RideMax Critique Plus Conventional and Unconventional Usage on August 1-4 Trip

[Nala83]

The slow touring speed is designed just for this situation- a large group, including small kids that need to be loaded in and out of strollers. (Even stroller parking will take longer during such a busy time of year.)

I'd stick with slow. If you want to try the "normal" speed, just be prepared to skip a few things along the way so that you stay on schedule. Whatever you do, don't miss the fastpass pick-up times. You'll need those that week!

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

We are going to Disneyland the busiest week of the year, the week after Christmas! So we are going to be using Ridemax for the first time. I would love to use the "normal" touring speed, because when I use this it really makes a difference in how many rides we can do in a day. But it will be very crowded and we're going with 7 people, 5 adults and 2 children in strollers. Is it unrealistic to think we can do "normal" touring speed? Should we choose "slow" touring speed?

I would make a plan for both, start with the one for normal pace and switch to the slow pace if needed. As Nala says, it will be crowded, so making your way through the crowds may take more time than usual, but I would assume/hope that Ridemax takes that into account already. When we were there last week, we used Ridemax a couple of times including a busy Sunday (using Saturday's data) during holiday season. Our group included two adults, two children, and one stroller to park. I found that Ridemax on "normal speed" gave us more than adequate time to go from one attraction to another. So much time, in fact, that we ended up squeezing in extra rides in between times and ending our last ride well ahead of schedule. I guess we could have sat and soaked up the atmosphere more, but we had two daughters who were wanting to squeeze in as many extra rides as possible on our last day.

 

[DirkLogan]

I am a disney vet, one of those darned Socal AP people. I bought the Ride Max software and think it is great. I would say that I agree with your assessment of the software. It is definitely better for someone with less experience in the park. I have been so often, I can feel my way through the park pretty efficiently. I like what you did with the spreadsheet, I started doing something like that but didn't have time to complete it before our last trip.

I would like to see a few things added to the software:

- make a combined DLR, DCA day. I usually do DLR until noonish when the crowds start swelling and then hop over to DCA for a few hours to hit our favorites over there and then back to DLR one last time. I would like to be given the option to hop at the most efficient times too.

- I think he could easily add the shows, but I hadn't thought off the break times in place of the shows. It only offers two break times though.

- I would like to see flexibility in choosing times to visit the open ended rides like you mentioned.

- And ultimately, I would like it to be an app for an Iphone so I get make changes on the fly.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

I would like to see a few things added to the software:

- make a combined DLR, DCA day. I usually do DLR until noonish when the crowds start swelling and then hop over to DCA for a few hours to hit our favorites over there and then back to DLR one last time. I would like to be given the option to hop at the most efficient times too.

- I think he could easily add the shows, but I hadn't thought off the break times in place of the shows. It only offers two break times though.

- I would like to see flexibility in choosing times to visit the open ended rides like you mentioned.

- And ultimately, I would like it to be an app for an Iphone so I get make changes on the fly.

I second all of this!!! In addition, I think they might need to re-think their no-Sunday tour plans. With the addition of so many So Cal Annual Passes that are blocked on Saturday, but not Sunday, I don't think you can assume any longer that Saturday's patterns are going to be the same.

 

[HydroGuy]

I would like to see a few things added to the software:

- make a combined DLR, DCA day. I usually do DLR until noonish when the crowds start swelling and then hop over to DCA for a few hours to hit our favorites over there and then back to DLR one last time. I would like to be given the option to hop at the most efficient times too.

- I think he could easily add the shows, but I hadn't thought off the break times in place of the shows. It only offers two break times though.

- I would like to see flexibility in choosing times to visit the open ended rides like you mentioned.

- And ultimately, I would like it to be an app for an Iphone so I get make changes on the fly.

The WDW version has shows added so it is only a matter of time before the DLR version has that too. And I believe they are working on an iPhone app that uses real time wait times to project what wait times will be like later tha day.

 

[wwomant]

I am a disney vet, one of those darned Socal AP people. I bought the Ride Max software and think it is great. I would say that I agree with your assessment of the software. It is definitely better for someone with less experience in the park. I have been so often, I can feel my way through the park pretty efficiently. I like what you did with the spreadsheet, I started doing something like that but didn't have time to complete it before our last trip.

