I am just wondering....this is for all you experienced Disney Fans
Do you adhere to
a strict Ride Max type schedule?
Or do you use only a general plan of attack?
Or a combo of both?
Please provide some comments as to why you prefer your method....etc....
General plan of attack. We know where to start to avoid crowds, how to plan breaks, etc. Some of that knowledge has came from experience, some from this board, and some from using Ridemax.
Linda
As you can tell from my responses to your posts, I'm firmly in the "Strict Schedule" camp. We always deviate, but it eliminates the "what do you want to do next" problems that everyone seems to have, and keeps us from long waiting.Originally Posted by BCmomof3
I've done it both ways, and after following my schedule twice, my wife, mother, and baby are all "converts".
HAVING SAID THAT, the purpose is to have fun. So, if you need a break, take a break, no matter what the schedule says. If you'd rather do one thing than another, do it!
It's a vacation, so you HAVE to relax somewhat.
i think what it comes down to is a healthy mixture of both. you cannot decide at 2 pm that you want to ride dumbo and expect to be happy with the results. you have to understand that certain things require certain attention at certain times. so ridemax does help facilitate that. on the other hand, there's plenty that goes on that you just can't account for before it all happens.
i think ridemax is an excellent tool to experiment with a lot so you can get a feel for the best and worst times to visit a particular attraction.
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Mixture. I make a list of things that I really want to do for that trip and then try to figure out the best times to do those things, but I make sure to leave plenty of extra time for other unplanned activities.
Linda please share your "general" plan.... I would love to learn from your experience.
And Frogberto do you use The Unofficial Guide or Ridemax?
How difficult is Ridemax to use?
I have a very finicky old computor which is why I have not purchased the program because I am worried it won't work....
We do the hybrid system also. We usually have a plan of several attractions that we "must" see or do for that day and we make sure we hit those. In between we just go where we feel at that moment. We may be on our way to a "must see" that we know may have a wait and see another attraction with a small line and just jump in that line for a quick ride.
Another "tip" that helps with this is that even though there is a time "limit" listed on your fast pass tickets, you can use them any time after the FIRST listed time. In other words, if you fast pass Indy and it says "Return between 12:30 and 2:00" you can come back at 6:00 with that ticket and still ride. They only ensure that you are using it AFTER the first time (12:30 in my example).
Also, you can get another fast pass for an attraction once the First time has expired (ie: in my example, you could get a fast pass for Splash Mountain at 12:31, even though you have not "used" your Indy pass).
There are several on this board who "collect" fast passes in the mornings when the times aren't as long and then use them at night.
Another suggestion on how to enhance your time there.
If you purchase ridemax and cant get it to work, I'm confident they will give you a refund. They are very nice people, with excelent customer service!
We get to the park early- at least by opening, preferably earlier. If it is an early entry day (and we arent doing EE) we skip fantasyland. The lines are long from the people that have been doing EE. If we are doing EE or it is a non EE day, we hit Peter Pan and Dumbo right away. Usually either me or daddy hit Space mt for fast pass, while the other takes the kids to FL. The earlier you get your first FP, the sooner you can get the next one! Usually, with out the 2 hour wait as the return time is usually only 30-45 minutes out (first thing in the am, not mid day). After FL we either hit tomorrow land or head over to NOS/ Critter country and work our way back toward adventure land. We take a mid day break after lunch, maybe around 3. We come back around dinner time. We typically spend the evening watching fireworks, parades, F!, etc. Then after the shows, we hit FL rides including matterhorn.
Key thing is to remember to get FP as your times come up. That way you almost always have some when the lines start getting long. Also, be sure you dont get stuck "follow the crowd" mentality. People tend to follow people- its human nature. You have to think past that, get ahead of the crowd, go in the opposite direction.
We go often enough to know the parks pretty well ( 3 trips in the last 8 months) but far enough away (near Seattle) that we feel like we have to squeeze as much into our trip as we can!
Linda
Ridemax is fairly simple to use, and doesn't take up much memory. On older or slower computers, since it crunches the "best" plan for you by comparing different options, it may take a while, up to an hour, to spit out a complete plan for a day.
I use both. Even though I live 10 minutes from Disneyland, and have an annual pass, I bought the Unofficial Guide first, and loved it, and then purchased Ridemax for a year.
