RideMax Users Thread (FAQs Linked in First Post!)

[ekatiel]

So glad your having a great trip. Can't wait to read the rest of your TR.

So glad to hear your trip is going well and RM is doing it's thing! It is a very cool feeling to know you're doing the OPPOSITE of what the crowd is doing, isn't it?

We got back home last night. RideMax was AWESOME!!!!! At the beginning of the week, DH was questioning our plan-- by day two or three, he was all about the plan-- he is now ALL ABOUT RideMax !! We brought along my laptop and DH's blackberry (which we can use as a modem) and made a few plans while we were there. Being able to make plans while we were there was wonderful. I made up a little table in Word before I left that has all the RideMax columns on it and printed out about 10 of them. That way, once I had the plan on the screen, I could just jot it down on the pre-printed table. It was nothing fancy, but it let me write it down quickly and easily. If anyone wants a copy of the word document, you can PM me, and I'll email it to you.

We used a plan every morning, and just "winged-it" most evenings. The only snafus we ran into were when we 1) weren't following our plan or 2) didn't have a plan. Several evenings, we tried to go see attractions that were already closed (Tom Sawyer's island after 7pm, and the Honey I shrunk the Kids playground after 5pm)-- I kept thinking that I should have just gone ahead and made an evening plan b/c RideMax knows when things are closed, etc. When we were following the RideMax plans, everything ran SO SMOOTHLY.

We used "slow" touring mode most days, and it was great for us (a family with young children)-- we were able to take plenty of potty breaks (and even have a few potty accidents ) without getting off of schedule. It really gave us time to smell the roses-- meet some characters, etc.

The "tips" in RideMax were right on and enabled us to be among the first to get FP's for some of the biggies at each park, which gave us HUGE flexibility, since we were eligible for another fastpass by 10am most days.

Overall, DH and I agree that RideMax made our vacation. It was a WONDERFUL time, and a lot of what made it wonderful was being able to walk onto so many rides. Waiting for 75 minutes to do Soarin' is not my idea of a fun vacation. Being able to ride Soarin' twice with fastpasses before 1pm is TOTALLY my idea of a great vacation! We will continue to buy RideMax for each of our WDW vacations in the future-- I will not travel without it now!--Katie

 

[torsie24]

Thanks for the great review ekatiel! Eeee - I can't wait to get ridemax!!!

 

[sandym718]

We're back also! I was very happy with Ridemax. We didn't follow it to a Tee, it wasn't really necessary, but we generally followed the "flow" of the plans if that makes sense. We didn't wait longer than 10 minutes for ANYTHING the entire trip, other than the Fairies (that was almost an hour RIGHT at opening, grr....) We were able to do so much, in even less time than RideMax predicted.

 

[ekatiel]

Does anyone find themselves wishing they had RideMax for other things that are totally non-disney related?? A few weeks ago I was in rush-hour traffic, and I found myself thinking, "I wish I had RideMax for the freeways". And when we were in stuck in a HUGE line going through security at the airport yesterday I told DH, "Too bad we don't have RideMax for the airport lines." --Katie

 

[torsie24]

Does anyone find themselves wishing they had RideMax for other things that are totally non-disney related?? A few weeks ago I was in rush-hour traffic, and I found myself thinking, "I wish I had RideMax for the freeways". And when we were in stuck in a HUGE line going through security at the airport yesterday I told DH, "Too bad we don't have RideMax for the airport lines." --Katie

This is by FAR my favourite post for May!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ChipDaleFan]

Just ordered Ridemax for the first time for our trip in July. Thanks so much for this thread and all who have posted. It is so fun to play with Ridemax even though my dates aren't up yet!

I am sure I will have questions on how to use it correctly once my dates are up, but it is good to know someone on here will have an answer

 

[DaveStroem]

Hi everyone!
To me this seems ridiculous to wait 86 minutes for Expedition Everest...can I really believe that this is the best plan, or expect one with my instinct that I should do EE first or at least get a FP for it? Or since this is an EMH day, should I do EE first during that hour, then use this plan starting at 9:00 as it is for the rest of the attractions?

Here is the issue. Since AK is an EMH that day, by 9:00 the line queue will already be full. The fastpasses for it will also have a much longer return time then KS. With these things considered, I bet this IS the best plan if you get to the park at 9:00 am when the park opens at 8:00 am.

RideMax does not suggest or support EMHs other then MK morning ones. While we did several on our last trim, I am now in agreement with this.
Here is my reasoning.

EMH requires you to get up 1 hour earlier. This limits how late you can play the night before. While you do get a lot done the first hour, you get just as much if not more done during the first hour at a non EMH park (remember not everything is open for EMHs).

During the rest of the day the EMH park will be busier then the non EMH park. So if you have hopper passes, you can hop. But this will cost an hour of park time for transit from park to park (the same hour you gained by getting there early). When you get to the new park, you will have later return times on any FP you collect as compared to if you got them earlier in the day by being at that park from rope drop.

