RideMax Users Thread (FAQs Linked in First Post!)

[dolphindan1]

I don't know if he is still active on the boards, but you could try PMing "RideMax Mark"

Just wanted to say that Mark sent me a PM and is gonna take care of it....

Thanks again Mark

 

[tpettie]

Ok dont laugh at me but

I accidentally paid and downloaded the Disneyland software but wanted the disneyworld software
does anyone have a suggestion?

I feel so much better now I did the same thing. They took care of it right away.

 

[madbrad76]

I bought the RideMax software for our past trip and gave it a try. After entering our plans for our days in the parks, I quickly found out this software wasn't for me. I'm no park expert, but a lot of the plans that were generated didn't make sense. Plus, my family wasn't too excited about sticking to such a structured schedule. I just emailed the RideMax people and they issued me a refund ASAP.

 

[Tatania]

My sister and I were in Disney World from September 22 -30. I decided to use RideMax for some of the park days because it was her first visit and I wanted to maximize what she'd be able to see, as we were only going to be in most of the theme parks for 1 day. The reason for that was, I was allowing 2 days for the Food and Wine Festival in Epcot. I also wanted to make sure that we scheduled in a bit of rest time, otherwise the whole experience becomes too overwhelming.

One problem, right off the bat, is that my sister hates following schedules and she didn't like that I'd be looking at my watch and telling her that we had to be at a certain place by a certain time. But I persuaded her to give the plan a try for at least 2 days - and then we'd see.

Day 1 - was spent in Epcot – Future World right side and I had programmed several start times because we were checking into Coronada, had breakfast at Boma, picking up our tickets etc. It was a good thing I did that, because we ended up using the latest start time I had programmed. Ridemax used a logical sequence starting with the Seas Pavilion, then Soarin (used a FP I had picked up while my sister visited the aquarium), and ending with Circle of Life. She didn't want to see Honey I Shrunk the Audience, so we had lunch at the Land Pavilion and took a pool break.
There were EMH that evening, so we really didn't need RideMax (RM) for the left side of Future World.

Day 2 - Animal Kingdom. We were there at rope drop and RM’s tips for going through RFC was great because there was only one other couple at that turnstile. We were the first people on Primeval Whirl and then RM had me running to get a EE FP before going to “It’s Tough to be a Bug." As my sister kept pointing out - there were no lineups at EE, and it really made no sense not to ride it at that time. But I wanted to give the plan a try, and we were at the show by 9:28 (as the plan instructed), only to wait at least 10 minutes before getting in. I could see my sister rolling her eyes. Then RM had us running back to Dinoland to do Dinosaur before heading to Finding Nemo. The fact was, there were very low crowd levels that day and after the show we did all the attractions in Asia before giving up on the plan and doing what we wanted in Africa. There was too much free time scheduled in and not enough time for the exploration trails. By doing what we wanted, we actually got everything done earlier and left the park after the parade, instead of waiting until 4:50 to use a KS FP that had an actual return time of 2pm.

Day 3 – DHS – high crowd levels. By now my sister had decided she wasn't going to stick to any plan and we would go our separate ways after the first few rides - which kind of defeated the purpose of the whole trip. RMs tips for getting to the front of the rope are excellent and worked. Even though there were big lines by the time we got to the park 30“ before opening we were at the front of the rope. RM had us getting a FP for TSM - which made no sense to either of us because we were about 10th in line and only planned to ride it once. No matter what you do, RM always has you getting a FP for TSM first thing - so I had scheduled a start time of 9.30 am and left out TSM to generate an alternate plan.

By 9.20 we had done the ride and got a FP for RnRCoaster before walking onto ToT. RM had us getting a FP to ToT, then running all the way across the park to Muppets 3D etc. This made no sense, so we basically abandoned the plan at this point and did what made sense to us. We saw everything we wanted before lunch and both took more time at Ones Man Dream than RM allows because it's our favorite attraction. Lunch at SciFi took much longer than expected (despite an ADR we waited 20" to be seated) so RM wouldn't have been much help in the afternoon anyway.

By the time we did MK, my sister refused to have anything to do with RM anymore and we decided to do go our separate ways and do what we wanted. It was a Sunday (a high crowd day), but we both managed to see everything we wanted with minimal wait times. We had done most of the “popular” things with longer wait times (like Splash Mnt., Peter Pan, Pirates, Haunted House) during the Halloween party, so didn't bother with them. I had a rough RM plan for the day but didn't stick to it - except for starting in Toon Town.

