I loved playing around with Ridemax, and for our first trip I used it extensively. However, you can actually do better by writing your own itineraries, using Hydroguy's tips compilation: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520483 Especially "How to avoid long lines"
Ridemax is good for a quick, easy itinerary. It has a few drawbacks, though. It doesn't take Magic Morning into account, so you have to plan those yourselves (and I would SO take advantage of MM, especially with little ones, to do all of Fantasyland in that first hour with low lines!).
Also, you can't schedule both DL and DCA in one day, except by making separate itineraries (for example, scheduling a long "break" from noon-4 p.m., say, and making a separate DCA itinerary for those hours)
If you want to ride a ride twice in a day, it will always schedule them back to back. Even if that doesn't make sense, time-wise.
It doesn't make the best use of FastPass, always. There were times it spit out itineraries for me that they didn't have us collecting our first fastpass until we'd already been on one or even two rides.
Sometimes its scheduling is just... wrong. For example, I was trying to run an itinerary for MM, by putting in all the Fantasyland rides on a non-MM day. It consistently had us riding Dumbo last (AFTER Snow White, Pinocchio, the Carousel, those other low-line rides)... with a 35-40 minute wait. Makes no sense. Maybe they've fixed that glitch since I used it last fall.
It doesn't account for parades, shows, etc. You have to schedule breaks around those things to fit them in.
So every time I printed out an itinerary that seemed pretty close to what we wanted, I still ended up writing all over it anyway, making little changes and adding in shows, DCA hopping, etc. So it was just easier to use it as a reference when writing my own itinerary.
As far as using a touring plan as opposed to "going with the flow"... It's so subjective. Really depends on who you are and what you want from your trip. If you are an AP holder who can get back often and do the things you missed, it's much easier to just do what you feel like, whenever. If this is a big trip for your family, once in a lifetime or once in a long time... and you want to get the most out of it with the least stress-- doing the scheduling ahead of time makes it much less stressful. You have a plan that will fit a lot in without tiring you out, or making you wait in long lines. You never stand around with a map, saying, "Whaddaya wanna do? " "I dunno, whaddaya wanna do?" As long as you understand that your plan will NOT go exactly according to... well, to plan... you'll be fine. You'll have a basic outline to follow, and you can deviate from it if you feel like it or if the kids get tired out.
HTH!
- Avalon451 (March 8, 2009)
Source: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30701221&postcount=8
