RideMax Users Thread (FAQs Linked in First Post!)

[rosiep]

Thanks for the speedy reply!

It sounds like a really fun thing to use. Obsessive planner that I am, it's going to be hard to wait until my dates are available.

 

[wswhorselover]

REALLY?? Wow... I'm a subscriber and didn't know that! Do you mind telling me where I could find that feature? I'd really appreciate it !

I'm curious about this too! I was just downloading copies of park maps and numbering them myself, but that would be so much easier

 

[jamstew]

I haven't seen any maps associated with RideMax either.

 

[rosiep]

Can anyone confirm or deny a numbered map feature?

 

[irunnoft]

Is there an app for Ridemax for an iPhone or do you just use your home computer? I have an iMac and an MacBook, but we also have a PC. If I understand correctly, Ridemax only works on a PC. I was just wondering if you could adjust things on the fly and an iPhone seems like the easiest way to do that, but. . .

I'm also on the fence between Ridemax and TGM. Any suggestions? I don't even know if this would be worth it for me, though because we've been 11 times in the past five years and I think I've got a pulse on how to work the FPs and the parks. Anybody who's been to the parks fairly regular find the info on Ridemax to be worth it?

Thanks

 

[jimmiej]

Can anyone confirm or deny a numbered map feature?

Please forgive my brain freeze. There are no maps on RideMax. I must have been thinking of TouringPlans.com.

Carry on.

 

[SoloFriendly]

For anyone who is interested, I used Ridemax on my recent trip to WDW, and have just posted a thorough review of the results at my blog, here:

Ridemax Review

 

[OhioMom]

We are visiting the world 5/28 - 6/4. Upon finalizing my plans I thought I should probably check the disney site and see if the park hours have changed any. Well they have and Ridemax has not changed them yet. I emailed them so hopefully they will change soon? Anyone have any experience with requesting anything from them? Anyhoo, just thought I would let you know DHS has extended their hours just about every night 5/28-6/4 and added a 10:30p fantasmic show to their already 9p fantasmic show scheduled on 3 of the nights. Just thought I would give a heads up if anyone was going during this time.

Thanks for the heads up!! I haven't checked the hours lately because it had been too soon to see any changes, but we will be there right after you, 6/5-6/15, so I will make some time to check the Disney site in the next couple of days and see if we have any extended hours, or most importantly an additional Fantasmic show on my only DHS day.

I made some tentative Ridemax plans and had in my mind that I would really put the "final" ones together right before our trip. DH is taking his laptop for work...which is totally wrong in my opinion, lol...and I downloaded Ridemax on that computer too, so I'll be able to modify plans while we're there if necessary.

I'm also going to follow the advice of some on this thread to make a couple of alternate plans for some days, such as a rope drop plan, and a back up later arrival plan just in case we are running late.

This thread is just a wealth of information and you all are great!!

 

[vicki_c]

Is there an app for Ridemax for an iPhone or do you just use your home computer? I have an iMac and an MacBook, but we also have a PC. If I understand correctly, Ridemax only works on a PC. I was just wondering if you could adjust things on the fly and an iPhone seems like the easiest way to do that, but. . .
Thanks

No go on the iPhone for updating your plans or running the program.

But what I'm doing is creating the plans on my laptop, saving them as files, transferring them to my iDisk, using OneDisk (an App store app) to view them on my phone. It works great, but any document viewer that you can use on your phone would work - there's a few in the App store - you don't have to have iDisk/MobileMe. I think it sounds complicated when you write it out, but it's actually quite simple.

 

[OhioMom]

For anyone who is interested, I used Ridemax on my recent trip to WDW, and have just posted a thorough review of the results at my blog, here:

Ridemax Review

I enjoyed reading your review. I will be a first time user of Ridemax in just two weeks and value all the different opinions as to where it works well and where it doesn't.

I feel I have a pretty good lay of the land at MK and Epcot, not as much at AK and DHS. There are also a number of things at some of the parks that we haven't done yet and I haven't quite figured out how to work everything in yet. I am hoping that Ridemax will help me understand and put together a good plan that functions and flows well for the attractions and rides that my family enjoys.

It was especially nice to read such a well balanced and kind review. No bad mouthing Ridemax just because it wasn't necessarily useful for you. Thank you for taking the time to give us your viewpoint!

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

We are visiting the world 5/28 - 6/4. Upon finalizing my plans I thought I should probably check the disney site and see if the park hours have changed any. Well they have and Ridemax has not changed them yet. I emailed them so hopefully they will change soon? Anyone have any experience with requesting anything from them? Anyhoo, just thought I would let you know DHS has extended their hours just about every night 5/28-6/4 and added a 10:30p fantasmic show to their already 9p fantasmic show scheduled on 3 of the nights. Just thought I would give a heads up if anyone was going during this time.

THANKS FOR POSTING THIS INFO. We will be there from 5/29 - 6/8 and I ran Ridemax plans all last weekend....oh well, good excuse to play some more on Ridemax!!!

 

[MamaCrush]

I'm also on the fence between Ridemax and TGM. Any suggestions? I don't even know if this would be worth it for me, though because we've been 11 times in the past five years and I think I've got a pulse on how to work the FPs and the parks. Anybody who's been to the parks fairly regular find the info on Ridemax to be worth it?