All in all, I think RM can be useful - especially during high season - but for park veterans, during low seasons like end of September to mid- Dec. - you can also use your common sense and experience. Sometimes the plan has you racing all over the park, when there are no lineups at the attractions that you're supposed to be grabbing a FP for. It's also better to do the plan as close to the day as possible. I often ended up doing it the night before, on my laptop, and then just writing it out by hand. There are many variables that you can't program in – like EMH, Sundays, meals that take longer than planned because of wait times, shopping, etc. and you just kind of need to stay flexible.

 

[tpettie]

I have a touring plan I like and used last Dec that workded well I just want to know if RM times how accurate are they? I have worked out a way to get the program to give me "my tour plan" I'm just curiouse about the wait times part.

 

[tiggspring]

May 8-16 they were almost perfect. Usually within 5 min or less of estimate. Except light parade which had been cut back to one night and lines started forming hour 45 min before start instead of hour they predicted.

 

[dolphindan1]

Why cant I see the best days for the park...I have my park date selected and I am on the screen where I add the rides for the day and I click tips and hints and nothing happens...

what am I missing?

 

[MOM POPPINS]

It is under "Tips and Hints" it should take you to a web page and at the top left.. it says
RideMax Essentials

Welcome

Which Days, Which Parks?

You click on Which days, Which Parks? It will then take you to a page with months listed and you choose your month and the best days chart comes up.

 

[Tatania]

I picked what were supposed to be "light day" parks and made my ADRs accordingly - only to see the crowd level info change completely a month later. I tried to change the ADRs but everything was booked solid by then. That's one problem with having to lock into ADRs so early.

 

[dolphindan1]

It is under "Tips and Hints" it should take you to a web page and at the top left.. it says
RideMax Essentials

Welcome

Which Days, Which Parks?

You click on Which days, Which Parks? It will then take you to a page with months listed and you choose your month and the best days chart comes up.

It is not working for me for some reason...

 

[vicki_c]

It is not working for me for some reason...

It sounds like a pop up blocking type problem to me. Have you tried turning that off/on on your computer and see if it makes a difference?

 

[dolphindan1]

It sounds like a pop up blocking type problem to me. Have you tried turning that off/on on your computer and see if it makes a difference?

I actually do not have a pop up blocker...When I ask it to plan my schedule that pops up fine...really weird

 

[jamstew]

What browser do you use? I use Firefox, and I seem to remember that when I tried to open the "Which Days, Which Parks" page, it was opening a separate IE browser, which I thought was really weird.

 

[dolphindan1]

What browser do you use? I use Firefox, and I seem to remember that when I tried to open the "Which Days, Which Parks" page, it was opening a separate IE browser, which I thought was really weird.

Yeah Firefox?...I am not even getting the IE browser to open up...I click it and it does nothing...maybe I will open IE and then try and see what happens....

 

[3guysandagal]

December dates are up!

 

[pixleyyy]

December dates are up!

Wahoo! I'm sooooo excited about finally being able to make touring plans. YEAH!!!

 

[tpettie]

December dates are up!

Thanks for the post. Wonder what ride max is going to do with the new 180 mark coming up at the end of Oct?

 

[liam1957]

i am having trouble getting my head round this. ridemax has me on a break for 1 hour then a ride then 30 mins break then a ride as they are the last two would you not just go on them and then go back to hotel early or do some shopping in stead of wasting time tort it was to save time

 

[tiggspring]

i am having trouble getting my head round this. ridemax has me on a break for 1 hour then a ride then 30 mins break then a ride as they are the last two would you not just go on them and then go back to hotel early or do some shopping in stead of wasting time tort it was to save time

I found that when this would happen to me if I added a break before or after their break it would often shift things around especially if you specified where that break would be ie: Toon town or spacific resteruant. Make the break close to where you want to be and it should shift the walking plan a bit.Hope this helps..

 

[Tatania]

Or ignore the plan and do what's logical. Ridemax gave us too much "free" time in our AK day - esp. in the afternoon and we just ended up doing what was logical and went home after the parade because we had seen all the other things scheduled for AFTER the parade during the down times.