I would like to see a few things added to the software:

- make a combined DLR, DCA day. I usually do DLR until noonish when the crowds start swelling and then hop over to DCA for a few hours to hit our favorites over there and then back to DLR one last time. I would like to be given the option to hop at the most efficient times too.

- I think he could easily add the shows, but I hadn't thought off the break times in place of the shows. It only offers two break times though.

- I would like to see flexibility in choosing times to visit the open ended rides like you mentioned.

- And ultimately, I would like it to be an app for an Iphone so I get make changes on the fly.

This is my first time using it, and just from a planning perspective I agree with all these, in addition I think it would be great if you could make multi-day plans, because I'm sure that when you're going for 3 days that some rides will have shorter lines on one of the days.

I also wish that you could specify a particular time of day you'd like to ride certain rides, like IASM Holiday at night, or the water rides right before you leave the park (so you don't have to walk around all wet), etc.

 

[wwomant]

Nala83 & 3TinksandanEyore,

Thanks for the advice. I'll think I'll print plans for both, and I'm sure we'll quickly figure out which speed we should stick with. After thinking about it though I realized that I'd much rather error on the side of having too much time on the slow plan than have our group rushing around from ride to ride all day just to fit in a few extra rides.

 

[monicatb]

I'm using Ridemax for the first time. This will be our first time at DLR too and we are WDW vets. I've been playing around with Ridemax and it has been great, not for the overall day, but for segments of the day. I would say I'm using it in an unconventional way. I'm just stuck with our tomorrowland morning. We'll be there for opening (park opens at 8 am and we'll be there at 7:20 am) on Friday before Easter Sunday (yes, crowded). My original plan was to FP Space, ride Autopia, Matterhorn, Buzz, Astro Orbiter, Star Tours and Space with FP (weren't planning to go back to DL that evening), and then go to DCA for 9:30 am opening. When I fed RM with this information, it said it wasn't possible to do it in my time frame (8 am-9:15 am). So then I took out Autopia, and still there's no way we can do this. RM has long waiting times for that first hour of the park for almost all of the rides in Tomorrowland. From my WDW experience, I would think this is doable if we're right there for rope drop, but am I overestimating waiting times at DL or is RM very conservative? From your experience, do you think this plan is doable or is RM right on target?

 

[HydroGuy]

I'm using Ridemax for the first time. This will be our first time at DLR too and we are WDW vets. I've been playing around with Ridemax and it has been great, not for the overall day, but for segments of the day. I would say I'm using it in an unconventional way. I'm just stuck with our tomorrowland morning. We'll be there for opening (park opens at 8 am and we'll be there at 7:20 am) on Friday before Easter Sunday (yes, crowded). My original plan was to FP Space, ride Autopia, Matterhorn, Buzz, Astro Orbiter, Star Tours and Space with FP (weren't planning to go back to DL that evening), and then go to DCA for 9:30 am opening. When I fed RM with this information, it said it wasn't possible to do it in my time frame (8 am-9:15 am). So then I took out Autopia, and still there's no way we can do this. RM has long waiting times for that first hour of the park for almost all of the rides in Tomorrowland. From my WDW experience, I would think this is doable if we're right there for rope drop, but am I overestimating waiting times at DL or is RM very conservative? From your experience, do you think this plan is doable or is RM right on target?

Is it a Magic Morning day? What day of the week?

 

[monicatb]

This is for Friday, April 2nd. We'll do MM the day before for Fantasyland rides.

 

[HydroGuy]

This is for Friday, April 2nd. We'll do MM the day before for Fantasyland rides.

OK, now that I look at your goals it is too much to fit into 75 minutes. I usually budget 30 minutes to ride Space Mtn with FP - time to give the FP, wait in a partial line, ride the ride, and exit. Even if there were no lines at all it of course takes time to walk to each ride and ride it. You are trying to fit too much into 75 minutes. I would say it is not worth getting to DCA by 9:30 if you're going to miss something at DL.

I would play with RM and let it guide you to a plan that works. You may be able to do better than RM once you are there, but for now it will give you an idea of what to expect.

When I went to Epcot for the first time I did what you are doing and RM convinced me I had too much on my plate for one day. So I backed off.

 

[monicatb]

Ok, I will do that. I just asked my kids about the Tomorrowland rides, and they want to do Space, Buzz, Autopia and Matterhorn, and if time, Star Tours (same movie as in HS) and Astro Orbiter (like Dumbo). I just moved Autopia to our previous day, with FP, so that's out of the way. I ran Ridemax with Space, Buzz & Matterhorn and it's doable, so we'll play it by the ear with ST or AO. Thanks for the advice.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

IMO ~ Autopia is pretty lame, it's been a long time since we've been on it.

 

[sitkamom]

bump

 

[damaris13]

So glad you bumped this! I don't know how I missed it, and I think this just goes to show the versatility of Ridemax. DH hates the idea of having a strict schedule to follow and having to look at your watch every 5 minutes to make sure you're on schedule. I keep telling him that we wouldn't follow it that way. We'd be using it to make sure we get on every ride we want to.

Thank you, HydroGuy for sharing your massive intel on everything DLR!

 

[pudinhd]

I think we are going to use RM for our trip in November. We will be going to DL 2 days, but haven't decided if we will also be going to CA. There will be 14 of us - 10 adults, 4 kids - 2 2-kid strollers & 1 wheelchair. It's going to be interesting... Thanks for sharing your tips & experiences!!

 

[MagicPixieDust]

Ok everyone, it's my first post here so please be gentle...I don't know whether this is a stupid question or not, but I just can't work out what to do so I'm going to have to ask it!

We will be at DLR 15 & 16 September. With Fantasmic & fireworks only being on at DL on the Friday (I think anyway, the details aren't up on Disney's website yet to confirm for sure), we need to fit in WOC on the Thursday. My main question is, how are we best to fit this in when planning an itinerary on Ridemax?

I've read that DCA will usually open 30 minutes ahead of schedule for Soarin' and pick up of WOC Fast Passes only which would be 9:30am on the Thursday...should I plan that we will go straight there and get our WOC FPs then start a Ridemax plan for say 10:00am or would we be ok to wait until later in the day to get the WOC FPs and to do something else first (Soarin' maybe, or just head over to DL and start there instead)?

I'm also debating generally about which park we should start off in on both days...Thursday is a MM at DL but an off season weekday, Friday has no MM entry but is the first day of Halloween Time so expected to be pretty busy from what I have read, although not sure if that only applies later on in the day which I guess is when AP holders start arriving?

We've done WDW several times before but this will be our first trip to DL, and with only 2 days we want to fit in as much as we can without driving ourselves completely crazy with exhaustion! If anyone can point me in the right direction with all this it would be appreciated

 

[HydroGuy]

Ok everyone, it's my first post here so please be gentle...I don't know whether this is a stupid question or not, but I just can't work out what to do so I'm going to have to ask it!

We will be at DLR 15 & 16 September. With Fantasmic & fireworks only being on at DL on the Friday (I think anyway, the details aren't up on Disney's website yet to confirm for sure), we need to fit in WOC on the Thursday. My main question is, how are we best to fit this in when planning an itinerary on Ridemax?

I've read that DCA will usually open 30 minutes ahead of schedule for Soarin' and pick up of WOC Fast Passes only which would be 9:30am on the Thursday...should I plan that we will go straight there and get our WOC FPs then start a Ridemax plan for say 10:00am or would we be ok to wait until later in the day to get the WOC FPs and to do something else first (Soarin' maybe, or just head over to DL and start there instead)?

I'm also debating generally about which park we should start off in on both days...Thursday is a MM at DL but an off season weekday, Friday has no MM entry but is the first day of Halloween Time so expected to be pretty busy from what I have read, although not sure if that only applies later on in the day which I guess is when AP holders start arriving?

We've done WDW several times before but this will be our first trip to DL, and with only 2 days we want to fit in as much as we can without driving ourselves completely crazy with exhaustion! If anyone can point me in the right direction with all this it would be appreciated

Getting a WOC FP is not that hard these days. Working that in with RM just means planning to get your WOC FP in the morning and then stopping your schedule before you have to get in line for WOC in the evening. So you will need to be in DCA in the morning and evening. If you are planning to tour DCA already that day then it is easy to do the above with RM. If not, then you will have to block some time out of the RM itinerary using "breaks".

 

[MagicPixieDust]

Thanks HydroGuy