I subscribed to both, TGM and Ridemax. My thought was that I'd use TGM to determine which days to go to each park, and then Ridemax for a detailed plan of attack once I'm in the park. However, I compared TGM's recommended/avoid lists with Ridemax's when to go where lists, and based on my random review, the recommendations were identical. (Please note that this was not an exhaustive research plan, just my review for my own curiosity!)

So, based on this, I think if you could only afford/justify one subscription, I'd go with Ridemax since the days to visit seem to be the same and RM offers a more customizable touring plan.

Just my 2 pennies!

 

[ScotnSteph]

I subscribed to both, TGM and Ridemax. My thought was that I'd use TGM to determine which days to go to each park, and then Ridemax for a detailed plan of attack once I'm in the park. However, I compared TGM's recommended/avoid lists with Ridemax's when to go where lists, and based on my random review, the recommendations were identical. (Please note that this was not an exhaustive research plan, just my review for my own curiosity!)

So, based on this, I think if you could only afford/justify one subscription, I'd go with Ridemax since the days to visit seem to be the same and RM offers a more customizable touring plan.

Just my 2 pennies!

I agree. I love RideMax because I can come up with a customized plan quickly and easily. I thought I would still want TGM for the best park info, but RideMax has that too. I compared my dates and the recommendations were the same. The only difference beng that TGM breaks his recommendations into am and pm. RideMax just has a daily recommendations, but since I don't park hop it works for me.

 

[MamaCrush]

For anyone who is interested, I used Ridemax on my recent trip to WDW, and have just posted a thorough review of the results at my blog, here:

Ridemax Review

Very thorough review. Thanks! And I certainly agree that as a solo traveler, Ridemax would probably be inefficient. But for our family of 4, I'm looking forward to how this focuses the group and gets us in and out of rides quicker since we can't benefit from single rider lines. (Except for EE where the two kids won't even think about getting on! Based on your review, I think I'll just schedule a break in the area on RM and allow enough time for me and DH to run through the single rider line.)

 

[WDW Princess 71]

I am using a RideMax plan for DHS next week but also incorporating my own strategy, because there are 4 of us (myself, brother, and parents), but our parents don’t ride anything…thus, they can get a second set of fastpasses for us while we get one set. So our plan is me and my brother go to TSM first to get fastpasses, and then immediately ride standby. In the meantime, my parents can get fastpasses for either TOT or RnRC—so my question is, which ride should I have them get the fastpasses for? I want to base my decision on which one will have the longer standby wait by the time we are done TSM around 9:35 am…RideMax has us riding RnRC at that time with a 37 min wait…kind of long…anybody have any idea how long the standby line at TOT is at 9:35 am? If it is much short than the RnRC line then I’m thinking I should have my parents get us RnRC fastpasses while we do TOT standby. Please help with your advice, thanks so much!

 

[mwerner2]

…anybody have any idea how long the standby line at TOT is at 9:35 am?

To get a approximate standby times, run RideMax for the correct date and enter the ride you're looking for several times. Basically you're telling the program you want to ride TOT over and over again. One of the standby times will probably be close to the time you're looking for. You may need to narrow the time you're in the park down to 9:00am to 11am for example. If you've put TOT in too many times, remove one and try again.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[KidaniMom]

DO you realize that if you run your plan with the same attractions multiple times it will give you different plans? I had a great a plan, ran it again by mistake and it came out different, ran it a few more times and finally it gave me the one I liked.

It seems like I am spending alot of time tweaking it to give me something that makes sense to me. Do you all find that? Like TSM, I want to do that first but it wants me to get a FP and come back later. I figure first thing, even if we are not the fastest walkers we won't have to wait too too long. Any thoughts? TIA

 

[KidaniMom]

At MK there is sorta 2 RDs. The first one is at the tunnels that are under the railroad track. The second is on the spokes of the hub. When we were there we waited in the passageway under the Castle. The first one took place about 10 minutes before the second which was at 9:00. OH don't forget there is also a third RD for ToonTown. It is at 9:45.

How do you get to be at the rope drop near the Castle? Been at rope drop twice I was always outside the turnstiles?

 

[SoloFriendly]

Very thorough review. Thanks! And I certainly agree that as a solo traveler, Ridemax would probably be inefficient. But for our family of 4, I'm looking forward to how this focuses the group and gets us in and out of rides quicker since we can't benefit from single rider lines. (Except for EE where the two kids won't even think about getting on! Based on your review, I think I'll just schedule a break in the area on RM and allow enough time for me and DH to run through the single rider line.)

Thank you. Yes, I think for families, this is a nice "objective" way to decide the order of rides and keep people focused and moving from ride to ride. I would absolutely use this with a family or group.

It seems like I am spending alot of time tweaking it to give me something that makes sense to me. Do you all find that? Like TSM, I want to do that first but it wants me to get a FP and come back later. I figure first thing, even if we are not the fastest walkers we won't have to wait too too long. Any thoughts? TIA

Yes, I spent a ton of time tweaking my plans. I think that means we're control freaks.

 

[dansamy]

How do you get to be at the rope drop near the Castle? Been at rope drop twice I was always outside the turnstiles?

Plan to be AT the turnstiles 30-45 minutes before park opening.