RideMax Users Thread (FAQs Linked in First Post!)

[bellebookworm9]

How can I make a plan using the mornig exxtra magic hours for the parks. when I put in the time it says the park is not open yet even tho it has early morning hours. I know it is best to stay away during that time but we are going in Aug. and since I heard it will be super hot, I really want to get as much done in the morning as possable. How can I make a plan for this?????

RideMax isn't compatible with any Extra Magic Hours except for morning EMH at Magic Kingdom. Hope that helps.

 

[Aliceacc]

How can I make a plan using the mornig exxtra magic hours for the parks. when I put in the time it says the park is not open yet even tho it has early morning hours. I know it is best to stay away during that time but we are going in Aug. and since I heard it will be super hot, I really want to get as much done in the morning as possable. How can I make a plan for this?????

I'm a rookie too, but I'll tell you what makes sense to me:
Try a plan where you're ready at rope drop, and look at which rides you're interested in that are open during morning EMH. Plug them in for a normal opening, with a time span of an hour. See what the plan spits out for them. Then make another plan, minus those rides you've already seen, starting at rope drop.

Does that make sense (to you, and to others more familiar with Ridemax??)

 

[ekatiel]

Hi Jana! I tried to answer a few of your questions on the PM you sent me, but I'll take a stab at these, too:

I just bought it for our September trip, and am playing around with August dates similar to ours for each park. The only plan I have tried to create so far is for DHS on 8/26. We have two small kids (4 and 2) and two grandmas coming who can watch them while DH and I ride RnRC and ToT. So I don't really want to put those 2 rides into the plan, since we could squeeze them in whenever (and they are less important than the ride/shows for the kids), but I don't know how to work this. Do I just leave them off and assume we can get FP whenever we're near those rides and ride them when they're doing the HISTK playarea of something? I think Ridemax is cool but I'm a little overwhelmed!

I would put RnRC and ToT into the plan and then have the kids go to the HISTK playarea (or somewhere else that is not time sensitive) while you do those rides. Also, the HISTK play area doesn't open first thing in the morning (I think it's either at 9:30 or 10am that it opens). On our trip, my mom was going to take the kids there while we got a TSM FP and then rode RnRC. We were all supposed to meet back at the hat at 9:30 to do the Great Movie Ride. My mom found out that the HISTK play area wasn't open yet, so she improvised and took the kids to meet some characters and just look around. They had a great time anyways, and we did the play area later (it also closes early-- I want to say 5pm?). Anyhow, the bottom line is-- it is best to put in any attractions that might have a long wait or need a FP, then you can have one of the grandmas and the kids go somewhere that is more flexible during that time.

OK, here's another specific question. I'm trying with 8/28 to plan an AK day. We have an 8 am ADR at TH, so I'm planning a 9-9:45 break in Asia to do the safari first (is this right?). I am trying to leave Expedition Everest off the list since just DH and I will do it, and I was thinking we could go while the kids are with grandmas in the Boneyard (they could stay all day). The only FP it has us getting all day is one for Dinosaur at 10:44 am. So can I just kind of assume we could get a EE FP right around 9, and probably be eligible for the Dinosaur one by 10:44? Then we could ride EE at 11 when it has us at the Boneyard, and ride Dinosaur when it has us doing it in the plan late afternoon? Did that make any sense at all?

If I put EE and Boneyard in it's too much, but since we really want to do them at the same time, I'm trying to make that happen. Help!

The same thing is true in this situation. I would put EE in your plan and then send the kids to the Boneyard while you guys ride EE. If you go to get the EE FP first thing, then there might be a wait for the Safari by the time you get back over there. It would be best to put in the break for the safari and add EE to the plan and see what it has you doing. Our plan had us get FP's for EE right after the safari. HTH!

I'm a rookie too, but I'll tell you what makes sense to me:
Try a plan where you're ready at rope drop, and look at which rides you're interested in that are open during morning EMH. Plug them in for a normal opening, with a time span of an hour. See what the plan spits out for them. Then make another plan, minus those rides you've already seen, starting at rope drop.

