Ode to Disneyland RideMax

Everybody knows Disneyland is the most crowded place on earth and that it’s a huge waste of money because you stand in lines all day and ride like three rides.

Well, not anymore!

(This is going to sound like a PSA and it is.  RideMax should hire me and all of my sisters.  We are in love with RideMax.)

Go to RideMax

Apparently some company has calculated algorithms to figure out when the lines for each ride are the shortest on which days.  It costs $15 to join the website (or just use mine, email me for code) and then you pre-plan you day by selecting the rides you want to go on, what time you’re willing to arrive, when and where you want to eat, and if you need to take any nap breaks.  And then it generates a schedule for you including the wait times for each ride.

Using RideMax on a pretty standardly crowded day we were able to ride 18 rides and do a total of 31 activities.  That is miraculous.

Here is our RideMax schedule:

We had to arrive at 7:50am (I barfed on the way), and then we ran to the Peter Pan ride.  It was so much fun blitzing past everybody in a stampede with Silas crying behind.  It’s a total blast.  If you hit Peter Pan at exactly 8:05, as you get off you will see the line filling up as those poor schmucks line up for their day of lines.  Look at the rest of the schedule. Dumbo!  Even the wait times on there were longer than we waited, we just walked right on most rides.  Here’s proof:

Peter Pan.  (why are these pictures blurry?  they weren’t on my phone!)

Dumbo

Snow White.  What’s missing from Snow White?  All the other people.  We didn’t even have time in line to get adequately scared by the line décor.  We went on most of the Fantasyland rides twice, because we could.

This is what Toontown looks like WITH NO PEOPLE.

We needed another adult to get Silas and Jude on the Gadget Go-coaster at the same time, so I asked an unsuspecting stranger.  Silas grabbed her hand and off they went.

How long did you wait to meet Mickey so that your kid could cry just when you got there?  Yeah, we didn’t wait at all.  In fact, Mickey invited US in.

You may not recognize Pirates of the Caribbean because it’s empty. 

After a few hours of riding everything to our heart’s content Disneyland started to get legitly crowded.  At this time RideMax doesn’t bother sending you to wait in a 40 minute line, rather it suggests that you just chill for a while.  We used this time to have an early lunch and go to the Tangled Show (where we sat in the first row, of course). 

My sister Val showed up around this time and took the kids for more Toontown while I did my own activity:

Pulling a Jim in Toontown.

Later in the afternoon RideMax tells you to use the Fastpasses that you sent a runner for earlier that morning.  This got us on Star Tours, no problem (Space Mtn was closed).

Itinerary:

Peter Pan, Dumbo, Storybook boats, Mr. Toad’s, Pinocchio, Snow White, Casey Jr Train, Toontown roller coaster twice, Chip and Dale treehouse, Mickey house, Minnie house, Toontown spin cars, Pirates, ate beignets in New Orleans, Tarzan treehouse, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, Lunch at the plaza inn, walked down Main Street, listened to Dapper Dan’s Barbershop Quartet, took the horse drawn carriage, Saw Tangled show, More toontown, napped, Roger Rabbit ride again, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, Star Tours, Teacups, Dinner in the Pinocchio attached restaurant through which ELSA AND ANNA walked, Parade front row.

That’s 31 things.

At 6:30 RideMax tells you exactly where to sit for the parade so that you have the best view with shade AND seating.  (It’s by the bathrooms behind Alice in Wonderland, next to the Matterhorn.)

Waiting for the parade with Auntie Photobomber

And this is pretty much how Disneyland was for us:  outrageously joyful.

Thanks to Celia for teaching us about RideMax.  Thanks to Val for meeting us there at just the right time.  It was the best Disney day I’ve ever had.  The weather was perfect (you could wear a light jacket and not die from heat) and my kids were the perfect age (nobody asked to be carried even once). The only things missing were Hush and our cousins.