ridemax?

[Jazziered]

I have used RM on several ocassions. It has worked wonderfully. I go with peeps who like to stand around and go.. "What do you want to ride now?" "I don't know... What do you want to ride now?" With me making the decision and hoping I am not ruining the vacation. It is terrible. Now I just have the people tell me what they want to ride, in advance, I plug it in, and we get everything covered. It is so nice.

 

[Hawleys]

I very much wanted to follow the plans, but though I tried, even I really can't plan in advance what a party of 3 will want to do over 4 days. If something gets missed, it can be hard to plug it in later. Sometimes people get tired and don't want to go from place to place. It really is hard to get people on board for more than the first couple hours of the day, and I think overall once you know the tricks, you can do OK.

I think you hit the nail on the head here about planning exactly what you want to see for four days in advance. I really wish there was someway to update Ridemax plans on the fly. Maybe someone will write an iPhone application. Hint hint

 

[S. S. Columbia]

I think you hit the nail on the head here about planning exactly what you want to see for four days in advance. I really wish there was someway to update Ridemax plans on the fly. Maybe someone will write an iPhone application. Hint hint

I agree, making a four day plan in advance is challenging.

FWIW, RideMax can be loaded onto a second computer (laptop).

So if you have access to the internet during your stay at DLR, you could make RideMax plans one day at a time.

 

[Mugglemama]

we used RideMax for a 5 day stay at DLR two summers ago. we have 4 kids who were ages 2-15 at the time, one who is heat sensitive (will pass out and/or throw up if he gets too hot), so we needed something that would help us avoid standing in long, hot, lines during our summer visit.

RM worked great for us. we usually found ourselves ahead of schedule (the lines moved a bit faster than the itinerary predicted), and kept us in good shape all day. fortunately for us, nothing was broken down at the time we were scheduled to ride it, so everything worked out great.

i think RM can be a real lifesaver particularly for families with younger children, because standing in a really long line with a bouncy preschooler or a bored baby, or a kid who needs to use the bathroom sometime during that 70 minute wait (causing at least two of us to have to leave the line for good and give up riding the ride, because it's often too difficult to try to come back to the rest of the family waiting in line), is no fun!

 

[Eeee-va]

I agree, making a four day plan in advance is challenging.

FWIW, RideMax can be loaded onto a second computer (laptop).

So if you have access to the internet during your stay at DLR, you could make RideMax plans one day at a time.

I would have LOVED to do this, but it's not available for the Mac. If I had been able to load the program into my laptop, it would have been considerably more useful.

Of course, it was kind of good that I couldn't load it into my own computer (had to load it onto a PC an hour away)...otherwise I would've spent literally days playing with itineraries before we came!

 

[hitormiss]

I have been using Ridemax for years, and I love it. Since I started using it, I can't remember the last time I waited more than 10-15 minutes for ANY ride at DLR or DCA. I find all the tips helpful (even if most can be found elsewhere in different forms). I too wish you could update on the fly - I don't prepare the spreadsheet, I just run a few different plans and keep some flexibility. It's especially helpful if you're not arriving first thing in the morning. It takes a little practice to tweak it, but after you do it a few times, it's very natural. I have recommended it to numerous friends over the years, and they have all been pleased.

 

[Hawleys]

I would have LOVED to do this, but it's not available for the Mac. If I had been able to load the program into my laptop, it would have been considerably more useful.

Of course, it was kind of good that I couldn't load it into my own computer (had to load it onto a PC an hour away)...otherwise I would've spent literally days playing with itineraries before we came!

I have the same problem with using a Mac laptop. I'm going to load VMware (virtual machine) this weekend and see if I can run Ridemax with Windows 7 Beta (which is currently available FREE from Microsoft). I'll let you guys know if this works. If it does, you would still have to buy VMware (~$80) to get Ridemax on your Mac which might be kind of pricey.