We all are investing a large amount and want to make the most out of our time, and both sources help do that.
RideMax had some great insider information about the fireworks and where to see parades, etc., and the Unofficial Guide had ratings for rides, which were great, comments from park guests, and just a follow along plan, which was helpful. They even had recommendations on which entry gate has the statistically shortest lines to enter the park through!
ridemax will almost definitely work on your computer (as long as it's a PC). it's not horribly resource intensive software. it does take quite a bit of tooling around with it in order to make it work best for you though (strategically setting up scheduled breaks, etc).
plus the online help gives a lot of additional helpful information.
i literally spent months with it before i felt truly comfortable with it and all that practice also makes me feel comfortable not using it.
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This is great advice. As was stated here before, it seems like even if DL is packed, you will have room and less "wait time" at DCA during the peak hours (11:00AM - 8:00PM). DCA has a lot to see and do and the walkways are wider which helps with getting through crowds.
I also would recommend seeing block party bash if you happen to be over there when it is going. It is a kind of parade but they have a lot of acrobatic dancing and music. It is a pretty good show that my kids have enjoyed.
I totally agree!
Our use of RideMax depends on who we're with. If it's just DH and me, we use a general plan of attack. When we're with a group we like to have a plan decided in advance, especially if they're counting on us to play guides.
RideMax is inexpensive and easy to use. I suggest purchasing it and playing with it at least. If you don't use the plans, you'll still have gained an idea of how the crowds and line lengths vary.
all i really do is get a list of the rides i *must* hit, and then just make sure i hit them during the day. i also stay from open to close, so it works out well...
We follow a general plan. We decide which shows we want to see (Aladin, Fantasmic!, any parades, etc) and plan for those. We decide which, if any, character meals we want to do, and plan for those.
The rest, we plan as we go. So we may plan what we are going to do Monday afternoon, while we are having lunch Monday. Plan for Tuesday morning while we're getting ready for bed Monday night, etc. We know what rides we "have to go on" and what rides we won't be too upset if we miss. We usually go for 4-5 days each trip and we take at least one trip a year, so for us, if we miss something, there is always "next time".
"Some people believe in the idea of soulmates. I don't believe such a thing exists. We need so many more people than one to complete us." ~ E. Dom
Whether in DLR or WDW, I normally only have a general idea (if that), even for a full-day visit. About the most planning I do is for my annual July 4th visit to DL, for which I know I'm going to sign up for a Walt's Footsteps tour, and watch the fireworks, and at least try to get a prime rib dinner at the Bayou, and (if I get an early enough tour) spend the hottest part of the day in Innoventions, or someplace else that's air conditioned and has a variety of interesting things to see and do (the key is staying indoors), and I work the rest of the day around those elements.
Then again, I've been a passholder for so long, I can spend the better part of a day, and/or an entire evening, in DL without actually riding anything.
Elsewhere, I can plan meticulously, if I'm short on time. Earlier this month, for example, one of my days in San Francisco had me camped out on the doorstep of the Cartoon Art Museum, then off to a little corner sandwich shop by Davies Hall for lunch, then an afternoon concert, then a quick F-line trolley ride to Aquarium of the Bay, then dinner at Sinbad's, finishing just in time to get to the Eureka Theatre a few minutes before curtain time on Mack & Mabel. As it turned out, I also found enough time to look around in San Francisco Shopping Centre before lunch.
And likewise, my day in St. Louis, I had to plan very tightly, in order to go to church, and see the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Science Center, and the Old Courthouse, in time to get to the Gateway Arch in time for my reservation.
But I never plan that tight even at WDW, and not even remotely that tight at DLR.
James H. H. Lampert
Professional Dilettante
We usually plan our first ride (it changes every year). We don't plan out our rides to a schedule. We just do what sounds fun. We don't like to do things on a specific schedule, its just less fun.
I like to have a few rides and/or shows in the back of my mind that I really want to do for the day and try to get those done as soon as I can. It's really nice to be at DLR for a few days so you don't have to adhere to a strict schedule and just leisurely walk around and enjoy all the little things that make the parks (especially DL) so wonderful!
Can't wait for our next trip to my favorite place on Earth!
