3 1/2 days. I will be glad to report back after my summer trip

 

[djk]

RideMax sounds like it might be worth trying. A couple questions, though....

1) Does it include instructions on when to pick up - and use - FP's?

2) Does it help you schedule the best times for character meet-n-greets (I'm thinking Mickey and Minnie's House, Pixie Hollow and Princess Fantasy Faire) and shows, or strictly rides?

Thank you!

 

[HydroGuy]

RideMax sounds like it might be worth trying. A couple questions, though....

1) Does it include instructions on when to pick up - and use - FP's?

Yes.

2) Does it help you schedule the best times for character meet-n-greets (I'm thinking Mickey and Minnie's House, Pixie Hollow and Princess Fantasy Faire) and shows, or strictly rides?

Thank you!

No, that is in their other software CharacterMax.

Seriously though, the WDW version includes rides and shows. The DLR version only rides.

 

[ArchOwl]

Yes.

No, that is in their other software CharacterMax.

Seriously though, the WDW version includes rides and shows. The DLR version only rides.

Actually I am looking my RideMax right now and it does have the option to pick Mickey and Minnie's House, Donald and Daisy's boat, and the Chip and Dale treehouse. So it looks like they do help you with that. But no Pixie Hollow and no Princess Fantasy Faire. So you could schedule some character meetings, but not all of them with RideMax. And no shows such as F!

But it does give you the times to get FP and the option of using a runner to obtain FP or not. So that is helpful.

HTH!

 

[HydroGuy]

Actually I am looking my RideMax right now and it does have the option to pick Mickey and Minnie's House, Donald and Daisy's boat, and the Chip and Dale treehouse. So it looks like they do help you with that. But no Pixie Hollow and no Princess Fantasy Faire. So you could schedule some character meetings, but not all of them with RideMax. And no shows such as F!

But it does give you the times to get FP and the option of using a runner to obtain FP or not. So that is helpful.

HTH!

Yes, maybe I misunderstood. Mickey and Minnie are there all day so those are not the same thing as other character meet and greets - and are really just considered to be attractions. At MK they have (or will have soon) a new FP system to see Mickey on Main Street. I do not think Donald or Chip and Dale have live characters there.

 

[djk]

Thank you, HydroGuy and ArchOwl!

So, as far as the other character meet-n-greets and shows... would something like this work?.... For example, if we want to see Aladdin at 2:20, could we schedule a "break" for that hour, then get back on track with the rest of the RideMax itinerary after the show? Or, would you suggest a better way of utilizing the program while also including shows and characters?

 

[Piglet99645]

Thank you, HydroGuy and ArchOwl!

So, as far as the other character meet-n-greets and shows... would something like this work?.... For example, if we want to see Aladdin at 2:20, could we schedule a "break" for that hour, then get back on track with the rest of the RideMax itinerary after the show? Or, would you suggest a better way of utilizing the program while also including shows and characters?

That is exactly how Ridemax suggests you use the program.

At least I know I read it somewhere! Either on Ridemax or here. Good luck!

 

[ArchOwl]

Yep, you can schedule up to two breaks per itinerary, if I remember correctly. But in reality, the system almost always create a very big free time into the itinerary. For example, a typical itinerary will usually give me from 1pm-5pm as my own free time to use how I want. So for most things, such as shows, additional rides, pool time, etc., I just fit them in during that time.

 

[djk]

Does RideMax incorporate both DL and DCA into a single itinerary (park hopping)?

 

[mvf-m11c]

Does RideMax incorporate both DL and DCA into a single itinerary (park hopping)?

The itinerary planning on RideMax is only meant for one park only. RideMax planning cannot put both parks on the same itinerary that you plan.

 

[djk]

Okay, thanks for the quick response!