Does that make sense (to you, and to others more familiar with Ridemax??)

This does make sense with one exception. I would make the plan for the first hour on a non-emh day (and then use it for the emh morning). If you make a plan for the EMH day from 9-10am, RideMax will assume that the park is already packed and your wait times will be longer. If you make a plan for the first hour on a non-emh day (but use it for morning emh), just make sure you only choose attractions that will be open during EMH. Then, select the actual EMH day to make the rest of your plan, starting at 9am. we didn't actually try this, so hopefully, someone who's tried it will chime in.

I would love to hear from someone who's used RideMax this summer. It seems like the heat and crowds are really getting to some people-- I'm just wondering if RideMax has made anyone's summer visit much more bearable?! --Katie

 

[papaof3]

I'm a newbie to ridemax but am sure to love it. Hate waiting in lines. My wife and kiddies will be walking at a slow pace so I used that in the options. But even with the slow pace setting, with MK opening at 9am, Ridemax has us on Dumbo at 9:01am. How in the world do you get there that quick? In one minute I will still be walking main street. Do they drop ropes at 8:45 and ridemax assumes this, so we can be at the ride right at 9 or 9:01am? I don't know if that Bolt sprinter could get there in one minute. Should I have my start time be 9:05am for first ride? I'm planning on getting there at rope drop, but walking slowly. Does this happen to everyone and if we get there at 9:06 will everything get backed up and the plan not work well? thanks.

 

[MOM POPPINS]

There are ropes at the back of the park closer to Dumbo. You will need to get to the gates around 30 minutes prior to opening. The "Welcome" show will start at about 10 minutes until opening and last for approx. 5 minutes. So you actually have 5 minutes to get to the back of the park for the official rope drop. This worked well for us, we also went on Dumbo first. Just get to know your map and know where it is located ahead of time.

 

[creativeamanda]

Just wanted to give all of you a little hint--I use Ridemax with the Unoffical Guide's website. I took my ridemax stuff and then plug it into the create your own touring plan at the UG website so everything is on a map. I password protected it, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it works next week!

 

[vicki_c]

I found we were watching our watches all the time - being "behind" or "ahead of "schedule". I loved playing with it prior to being at the park. And I liked some of te different suggestions that were made versus what I usually did or what was suggested on other touring guides. But quite honestly, I felt my knowledge of the parks and attractions helped make decisions that were sometimes better at the moment than what was being suggested. So I would say that for me I will run the guide for m next trips just to play and perhaps get an idea for rotation, but I didn't like the idea of being on schedule for my vacation either. I didn't like it all. I won't do it again. The last couple of days I went completely off schedule and had a much better time. But I go a couple of times a year and am not worried if I miss a particular ride - with a few exceptions - on a particular trip. If you don't go often, it will help ensure you get to do all you want.

I would agree with this. We've been so many times, I didn't find it all that helpful - but it was interesting to me. And we did do a few attractions at times that we normally wouldn't have, with success. But there were other things about it that just flew in the face of what I know from so many visits to the parks in the past (one for example - getting a spot for 9:00 Wishes at 8:50 - I even e-mailed them about it and they said they felt that was sufficient - I totally disagree and it wasn't anywhere near enough time last week to get a spot where you could decently see the fireworks, in my opinion).

It was worth the $20, though, and for an infrequent visitor, I'm sure it could be very helpful. It did make me feel a little more commando than usual though - we skipped Peter Pan because we got off schedule and in hindsight, I would have ridden it anyway and just made up for it by switching things around later as I needed to.

 

[autiger86]

Hi Jana! I tried to answer a few of your questions on the PM you sent me, but I'll take a stab at these, too:



I would put RnRC and ToT into the plan and then have the kids go to the HISTK playarea (or somewhere else that is not time sensitive) while you do those rides. Also, the HISTK play area doesn't open first thing in the morning (I think it's either at 9:30 or 10am that it opens). On our trip, my mom was going to take the kids there while we got a TSM FP and then rode RnRC. We were all supposed to meet back at the hat at 9:30 to do the Great Movie Ride. My mom found out that the HISTK play area wasn't open yet, so she improvised and took the kids to meet some characters and just look around. They had a great time anyways, and we did the play area later (it also closes early-- I want to say 5pm?). Anyhow, the bottom line is-- it is best to put in any attractions that might have a long wait or need a FP, then you can have one of the grandmas and the kids go somewhere that is more flexible during that time.



