Ridemax Question

[Bubblegum1286]

For those of you who have used Ridemax, how far out do they allow you to create your itinerary? Our trip is June 18-27th (arrival at Disneyland on June 20th), and I bought our subscription to Ridemax 2 weeks ago.

I'm so confused. I know that disney.com posts the calender for 30-45 days in advance, and I kind of thought that Ridemax did the same thing. One week ago, the furthest date you could see was June 11th. Today, it's still June 11th. Nothing has changed.

However, if you log onto disney.com right now, you can see the calender up to Monday June 22nd.

So, how far in advance does Ridemax allow you to plan your itinerary?? I'm frustrated with this. Why make you subscribe for 3 months if you can't plan up until a few weeks before your trip? That makes NO sense to me. I got the 90 day subscription, but obviously you can't plan your trip this far in advance per their website, so why does this subscription (and this is the minimum) even exist???? When do they actually allow you to create an itinerary? Two weeks in advance? Three? This seems just kind of arbitrary.

If you follow the disney.com website, and you track it for a few days, you can kind of get an idea for how many days in advance it will post itineraries. Honestly, the Ridemax website hasn't changed or advanced in days at all since I first subscribed.

Please explain this to me. I really don't want to be planning our itinerary just a few days before our trip--- especially considering BBB reservations (which are set), CD reservations, and other restaurant reservations.

Seriously wishing RM would just keep up with the disney.go.com calender!

-kat

 

[Blue32]

RM won't update their site a day or two at a time like the Disney Calendar. They will update it by weeks. It kind of stinks but be patient, your dates will show up.

 

[gcatt]

I have loved RideMax in the past. You can do some good pre-planning by playing with itineraries from the latest available dates. Just be sure to sure to choose the same day of the week and add any schedule changes (for grad night, etc.)

if your first day at DLR is Saturday, June 20th, then you can play with itineraries for Saturday, June 6th. They won't be exactly the same, but they will be close.

With the 60th anniversary celebration, it's not surprising that Ride Max might be waiting a bit longer to see how the crowds play out. That would change its algorithms. Even if the schedules were available now, I would run them again the week before going in case of updates. I usually do a final run the night before as well.

I have found that the process of playing with different itineraries is great practice before going into the park. It helps you to be flexible and ready for those inevitable changes that come up during the day. It can also be a lot of fun. I will run the same day several times to come up with the itinerary that seems to suit our family best.

 

[Bubblegum1286]

Ok thanks. Do you think Ridemax really did help you to do all the things you wanted to do? I've read good reviews, and I'm hopeful that it will help us plan our trip since we have a party with my mom, my brother, and my kids going (wide array of tastes).

 

[jeffg4]

I've used Ridemax several times and it is a very good tool to minimize waits while planning your day. I find the Ridemax plans to be better and more efficient than Touring Plans. In most cases, Ridemax tends to overestimate waits a bit, often leaving you with additional time to get things done. Touring Plans tends to underestimate waits. Plus, I see one major flaw in Touring Plans - it always tries to get you done at the earliest time, and therefore will schedule attractions during peak wait periods (i.e. middle of the day). To get around that, you have to schedule breaks in the middle of the day to block out that time period and keeping playing with the optimization tool to get the most efficient plan. Ridemax will ask when you plan on leaving the park and will automatically schedule your break during mid-day to minimize your time waiting for attractions.

That being said, the one major drawback to Ridemax is just what you mentioned. You buy a 90-day subscription but can't create your itinerary until a few weeks prior, so all you are getting out of Ridemax up to that point is some general information and tips that you can read on the site. This doesn't do you a whole lot of good if you're trying to set up ADRs, etc.

Ridemax is a small, family-run business. They do not update their site very often. With that in mind, I'm sure they wait till the last minute to load their calendars so they can have the most accurate estimate of crowd levels, ride closures, etc., in order to avoid having to perform multiple updates.

I would suggest running your itinerary on the same day of the week that is available closest to your trip. This should get you something that's fairly close to what you'll get on the final itinerary. You can save the itinerary and once your day becomes available, rerun it to compare. Ridemax will also post updates, so you'll know if they changed anything before you leave for your trip.

 

[elaine amj]

When I researched Ridemax, I noticed that they have a 30 day refund policy. So I am waiting until under 30 days out to get my subscription so I will be protected in case I don't like it.

From all accounts, DLR is a different beast from WDW and there just isn't that demand for everything to be set in stone 180 days out. So while I am anxious, I am trying to tell my crazy WDW planning side to calm down.

Especially since ADRs are apparently super easy to get and switch around so less worries about booking at exactly 60 days out. I will book a couple of ADRs 60 days out (the ones for July 17th since I expect the 60th to be on the crazy side) just to be safe. I will book for the times I am guesstimating and will adjust if my Ridemax plans shows another time to be more optimal.

 

[NavyDad01]

I asked last week on their facebook page

 

[cmpeter]

I have had great luck with Ride Max at both DL and WDW. I do agree...it's frustrating to have to wait for them to load your dates, especially if you are an uber planner person!

 

[Dopey1980]

I just signed up for RideMax and so far I'm very disappointed. I'll run a few more options this afternoon but if they don't improve, I think I'll ask for a refund. At DL, it doesn't have me even try to get a fastpass until 3:00 in the afternoon but wants me to wait in a 50 minute line for Star tours at 2:00. Wouldn't logic have you getting a fastpass for that ride? At DCA, I said I wanted to ride RSR twice and so it did fastpass once (but didn't have me picking them up until early afternoon when I"ve heard they are often gone) and the second time it wanted me to wait in a 105 minute line for it.

