RideMax questions, I've already subscribed!

[geekypeach]

My main question is how I work ride swap out on my own within the RideMax schedule? We have a 6 yo and a 2 yo, and my DH and I want to ride a couple of height restricted rides.

I made my first schedule for DCA on a Fri, and It. Is. AMAZING. It fits everything in with 3 breaks totaling 70 mins (to do Aladin and a breif lunch) in a 7 hour span.

One other question- it has a runner going to pick up ToT fastpasses twice one hour apart and riding it once (which we only wanted to do once... although on kid swap w/my 6 yo riding twice).

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[HydroGuy]

My main question is how I work ride swap out on my own within the RideMax schedule? We have a 6 yo and a 2 yo, and my DH and I want to ride a couple of height restricted rides.

I made my first schedule for DCA on a Fri, and It. Is. AMAZING. It fits everything in with 3 breaks totaling 70 mins (to do Aladin and a breif lunch) in a 7 hour span.

One other question- it has a runner going to pick up ToT fastpasses twice one hour apart and riding it once (which we only wanted to do once... although on kid swap w/my 6 yo riding twice).

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

No good answer on ridfe swap. Maybe use the "slow touring" option as they may be best with youg ones anyways? In my experience the RM people are very knowledgeable and helpful. You can e-mail them directly.

Regarding ToT I would have to see the itinerary but I suspect one is FP pickup and the other is FP usage.

 

[geekypeach]

Ah, I found the double ride. Thank you. How would we get fastpasses at both 10:28 and 11:45 though? Is it counting on the 2 hour window thing, or the fact that the assigned return time has started?

I saw the slow tour option... must tinker with that to see what it does.

I will email them at your suggestion. Good to know they love their stuff!

THANKS AGAIN!!

 

[Nala83]

If you get a response from the Ridemax people, please post it! I'd love to hear what they say.

 

[HydroGuy]

Ah, I found the double ride. Thank you. How would we get fastpasses at both 10:28 and 11:45 though? Is it counting on the 2 hour window thing, or the fact that the assigned return time has started?

In the morning the time between FP pickups is only 40-45 minutes.

 

[geekypeach]

Here is the response from RideMax-
Nicole,

Regarding swapping for the younger children, as you may know, Disney does offer a "child swap" pass which allows the second group to ride with minimal waiting. To obtain this, just bring your entire group to the attraction entrance (including the child) and ask for a "child swap" pass.

To use the child swap pass with RideMax, we recommend collecting the child swap passes when the first "group" rides, at the time shown on the RideMax plan. Rather than using the pass right away, however, we recommend holding onto them and using them during the large block of "free time" that most RideMax plans include in the afternoon hours.

This has the advantage of allowing you to stay "on schedule," as well as using the passes during the busy afternoon hours when they give you the most advantage over the larger crowds that exist at that time.

I hope this helps... have a GREAT trip!

Regards,
Mark Winters

 

[jodi90]

Is Ridemax worth it? I've never heard about it before. Looks like it might be similar to Touringplans.com for WDW?

 

[geekypeach]

You know, with what I've put together so far, it seems very worth it. The whole "trick" is sequencing, and not necessarily the mad dash I had imagined. At $15, I don't think we'll do another trip without it.

I will post on this thread again post-trip and let you know how it panned out in real life!

 

[mom2aidanNpiper]

I use Ridemax everytime I do to DL. I LOVE it

Tip (esp if you made a 2nd afternoon plan seperate from a morning one- which I often did because of park hopping) - make a few plans each about 20 min apart. You never know what the parking, tram, line, etc situation will be like.

I would make multiple plans each day to account for any delays, then I never had to figure out what to skip or go back to. I just shrunk down the plan on my computer and cut them up onto index cards attached to a metal ring. Then the minute I arrived I would toss out the plans that I didn't need (the alternate times I had made).

 

[HydroGuy]

Is Ridemax worth it? I've never heard about it before. Looks like it might be similar to Touringplans.com for WDW?

It is better than touringplans.com. Much more flexible. And they have versions for DLR and WDW.

 

[Eeee-va]

If you're going during a busy time and want to ride the most rides possible, then Ridemax is excellent.

If you're a Disneyland expert (or near it), though, you may find that Ridemax structures your time too strictly. Last June, we found ourselves following our schedule way too closely overall, and missing out on spontaneous experiences. The program also very occasionally gives outright bad advice--they told me they now fixed this bug, but it advised me to see the Tarzan Treehouse at 10:30 or 11 PM on days the park closed at midnight, but that attraction closed well before then every night.

I think it's certainly worth trying once, though. If it were available for a Mac I'd probably give it a go for our trip in June, and I'll still think about it. But it's a lot harder to use (and IMO, less fun) if you have to install it on a computer outside of your own household.

 

[quantumottle]

Is Ridemax worth it? I've never heard about it before. Looks like it might be similar to Touringplans.com for WDW?

For a first-time visitor (or an infrequent visitor) you simply cannot beat Ridemax. Once you try Ridemax you'll never think twice about touringplans ever again (or TGM, or UG for that matter). I've used them all, TP, TGM, and UG are all outdated compared to RM. As the word of mouth about RM spreads, it will be tough for those other guys to stay in business, IMO.

 

[HydroGuy]

For a first-time visitor (or an infrequent visitor) you simply cannot beat Ridemax. Once you try Ridemax you'll never think twice about touringplans ever again (or TGM, or UG for that matter). I've used them all, TP, TGM, and UG are all outdated compared to RM. As the word of mouth about RM spreads, it will be tough for those other guys to stay in business, IMO.

I have tried them all too and agree. And disagree. For touring plans and only touring plans, RM is the best IMO. And it is the only thing going at DLR. TGM and UG do not have touring plans for DLR - unless you consider the ones in the DLR UG book which are outdated as soon as the book is printed.

However...

At WDW TGM and UG both offer more "why" as opposed to RM which offers more "when". And both go far beyond RM in giving info about the whole resort experience and working hotels, dining, outside activities like water parks, etc., into the overall plan. IMO TGM has a philosophy more in line with RM while touringplans does not - one the reasons they got banned from this board.

Personally I use both RM and TGM at WDW even though I rarely follow either on a strict itinerary. I use them more for education and latest news. I also use UG for figuring out daily crowd ratings - but I prefer TGM on that count as well.

 

[monicatb]

I'm using Ridemax for our first trip to DLR, the week before Easter, and I've loved it so far. But I'm *also* using the TGM strategies that I've learned from TGM for WDW to build my plans. There were several plans from Ridemax that made no sense to me, once I know how to tour the TGM way. So I made Ridemax plans per hour, not for the overall day, and then I put together the whole day by myself. For example, there were some plans when Ridemax had me waiting 50min for Mickey's house. With TGM I know there's no reason to do that, and I know how to avoid this. So definitely, I would not do WDW without TGM and I would not do DLR without Ridemax, but adding my TGM knowledge to improve my overall experience.

 

[geekypeach]

Monticab, that's true, BUT, it also tells you how to avoid this. If you are picking a certain attraction on a certain day, you may wait all day for it no matter what. MM days are the worst for the Minnie and Mickey's house. But if you go on a different morning, you're golden. I don't really see how mashing it together hour by hour could be congruent at all, but I haven't really seen it done.

All of my plans have made sense. But then, I'm doing half day plans, focusing on two 'lands' at a time, with the exception of a "big" attraction here and there.