The same thing is true in this situation. I would put EE in your plan and then send the kids to the Boneyard while you guys ride EE. If you go to get the EE FP first thing, then there might be a wait for the Safari by the time you get back over there. It would be best to put in the break for the safari and add EE to the plan and see what it has you doing. Our plan had us get FP's for EE right after the safari. HTH!



This does make sense with one exception. I would make the plan for the first hour on a non-emh day (and then use it for the emh morning). If you make a plan for the EMH day from 9-10am, RideMax will assume that the park is already packed and your wait times will be longer. If you make a plan for the first hour on a non-emh day (but use it for morning emh), just make sure you only choose attractions that will be open during EMH. Then, select the actual EMH day to make the rest of your plan, starting at 9am. we didn't actually try this, so hopefully, someone who's tried it will chime in.

I would love to hear from someone who's used RideMax this summer. It seems like the heat and crowds are really getting to some people-- I'm just wondering if RideMax has made anyone's summer visit much more bearable?! --Katie

The only thing that remotely helped us (with two children 7 and 3) was being at the EMH park of the day at rope drop and hit it running. We did all of the major rides that we wanted in MK and were through by noon...back for swimming and nap. Epcot was a little harder---knocked Soarin, TT, Crush, Little Mermaid, and Innovations out by noon...back for swimming and nap. Animal Kingdom was horrible---so hot. We did the Safari, EE, Dinosaur, and the boneyard and called it quits...why is that park so hot? DHS was a mad dash to TSM, DS and 2 DS's walked on and rode and I got FP. Then off to TOT and waited 30 minutes. Waited 35 minutes for RNRC. Went back and did TSM again and got FP for Star Tours. Walked around drinking everything in the park we could get our hands on and rode Star Tours...back to swim and nap. The evenings we hit the parks again about 5:30 for TS ressies. A few of the parks we got FP's for attractions as we walked out in the morning, but if we didn't have any FP, we were very selective about what we were willing to wait in line for. We will go back to our Feb/Nov rotation instead of the Feb/June rotation this year. Maybe we can squeeze Nov. back in!

 

[MOM POPPINS]

We went in early June and I agree it was so hot. I don't remember it being that hot last year. We are looking foward to our November trip... We might go back to our March/November rotation vs. late May/November.... I was hoping to go 3 times... but I am not sure I want to try late May/June again in 2010! Ridemax worked great for us!

 

[vicki_c]

The only thing that remotely helped us (with two children 7 and 3) was being at the EMH park of the day at rope drop and hit it running. We did all of the major rides that we wanted in MK and were through by noon...back for swimming and nap. Epcot was a little harder---knocked Soarin, TT, Crush, Little Mermaid, and Innovations out by noon...back for swimming and nap. Animal Kingdom was horrible---so hot. We did the Safari, EE, Dinosaur, and the boneyard and called it quits...why is that park so hot? DHS was a mad dash to TSM, DS and 2 DS's walked on and rode and I got FP. Then off to TOT and waited 30 minutes. Waited 35 minutes for RNRC. Went back and did TSM again and got FP for Star Tours. Walked around drinking everything in the park we could get our hands on and rode Star Tours...back to swim and nap. The evenings we hit the parks again about 5:30 for TS ressies. A few of the parks we got FP's for attractions as we walked out in the morning, but if we didn't have any FP, we were very selective about what we were willing to wait in line for. We will go back to our Feb/Nov rotation instead of the Feb/June rotation this year. Maybe we can squeeze Nov. back in!

