RideMax Question for a 12 hour DL Visit

[Familyx4]

I will be at DL/CA next Friday (Dec 10, 2010) noon to midnight. I will be solo without my family and want to make the most of my visit. For those RideMax users out there, would it be worth the cost?

I have never been to DL but have always wanted to experience it. Being solo, I can move quickly and use single lines but I still want to make sure I do everything I want to do.

Your thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[jason417]

Since you've never been to DL (and therefore aren't as familiar with line trends) and you're going to be there for a short period of time, I'd say you'd benefit from Ridemax. I just plugged 10 of the major rides in DL into Ridemax and it's showing that on that day it would take up about 5 hours of the day if you get into the park at noon to start collecting fastpasses. If you add in the 10:30 showing of Fantasmic that shifts things by an hour so it'll take up 6 hours, still leaving you another 6 hours (2pm to 8pm by Ridemax's planning) for other things.

If you plan to do both parks that day I'd say make sure you go into DCA first and get a fastpass for Soarin' at noon and then go straight back to DL to start the Ridemax plan. You can build another Ridemax plan for DCA for the hours of 2pm to 8pm (which according to Ridemax is more time than you would even need to do the main rides).

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

Since you've never been to DLR and it sounds like you plan to do both parks, I agree with jason417 that Ridemax would be worth it for you. I'd print out several different plans in case you decide you want to deviate. For example, on one plan have your day ending at 8:15 so the rest of the evening can be devoted to shows and hitting any rides you want to do again. For another plan, have your day go all the way until midnight (giving yourself a break time for the period you want to watch shows).

I had a solo trip last month when I was there for a conference. Even though I know the parks well, I used Ridemax to help figure out how to best utilize small chunks of time (i.e., my lunchbreak and limited evening hours on the weekdays of my trip). I did not end up using Ridemax for my Saturday evening or Sunday when I had much more time at my disposal. BUT...I had just been there two months prior with my family and I enjoyed being able to go on a ride or eat a snack on my own timeline and at a whim. For example, enroute to HMH, I changed my mind and circled back through NO Square and then over to the single rider line at Indiana Jones (accessed by asking for a single rider pass from the CM at the "Standby" entrance and then entering through the exit).

Without knowing the parks very well, however, with the layout and when to expect longer/shorter wait times, I think I'd find Ridemax incredibly useful to at least get a general plan for my day laid out. Do you have an iPhone, Android or any other smartphone that would allow you to download one of the nifty wait time apps for lines at DL? They also work really well, either in conjuction with, or instead of, Ridemax.

 

[ironpig70]

Been several times before and just did the park as we went along since we have kids. Well I got ridemax last night and have been playing with it off and on and I say that if it works like they say this will be a great trip.


It gives the option to plug in the rides you want and the put in a start and end time. The great part I have found is you put in 1 set of rides and you can enter a start and end time and up comes a scheldule. A simple change of times (a matter of a couple clicks) and bam another scheldule.

Also ride max says if you are not happy they will refund your money. What is there to loose.

 

[skiingfast]

This list if you use it will cut your wait time down signifigantly.

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/attractions/list/#/single-rider-line

 

[Familyx4]

I bit and bought RideMax. I don't think it is going to help me. I am planning on visiting both parks which it doesn't seem to consider. Since I will be by myself I can use single rider lines which it doesn't consider. I would also like to ride certain rides twice which is not an option. I tried to run it for blocks of time and it gave me some weird results too. I think I will be asking for a refund.

Thanks to all for the help!!

 

[jason417]

Most rides don't have single rider lines that I'm aware of so that's the reason for the lack of existence of those options in the software. What do you mean by the results were weird for blocks of time? You can definitely put a ride twice (or as many times as you want) on your list. However, this is one thing I dislike about Ridemax; when you say you want to go on a ride twice it almost always places those occurrences back to back, when in reality I'd prefer to mix it up more.

 

[suzy021372]

You should know that Friday and Saturday nights in December are very crowded because a lot of locals come out for the holiday fireworks and stuff. I am not sure if Ridemax takes that into account. You will probably have the best chance of hitting the rides you want if you skip the shows and fireworks...but sometimes those are half the fun.

Good luck!

 

[karmutt]

I was there solo last Friday from about 10:30 to 10:30. I don't know if it'll help much, but I can sort of give you an idea of my day and what you might expect to get done while you're there. The crowds should be similar. I'm a regular visitor, but I took the day much slower and more "touristy" than usual.