Before I got an Annual Pass and got the luxury of picking and choosing rides-per-visit, I would put the topmost rides as top priority.
I don't have the patience to do one "land" in its entirety, and go on to the adjacent "land," etc.--No discipline.
It would kill me to put off, for example, Space Mountain until 10:00 p.m. or put off Haunted Mansion until 11:00 p.m.
My curiosity and eagerness would do me in.--("Lay me in the graveyand of the Haunted Mansion, please!")
I could not enjoy, for example, the Fantasyland dark rides knowing that there is a growing queue on the E-Ticket rides.
If you have self-discipline, then you are a step ahead of me.
I could not pause for a sit-down meal or for a parade knowing that my Big Four (or Five, or Six) E-ticket rides were whispering my name, egging me on.
"Blow out the Big Four, as soon as possible, and THEN decide how you wish to spend the rest of the day," was my old philosophy.
"It is, it is, a glorious thing, to be a Pirate King."
-- Gilbert & Sullivan, "Pirates of Penzance, or, The Slave of Duty"
Let me qualify my comments by first saying my wife and I always plan trips around off-season dates. Having said that...
General plan of attack, definitely. I hate having an itinerary when in DL. I want to walk through that gate and forget about schedules. Obviously we have "musts" whenever we visit, but they're gotten to in due time. I like the idea of allowing the park to literally be a "land" that I'm hanging out in for a few days, taking in the sights, riding the rides, eating the food. This is one reason I would never bother to go during the summer.
General plan of attack. We ride what we want to ride when we feel like it. We do keep a few schedule items in sight - maybe lunch at Golden Horseshoe. Mostly, though, we pick up a fast pass for a big ride we want, and then wander around looking for shorter lines. When we see a short line, we get into it. If something really appeals to us, we'll wait longer, but we feel as if we enjoy the park more if we just wander. There are very few rides we "must" see. In the afternoons, we go back to the hotel to rest and relax and destress for an hour or two, Then we go back to the park and do it again.
General plan of attack with maximum flexibility and zen. Get there at rope drop, eat an early lunch, go back to the hotel for a few hours to rest and swim, come back 4 p.m.ish, eat an early dinner to beat the crowds and stay until fireworks.
Insert passive aggressive sentence of your choice here.
Me--none of the above.
Kinda hard to draw up much of a sensible plan since I have three small kids w/ me. I used to just plot out a general plan when my wife and I were just still going out...basically letting the chips fall where they may, so to speak, as far as whether we had to wait in line a long time. With kids and having APs, I don't worry too much anymore about how to best strategize my day(s) at DLR...
I'm a RideMax lover! I have 3 young kids (ages 6 and under) and I find that RideMax is the best to use the very first thing in the morning. It lets the kids know that they will get to go on their rides and also gives them a heads up as to what is coming next. Also with RideMax, we are often ahead of schedule so if one kid wants to do a ride again, it's usually no problem.
I don't find the schedule stressful at all. As I said earlier, we are often ahead of schedule so then we can do extras.
All of the tips are super helpful too. Like others mentioned about Early Entry and non EE days, etc.
Best of luck and let us know how your trip goes!
I think which method you use depends on your overall experience with the parks. Newbies absolutely can benefit from the step by step plan, while the veterans would be more inhibited by it. When I was a kid growing up in SoCal my brothers and I used to spend WEEKS planning every step of a visit to DL right down to the minute (9am-race to the Matterhorn, 9:12-9:15 run to Pirates, 9:35 hit Jungle Cruise, etc.). Usually this plan would last about 1 or 2 rides until some other attraction with a short line caught our attention, and the plan would go out the window. Still, the planning was a big part of the fun and anticipation.
I'm a big fan of the general plan, going in with the idea of which land you're going to start in and then just going from there. But doing this successfully requires quite a bit of experience, knowing how attractions cycle and how crowds flow, etc., all of the stuff that a program like RideMaxx takes into account. But without that experience, let the experts guide you.
Dan
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
- James Taylor
General plan of attack or more of a strict schedule - either way, you're ahead of the game more than you know! This was hard for me to believe, but in talking through our recently completed DLR trip with some neighbors, we heard things like "I don't do the fast passes, because we want to earn our rides." Hello??! That just means more rides for the rest of us who do any advance planning at all.
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