RideMax Users Thread (FAQs Linked in First Post!)

[torsie24]

I bought RM on Monday! Very impressed so far! Will certainly use it for our mornings, but possibly take the afternoons a bit slower.

 

[MamaCrush]

Subscribing I used ridemax for our trip it June and it was a godsend! I literally got to do just about EVERYTHING with very little waits! And my dh was very impressed when we were in the little room inside haunted mansion and I quietly told him were we needed to stand and voila doors opened and we we 1st in line LOVED ridemax!

I am SO glad to hear this!! Last night I made DH sit beside me at the computer and go over our MK plan. It was as if I was pulling his teeth out one by one! I let him off the hook but told him he couldn't complain when we're at the parks and didn't like my plan... He said he would care as look as the plan worked! Some of the wait times listed seem almost too good to be true!

 

[dbaker375]

ANybody ever feel that they were running back and forth at AK?

My ridemax plan for 8/4 (because we can't use Sunday 8/2 which is actual day) has us doing everest, then getting fast pass for safari then going to kali rapids then to it's a bugs life then to dinosaur then to safari.

Does this seem the best route for a Sunday morning?

 

[kwbrad]

For those of you going in the first part of August, some hours have changed a little. I emailed Mark about the old hours still being on the program. He responded quickly, and let me know they plan on having the new hours up no later than in 2-3 days.

 

[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.

I wrote to Mark about this. He is correct on Primeval.. it told us to ride it first not fastpass. We wanted to get a fast pass instead and they were not available all day. The Kali was indeed a problem though.

I loved Ridemax and would use it again!

 

[rogattdm]

Hello Ridemax Users!

I have a few questions for you all. I am interested in buying this program for our trip in Sept. As I have read, a lot of you have found it very helpful. I am traveling with a husband who HATES crowds and standing in line - which is why we chose Sept. I have tried UTG's touring plans, but was confused and had a hard time since they didn't hit some of the rides we wanted to go on.

--Have you found Ridemax to be worth the money?
--Should I purchase it for a month like Sept. when the crowds are supposed to be low?
--We are planning on park hopping - MK in am and EP in pm, vice versa - will Ridemax be helpful to me in that aspect or is it more useful for those doing MK all in one day?

Any insight you can give me would be so helpful. My husband thinks I am a nut for planning out our every move during our trip, but I have to see all I want in case we don't make it back again! Thanks a bunch!

 

[MOM POPPINS]

We did just that a morning plan for MK and worked out great. Even though we are veterans for Disney it was very helpful. It is very very helpful for first timers. It will tell you what a difference getting there early will make. Even with low crowds in September, it will be great and well worth the 20 bucks!

We would put in a park in the am and tell it what time we were leaving and it would prepare a plan. Then we would restart a new plan for the afternoon for a different park!

Are you going to all 4 parks and for how many days will you be there?

 

[rogattdm]

We did just that a morning plan for MK and worked out great. Even though we are veterans for Disney it was very helpful. It is very very helpful for first timers. It will tell you what a difference getting there early will make. Even with low crowds in September, it will be great and well worth the 20 bucks!

We would put in a park in the am and tell it what time we were leaving and it would prepare a plan. Then we would restart a new plan for the afternoon for a different park!

Are you going to all 4 parks and for how many days will you be there?

Thank you for your great response! We will be in the parks for 6 days and planning on all 4 parks. We will have our DD4 with us, as well as all of her grandparents. So with that being said - MK, EP, & DS we will be at more than AK. I have only scheduled a morning at AK. I thought this looked like a great program since we aren't roller coaster riders and as I said before - hubbie hates crowds. I also don't want grandparents pooped out from a whole lot of standing in lines.

 

[BuckeyeFanDan]

Hello all!
I have not read this entire thread, so forgive me if this is a repeat question, but can you include RideMax character greetings in the plan for WDW? (such as the princesses and TinkerBell in ToonTown, Ariel in Fantasyland and Storytime with Belle?) With my DD4, these are the absolute most important things to do at WDW!

Thanks!

 

[MOM POPPINS]

Thank you for your great response! We will be in the parks for 6 days and planning on all 4 parks. We will have our DD4 with us, as well as all of her grandparents. So with that being said - MK, EP, & DS we will be at more than AK. I have only scheduled a morning at AK. I thought this looked like a great program since we aren't roller coaster riders and as I said before - hubbie hates crowds. I also don't want grandparents pooped out from a whole lot of standing in lines.

You really will be glad you have ridemax. We have not used it until this past summer our 16th. trip. I usually make the plans.. but this time ridemax did the work for me.

If you are going to have a laptop at your room. You can even alter your plans for the next day however you need to.

I had not even heard of ridemax until this year and I am so glad I found it. It is great for first timers. I just had a friend hook up with it for her trip in July. She did not ask me for any tips or help until 2 days before her trip. I told her the best thing I can tell you is to get Ridemax and make sure to get to the parks at opening you can get so much done before lunchtime.



No you cannot plan in character greetings. Rides first characters later. We plan a few afternoon to meet the characters. Epcot is a great place to do this.

 

[jamstew]

Thank you for your great response! We will be in the parks for 6 days and planning on all 4 parks. We will have our DD4 with us, as well as all of her grandparents. So with that being said - MK, EP, & DS we will be at more than AK. I have only scheduled a morning at AK. I thought this looked like a great program since we aren't roller coaster riders and as I said before - hubbie hates crowds. I also don't want grandparents pooped out from a whole lot of standing in lines.

