RideMax Users Thread (FAQs Linked in First Post!)

[DaveStroem]

The show times for the bigger shows are generally pretty good but firm up the closer you get. There are also detailed show times for things like the WS entertainment. This is only available very close to your trip. I personally did not like having detailed plans for WS. I was happy to have the entertainment schedule you get at the park and then see how they fit into our plan. You do not want to be running from one side of WS to the other for a show.

 

[DrMulan]

Hi. I just downloaded RideMax for our first trip to WDW this may 13-18. I put in Epcot for our first day which is a half day. I thought maybe we could do a few attractions in future world, and walk around WS. I put in 4 or 5 hour tour of WS, and Ridemax kept telling me to do some of the rides (Honey I shrunk the audience, spaceship earth, soarin) around 7pm or later. I though Future world closes at 7pm? If I got fastpasses for soarin, we can still ride it after 7pm?

I hope someone can answer my question. Thanks.

 

[jamstew]

Hi. I just downloaded RideMax for our first trip to WDW this may 13-18. I put in Epcot for our first day which is a half day. I thought maybe we could do a few attractions in future world, and walk around WS. I put in 4 or 5 hour tour of WS, and Ridemax kept telling me to do some of the rides (Honey I shrunk the audience, spaceship earth, soarin) around 7pm or later. I though Future world closes at 7pm? If I got fastpasses for soarin, we can still ride it after 7pm?

I hope someone can answer my question. Thanks.

I'm not understanding how you can do a 4-5 hour WS tour plus anything else. Did you set the Plan Options to the time you intended to leave the park? Otherwise, the default will have you getting there at opening and getting on your last ride about 15 minutes before closing. Even though most of Future World closes at 7pm, several of the headliners stay open until WS closes -- Soarin', TT, M:S, maybe others but that's all I can think of.

 

[DrMulan]

I put 1pm til 830pm. For future world, I only put soarin, spaceship earth and honey i shrunk the audience. Ridemax had me get a fastpass for soarin and use it around 7pm or so, and spaceship earth after that. I wanted to make sure future world is still open after 7pm forthose attractions.

My other plan was to see what we can accomplish in FW til around 4pm, then hit WS after. I'll try different combinations of not so popular attractions and see what ridemax can come up with.

Thanks.

 

[DaveStroem]

Hi. I just downloaded RideMax for our first trip to WDW this may 13-18. I put in Epcot for our first day which is a half day. I thought maybe we could do a few attractions in future world, and walk around WS. I put in 4 or 5 hour tour of WS, and Ridemax kept telling me to do some of the rides (Honey I shrunk the audience, spaceship earth, soarin) around 7pm or later. I though Future world closes at 7pm? If I got fastpasses for soarin, we can still ride it after 7pm?

I hope someone can answer my question. Thanks.

The calendar says that FW closes at 7pm. Inoventions closes at 7 pm, but most of the attractions are open till park closing. The big 4 are for sure (Soarin, TT, M:S & SE). This caused me some concerns till Robo set me straight.

 

[ekatiel]

I was worried about this as well, but I decided to trust RideMax, b/c it seems like it knows what it's talking about!! It has us doing the nemo ride after 8pm on one of my plans! We leave tomorrow!!!!! I can't wait! --Katie

 

[rosiejo]

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

Ok I'm a little confused - I though this was a program that you used to plan your trip in advance - why does it matter if they take the day off on Sundays? Is that because they've never tested the plans on a Sunday or something

 

[DaveStroem]

To get the wait times and information, the go to the parks and record it. While is sounds like fun working in the park a few times a week, it would be a lot of hustling around to record all the data.

I fully understand and respect Mark's decision to have 1 day a week with his family. I would like to see Mark put up a month by month use this day for Sundays section on the tips board.

 

[tjknitz]

I'm sitting here at work driving myself crazy over planning and 'to purchase or not to purchase' RM! How obsessed can I get? I mean, my vacation isn't until Sept! Thank goodness for this thread though. I as debating purchasing RM because we are going during 'off season' and I was just going to use the UG touring plans. I am going to purchase RM now - I'm too much of a planner not too. This is my first trip to WDW and taking 3 kids (9,7,13mo).

