RideMax Users Thread (FAQs Linked in First Post!)

[SolPlyr]

Fastpasses are available either after the beginning of the window printed or two hours after it was received, whichever comes first. Ridemax is most likely going on the assumption that you will have a FP for a ride that has a window of return no greater than one hour later.

This is how people are able to have many sets of FP's for different rides.

 

[TN Hockey Mom]

We used Ridemax for our trip last week. At first, I was kinda worried about showing it to my husband. I thought he would think I was crazy and had OCD. However, I'm happy to report that we will not go back to Disney without using it again in the future! It was perfect! We had minimal waits for anything that we wanted to do. In fact, Day 1 worked out so well that if I wanted to do something "out of order" anytime the rest of the week my husband insisted that we stick to the plan.

As another poster stated earlier, you will get ahead of yourself, and this will allow for bathroom breaks. We also had a couple of free times listed throughout the day (some of them were a couple of hours long) - this is when we did character greetings and photo pass.

It was a little frustrating that character greetings couldn't be scheduled. I also wished you could schedule meals at locations other than the park you are at. For example, one night we were at Magic Kingdom and eating dinner at O'hana. It wouldn't let us choose O'hana. Instead, I had to put that we were eating at the "Park Entrance" and scheduled it 30 minutes before our reservation to give us time to get there.

I'm looking forward to using it for our next trip more so than I was for this trip. Our next trip will just be our family of 4. This trip we took my sister and she had never been before. Therefore, I felt like she needed to do EVERYTHING. Next trip, there will be things that we won't have any interest in doing, some things we'll want to do more than once, and my kids will probably no longer want to do character greetings as they will be 11 & 9 (Both Boys) .

 

[Lauri]

We used Ridemax for our trip last week. At first, I was kinda worried about showing it to my husband. I thought he would think I was crazy and had OCD. However, I'm happy to report that we will not go back to Disney without using it again in the future! It was perfect! We had minimal waits for anything that we wanted to do. In fact, Day 1 worked out so well that if I wanted to do something "out of order" anytime the rest of the week my husband insisted that we stick to the plan.

As another poster stated earlier, you will get ahead of yourself, and this will allow for bathroom breaks. We also had a couple of free times listed throughout the day (some of them were a couple of hours long) - this is when we did character greetings and photo pass.

It was a little frustrating that character greetings couldn't be scheduled. I also wished you could schedule meals at locations other than the park you are at. For example, one night we were at Magic Kingdom and eating dinner at O'hana. It wouldn't let us choose O'hana. Instead, I had to put that we were eating at the "Park Entrance" and scheduled it 30 minutes before our reservation to give us time to get there.

I'm looking forward to using it for our next trip more so than I was for this trip. Our next trip will just be our family of 4. This trip we took my sister and she had never been before. Therefore, I felt like she needed to do EVERYTHING. Next trip, there will be things that we won't have any interest in doing, some things we'll want to do more than once, and my kids will probably no longer want to do character greetings as they will be 11 & 9 (Both Boys) .

So funny about you being afraid to let your husband know about ridemax. I've been a member of the DIS for over 10 years. Our first trip using the DIS boards was an extended family trip of 7 people. I had so many secrets I had to share with them, but no one was interested. Of course, when we followed ideas I had learned on these boards, people were pleased with the outcome.

When we went to DL last year for the first time, I exposed the family to ridemax. We had such a great experience with it. DH was totally happy to let me purchase a year subscription to ridemax for our long weekend trip in February. It was great! And now, we have it to use for our next two trips this year.

Lauri

 

[ekatiel]

It's great to hear that both you guys had awesome experiences with RideMax-- I can't wait for our trip!!! I made the mistake of showing DH all our plans and he just about had a panic attack-- ooops! Everyone seems more than willing to follw them, though, they just don't want to see them !

Here's another question for you guys-- what do you do if one of your kids sees something that they'd really like to ride, but it's not on your plan?? My boys are preschoolers, so I know we're going to run into some surprises like this! I'm thinking of having a little section in my binder where we can write down rides that we'd like to do later in the week (we'll have a laptop with us, so we can run Ridemax on them later in the room). Do you guys think that will work with two preschool boys??!--Katie

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I used Ride Max for my last trip and enjoyed playing around with it and making different plans. It did annoy me with my AK day though. First of all, my AK day was on a Sunday, which Ride Max won't plan, and then it told me I didn't have time to do what I wanted, even though I did.

 

[Lauri]

Here's another question for you guys-- what do you do if one of your kids sees something that they'd really like to ride, but it's not on your plan?? My boys are preschoolers, so I know we're going to run into some surprises like this! I'm thinking of having a little section in my binder where we can write down rides that we'd like to do later in the week (we'll have a laptop with us, so we can run Ridemax on them later in the room). Do you guys think that will work with two preschool boys??!--Katie

With preschoolers, you have to go with the flow a little bit more. Remember about the weakest link in the chain being most important? You can't tell a preschooler (and expect them to be happy) that they can't wait on the 20 minute line to see their favorite character.

Fortunately, my youngest is 12 now, and I force everyone in the family to have a planning meeting before the trip. We decide what we would like to do, and then I play around with ridemax. They can't complain, because they've had input. Even so, we're not that rigid. You may want to talk to your boys and see what they would like to do. Then tell them that they will do those things, but first we will be doing something else.

You may also want to set your ridemax plan to slow touring to allow for the inevitable things that will come up and slow you down.

Lauri

 

[deansara]

I don't think that I have seen an answer to this question, so I will post again just in case! Is there any way that you can save your plans in RideMax and then go back and update them later, or do you have to reenter everything all over again everytime you go back into the program? Also, since it does not support EMH at the parks other than MK, is there any way that you can force the times to be later or earlier than the posted park times?