Be sure to use the "slow" touring option, which is recommended for large groups and groups with small children. I tried the "normal" one day for our group, and we couldn't keep up. As with any touring plan, the mornings are the most important. I find that any of the plans work if you stay on them for the first 2-3 hours. I like RideMax because it allows you to chose the specific attractions you want to do.

 

[rogattdm]

I assume that you can print these plans out and take them to the parks, correct? Thanks for all your help - everyone!

Also I plan on getting to parks at their opening - if I can get the group up and going. We do have a grandparent from California - so it will be hard for him to adjust to EST.

 

[papaof3]

Hello all!
I have not read this entire thread, so forgive me if this is a repeat question, but can you include RideMax character greetings in the plan for WDW? (such as the princesses and TinkerBell in ToonTown, Ariel in Fantasyland and Storytime with Belle?) With my DD4, these are the absolute most important things to do at WDW!

Thanks!

Story time with bell is included. I wish the software would include more of these spots. We also wanted to go see ariels water groto area for a while so we just plugged in another break, like a lunch only labeled differently, told the program how long for, say 60 minutes or whatever, and choose fantasyland as the location. This way the program figured in at least the location with walking distances. Good luck.

 

[supercarrie]

I assume that you can print these plans out and take them to the parks, correct? Thanks for all your help - everyone!

Also I plan on getting to parks at their opening - if I can get the group up and going. We do have a grandparent from California - so it will be hard for him to adjust to EST.

Yes, you can print and take them with you. I've also heard the suggestion that you create your plan in RideMax, then use the custom touring plans feature at touringplans.com to "plot" your plan out there as it will show each attraction on a map for you.

RideMax suggests creating multiple plans - one for rope drop, then one for 30 minutes to one hour later - just in case you have a morning where you can't get everyone going.

 

[PrincessBelle39]

Ok....we are doing the MK on a Sunday (13th Sept) which is an EMH day. Ridemax tips suggest choosing another EMH day close by to base the plan on. The problem is that the only other evening EMH day at this time of the year are the Sunday before and the Sunday after. Any suggestions? Am I best choosing the Saturday which is not EMH but has fairly late hours.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Hello All. I posted this on the DLR boards but since you guys are "in the know" I'll post it here too. I bought RM for my trip to DLR 8/17-18 but those dates still haven't opened up???? I'm 21 days from leaving for my trip and no Ridemax. Does anyone know when my dates might open?

Thanks!

 

[jana616]

Ok....we are doing the MK on a Sunday (13th Sept) which is an EMH day. Ridemax tips suggest choosing another EMH day close by to base the plan on. The problem is that the only other evening EMH day at this time of the year are the Sunday before and the Sunday after. Any suggestions? Am I best choosing the Saturday which is not EMH but has fairly late hours.

We'll be at MK that same day ! I would love to hear the answer to this one. I think if there is no other EMH day to use, they recommend picking another "avoid" day from the calendar. Since it's our very last day in the parks, I'm not going to stress about it too much. Hopefully we will just be revisiting favorite rides, and even a close approximation based on other days should be good enough that time of year!

 

[apennel]

I'm interested in purchasing RideMax for our Sept. trip.

I've looked at their website, and it appears to be software that is downloaded to your computer, rather than web-based, correct?

Can I use it on more than one computer (work, home, laptop?) or is it just for a single machine?

Thanks!

 

[Delilah1310]

So how would you recommend planning two days for a park? (in my case, MK with a 5yo. This is our first trip.)

I've got two schools of thought, and perhaps those who have used RM before can offer some suggestions or reasons why one would be better than the other.

1. I could divide MK in half ... and for day one, ask for a plan that covers everything we want to do in Fantasyland and Tommrowland. And then for the second day, ask for a plan that covers everything else.

2. I could ask for a plan that has all of our absolute must dos on day one, and our second tier of interest on day two.

The problem I foresee with option 2, however, is with a 5yo on his first visit, I don't know if he'd be able to walk past things that look interesting, despite my reassurance we would try it the next day.

How do you experts recommend planning two days at a single park for a first timer?

(just FYIs ... we are doing single days at the other parks, so I feel good about using RM with those. I do NOT have the software yet ... we're not going until February. i know I'm plannign SUPER early, but I'm SUPER excited! Did I mention this is our first trip! )

Thanks for any thoughts you can provide.

 

[MOM POPPINS]

I really think your plan of thought is fine. You really will not walk past those other things you are concerned about since they are in another land. It looks like you are planning adventureland and frontierland for the next day.

Just a thought though... we usually do Fantasyland and Frontierland and Adventureland in one day. You can get most everything done by 1:00 depending on your plan.. we leave off the Swiss house, Liberty boat and Tom Sawyers Island.. but do most everything else. Then we plan on Tomorrowland and back to our favorites on Day 2. The reason is there a couple of rides that don't have a fast pass that the line grows quickly ... being Dumbo in Fantasyland and Speedway and Astro Orobitor in Tomorrowland. WE do this first on 2 seperate mornings otherwise you will have longer waits.

Ridemax will work great for you... You will see the difference it makes to ride Speedway first thing in the morning.. instead of the later.etc. for other rides.