Comparison

Ride Planner vs Magic Planning

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Ride Planner

Plan your theme park visits with real-time wait times, ride tracking, and park guides. Log your experiences, share achievements, and keep notes on attractions to maximize your adventure.

Highlights
  • Live wait times
  • Track ride stats
  • Share park achievements
  • Ride reviews and notes
  • Park guides with shows and dining
Features
Read full description

Master Your Theme Park Adventure! Ride Planner is the ultimate companion for theme park enthusiasts. Whether you're visiting Disney, Universal, or local parks, Ride Planner helps you make the most of your day. Key Features: - Live Wait Times See real-time wait times for all your favorite rides. Never guess which line to join next. - Track Your Stats Log your rides and build your personal theme park history. Track total rides, unique attractions, and see detailed monthly recaps. - Share Your Progress Generate beautiful, shareable cards of your park achievements. Show off your "Most Ridden" rides and park completion progress to friends on social media. - Reviews & Notes Rate rides and leave personal notes. Remember exactly what you loved (or didn't) about every attraction. - Park Guides Access detailed park info, including shows and dining options, right at your fingertips. Privacy Policy: https://rideplanner.io/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Magic Planning

This app simplifies group vacation planning, especially for Disney trips. It allows real-time collaboration on park days, dining reservations, and travel details, with timely notifications for important windows. It also includes features for tracking attractions, packing, and even playing games together.

Highlights
  • Group trip planning
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Dining reservation tracking
  • Lightning Lane alerts
  • Shared trip calendar
  • