RIDEMAX ~ Ever Used it?

[LoveThatMouse!]

I have read in HydroGuy's Compilations about subscribing to RideMax for an itinerary to follow while at DisneyLand.

We will be there the week of March 10-15, 2008. We are WDW vets, but DLR virgins.

Has anyone ever used the RideMax spreadsheet and would you feel it is necessary for that particular week in March?

Thanks All!

 

[trodrigue]

We were at Disneyland the week before Xmas this year. The Monday and Tuesday were very slow and we did not need our Ridemax itineraries. The Friday was jam packed and we would have used our Ridemax itinerary, but...

I had followed the advice, and discussed with my husband the concept of having an itinerary and maximizing ride time, etc, and he had agreed that it sounded great and to go for it. The reality was, that it drove him crazy. He was frustrated and mad at me about it when I tried to keep everyone to a plan. Then I was frustrated and angry because he had agreed and was now not cooperating. (I even swore that I was never taking him on one of my Disney trips again!)

And then there was my 5 year old. Not into following a schedule at all. Really wanted to go with the magic of what was appealing to him at the moment. I was able to work with him a bit, by demonstrating the long lines and then showing him how we could do shorter lines at other times. I had to put my foot down a few times, but mostly he was guidable.

Regardless of all of that, I was glad that I had done ridemax. I messed around with it quite a few times. I did several different itineraries for each day. I read all the tips they offer. It gave me a good sense of how the ride wait times flux and how to work with it best. That, in combinatin of reading the fast pass tips on the disboard, and we really managed to do everything we wanted to with very minimal wait times. (maybe 20 minutes at the absolute most) And that was with a 24 hour bug, a sprained ankle, and an ear problem that required a trip to the ER.

By the way, Ridemax is only 14.95 for 90 days of unlimited use, so you really can't go wrong!

Good luck.

Tracey

 

[jmcalister]

Our family used Ridemax for Walt Disney World last year. We found it very effective and helpful. However, you do not get a spreadsheet of wait times, but rather a suggested schedule for you to follow. I would only suggest you use it during intense touring times, not times where you plan to do things such as the Mark Twain, train, Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, etc. The program allows for things like these by creating blocks of free time. If you miss something or get behind, just move on to the next step. I would highly recommend it!

jmcalister

 

[Anater]

We used it for our trip in December. It was not that crowded so we loosely followed it. I found that we were able to keep ahead of crowds. For example when we went on Pirates Lair the raft was near empty going over. When we left, the rafts to enter were full, with a wait. The same with Haunted Mansion, we went on with a ten minute wait, when we passed by an hour or so later it was a 30 minute wait. The tips they give you are also great. Someone wrote once that after spending so much on a DL trip, what is another $15? Especially if it could make or break your trip. That was my justification for buying it.

 

[Sherry E]

I used Ride Max for a trip in September, primarily because neither I nor my friends had been to Disneyland in years, and there were a lot of new things that we wanted to see, and which also had long lines. When we got there, because it was raining on and off through the day and there were not too many people in line for anything, we did not end up adhering to the Ride Max agenda, and, frankly, I think my friends would have complained if I had tried to stick to it. We were lucky to be able to do most of what we wanted to do in terms of seeing the new things, so when we went back on a VERY busy pre-Christmas weekend, we didn't have that urgency to see this, see that, go here, go there. We just decided to wing it, and I think my friends prefer that. Sometimes, no matter how logical the Ride Max agenda is, and how much time it saves, it is hard to convince people why you shouldn't just hop onto to Star Tours while you are already in Tomorrowland, even though Ride Max has us in Tomorrowland later in the day. People want to do things while they are there in that land, and they tend to resent my 'drill sergeant' agenda!

Still, I would use it again if we had a limited stay and had to squeeze in many things within a short time. But, if you have several days there, then you can afford to relax a bit more.

 

[Mom2Joce]

I've been to Disneyland lots and lots of times from birth to 38. Former cast member as well. I still find it useful to use Ride Max. I don't follow it to a "T" but I do like to see what they suggest for the days that I'm there and if there is something we really want to ride it shows you the best time...that really helps to get an idea of where to start your day and best times to ride what

 

[tracer]

I have used it twice in 2007, LOVED IT and would recommend it. We usually only do one full ridemax day and the rest are go with the flow and do what we want when we want. The day we use ridemax, we can get in a TON of rides, almost all the must do's for our family. We love it.

 

[mshrm]

with Ridemax. We will be going during heavy crowds this summer and Im counting on it it get me through with little wait time!

In March I might not be as picky but who know with the spring break crowds. We usually follow the ridemax plan until about 1:00 and then we go on our own, works out really well.

 

[LoveThatMouse!]

All Righty Then....
I believe I'll be subscribing to RideMax based on all of your encouragement.

Now, I'm off to Ebay in search of a Drill Sargeant's uniform... and quite possibly a side arm.

 

[farmfresh]

If you have kids (as we do) or even recalcitrant friends and are using ridemax you might find it useful to involve them in the Ridemax planning. My kids pick out the rides they are interested in , and then we run the scheudle a few times. When people see how long they might wait they are usually converted!

Explain the walking around thing - it's actually not that big a park, and because they have all put their rides in they know that even if you walk past it now, you'll be getting to it later.

Pre Ridemax, we used the unofficial guide, and even that was enough to convert them to believers! (and by the way, it doesn't hurt to point out the long wait times on rides when you see them, especialyl when you waltzed on in a few minutes!) Being organised isn'tfor everyone , (actually we love the late starters and clockwise round folks!) but I've never needed a side arm yet!

 

[Etoile]

I am planning on asking for a refund on RideMax. I ordered it before we went on our trip, and I didn't know much about how Fastpass worked or anything. When we got there, we tried to follow the schedule, but we found that sometimes we would get a Fastpass and the return time was later than what our RideMax schedule said. We didn't know what to do about this, so we ended up ignoring the RideMax schedule completely. They have a 30-day money back guarantee so I plan to ask for a refund.

I do think it would be great if you were there in high season, but we were there in January and there didn't even seem to be a need for RideMax. However, when lines can reach up to 2 hours per ride, it sounds like it would be a great tool.

 

[HydroGuy]

All Righty Then....
I believe I'll be subscribing to RideMax based on all of your encouragement.

Now, I'm off to Ebay in search of a Drill Sargeant's uniform... and quite possibly a side arm.

No, no, no. Leave the drill sargeants uniform behind.

Here is the deal - RideMax can be a help or hindrance depending on how you use it. There is a tension in desires for most groups at DLR on WDW. On the one hand there is a desire to be spontaneous and take things as they come. To relax. To have "fun" and go with the flow.

Opposing this is a desire to not wait in long lines and to get on as many rides as possible. If you have the luxury of visiting on slow days you can have both for the most part. Otherwise you have to make a tradeoff.

Yes, there are some people who may bristle if you try to get them on a schedule. But 90% of the time they are the same ones who will complain about all of the long lines later in the day.

So what to do? Well, every group needs to find their happy medium. Personally, I am not big on using RM all day long. So when we use RM we tend to use it for the mornings only. My family is now pretty spoiled as we rarely wait in line for very long. They know that if we follow these simple rules we will avoid long lines and get on more rides:

1. Get to the gates early and be one of the first into the park
2. Focus on rides for 2-3 hours
3. Collect FPs

Whether you use RM or not, doing the above is the secret. If you use RM it can help you get your first three hours under your belt. In truth, after that it does not matter very much how closely you follow RM as all lines are getting long on busier days.

So perhaps a compromise is just to ask the group if you can focus on RM and/or rides for the first few hours before transitioning to a more spontaneous schedule.

 

[romymichelle21]

DB IS RideMax

I kid you not, he has every single thing about the park memorized. Best times for all the rides, unknown detours to get places quicker, days/months not to go - you name it.

When I found out people pay for this, I was

We've only ever waited "normal" times for rides during the oops visit that happened to land on Spring Break (my fault!). Aside from that, we walk straight onto everything. Couldn't tell ya how he does it - he's like telepathically linked to Disneyland itself

 

[bumbershoot]

romymichelle21, maybe he secretly *uses* Ridemax...

 

[romymichelle21]

romymichelle21, maybe he secretly *uses* Ridemax...

Maybe, but fat chance! He was practically raised in DL.

Besides, RideMax doesn't teach you the entire set of lyrics from the Christmas Parade - which he knows by heart (And I didn't believe that until he started singing along! )

Anyway, back on topic, I think the idea behind RideMax is great - but it should be free. Or, Disney should offer a similiar service on their website, maybe even if it was just for AP holders. (Not that it should be - but if it cost them money to run, that'd be a good way to cut down on useage, and they could claim it's just an AP benefit).

(I think I put too much thought into that )

 

[Hound 109]

No, no, no. Leave the drill sargeants uniform behind.

Here is the deal - RideMax can be a help or hindrance depending on how you use it. There is a tension in desires for most groups at DLR on WDW. On the one hand there is a desire to be spontaneous and take things as they come. To relax. To have "fun" and go with the flow.

Opposing this is a desire to not wait in long lines and to get on as many rides as possible. If you have the luxury of visiting on slow days you can have both for the most part. Otherwise you have to make a tradeoff.

Yes, there are some people who may bristle if you try to get them on a schedule. But 90% of the time they are the same ones who will complain about all of the long lines later in the day.

So what to do? Well, every group needs to find their happy medium. Personally, I am not big on using RM all day long. So when we use RM we tend to use it for the mornings only. My family is now pretty spoiled as we rarely wait in line for very long. They know that if we follow these simple rules we will avoid long lines and get on more rides:

1. Get to the gates early and be one of the first into the park
2. Focus on rides for 2-3 hours
3. Collect FPs

Whether you use RM or not, doing the above is the secret. If you use RM it can help you get your first three hours under your belt. In truth, after that it does not matter very much how closely you follow RM as all lines are getting long on busier days.

So perhaps a compromise is just to ask the group if you can focus on RM and/or rides for the first few hours before transitioning to a more spontaneous schedule.

I'm quoting this because alot of DLR newbies (like me a year ago) are overwhelmed by all the info & opinions offered.

The 3 items HG mentions above is the key (ALL THREE).

Whether you want to commando or relax, the key to both are the 3 items above. (also.... # 4. Hop to DCA when DL gets too crowded).

95% of DLR visitors either don't know these four items or choose not to follow this advice. This makes it even more valuable to us very smart & oh..so..cool people who do follow it.

Now i believe that the other 78 pages of HydroGuy tips are essential to know as well....but even if you don't want to geek out on DLR info, follow these 4 pieces of advice.

 

[patink]

Last Summer we went to DL in July and I was worried we would spend all day in line and not get to do much. I found ridemax shortly before we left and bought it. I did not have a lot of time to play around with it and do lots of different options, but I had a few options for each day. We never spent an entire day strictly following ridemax, but it was GREAT to have a direction. We got there early and followed it early on and later in the morning get sidetracked, but we could go back to it just by jumping in at the next scheduled thing.
I think the best thing was we did not spend much time stopping and saying, "What should we do next?"
I already bought mine for WDW and I can't wait until they update for May/June.

 

[allimaree]

Anyway, back on topic, I think the idea behind RideMax is great - but it should be free. Or, Disney should offer a similiar service on their website, maybe even if it was just for AP holders. (Not that it should be - but if it cost them money to run, that'd be a good way to cut down on useage, and they could claim it's just an AP benefit).

I'm glad DL doesn't offer that on their website! If EVERYONE followed ridemax, the lines would always be long! Ridemax helps you move opposite the crowds. We don't want the crowds to follow ridemax--let's just keep it "our little secret"!

Hydroguy, would you explain how you did the spreadsheet from Ridemax? I would love to do that for our up-coming trip in May. (I like to geek-out on DLR info, Hound. lol!)

 

[Spokker]

The only advice you need is to get to the park at opening and take advantage of the relatively light crowds in those first two hours, then take it easy the rest of the day while using Fastpass for the more popular rides.

You don't need to pay $15 every three months to have some software program tell you that.

It's like saying a weight loss pill will make you lose weight as long as you exercise. The exercise made you lose the weight, not the pill. Your research and good planning (by arriving early) made your day a great one at Disneyland, not the software.

I see testimonials like, "Between 8am and 11am we got on so many rides!" Wait, you're telling me that the first few hours at the park are always the least crowded? Wow! What a staggering revelation!

 

[HydroGuy]

Hydroguy, would you explain how you did the spreadsheet from Ridemax? I would love to do that for our up-coming trip in May. (I like to geek-out on DLR info, Hound. lol!)

I could tell you but I would have to shoot you.

Seriously though, RM is concerned about how their data gets used and so I am careful what I say about it. I will send you a PM with some tips though.