We just spent a magical few days at Disneyland with 80,000 other people. I’m glad I didn’t know that we had picked one of the busiest weeks of the year to take our vacation. I’m more grateful that I knew about Ridemax from our previous trips. I wasn’t sure if it was still relevant with the Disney app listing wait times and Genie+, but it LITERALLY saved our vacation from being a disappointment. The plan that Ridemax strategically put together allowed us to ride all our favorite rides (and more) with reasonable wait times.
Disneyland Park at capacity – 80,000 people
THE RIDEMAX APP
In the past we have used the Ridemax subscription on their website, but their app is even better. We quickly navigated back and forth between the Disneyland app and the Ridemax app. The app can be downloaded on android or apple devices. Please utilize the app vs the website. It’s much easier in my opinion.
Apple App for Disneyland or Disneyworld
Android App for Disneyland or Disneyworld
WHEN & HOW TO PLAN
About a week before our trip, we started to play with our plan. We researched the wait times with Genie+ (paid service for lightning lanes that Disney offers) and decide if it was worth it. Let me pause…. BUY GENIE+ when you purchase your tickets if you are going during a busy time. We thought we could add it later, which you can, but it had to be the morning we entered the park after our tickets were scanned and it increased in price to $30 per ticket. Please learn from my rookie mistake and decide on Genie+ when you buy your tickets.
We are by no means Disney experts. We go every 4-5 years and a lot changes between each trip. Ridemax quickly caught us up to speed with their tips they add within the app. We met up with friends and they said, “wow, you guys really know how to do Disney.” That was actually a compliment to Ridemax. We were a step ahead of the other 80,000 people in the park because we had our plan. By the way, the plan worked great when we were a group of 5 and a group of 11!
USING THE PLAN
If you like a plan to go 100% on schedule, there’s no such thing at a Disney park. Rides break down, crowds are not always predictable, and you will need to zig and zag a bit. When we went off plan, we would simply detour until we could get back on schedule.
Rewrite your plan via the app a few times with different break times, ride choices, start times, etc. We created a few plans a day ahead and then chose which one would work best.
OUR TRIP WITH RIDEMAX
We spent 2 days in Disneyland and 1 day in California Adventure. Our first day we followed our Ridemax plan, but aborted our time for Rise of Resistance because the predicted wait time of 80 minutes wasn’t accurate in the moment. The Disney app showed a 2+ hour wait which would have thrown off our whole day. We waited until later in the day after we had been on all our other favorite rides, and then we hopped in line. It ended up being a disaster when the ride broke down for an additional hour, but we didn’t miss anything by doing our Ridemax plan first.
Day 1 we walked 12 miles and spent 12 hours in the park. We rode every ride we wanted thanks to Ridemax and even though the park was at capacity we walked on to most rides with our Lightning Lane plans via Ridemax and Genie+. We had our rides well-planned time wise and geographically. We used Ridemax tips within the plan for the best parade spot and felt quite proud of ourselves for navigating the park so well on such a busy day. We ended the day with fireworks and tired feet. Boy did we fit in all the things!
Day 2 we made a Ridemax plan with and without Genie+. We decided to skip Genie+ for California Adventure and just use the Ridemax plan because the wait time improvement with Genie+ didn’t feel worth the cost. We made the right decision.
We went to Cars at rope drop and rode that ride as a family. Then we rode it 3 more times during the day via the single rider lane. We finally have kids old enough to take advantage of that! We had another perfectly planned day and experienced all our favorite rides and more.
Day 3 – THANKSGIVING DAY – The busiest day of the year I have heard. We met up with friends from church and took them on our Ridemax-planned day. We had so much fun showing them all the things we knew thanks to Ridemax.
Every princess and character waved at our precious little friend.
We even disclosed our favorite parade spot where the characters focus on one side of the street, but I can’t tell you where that is – get the app!
RISE of RESISTANCE
If you’re not aware, there is a new ride that is 19 minutes long and every single person in the park wants to ride it. You do not need to be a Star Wars fan to appreciate the magnificence of this ride. I was awestruck. I didn’t watch any videos about the ride and was pleasantly surprised by each portion of it and the workers being in character was an added thrill and adventure.
Genie+ includes free downloads of all your professional photos with park photographers and they added graphics!
I was curious why our Ridemax plan didn’t put the newest and most amazing ride first. My best guess is because it breaks down all the time. It fits nowhere on the plan because it’s an unpredictable monster. It’s also the most incredible ride I’ve ever been on. We rode it twice, but we had to be patient. My main note of advice is to plan your Ridemax day to start at 9:30am and try to ride Rise of Resistance first (8 am) if you are at rope drop and ready to speed walk.
This is what first in line at rope drop looks like. It also meant we got to the park at 7 am sharp.
Other Rise of Resistance tips:
- If the ride is a 60 minute wait or less, drop everything and go wait in line
- Be prepared to skip your scheduled time if the wait is longer then Ridemax predicted for its assigned time.
- If you go straight to Rise of Resistance and it’s closed, jump on Smuggler Run if there’s no wait and save your LL for later in the day.
- Keep watching the Disney app for the ride to open if it’s been down and speed walk when it gets back “online”.
THANKFUL
We ended our day with a Thanksgiving dinner at IHOP. It will forever be a very fun memory of a unique way we spent our Thanksgiving Day. I’m also thankful for a dear friend who made Annabelle and I are adorable shirts.
Frugal tip: eat meals right outside the park for more affordable prices.
RIDEMAX
- All memberships include full access to both the iOS and Android App, as well as the Desktop Web version of RideMax, including our park-specific tips and hints.
- Use RideMax on multiple devices with a single login ID.
- This is a one-time purchase — we don’t automatically renew subscriptions.