 

[jeffg4]

Make sure your starting times and end times are correct. If you are not starting at rope drop and not ending at park close, it is inevitable that you will be waiting in long lines at some point. Ridemax will often forgo obtaining fastpasses early in the morning because it is more important to schedule the attractions that don't offer FP when the waits are the shortest (which is typically early morning and late evening). The Ridemax software is designed to minimize your OVERALL waits, so even though it may have you waiting in a long line for 1 or 2 particular attractions, the overall aggregrate wait for all attractions will be minimized. The only way to ride RSR twice with minimal waits is to ride standby early morning and then obtain a FP, or utilize the single rider line. RSR is now connected with the other park FPs so they are lasting longer into the day. Last summer we obtained RSR FPs about 40 min after park opening and rode late morning. We then obtained another set of FPs in early PM for an evening ride. Worked out fine. Remember that Ridemax tends to overestimate waits a bit, and it is much more difficult to predict FP return times later in the day. So if you have a lot of non-FP attractions in your plan, you're not likely going to be able to utilize many FPs. You have to play with it and look at the plan as a whole. Sometimes you have to add/remove attractions and change times. Make sure your settings are to use a FP runner and to minimize wait times. Run the exact same attraction list a few times. You'll often get different itineraries, but the overall waits should be similar. Pick the itinerary which looks best for you.

 

[elaine amj]

Thanks for this explanation on how to better use Ridemax.

 

[Creaking Crypt Door]

I hadn't heard of RideMax, but this sounds amazing!

Coincidentally, I'll be there during the same window (June 23-28) so I'm excited to use this!

 

[limace]

We have used it several times and it's been worth every penny and more. My family mocks me for it, but then has been grateful for how well it works.

 

[momof4fans]

I love Ridemax! We used it on our last trip and it was a lifesaver! I'm inside 90 days now and recently purchased it again. I will spend hours over the remaining weeks generating itineraries and studying the tips. I would not have realized the max benefit had I purchased it just days before our trip. I personally needed time to play with it and figure it out. I thought it was fun! I love the planning aspect of our trips and Ridemax fit that perfectly!

 

[Dopey1980]

jeffg4 - I agree with everything you said but unfortunately these are not the results I was getting. No matter what I changed or kept the same, I wasn't getting results that made sense. After I posted, I continued to try and one plan had me waiting 40 minutes for Star Tours and 75 minutes for Autopia (although I doubt that line would ever actually be that long) before getting any fastpasses. I would understand that approach if I had a limited amount of fastpasses but I now I would have been able to fastpass one of those attractions while I waited in line for the other and still be able to get the fastpass for splash mountain that it recommended. It also had me doing Little Mermaid within the first hour of opening at DCA. THis is a ride with minimal wait times throughout the day so I don't see why I would waste opening hour time on it. I did have it set to a runner but still only had me using 1-2 fastpasses each day. I'm happy it has worked for others but I think I'll go back to Touring plans or my own common sense.

 

[jeffg4]

Dopey, I'm new to the forum, so I'm not sure if the rules allow it, but if you are willing to post one of your Ridemax itineraries, I would like to take a look at it. Otherwise you can PM me with it. Something sounds awry. I've used Ridemax several times and I've never waited over 45 minutes for anything.

 

[Dopey1980]

Just tried to message you but it wouldn't go through. If you want to try to message me, I can try to respond but I'd rather not post on here without knowing its ok first.

 

[jeffg4]

Looks like I need 10 posts before PM is available. I'll work on that.

 

[VandVsmama]

jeffg4 - I agree with everything you said but unfortunately these are not the results I was getting. No matter what I changed or kept the same, I wasn't getting results that made sense. After I posted, I continued to try and one plan had me waiting 40 minutes for Star Tours and 75 minutes for Autopia (although I doubt that line would ever actually be that long) before getting any fastpasses. I would understand that approach if I had a limited amount of fastpasses but I now I would have been able to fastpass one of those attractions while I waited in line for the other and still be able to get the fastpass for splash mountain that it recommended. It also had me doing Little Mermaid within the first hour of opening at DCA. THis is a ride with minimal wait times throughout the day so I don't see why I would waste opening hour time on it. I did have it set to a runner but still only had me using 1-2 fastpasses each day. I'm happy it has worked for others but I think I'll go back to Touring plans or my own common sense.

That sounds frustrating!

A couple of questions:

• what date are you doing this itinerary for?
• What are your "start" and "end" times and for which park on the itinerary?
• Remember that Ridemax works best if you select 13 or fewer attractions.

 

[Dopey1980]

This itinerary for dl was for Friday, June 5.
I scheduled 15 things but since my kids are younger, there were very few "big" rides (ex. no, space, no thunder, no indy) so I know I was over the normal amount but still don't understand why it didn't have me using fastpass
I started at 9:30 (opening is at 9 but we have breakfast reservations that morning) and went to close.
It scheduled a 4 hr break (without me requesting it) from 4-8.
We are going to try to make it until close that night or close to it since the next day we just have to get to the airport and get on a plane.

The DCA itinerary was for June 4 and we are planning on being there from open until we decide to leave. I think I put it at 7 in the ridemax. I wanted that as a shorter day since we are going to push the kids on Friday