 

[Hawleys]

It's like I have ESP. I started up Ridemax today and got a message asking if any users would like to make suggestions for designing an iPhone app for Ridemax that will let you schedule on the fly! Why yes, yes I would.

Only downer is that there's no way this will be out in time for our trip on August 8th.

 

[tasha99]

I'm the one who made spreadsheets and here's how it all worked for me: I forgot them! I didn't matter though. Since I made them, I had the general trends in my head. We left the Ridemax plans in the hotel, and went on those trends.

The biggest single tips I have are these:

If you want to ride together, get there early. (30-40 minutes before opening is worth it because the lines to get in get very long). You can get a lot done in the first hour or two. Also, pull as many fastpasses as you can. Don't use the fastpasses until the late afternoon or evening. We were never told our fastpasses had expired, and having them made the crowded evenings worth going to.

If you want to sleep in: Single Rider Lines! They were awesome. DS and I used them whenever we could. We went on California Screamin over and over and over (about 10 times in a row till I started feeling a little nauseated). The regular line was almost an hour long, but we waited 5 minutes max. Same with Indiana Jones and Grizzly River Rapids, which we pretty much walked onto. Soarin' was longer (10 minutes?) but still much shorter than the regular line. We obviously never got to ride together using single rider, but we were almost always on the same coaster or vehicle. I'd rather go 10 times and sit in the back than wait an hour to sit together!

I totally recommend Ridemax, but my style was more to pull the info out of it and wing it once we got there. You aren't going to get info like the average wait times for each ride at certain times of day from other sources, so I think it was worth every penny.

 

[Hawleys]

I have the same problem with using a Mac laptop. I'm going to load VMware (virtual machine) this weekend and see if I can run Ridemax with Windows 7 Beta (which is currently available FREE from Microsoft). I'll let you guys know if this works. If it does, you would still have to buy VMware (~$80) to get Ridemax on your Mac which might be kind of pricey.

Sorry that it has taken me several weeks in getting back to this thread but life intervened with several crazy weeks at work. I just wanted to report back that my experiment with running Ridemax with Windows 7 on a MacBook using VMware was successful. I used the Windows 7 release candidate (not Windows 7 Beta) and so far I have not encountered any problems. Feel free to PM if you want more information on how to do this.

Only three weeks to wait.

 

[disneymum58]

We love Ridemax and have used it on several vacations. It was very useful during Early Entry. I have to admit though that I even like to play with it when I'm missing Disney and my next trip isn't for a while.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Welcome Disneymum58!

DH and I tried Ridemax for the first time on our trip a few weeks ago. We had 5 full days and half days on each end and Sat blocked out. The first few days we were there it was very crowded because it was the last days before Socal blockout.

I have to say we didn't end up following it most of the time. Before we left I spent hours playing around with it, which I thought was fun. But a big problem we ran into was the ride we were supposed to get FPs for was down. If the ride is down, you can't get FPs for it. So, then we had to cross over to the other side of the park to get our second choice FP. And sometimes this was down too. So that type of thing put a kink in our plan.

The other problem we had with it was it doesn't tell us to get FPs as aggressively as we could. Part of that is my fault because I probably didn't stick as many rides in as I could have. If you don't list a ride, it won't tell you to get FPs for it. It does allow for FP runners and late use of FP so that was good.

I think, for us, because we know DL so well and we were willing to criss cross the park collecting FPs every two hours we did better on our own. Our first full day was packed but we went on rides almost solid all day (even using FPs within the time window) and never waited more than 15 min in line. In the evening we went to Steakhouse55 so we didn't save up FPs for evening.

However, because I spent so long studying the plans and times before we left, I had a good feel for when non FP ride lines would be shorter. So I knew when not to go to a certain ride. If we checked anyway, Ridemax was right. It helped me that way "in my head" but we didn't end up following the plans. I think it would be more helpful to the person who doesn't know DLR that well. It also has some very good tips on which side of the line is best, where to find some of the "hidden" FP machines and so on.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

It's like I have ESP. I started up Ridemax today and got a message asking if any users would like to make suggestions for designing an iPhone app for Ridemax that will let you schedule on the fly! Why yes, yes I would.

