ridemax plans

[violentlyserene]

Has anyone had luck using this? I made a couple test plans this morning but it keeps putting really long breaks after the first few rides. the last one has an 8 hour break in the middle of the day that I didn't put there. I don't get what I'm doing wrong here.

 

[BRC6C]

Was just looking at their website and wondering if folks find this to be a useful service... sounds a little iffy so far...

 

[VandVsmama]

I've used Ridemax a few times myself and you do have to lay with it in order to get the itinerary that works for you and your group.

Once you have that, though, it works really well and I have found the time estimates to be accurate.

It usually does give you a break of a few hours in the afternoon. It works well if you limit the # of attractions to 13.

During the free time, you can hop to the other park, see a couple of shows, or go on more rides or take a break back at your hotel.

 

[DisTXMom]

Try adding more attractions to your list. They always have an afternoon break/ if you have more, I'm wondering if it's because you haven't put enough attractions in.

 

[NiceOneSimba]

Love RideMax. We've used it three times, and I plan to use it again on our next family trip. Generally, you only get a really long break if you don't have enough attractions. It will give you a break in the afternoon, but a break any time in the day generally indicates you don't have enough attractions.

 

[violentlyserene]

Thanks all, I'll keep messing with it. How many attractions is generally a reasonable number? Ill have two year olds with me but they are fairly flexible and unrepentant night owls.

 

[BobearQSI]

I haven't used RideMax in a long time because since I've obtained small children, setting a strict schedule of what to ride and at what time doesn't work the best. Last trip, I got to watch the Disney Jr. show no less than 6 times However, when I did use it, I found it overestimated things - we got to our break before the scheduled time.

What RideMax will do is take all of your attractions, and find the lowest wait times for them - which happens to be in the mornings and evenings, not mid day. Thus, it will put your rides when the lowest predicted wait times are, which will leave midday open. I believe you can change the hours saying you are leaving early, and it will schedule stuff earlier. But be warned - your wait times for the attractions will be longer then.

So, the short answer to your question "why is there a big break" is because RideMax is all about wait times.

The more attractions you add, the more it will be forced to schedule them during the busier times. However, you could also use the breaks to do things like go to Tom Sawyer Island, ride the Mark Twain, see Mickey and the Magical Map, etc.

As far as how many you should add, just keep playing around with it. Add your favorites multiple times. Add a whole bunch and see how long it says you will be in line for some of them. Then tweak and remove/add until you find a schedule you like. And then think if you'd rather be napping or swimming in the hotel pool instead of waiting an hour and a half to ride Splash Mountain that third time

Before I had kids, we would plan our day, and use the long break time to just be spontaneous - go where we felt like, jump on a ride we were passing by, etc.

 

[Dee2015]

I was thinking to purchase RideMax (or Touring Plans) for our trip in October but with the new Disneyland App just released (and looking good), I'm wondering if we can just use that instead? Does anyone have any thoughts on that? Might be too early to tell...

 

[brianerickson]

use 'em both; gives you a good point of reference

 

[NiceOneSimba]

Oooh! I forgot that I would often schedule a "break" when I knew we would go see a show or parade. It's been 1.5 years, so I don't know if you can add those in now or not. Before, you couldn't. So I'd just schedule a break for the time we wanted to go. Some days, we'd have 3 or 4 breaks--lunch, dinner, a show and the random "free time" break RideMax would give us. On our first couple of trips, we also purposely scheduled a mid-afternoon break to go back to the hotel for a nap/rest in addition to our other breaks.

The thing that is great about RideMax is that it has you zig when everyone else is zagging. As I've said before, my husband was a huge doubter the first time we used it. On the first morning, we pretty much walked on (5 minutes or less) to ride after ride, and when we got off the ride, the line was at least twice as long as when we got in. After that, he's been a believer. It's worth 15 bucks to me to wait less in line. And, like a PP said, those breaks can be great times to get a snack, poke around in shops, catch some of the "street" entertainment or just sit and people watch. That said, if they're more than an hour or so (and you don't plan to go back to the hotel), add more attractions!

 

[VandVsmama]

My DH was skeptical as well the first time we used Ridemax. I purchased it based on the recommendation of a friend. After about halfway through our first morning at the parks, I asked DH what he thought and he said, "This is great! We have hardly waited in a line all morning!"

I, too, have noticed that Ridemax tends to overestimate wait times just a tad...in our case, we find this really helpful because it allows time for bathroom breaks part way through the morning.

