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View Full Version : Is Ridemax worth ordering and using?



slanders
04-16-2005, 06:24 PM
We leave soon (April 28th) but thought I would order this online and see how it works. Any thoughts.....
We have 3 days at Disneyland.

Sonja

rentayenta
04-16-2005, 06:27 PM
Yes, it is worth ordering and using. We used it in December. It allowed for flexibility but also answered the unanswerable question: what's next?? I liked having a game plan and my family loved it.

MsYumiBr
04-16-2005, 06:35 PM
It's totally better to have plan and adjust it along the way than to go without one and spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to do on the fly. That frustrates me where my husband is just the opposite. A plan frustrates him. I got RideMax for our trip in February but it rained all 3 days so we didn't need it. However, I had a LOT of fun picking what I wanted to go on, taking family surveys of what they wanted to go on, imagining what fun it's going to be actually going on them, etc. It's also interesting to see how 5 minutes makes all the difference. I'm definitely going to get it again in July when we go, even though we'll be there 5 days. It'll give us a route if nothing else.

jennia
04-16-2005, 07:27 PM
I've been an AP holder for a long time and I'm fairly local (so we've visited the park a fair number of times.) After reading about the RideMax software on these boards, I bought it. The tips and the software are very good. I feel it was well worth the money we paid.

mkcbunny
04-16-2005, 07:40 PM
Is it better than using the basic Unofficial Guide plan adapted to your own preferences? We go early at opening, and we're willing to jump around and plan FastPasses, so I've never felt I needed Ridemax. But there's so much talk about it, and I'm a little worried about the crowds for the 50th 'n' all....

SeansMom
04-16-2005, 07:55 PM
We leave soon (April 28th) but thought I would order this online and see how it works. Any thoughts.....
We have 3 days at Disneyland.

Sonja

We bought and used RideMax for our recent trip. Although the software was fun to use, and we did use parts of it, there were a lot of "unpredictable" events that made the plans not as helpful as they could of been. For instance, I didn't know and couldn't have forseen that my usually pliable and willing 12 year old was suddenly "too old" for some of the rides I had scheduled into RideMax. Also, one day of our trip both Splash Mountain and Buzz Lightyear were down, and Indiana Jones was closed for a time. Plus, fastpasses for Soarin', Screamin', AND MM were all gone by 2:30 in the afternoon (so the direction to get a fastpass was useless). Add to that a 23 year old who was really only interested in E ticket rides, food, and more E ticket rides and I found I had to set aside the RideMax plan and practice going with the flow for most of the trip, even when it meant standing in line for a half hour or more (which I would usually just refuse to do.) That said, I would buy it again...but make at LEAST two plans for the day, and keep in mind that some attractions may be "closed due to technical difficulties". Also....I'd make sure you build in some time to experience shows, parades, and all the extras. (You can print off a calendar of events at the Disney website.) Our plan didn't call for spending time with Farley in Frontierland (because who could anticipate that?), but we had a really fun 20 minutes or so listening to his jokes and listening to him playing his fiddle. He even played the Happy Birthday Song for Sean (embarrassing him plenty) and then posed for pictures. These are great memories that RideMax can't plan for.
In the end, it's not much of an investment, and I can honestly say we passed LOTS of families standing in the middle of walkways, gazing at maps, wondering what to do next. My guess is that you really don't want to be one of them! An alternative to RideMax would be to follow one of the plans in the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland. We've used those with success. The nice thing about RideMax is that you can tailor it to your family. Easier if they are all small and willing, though ;) ! Have fun!

SCUBAbe
04-16-2005, 07:59 PM
I have only used it twice on busy days and it was great. I have brought schedules 4 times though and I tend to use it as a guideline on non-busy days. For instance when it said to get a fastpass for splash and the wait was only 10 minutes we just waited. We did a few other rides and then check the schedule occasionally to see if there was anything we missed or anything that we didn't do when the time was coming up, but we really didn't need it on that day at all. On busy days it's great!!

you need to be flexible and not rely soley on the schedule, becasue rides do go down. Both times we used the schedule we ended up being ahead of time. Mostly because we don;t use free time and if we see a short wait for a ride we just go on it..:)

Leap for Joy
04-17-2005, 08:28 AM
I love Ridemax! I agree with the recommendation of making alternate schedules -- that's been my mistake each time. But after playing with it I started to pick up on some of the patterns of wait times for rides, which made it easier to decide how to change the schedule when we needed to.

We were there with first timers over Easter weekend. We got them (A mom and two boys age 5 and 8) through everything in 3 days and never waited longer than 30 minutes. It was awesome! And, the kids were very willing to follow the schedule instead of trying to drag us here and there. They'd ask what was next, and look it up on the map, and not worry if we were walking past something that looked cool because we assured them we had everything scheduled.

mandi2728
04-17-2005, 09:46 AM
i have accually never heard of this what is it and how does it work please. also how much is it

SCUBAbe
04-17-2005, 09:52 AM
i have accually never heard of this what is it and how does it work please. also how much is it

www.ridemax.com

click the link for more info. :)

mandi2728
04-17-2005, 10:10 AM
ok so its somethig you get and do beforehand not while your in the park like a pda so your not running to the hub to look at the information board to get ride status. i thought it was something the park offered for like resort guests that interacted with park systems to provide information to guests