Only downer is that there's no way this will be out in time for our trip on August 8th.

OOOHHH!!!Yes!!

I went on Sunday with my DH, and as soon as we walked into the park, he asked, "okay, where's your schedule-thingy? What do we need to do first?" I told him that I had let Ridemax expire, since we don't have any visitors coming this year. He gave me the saddest look! My DH is a super planner so he loves the structure of Ridemax.

Like others, we have used it *mostly* or at least until late afternoon. We also used it at WDW last year. IMO the wait times were scarily accurate in DL, not quite as much at WDW (but within 10 minutes usually). Boy, if they have an app out by November when we go again I AM SO GETTING THAT! On a multi day trip (say more than 3 or 4 days) it would be awesome to update it, based on what you actually have gotten done/want to do again.

 

[caldad]

Ridemax is great! We've used it [along with the great tips from HydroGuy] to plan our last two trips to DL. We weren't phsyco about following a schedule but having a basic plan for the day really helped. It makes a BIG difference.

Even with the relaxed approach and 3 young children we were still able to hit all our rides early and often with very short lines. That allowed us to get naps/breaks around lunch and come back to the park later with FP's in hand.

Honestly we were amazed how many rides we were able to squeeze into one day even on the busiest days.

 

[newcomer52]

I bought Ridemax several weeks ago for a Sept 13-18 trip. The official hours are up on the Disney site through September 5, but I only have through August 15 on my Ridemax app. What is your experience on then they update their program? How long will I have to actually plan my trip? I would like to have it several weeks, in order to play with it. Thanks for any help.

Jerry

 

[PinkBudgie]

I think it is about 4 weeks ahead. I had plenty of time to play with it before we left.

Now, a Ridemax to use at the park would be handy! Even better would be a way for it to show a list of the rides and what the current wait times are likely to be based on the time of day you look at the list. Say you are in DL at 2pm and not sure what to ride. You could pull up the list of DL attractions and check what the projected wait times are. Of course, I don't have an Iphone so I guess it wouldn't matter to me anyway, but a Ridemax app however they do it sure would be very cool.

 

[HydroGuy]

I bought Ridemax several weeks ago for a Sept 13-18 trip. The official hours are up on the Disney site through September 5, but I only have through August 15 on my Ridemax app. What is your experience on then they update their program? How long will I have to actually plan my trip? I would like to have it several weeks, in order to play with it. Thanks for any help.

Jerry

It is certainly nice to have the hours up as early as possible. However, even if they did have Sept hours now things are likely change between now and then. You really always want to run your itineraries as close to departure as possible. What this means iis that anything you might run now would need to be re-run in September anyways. Bottom line is don't sweat it. Choose an alternate date for now and experiment.

RM usually has info available 2-4 weeks in advance, sometimes as many as 6.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

I bought Ridemax several weeks ago for a Sept 13-18 trip. The official hours are up on the Disney site through September 5, but I only have through August 15 on my Ridemax app. What is your experience on then they update their program? How long will I have to actually plan my trip? I would like to have it several weeks, in order to play with it. Thanks for any help.

Jerry

I bought Ridemax for my Aug 17-18th trip and that date STILL hasn't opened.

I'm 21 days away from leaving on my trip and no Ridemax. So I don't know how long they're going to give me to plan. I'm actually a little upset about it.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

how far in advance should you buy Ridemax prior to your trip?

I like the idea of having a play with it more to get a feel of what rides get long lines first, what to avoid, etc. rather than a really strict touring plan.

It will be fun to play

 

[PinkBudgie]

I bought ours about 3 weeks ahead. Maybe two and half. I felt like I had enough time and I spent hours trying out different schedules. Of course, I'm off for the summer so I didn't have to go to work. If a ride is has a planned closure, that ride won't appear on the list. For us, that was Snow White. It just didn't show up.