RideMax Users Thread (FAQs Linked in First Post!)

[DaveStroem]

I see your conundrum. I can tell you that if you look up what days are EMHs then hit the EMH park the following day you will probably be OK.

 

[Tatania]

I see your conundrum. I can tell you that if you look up what days are EMHs then hit the EMH park the following day you will probably be OK.

That's interesting Dave. So does that mean you don't use the EMH?

 

[DaveStroem]

When we went at the end of March, we did go to EMH then hopped to another park. I am thinking of going for my birthday end of September and will probably not hop or go to EMHs.

What I was trying to tell you is that you can most often pick the best park just by looking at the EMH schedule.

 

[Tatania]

When we went at the end of March, we did go to EMH then hopped to another park. I am thinking of going for my birthday end of September and will probably not hop or go to EMHs.

What I was trying to tell you is that you can most often pick the best park just by looking at the EMH schedule.

Thanks so much for the tips. I know it's best to go at rope drop no matter what but I'm SO not a early bird.

 

[ekatiel]

Thanks so much for the tips. I know it's best to go at rope drop no matter what but I'm SO not a early bird.

Once you make a couple of plans in RideMax for rope drop and then 20-30 minutes later, you will be an early bird convert! The difference in wait times are ASTOUNDING ! When I first got the program, I wasn't a rope drop convert until I made two different plans for MK-- one starting at 9 and one starting at 9:20-- I decided right then that we'd do everything we could to make rope drop! --Katie

 

[quantumottle]

Where are the suggestion about where to be for FP for TSM-is it under Tips and Hints? I can't find it. Thanks.

When I went to WDW last December I followed the RM instructions for TSM to a tee - and I was the first person to grab a set of fastpasses for later, then met my family at the TSM mania door where we stepped into line with a less than 5 min wait. For the record, I did not RUN at all - like so many of the other crazies that may have got in line in front of me, but they will be waiting for hours to ride again as they don't have fastpasses for later. The RM instructions are perfect, we rode TSM 4 times that day with very little waiting at all.

I do not have the most recent version of RM as I have not subscribed since December, so the layout may have changed, but when I made my itinerary for our day at HS RM posted little hints on the same page as the itinerary itself. I believe they were listed under Arrival Suggestions. RM tells you were to line up at rope drop, where to stand during the opening ceremony so you are best positioned for TSM, alternate plans if you don't make it to rope drop, even where to walk as you make your way to the ride. Amazing.

HINT: if you're new to WDW take a look at ROBO's map before going to the park to familiarize yourself with the RM route.

 

[quantumottle]

<snip>.... I like how another poster worded it: TGM teaches you how to fish, RM gives you the fish. So I'll use the info from TGM and make my plans in RM...<snip>

I LOVE that, it's so true. LOL!

BTW, for the person who posted earlier that RM didn't work due to unexpected crowds, uh, I dunno'. I've heard of people not wanting to use RM because they are not into computers (however that wouldn't include anyone on a internet forum) but in over 4 years that's the first I've ever heard of anyone who had a problem with RM not working.

I have to assume that you perhaps made what my wife calls a "Guy Move" and maybe didn't read the instructions fully or something like that. Did you possibly go to the wrong park on the wrong day? Or did you sleep-in and get a late start? I simply cannot believe that RM failed you, just doesn't compute... hehe.


On the plus side, Mark will refund your money if you didn't like RM, no questions asked.

 

[DaveStroem]

One other tip about getting to TSM from RD that is not in RM. When you go through the archways that go between the Sorcerers Hat area back to the Animation Courtyard before you turn left go to Pixar Place. Don't worry about the fact that they split the group in to 2. The CM with the left group, will hold up for the right group. I know that sound confusing till you actually do it.

 

[tofubeast]

HINT: if you're new to WDW take a look at ROBO's map before going to the park to familiarize yourself with the RM route.

Do you happen to have the link to Robo's map?? I was reading the RM suggested walking path and got a bit confused, so the map might be of help. Thanks!!