One question I do have: Most of you say that if you follow the plan, it often puts you ahead of schedule. If I find myself getting done with a ride and I am not supposed to ride the next ride for 30 min (according to RM) should I just relax and hang out a bit or would you suggest that I keep going? Will RM work if I keep following the plan and I'm so far ahead of schedule? (I'm not sure if I'm making much sense with this question...lol Basically, if RM tells me to ride HM at 12pm and its 11am and the next step is to ride the mansion, would I continue to follow the plan or wait until the designated time?).

 

[jamstew]

I put 1pm til 830pm. For future world, I only put soarin, spaceship earth and honey i shrunk the audience. Ridemax had me get a fastpass for soarin and use it around 7pm or so, and spaceship earth after that. I wanted to make sure future world is still open after 7pm forthose attractions.

My other plan was to see what we can accomplish in FW til around 4pm, then hit WS after. I'll try different combinations of not so popular attractions and see what ridemax can come up with.

Thanks.

My bad -- I didn't even think about a half-day in the afternoon. I do rope drops, so I never considered that there are people who go to the parks later

 

[DaveStroem]

I'm sitting here at work driving myself crazy over planning and 'to purchase or not to purchase' RM! How obsessed can I get? I mean, my vacation isn't until Sept! Thank goodness for this thread though. I as debating purchasing RM because we are going during 'off season' and I was just going to use the UG touring plans. I am going to purchase RM now - I'm too much of a planner not too. This is my first trip to WDW and taking 3 kids (9,7,13mo).

One question I do have: Most of you say that if you follow the plan, it often puts you ahead of schedule. If I find myself getting done with a ride and I am not supposed to ride the next ride for 30 min (according to RM) should I just relax and hang out a bit or would you suggest that I keep going? Will RM work if I keep following the plan and I'm so far ahead of schedule?

If you find yourself ahead of schedule and your not feeling rushed, keep going. I personally would walk a little slower to the next ride or get a snack etc. You probably won't be able to get FP early and the shows will have set times that as much as you try, you can not push up to fit your schedule

if RM tells me to ride HM at 12pm and its 11am and the next step is to ride the mansion, would I continue to follow the plan or wait until the designated time?

Think of it this way, if it says that you will have a 10 minute wait for HM at 12, the wait may be different at 11 but it will not be longer then the 12:10 ride time that was originaly scheduled.

 

[tjknitz]

Hi All!

I am only on page 17 of the thread (love it so far). I don't know if this has been answered yet, if so, then I'm sorry for the repeat:

I obviously would not plan to purchase RM until after my 90 day mark. I have restaurants that I want to go to, so I plan on making my ADR's right at the 90day time allowance. My main question is, where do I find the best information on what park to visit that day? Should I use UG for the best park, make my ADR's around that and then purchase RM for the touring plans? Is this what you all do???

 

[DaveStroem]

Hi All!

I am only on page 17 of the thread (love it so far). I don't know if this has been answered yet, if so, then I'm sorry for the repeat:

I obviously would not plan to purchase RM until after my 90 day mark. I have restaurants that I want to go to, so I plan on making my ADR's right at the 90day time allowance. My main question is, where do I find the best information on what park to visit that day? Should I use UG for the best park, make my ADR's around that and then purchase RM for the touring plans? Is this what you all do???

IMO they are all about the same and are pretty easy to figure out.

Once the calendar comes out check out the EMH schedule. The best day will most often be the day after the park had a EMH especially a EEMH. The second criteria is what park will be having an EMH on the day after. The 3rd thing to look at is special events like Fantasmic!, Spectromagic Parade or parties.

Once you have the best days, you can then choose what restaurants you want to get ADRs for on those days. After you get the ADRs you can then start to plan your day.

All 3 of the big planning sites recommend avoiding EMHs.

 

[wswhorselover]

I downloaded RideMax to play with even though our trip isn't for another 5 years

1)I've selected the late FASTPASS option. It has me getting Soarin' FASTPASSes at 9:05am but not using them until 5:40pm. I know there is an unwritten policy that FASTPASSes are good all day, but Soarin' is the only ride I've ever heard of where they consistently won't let you ride past your time. Anyone have experience with this?