My first park was DL. I always get a FP Space Mountain first thing, so I headed over there. My FP was for 12:15 or something, which is a pretty decent time. Then I did Big Thunder (10 minute wait), Haunted Mansion (also about 10 minutes), Pirates (about 10 minutes again), Indy (single rider), and then the Jungle Cruise (5 minutes). By then, I could go back and get another FP for Space (for 3:30ish?). If you're getting there at noonish, expect the waits to be maybe 1.5x to 2x longer, if not more for HM. They'll get longer in the evening when the locals head over after work or school, so take advantage of anything between 15 and 20 minutes.

After that, I headed over to DCA. I got a FP for Tower of Terror and then rode it standby (10 min), then rode Monsters Inc. (walk-on) to kill the few minutes before I could get another FP for TT, then headed over to CA Screamin' and rode that standby. There's a single rider line, but it can be horrible (unpredictable wait and pushy people; there's really no semblance of order). Standby took about 15 minutes and I got to ask for the back of the train instead of being put wherever there was a single seat open. After lunch at Whitewater Snacks (at the Grand Californian), I went and got yet another FP for TT and then did the Animation Academy (drew Sandy Claws/Jack Skellington) and then used up my TT FPs and rode Soarin' once (single rider line).

That was sort of the "get things done" part of the day. After that, I went back to DL and took it easy. It was getting really crowded by then (about 4:30). I think I only rode Space Mountain (FP) and Winnie the Pooh (walk-on) in the 3 or 4 hours I was there. I mostly wandered around, looking at the Christmas stuff. Lines were considerably longer than they were in the morning. I waited until it "snowed" after the castle lighting and then hit Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (which, in probably 150+ visits to DL, I don't ever recall seeing... and will actively avoid forever more (I do recommend the Disneyland Story displays at the front of the theatre, though)).

I went back over to DCA to check out ElecTRONica after that. If you're a geek who grew up in the 80's (like me), it's probably worth taking a look. I found it loud and annoying with the nightclubby music and flashing lights, but I did like the Tron preview that they have in the Muppet theater (see point about being a geek who grew up in the 80's). I was going to do TT again, but the line was 45 minutes, so did the Animation Academy again (Tigger!) instead. Then I went back to DL (with the crush escaping the first show of World of Color) and rode Space Mountain (FP) again before calling it quits.

Tips:

Put off Fantasyland and the more "kid" oriented rides (Buzz, Nemo) until 10:30/11:00pm.

If you're staying until closing and want to shop, the stores on Main Street stay open for an hour after the rest of the park shuts down. Save the shopping and exploration of MS until then. The crowds die down and it's just really nice being on MS when it's empty and quiet. You'll also get an "extra" hour while the park is open to do attractions.

Touring Plans has a Disneyland app. It has pretty accurate statistical wait times and user who are at the parks post actual wait times throughout the day - http://touringplans.com/disneyland

Have fun!

 

[Familyx4]

Thanks for all of the great help. Karmutt, I will print out your summary and take it with me. It sounds just like what I want to do!

 

[karmutt]

Thanks for all of the great help. Karmutt, I will print out your summary and take it with me. It sounds just like what I want to do!

Glad to help.

I'm sure you'll be able to get way more done than I've described. About 2.5 hours of my day was spent at Tower of Terror (I tend to ride it about 6 times every visit...). Sometimes I'll change it up and ride Toy Story Mania (fun if you're with someone, but kind of lame if you're solo) and see It's Tough to be a Bug (love it) or Aladdin (the theatre and design of the show are awesome, but I'm not much of a fan of the show itself) instead. If you want to do the Animation Academy, the lessons start every half hour and last about 20 minutes. You can show up a couple of minutes before and have no problem getting in. The Muppet show is kinda fun too... if you like Muppets.

At DL, the monorail could be something you also might want to give a try. It takes you over to Downtown Disney (there's a stop there, but you don't have to get off) and then back through the various parts of Disneyland, giving you views you won't get from the ground (and views of the backstage area). That and the DL Railroad are nice places to sit and rest, but still sort of be actively taking in the sights. Also, during parades you're going to get stuck on one side of the park or the other (the parade route cuts through the park). I find that it's best to be on the Adventureland / Frontierland / Fantasyland side since there are more attractions (but it's best to avoid that side of the park during Fantasmic (at least the first show)). And avoid trying to get in or out of the park during parades or the fireworks (especially the fireworks!). Grab a times guide (and map) at the turnstyle when you enter the park.

If you're using single rider lines, you'll need a pass for all of them except Spash Mt. (you just go up through the exit and a CM will point your way once you get to the load/unload area). For the others, ask a CM at the entrance to the queue; they'll tell you what to do from there (...or I can tell you... Indy and CA Screamin' - through the handicap queue (which, on Indy means, walking through the exit trying to avoid the hoards heading the other way), Soarin - through the FP queue, and Grizzly River Run - through the exit).

Have a great trip.