Are you saying that's what you did with a RideMax plan? (and you must have done your own plan for the EMH part?) Are you saying the wait times were much longer than what your plan said - or did you go with a plan that said you would be waiting 30 and 35 minutes? Because for what we did use RideMax for, we found the wait times to be very accurate. But when creating my plans, I wouldn't accept any plan that gave me a 30 minute wait time for anything - our max was 15 minutes in our plans - but I tweaked them around to get that result.

I'm just surprised that you didn't get more done in the morning using RideMax and especially if you went to the EMH as well.

 

[tlcdoula]

I have read thru most of the pages.... great info but I am still confused...

Right now I can only use it for my first 2 days because we are going at the end of August thru September 8th..

The first day we are going to MK Sunday Aug 30th "which is pm EMH, but I really want this to be our first park"

So my question is.....should I work the program in two seperate runs? Morning RD thru to after lunch, then we are having a break... Then Run another set of plans for late afternoon/evening?

or do it at one whole day?


Thanks

 

[papaof3]

I have read thru most of the pages.... great info but I am still confused...

Right now I can only use it for my first 2 days because we are going at the end of August thru September 8th..

The first day we are going to MK Sunday Aug 30th "which is pm EMH, but I really want this to be our first park"

So my question is.....should I work the program in two seperate runs? Morning RD thru to after lunch, then we are having a break... Then Run another set of plans for late afternoon/evening?

or do it at one whole day?


Thanks

Sinece you are going on a sunday, you need to find another date because the program doesn't do sundays, I choose a friday in the same week which also had an evening emh like the sunday and also had the same attendance levels, a 6 when I am going. So I ran the program for that date.
Then I added a break at the park entrance. I labeled it hotel break and choose the number of minutes, like 240 minutes. I timed it just right to leave after a noon lunch at 12:45 and be back going right to our dinner reservations at 6pm at the crystal palace. It took some playing around to get it too work with the minutes and start times with things because the program figures in walking times to the park entrance and then back to dinner. In the end, the program then put a few rides in the evening after dinner and before the parade/fireworks start.
Of course, you will also have an extended evening with the emh which you can't use the program for. I'm staying at the Poly, so I am taking the kids and mommy back to the hotel around 11pm and then going back for some daddy time on his favorite rides, POC, HM, BTMR Etc. Should be fun at midnight-1am and easy to do with a short monorail or boat ride back to the kingdom.
Hope this helps

 

[Vacation Lover]

About one more month until I buy the program for our October trip! One thing I was wondering...does RM have time estimates for the wait at Pixie Hollow? Can I put seeing the fairies into my list of attractions and have it tell me the best time to go? Thanks!

 

[tjknitz]

I've purchased Ridemax for my Sept trip and started playing around with it to get acclimated (I know Sept hours aren't up yet, but I wanted to see what I should expect when Sept came around - I'm impatient)
Anyway, I will be traveling with 3 kids - 9,7 and 13months. I'm going to assume that being in the hot sun all day, the kids are going to need to take a break back in the hotel for some relaxation and swimming. I plan on doing this every day except for my AK day (but who knows, I hear this is the hottest park of them all)
My question for all you Ridemax users - since I am going with a 13month old should I set it to normal speed or slow? Any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[jennyf10]

Just wanted to give all of you a little hint--I use Ridemax with the Unoffical Guide's website. I took my ridemax stuff and then plug it into the create your own touring plan at the UG website so everything is on a map. I password protected it, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it works next week!

This is a fabulous idea!! I'm going to do this for our upcoming trip - we leave in 4 days!! Thanks for the tip.

 

[dbaker375]

Is RideMax software worth the money and the time? Haven't been to Disney in over 6 years and have never been in the summertime. Going 7/30-8/3.

 

[MOM POPPINS]

Yes it is We went on our 16th. trip in early June and it taught me things I did not know. If you have not been in 6 years it will really help.. add that to the fact that it is summer time and crowded and hot.... You will be glad you have a plan!

 

[julesingeorgia]

I would most definately purchase Ridemax again if I were going to the parks during a busy time of year BUT.............

