RideMax or not?

[mAlien13]

Ride Max Questions

1) Does ride max know which attractions are open during EE.
2) How many breaks can you schedule?
3) How many plans can you schedule with your subscription?
4) Does it know about Parades and Fireworks and can you include them, or do you have to call it a "break time"?

Thanks.

I am just beginning to use this program, but I'll try to help.

Unless I am missing an option somewhere, it won't recognize or give you the option to plan for EE. You have to begin with the actual opening time listed for that day. I printed 2 plans, one that begins at 9:00am and ends at 10:00am, which we will use for the 8:00am EE, and then another beginning at 9:20am until afternoon parade time.

It seems to only have the option for 2 scheduled breaks, but it gives other blocks of 'free time.'

I don't think there is a limit on how many plans, just the 90-day or full-year options. I've already messed around with over a dozen options.

I can't find any way to include fireworks or parades. I am just making seperate plans for the day, stopping when I know I would need to to get to a scheduled parade, ect.

I hope this helps.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hey everyone! I needed to bump this to ask a question. I downloaded RideMax and am trying to use it, but some things are really conflicting with what I already know about touring. For instance, in trying to figure out the best method for touring Fantasyland only, no matter how many or how few rides I put in, it always puts Peter Pan at the end...this seems odd to me because I thought PP is one of the first things in the park to attract a long line.

So, my question is, does RideMax figure in all the rides and decide that it is better to have next to no wait on 4 rides and a long wait on 1? I just want to make sure it isn't glitchy or anything, and that it is working the way it is supposed to. Is it better to start the plan 15 or 20 minutes later and just go to PP first?

Did you read the RideMax "Spring Break Tips" yet? The day of the week you're trying to plan could have something to do with this...

Yes, diz got it right I believe. I'll bet you are looking at an Early Entry (EE) day (typically Mon/Tue/Thurs/Sat) so that Peter Pan already has a substantial line at park opening. The RideMax tips will tell you this is not a good idea. You should either do FantasyLand during the EE time that you are in fact going to attend, or do FantasyLand rides on Wed/Fri/Sun when nobody has EE and the lines all start the day at zero.

If you choose Peter Pan and/or Dumbo on a Wed/Fri/Sun, RideMax will almost always schedule these first and second.

Another explanation for what you are seeing is that you are not starting your schedule at park opening but at some later time. If this is the case, then Peter Pan's line will build up very quickly, and the order in which it is scheduled just will not matter very much.

 

[HydroGuy]

Ride Max Questions

1) Does ride max know which attractions are open during EE.
2) How many breaks can you schedule?
3) How many plans can you schedule with your subscription?
4) Does it know about Parades and Fireworks and can you include them, or do you have to call it a "break time"?

Thanks.

I am just beginning to use this program, but I'll try to help.

Unless I am missing an option somewhere, it won't recognize or give you the option to plan for EE. You have to begin with the actual opening time listed for that day. I printed 2 plans, one that begins at 9:00am and ends at 10:00am, which we will use for the 8:00am EE, and then another beginning at 9:20am until afternoon parade time.

It seems to only have the option for 2 scheduled breaks, but it gives other blocks of 'free time.'

I don't think there is a limit on how many plans, just the 90-day or full-year options. I've already messed around with over a dozen options.

I can't find any way to include fireworks or parades. I am just making seperate plans for the day, stopping when I know I would need to to get to a scheduled parade, ect.

I hope this helps.

malien is learning quickly! All answers look correct to me.

 

[mAlien13]

Yes, diz got it right I believe. I'll bet you are looking at an Early Entry (EE) day (typically Mon/Tue/Thurs/Sat) so that Peter Pan already has a substantial line at park opening.

Ahhhh........this makes sense. I had figured that since the program doesn't have an option for EE that it didn't know when EE was happening.

I'm really excited to try and master this RideMax thing and have another way to enjoy Disney. I'm having so much fun planning this trip because of these boards!!

Thanks once again everyone!

 

[lateshartl]

Help! We leave on friday. I want to purchase ridemax for our trip, but my broken printer will not be repaired or replaced before we leave. Does the program display the ridemax schedule on the screen or can you only print it. I can write everything down if I have to. But I do not want to buy the software for nothing.