2)If I have an 8:05am ADR at Crystal Palace and and 8:30am ADR at Akershus (on separate days) does anyone have firsthand experience of what time the meals would be finished?

TIA

 

[vicki_c]

Think of it this way, if it says that you will have a 10 minute wait for HM at 12, the wait may be different at 11 but it will not be longer then the 12:10 ride time that was originaly scheduled.

Dave - clearly you are the RM guru over me since I haven't used it in the parks yet, but I might disagree with your statement, at least for certain attractions at certain times of the day.

That makes sense in the 11-12 time frame maybe, but it might not later in the day. I say this because some of the plans I made have us arriving at a park in the evening, say at 6 PM. RideMax doesn't have us riding a single thing until an hour or 1.5 hours later and just puts in "free time" in that block. My assumption is that this is because those rides we want will have a long(er) wait time at 6 PM than they would at 7 or 7:30.

Your thoughts?

 

[DaveStroem]

I think you miss interpreted what I was saying.

If you are scheduled to ride HM at 7:30 pm, but you get to the park early. If you get in line at 6:30 PM, you may have a longer wait, but your finished time will be no worse then if you got in line at 7:30. At that point you will worse case be back on schedule.

7:30 PM get in line ,30 minute wait, 8 minute ride, finished at 8:08 PM
6:30 PM get in line ,60 minute wait, 8 minute ride, finished at 7:38 PM

If the wait time at 7:30 is 30 minutes, no matter when you get in line before, you will be less then 30 minutes from the load station at 7:30. This is all assuming that the original wait times are correct.

Clear as mud.

 

[vicki_c]

I think you miss interpreted what I was saying.

If you are scheduled to ride HM at 7:30 pm, but you get to the park early. If you get in line at 6:30 PM, you may have a longer wait, but your finished time will be no worse then if you got in line at 7:30. At that point you will worse case be back on schedule.

7:30 PM get in line ,30 minute wait, 8 minute ride, finished at 8:08 PM
6:30 PM get in line ,60 minute wait, 8 minute ride, finished at 7:38 PM

If the wait time at 7:30 is 30 minutes, no matter when you get in line before, you will be less then 30 minutes from the load station at 7:30. This is all assuming that the original wait times are correct.

Clear as mud.

Nope, I get your point now. But that said, I would NEVER do that because I would never choose waiting in line for 60 mins over 30 mins, or even 20 over 10! I really don't do lines. I really think the longest I ever waited for anything at WDW is about 25 minutes. More than that, we come back later or skip it that trip. So I'd rather go with the RM plan as created, and use the free time for relaxing, shopping, whatever!

 

[disney4us2002]

How is everyone making out on the DHS' plans? I'm having a lot of trouble fitting in LMA. Is that show seriously only done twice a day? Also, in order to do TSM, RnRC, and ToT, we have to fp TSM and then wait in standby for the other two which means a 40-minute wait for one. Yuck. I thought we'd take a midday break but I can't seem to get what I want done until 4:30pm and that is with starting right at 9am.

 

[SoloFriendly]

How is everyone making out on the DHS' plans? I'm having a lot of trouble fitting in LMA. Is that show seriously only done twice a day? Also, in order to do TSM, RnRC, and ToT, we have to fp TSM and then wait in standby for the other two which means a 40-minute wait for one. Yuck. I thought we'd take a midday break but I can't seem to get what I want done until 4:30pm and that is with starting right at 9am.

I had that same problem with a lot of my park plans. I finally had to ask myself which was more important, staying in the park and doing all those things on my list, or going back to the resort for some R&R. R&R won out. So I had to start making some hard choices and jettisoning things that weren't as high of priorities for me.

 

[singingpixie]

I had that same problem with a lot of my park plans. I finally had to ask myself which was more important, staying in the park and doing all those things on my list, or going back to the resort for some R&R. R&R won out. So I had to start making some hard choices and jettisoning things that weren't as high of priorities for me.

I had the same experience. For me, I'd rather know that now and have the time to really prioritize in order to have realistic goals, rather than going in thinking I can accomplish more than is realistic. I know myself, and I know that in the moment I'd most likely choose to forgo R&R, but if I can plan ahead I am better able to put together a trip which hits all of our "must dos" with adequate downtime too. It's all about having realistic expectations from the get-go.