My 11yo son and I went to the World 5/28-6/4 which is a pretty busy time of year. Sometimes Ridemax worked for us and sometimes not so much. My son loves the Tomorrowland Speedway so I put that in my plan to do 2 times. The plan said we should do it 2 times in a row first thing in the morning. We were there for rope drop which was great and high-tailed it straight to the Speedway. The line was short but we waited roughly 45 minutes to ride this ride. They were still getting all the cars ready and had only 1 line open. By the time we got off the ride the line was so long we could not ride it again. This pretty much threw our morning out of whack. Then at Animal Kingdom I had put Kali River Rapids in our plan to ride twice. Ridemax said to get fastpasses for this ride (which I knew I needed to do) 2 different times of the day. When we went to go get our first fastpasses @ 10:04a, they did not even offer fastpasses for the entire day! If i had known this we would have headed for this ride first. Then we were supposed to get fastpasses for Primeval Whirl @ 12:30p. Guess what? They weren't offering fastpasses either. These are 2 of my son's faves and I know from experience the lines are long and would have hit them first. We only got to ride the Rapids once after standing in line for 30 minutes and had to totally skip Primeval Whirl in order to make all our showtimes. Because we stood in line for the Rapids so long we had to skip the Flights of Wonder Show. We were very willing to do the parks commando since there was only 2 of us but it just did not work out.

I would definately use Ridemax again especially at a park with shows because it is really helpful fitting them in. For the most part it worked out ok at EPCOT & HS but not so much for MK & AK. In other words, we found it to be good, but not perfect.

 

[jennyf10]

I would most definately purchase Ridemax again if I were going to the parks during a busy time of year BUT.............

My 11yo son and I went to the World 5/28-6/4 which is a pretty busy time of year. Sometimes Ridemax worked for us and sometimes not so much. My son loves the Tomorrowland Speedway so I put that in my plan to do 2 times. The plan said we should do it 2 times in a row first thing in the morning. We were there for rope drop which was great and high-tailed it straight to the Speedway. The line was short but we waited roughly 45 minutes to ride this ride. They were still getting all the cars ready and had only 1 line open. By the time we got off the ride the line was so long we could not ride it again. This pretty much threw our morning out of whack. Then at Animal Kingdom I had put Kali River Rapids in our plan to ride twice. Ridemax said to get fastpasses for this ride (which I knew I needed to do) 2 different times of the day. When we went to go get our first fastpasses @ 10:04a, they did not even offer fastpasses for the entire day! If i had known this we would have headed for this ride first. Then we were supposed to get fastpasses for Primeval Whirl @ 12:30p. Guess what? They weren't offering fastpasses either. These are 2 of my son's faves and I know from experience the lines are long and would have hit them first. We only got to ride the Rapids once after standing in line for 30 minutes and had to totally skip Primeval Whirl in order to make all our showtimes. Because we stood in line for the Rapids so long we had to skip the Flights of Wonder Show. We were very willing to do the parks commando since there was only 2 of us but it just did not work out.

I would definately use Ridemax again especially at a park with shows because it is really helpful fitting them in. For the most part it worked out ok at EPCOT & HS but not so much for MK & AK. In other words, we found it to be good, but not perfect.

Thanks for your honest review. Were the fastpasses out at PW and KRR because there were no more left or was the machine down?

 

[MOM POPPINS]

We were there at AK during the same period must have even been the sameday maybe. The fastpasses were down at Primeval and Kali also.. it was strange they were not out just only giving out birthday fast passes but all the other machines were covered. We came back to AK on a following day and had the same problem. We ended up not getting to do Kali at all and Primeval once with over a 25 minute wait.

So in my opinion Ridemax worked for us, but something beyond its control happened at Animal Kingdom that day.

We also rode Tomorrowland Speedway first thing in the morning. I also could not believe how long it took. We only had it in our plan to ride once so it ended up being fine.

I am glad to meet someone who also had problems at Animal Kingdom. It really hurt our touring of Animal Kingdom for both those attractions to be without fast pass.