 

[MyMuse]

Whew, read all 13 pages!

I did get RM for my trip in March. I was disappointed that World Showcase section wasn't broken down into individual countries yet. I keep rechecking several hours before I left.

In any case, I bought a year subscription and plan on keeping it, even though I dumped a majority of the plans. As soon as one thing was off, the plan was out of commission. I was also going solo, so it was just me and certainly easier to get myself around the parks. All in all, not a big deal.

The plans were 1/2 day in each park for 4 days, so it was very challenging. And the last 2 days, I unexpectedly, had a friend who joined me, however, RM experience did give a good foundation to go on. It also didn't help, that I picked up the wrong plans one day, so I had to remember from memory.

In my week, there was also no FP for 3 rides in Animal Kingdom (Kali, Bug and something else...EE?), so it did really mess up the plan. I ended up not riding Kali at all, since I could not get a FP and wasn't about to have my friend waiting for an hour.

But I wanted to love RideMax, so I didn't ask for a refund. I plan on using it again for my trip in May. I will have 3 people this time, possibly have a fast pass runner. I'll get the tour plan together much closer to the trip, but I am messing around with it for now to learn it a bit better.

I'm also hoping it will have time for World Showcase players earlier. I will not use RM for Epcot on the day we are going since it is my niece's birthday and we are planning for a Birthday Fastpass. Or, I will try to figure out to plan to incorporate the fast pass.

For the May trip, I am planning to be a better RM owner/operator!

Should be exciting!

 

[BellaBaby]

So would you guys still recommend RM for a family like ours with small kids? The PP said if one thing is off, the whole plan is out of commission, and w/ our family that very well can happen. Also, we may make some RDs but we will not make all, will the plan still work? We have gone in early May before, utilized FP and done everything we wanted to. But this year, as we all know May is supposedly going to have high crowd levels. Do you think TGM or TP would be better for us? I have the UG, but haven't been able to access the free personalized TPs.

TIA!

 

[DaveStroem]

Yes, I still recommend it. I would however suggest that you use the slow touring speed.
We found that you had to follow it close first thing in the morning then you could be a little more leisurely in the afternoon since that was mostly using up FP that were collected in the morning.

MyMuse, when you say there were no FP, do you mean that they weren't giving them out that day, or that they were all gone?

As to WS, I used the week before dates since that info goes up on Saturdays for the following week and we left on Saturday. But in all honesty, I think that doing WS as a block of time is prefered rather then a specific plan.

 

[MyMuse]

MyMuse, when you say there were no FP, do you mean that they weren't giving them out that day, or that they were all gone?

As to WS, I used the week before dates since that info goes up on Saturdays for the following week and we left on Saturday. But in all honesty, I think that doing WS as a block of time is prefered rather then a specific plan.

It was a one-liner in the Times Guide that said no FPs will be available for those rides in that week at all.

I should have thought of the same thing for the WS, but I didn't think of it. I have to remember that for this round.

 

[MOM POPPINS]

Is the new Kim Possible attraction listed...? I don't see it anywhere for Epcot? How much time should we allot for this and what time of the day?

Thanks.. This is our fist time using RM, we will be using it for May 23rd. June 5th.

 

[jrgutknecht]

I used RM last May for our trip to Disneyland and it worked great. I've been using it to plan our trip to WDW this coming May and trying different touring options. It's worked great to help me get a rough idea of how much we can do on each day. With a mixture of Grandparents and Grandchildren going this time, there is a lot we want to see but we need to keep a slow to moderate pace (unlike our solo trips in the past)

I, like many others, have been freaked out by the UG recently increasing their crowd projections for May....so....

To see how accurate RM was compared to UG - I used RM to plot out a plan for MK this coming Saturday April 11 which UG has rated as a 10. So I did a plan for MK and loaded Splash and BTMRR 6 times each. Sure enough, peak wait times 110 minutes, just as predicted by the UG.