 

[momof4fans]

My family and I just got back from a 5 day trip. I had used it in 2013 with much success so I purchased it for this trip too. It worked great with one exception: the wait times estimated for Peter Pan are way too short. My plan would say I would have a 2 or 3 minute wait for Peter Pan if I got there at rope drop. It was true in 2013. This summer, no way. We were literally at the rope for rope drop, my DD8 and I "scampered" quickly to Peter Pan and it was still a 20 minute wait. That day we ended up skipping Pirates to stay on schedule. The days we didn't have Peter Pan on the itinerary were great!

Also, if you want to avoid the big free time break in the middle, have your day end around Noon-2pm. You will still get a break but it will be smaller. The predictions for wait times in the afternoon aren't as accurate anyway. We left the park around 2-3 for swimming and napping. That saved us from total exhaustion! We would come back in the evening. I put our lunch reservations on the schedule and the shows we wanted to see. I played with the program a lot. I didn't put the Tea Cups and other Fantasyland rides on my itinerary. We just jumped on those in the morning.

This was our morning itinerary for Monday, August 3:

In line at gates at 7:30
At rope drop shortly after let in
Peter Pan
Get Space FP
Star Tours
Buzz Lightyear
Space with FP
Get Indy FP
Big Thunder
Pirates
Indy with FP
Get Splash FP
Free Time (13 minutes)
Lunch at Blue Bayou
Splash with FP

That was my Ridemax plan. The longer wait at Peter Pan threw our plan slightly off so we skipped Pirates to stay on track. We were able to pull 2 more FP's in addition to the 3 on this plan. Also, Buzz FP's aren't connected to the rest of the system. We pulled one of those also, so actually had 6 FP's in one day Also, I don't have really little kids. My youngest is 6 but she rides everything except California Screamin. I was the runner for FP's most of the time because some of the rides make me sick. I did not use the runner option on the program though.

I actually do recommend Ridemax, especially for newcomers. The crowds are much bigger this year and if you don't have a plan you will wait in some really long lines!

 

[jeffg4]

This summer, no way. We were literally at the rope for rope drop, my DD8 and I "scampered" quickly to Peter Pan and it was still a 20 minute wait.

If you were literally at the rope and scampered to PP, I don't see how you could have had a 20 minute wait unless somehow, you were not within the first 50 or so people to board the ride. Maybe they weren't loading people on the ride when you were in line? On our last visit, we were at the rope and the very first people in line, but they held us up for 5-10 minutes while they kept sending empty cars through.

 

[Xenorye]

If she was scampering, she was probably beat out by the sprinters -- who decided to break the rules to get to PP first.

 

[jeffg4]

If she was scampering, she was probably beat out by the sprinters -- who decided to break the rules to get to PP first.

We got there first and didn't break any rules. Power walking - one foot on the ground at all times.

 

[Xenorye]

I'm just saying that on my last trip (When the A&E meet was in FL), we saw people sprinting to get in line first. Not saying it's impossible to do it the right way and still be first, but it's unlikely unless things have changed.

 

[momof4fans]

People were running! I literally watched two young men sprint ahead. Also, I had my DD8 with me. I wasn't going to get her trampled to be first. And I don't have very long legs so my stride is much shorter than some. When I got to the line it was already out from under the covered area. I was too far back to see if they were sending cars through empty. After being in line for a bit, I glanced at my phone and it was 8:13. We waited another few minutes before we got to the front. 20 minutes is a guesstimate, but a good one. In 2013 we walked briskly, I had to park a stroller and I had about a 5 minute wait. The gate also changes things. We always seemed to be behind new people getting their pics taken. So by the time we got to rope drop the straight through the middle section of the hub toward the castle was already 12 deep at least. So we chose to stand on the tomorrow land side where we could be in front. The truth is, I was delighted to only wait approximately 20 minutes. The line got nuts minutes after that! This was our 3rd trip and it was unbelievably crowded. I have never seen so many people in place.

 

[momof4fans]

If you were literally at the rope and scampered to PP, I don't see how you could have had a 20 minute wait unless somehow, you were not within the first 50 or so people to board the ride. Maybe they weren't loading people on the ride when you were in line? On our last visit, we were at the rope and the very first people in line, but they held us up for 5-10 minutes while they kept sending empty cars through.

It would be pretty easy for 50 people to get ahead of a short mom and a small child. I was going as fast as I felt I should, but again my legs aren't very long. I felt like we joined the line in a big glob of people.