 

[mAlien13]

Everything pops up on your screen. I captured it and moved it to Word, then saved and emailed to my account and my DH's account. Never too much back-up! Also, if you email it to yourself, you could possibly go to a friend or family members house and print it from there? Or maybe at work? That way your have a copy for in the park.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[mAlien13]

This question has less to do with RideMax than with DCA policy. When scheduling our day at DCA with RideMax, it has us getting in line for Soarin' at 8:00pm, even though the park is scheduled to close at 8:00pm. It also says the wait time will be 60 minutes....if you are in line when the park closes, do they rope it off and let the people waiting ride, or do they try to anticipate closing time and close the line before hand? I have had both experiences at WDW's MK depending on the ride, but I am not at all familiar with DLR handling of closing time.

 

[HydroGuy]

This question has less to do with RideMax than with DCA policy. When scheduling our day at DCA with RideMax, it has us getting in line for Soarin' at 8:00pm, even though the park is scheduled to close at 8:00pm. It also says the wait time will be 60 minutes....if you are in line when the park closes, do they rope it off and let the people waiting ride, or do they try to anticipate closing time and close the line before hand? I have had both experiences at WDW's MK depending on the ride, but I am not at all familiar with DLR handling of closing time.

If you are in line at park closing, you will be able to ride. They will rope off at 8PM in your case, and no one else can get in line. DL and DCA are the same in this regard. For us it is always a race to get in line right before closing to get in that one last ride.

And in regard to your other question about EE, yes RideMax knows about EE and it will impact lines for rides for the first 2-3 hours. Because DL does not commit to what rides will be open during EE, RideMax has decided it is too risky to include EE in their plans.

If you do EE, RideMax has advice in the tips section on the order of FantasyLand rides to follow. Be sure to follow their advice and you will get on 7-8 rides during EE.

 

[mAlien13]

If you are in line at park closing, you will be able to ride. They will rope off at 8PM in your case, and no one else can get in line. DL and DCA are the same in this regard. For us it is always a race to get in line right before closing to get in that one last ride.

And in regard to your other question about EE, yes RideMax knows about EE and it will impact lines for rides for the first 2-3 hours. Because DL does not commit to what rides will be open during EE, RideMax has decided it is too risky to include EE in their plans.

If you do EE, RideMax has advice in the tips section on the order of FantasyLand rides to follow. Be sure to follow their advice and you will get on 7-8 rides during EE.

Thank you so much!! I did not check the tips sectiion and it would have been sad to have missed it before I printed my final EE plans!! That makes the day so much smoother to plan.
Thanks again!

 

[JulieNMM]

Hmmm, all this sounds good, but now it's my turn to ask a few questions!

I don't know if this would work for us because my DH refuses to get up early which is very annoying to me since DD4 and DS6 always wake up early. Luckily, we'll be at DLH so we can go earlier and meet up with him later! (But we were at WDW last month and couldn't leave DH at the hotel very far away from everything since we only had one car. We found we missed a lot by not getting to the parks until 11am-ish).

1. Does RideMax only do rides or does it include shows and character greetings? My DD4 is especially big on meeting all the characters.

2. RideMax is software, right? So you have to program it before your trip and then print out the results? Is that correct? It's not like a book that you carry around with you? We will bring our laptop with us (yes, we're Silicon Valley geeks! ) but we don't have a printer in the hotel...

3. Can you make different itineraries for the same day, say one for me, DD4, and DS6 and another for DH, DD9, and DD17?

I'm just not sure I could stick to it, since we tend to see a lot of characters and stop to look in shops. DH and the big kids might benefit from it, though.

Thanks for all the info everyone!!!

JULIE

 

[Canadamom]

Let me see if I can help answer...

1. Ridemax only programs the rides/attractions for Disneyland and California Adventure. You have to block off times for the parades/shows that you'd like to attend. Play around with it. We found that, for some reason, it sometimes would naturally block these times off for us.

2. Ridemax is a program you download onto your computer. You can play with all sorts of combinations and arrival times, etc. etc. and print them off as close to your trip as possible.

3. You can make lots of different itineraries for the same day. You can change the attractions you want to see, your arrival time, your breaks, whether you want a "slower" schedule, etc.

Keep in mind, though, that Ridemax can schedule you the best (i.e. least amounts of wait/walk times) when are able to be in line before park opening. Hope it works for you...it worked wonderfully for us over the Christmas holiday! Have fun.

 

[Dobie]

For recommended Ridemax Early Entrance sequence:

1. Open Ridemax
2. Pick a random day from the calendar (doesn't matter which one)
3. Click the "Hints and Tips" tab
4. Click the "Spring Break Tips" link
3. Scroll down the page a bit--It's the second or third section.