If I do the same thing for May 2nd (which UG has rated a 9 = 85 to 94 minutes peak) not only was I able to get in a lot more rides on each (10 instead of 6 each) the PEAK wait time was only 51 minutes (most were less than 30). This is much closer to the 5 rating UG originally had for that same date.

Now, I know RM updates their software and their projection / crowd data frequently AND they advise you to check back closer to your trip to plan actual itineraries - BUT - I'm going to be very interested to see if it's RM that ends up updating their projections to match UG - OR if UG will end up being wrong.

UG has a pretty good track record of being right, but everything I read / see / hear tells me that the first two weeks of May will not be as crowded as the last two weeks.

Stay tuned for updates, I'll run this same plan every week from now until the week before we leave and see if RM's wait times go up or not.

P.S. I've said it before, I highly recommend RideMax.

John

 

[sandym718]

I used RM last May for our trip to Disneyland and it worked great. I've been using it to plan our trip to WDW this coming May and trying different touring options. It's worked great to help me get a rough idea of how much we can do on each day. With a mixture of Grandparents and Grandchildren going this time, there is a lot we want to see but we need to keep a slow to moderate pace (unlike our solo trips in the past)

I, like many others, have been freaked out by the UG recently increasing their crowd projections for May....so....

To see how accurate RM was compared to UG - I used RM to plot out a plan for MK this coming Saturday April 11 which UG has rated as a 10. So I did a plan for MK and loaded Splash and BTMRR 6 times each. Sure enough, peak wait times 110 minutes, just as predicted by the UG.

If I do the same thing for May 2nd (which UG has rated a 9 = 85 to 94 minutes peak) not only was I able to get in a lot more rides on each (10 instead of 6 each) the PEAK wait time was only 51 minutes (most were less than 30). This is much closer to the 5 rating UG originally had for that same date.

Now, I know RM updates their software and their projection / crowd data frequently AND they advise you to check back closer to your trip to plan actual itineraries - BUT - I'm going to be very interested to see if it's RM that ends up updating their projections to match UG - OR if UG will end up being wrong.

UG has a pretty good track record of being right, but everything I read / see / hear tells me that the first two weeks of May will not be as crowded as the last two weeks.

Stay tuned for updates, I'll run this same plan every week from now until the week before we leave and see if RM's wait times go up or not.

P.S. I've said it before, I highly recommend RideMax.

John

Verrrrrry interesting!!! I sure hope you're right! Definitely keep us updated on how/if RM changes on that!

 

[DaveStroem]

Kim Possible took about 20 minutes per mission to do. Personally our family could only handle 1 mission per day. More then that got a little annoying.

 

[zeke11]

I just bought RideMax and did all our plans. But for AK, it has us scheduled on the safari at 5:30 pm! From what I have read, it is best to do the safari first thing in the AM in order to see more animals.

Is there any way to set this up so that safari is first? and the rest of the day is set up property for the rest of the attractions?

Kris

 

[sandym718]

I just bought RideMax and did all our plans. But for AK, it has us scheduled on the safari at 5:30 pm! From what I have read, it is best to do the safari first thing in the AM in order to see more animals.

Is there any way to set this up so that safari is first? and the rest of the day is set up property for the rest of the attractions?

Kris

Definitely - see this post:

My latest Kilamanjaro Safaris discovery is that it's better to schedule a "break" at 9:05am in Africa, that lasts for 45 mins, than it is to schedule your plan to start later- that way it accounts for you being at the back of the park when you start your Ridemax plan.

I didn't end up doing it for our AK plan (the boys will do Everest first), we'll be using FP. But I DID do it for Dumbo b/c the kids insist that's first. So I just put in a 12 min. break I think at 9:05, and then it has me doing the rest of Fantasyland, just like we want !

 

[BellaBaby]

John--Thanks for doing RM for 5/2 and updating us!! That's exactly what I need to see!!

Dave--Thanks for your reply as well, I think I will go ahead and purchase RM, (but closer to our trip as they recommend). It sounds like it's totally worth it!!