So in summary, the benifits of skipping EMHs are: more sleep, equal wait times early, lessor wait time the rest of the day & you don't need Park Hoppers.

 

[jamdisney]

First, I gotta' thank MomPoppins- your thoughts were just the encouragement that I needed. Second, I want to thank Dave for his recent post- I don't 'do' EMHs, but it's been hard to articulate exactly why. Your explanation is excellent! Now I'm just trying to be patient waiting for July to be added!

 

[Ariel Wanna-be]

I saw this asked but don't remember seeing an answer for it... What happens if you ride a ride and then the next ride is not scheduled for say 20 minutes do you go ahead and ride and get keep getting ahead of your schedule or do you wait and find something else to do to stay on schedule minute to minute?

Anyone? I'd like to know this too...

 

[schwenksvillemouse]

Here's my question on Ride Max. I've used RM for early morning touring with success, but has anyone ever used RM starting a tour around dinner time. It just seems to me that so much can transpire at a park during the day that startinga tour at 6 pm would be almost impossible to predict. At the start of the day there are less variables, and a good starting point.

Anyway any feedback would be helpful. I'm specifically speaking of touring MK starting around 6 PM on a EMH morning park day.

 

[ScotnSteph]

First, I gotta' thank MomPoppins- your thoughts were just the encouragement that I needed. Second, I want to thank Dave for his recent post- I don't 'do' EMHs, but it's been hard to articulate exactly why. Your explanation is excellent! Now I'm just trying to be patient waiting for July to be added!

When I have gotten ahead of schedule I have done a couple of things.

1. This is a great time for a bathroom break, snack, relaxing on a bench, etc if everyone seems ready for a little break.

2. If no break is needed and everyone is ready to go, I would go ahead to the next thing on the plan. The only issue would be if at the next attraction you are using a FP and the window hasn't opened up yet.

 

[DaveStroem]

When we end up ahead, we just did the next thing on the list, or a little bit of shopping. The only things that you can't do ahead of time are: using fast passes early, getting your next fastpass or scheduled shows.

 

[torsie24]

If you do RM on moderate, would this allow time between attractions to grab a drink to go, or go to the bathroom?

I'd quite like an explanation of the 3 different speeds..

 

[Phigment]

RideMax is a download not web based correct? I intend to buy it from home tonight and build my plans on a personal computer and print them out and/or load them on my iPhone but will be bringing a work laptop on our trip that I can't load RideMax on. Assuming it is a one time download and I don't want to travel with two laptops have users found themselves making major edits once they're at WDW?

 

[DaveStroem]

The software is downloaded but the data is on the RM server. Internet connection is required.

That being said, you could make your plans then save them in a format that you can put on your iphone. We did not make changes to our plans once we were there. I doubt that things would change with the data once it is put to bed the week before.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

If you do RM on moderate, would this allow time between attractions to grab a drink to go, or go to the bathroom?

I'd quite like an explanation of the 3 different speeds..

3 different speeds? How come on mine the only options I have are "normal" and "slow"?

Secondly, I was wondering if it is necessary to bring a laptop on vacation to update plans with RM? Or is it enough to just check and make sure the plan is accurate the day before you leave?

 

[torsie24]

Sorry - my bad - i was sure i'd read there were 3! (I don't have it yet!)

Does normal give you any free time or is it just ride, ride, ride?

 

[DaveStroem]

I felt a bit rushed with the Normal mode. Next time I will be using the slow mode. What really worked well for us, but is not in anyway guaranteed to work for anyone else is to throw away the times for anything other than shows. Just do things in the order that Ridemax has them in. I tell the princesses that for the first couple of hours we ride and not shop or dilly dally, the rest of the day we just do it in the order that is listed.

 

[torsie24]

I felt a bit rushed with the Normal mode. Next time I will be using the slow mode. What really worked well for us, but is not in anyway guaranteed to work for anyone else is to throw away the times for anything other than shows. Just do things in the order that Ridemax has them in. I tell the princesses that for the first couple of hours we ride and not shop or dilly dally, the rest of the day we just do it in the order that is listed.

Sounds a good plan. We're alos very excited in the mornings, so we do well rushing about and seeing loads, and then after a couple of hours the lag sets in and we're ready for a snack and a slow down.

 

[Vacation Lover]

Whew, just finished all 35 pages and I can't wait to get it for our October trip. Lots of questions...

1. Does anyone know if RM will work with MNSSHP? We plan on arriving at MK at 4:00 and using our MNSSHP tickets to get in.

2. Will RideMax factor in crowd level & the "extras" (like parades) for MNSSHP? (We're planning to go Columbus Day week).

3. Any suggestions for how to handle Pixie Hollow since we won't be there at Rope Drop? This will be a must-do for my girls and MNSSHP is our only MK day.

4. Like the previous poster, I would also like to see a definition of "Slow" and "Normal" pace.

Thanks!