 

[quantumottle]

Okay, I just subscribed to RideMax and it looks pretty cool so far.

My only question is this: can it possibly be accurate? I put in a late May date (not Memorial Day weekend) at Magic Kingdom (no EMH, arriving first thing in the morning for 9am opening) and it's telling me to tour Winnie the Pooh, Snow White and Peter Pan consecutively without FASTPASS and that each will only have a 1 minute wait! Given the Fantasyland lines I've seen in the past, I just can't believe that. What gives?

I've learned the hard way to NEVER doubt Ridemax. lol.

Seriously, even when it seems impossible, RideMax has always proven to be right on with it's wait times. I think if anything Mark makes the estimates pretty conservatively - we usually end up ahead of schedule and have even more "free" time to shop, etc. As for Fantasyland first thing in the AM, you'll probably walk onto WTP, SW, and PP with no wait at all if you do them 1, 2, 3 as RideMax suggests. Trust in RideMax, it is correct.

 

[fitnessmouse]

Can you also put in an appointment at the BBB?

 

[singingpixie]

Can you also put in an appointment at the BBB?

I would just schedule it as a "break" at Cinderella's Royal Table. Their entrances are very close together, so it shouldn't matter to your plan.

 

[Welsh]

I've learned the hard way to NEVER doubt Ridemax. lol.

Seriously, even when it seems impossible, RideMax has always proven to be right on with it's wait times. I think if anything Mark makes the estimates pretty conservatively - we usually end up ahead of schedule and have even more "free" time to shop, etc. As for Fantasyland first thing in the AM, you'll probably walk onto WTP, SW, and PP with no wait at all if you do them 1, 2, 3 as RideMax suggests. Trust in RideMax, it is correct.

I feel better about it now! Even so, I'll probably print out several ride plans for each day since there's no telling what might happen and we won't have a laptop with us.

 

[creativeamanda]

I love this idea. I'm playing around with Ridemax right now, as a matter of fact! Since June is not out yet on the program, I'm using dates in busy weeks (thanks, Unofficial Guide!) that have the same hours in the parks just for an idea.

 

[DisnLuvr]

I'm in !!!! I love Ridemax!!

Hmm, I don't know about the child swap...Maybe Mark will pop in here and answer that.

I'm excited to use the Epcot WS shows portion! I always seem to miss the ones I really want to see...so I'm hoping by adding those into the 4 hour countercloackwise (or other) tour plan, I can catch them.

We seem to be on same channel.. I love ridemax. That is one ride I love most than anyother ride.. I would love to use it again when I come there next..

 

[ekatiel]

I don't think that I have seen an answer to this question, so I will post again just in case! Is there any way that you can save your plans in RideMax and then go back and update them later, or do you have to reenter everything all over again everytime you go back into the program? Also, since it does not support EMH at the parks other than MK, is there any way that you can force the times to be later or earlier than the posted park times?

As far as I know, there's no way to "save" plans. When I get a plan I like a lot, I print it out so I have it for reference (you could also jsut copy and paste it to a word doc). I also think there's no way to enter EMH times for parks other than MK. We aren't doing any EMH on our trip, but I think the plans would be pretty accurate if you entered EMH attractions for the 9am start time and went from there. I've got nothin' for ya' for late EMH's, though! Maybe someone else will pipe in with a better answer to your questions! --Katie

 

[Condorman]

Sorry if it's been asked, but the search function is no longer available.

What's up with RideMax not doing Sunday's? Is there a religious reason behind it? For the world's most popular tourist destination, there is no such thing as a weekend. WDW is seven days a week. So why leave out what is clearly one of the most important days?

 

[Lauri]

Sorry if it's been asked, but the search function is no longer available.

What's up with RideMax not doing Sunday's? Is there a religious reason behind it? For the world's most popular tourist destination, there is no such thing as a weekend. WDW is seven days a week. So why leave out what is clearly one of the most important days?

It says right on the site, that it is a family business, and they have decided that Sunday is a family day and will be their day off. I wish Sunday's were included too, but the info for the other 6 days makes up for it.

Lauri

 

[KMarston]

I was initially going to use the touring plan in the UG as it has never failed us but unfortunately they've increased the attendance levels from 7 to 10's so I'm thinking that RM is a must do. My question is whether I can access it from any computer. I'ld like to set it up on my desk top but we will have my son's laptop with us.

 

[Jennifer in WA]

Okay...question about crowds. Touring plans originally had my days at 7 or 8, now they are all 9 or 10. I have ridemax and keep playing with plans, but haven't printed them off yet. Since they crowd predictions have increased, does Ridemax make adjustments as well? I'm wondering if their estimated wait times will now be way off. What do I do it I'm following the plan exactly, but we are having to wait longer than it says??

 

[Ariel on Land]

Yeah, I was wondering too, if RM had adjusted things based on increase of expected crowds!!

One question though, does RM factor in time that it takes to get kids in/out of strollers and such? I see the walking time, but will I be able to stick to the plan if I have to find the stroller, load the kids, and go to the next one? KWIM? Will that totally throw me off plan??

 

[PoppyGirl]

I first used RM for a trip to DL and LOVED it. Then I used it for a trip to WDW in 2008 and LOVED it.

I planned to use it again for our most recent trip in February...printed off all my plans and thought I was oh so organized. It was MardiGras week and it was SO crowded that we couldn't even WALK to the planned attractions. We just tried to go to whatever was closest because it was a complete nightmare trying to move around the park to get to the next attraction that was on our plan. Anyone else had this problem?

We are going again in June and I was planning to purchase RM again but if it's going to be too crowded for us to even maneuver around, does it help?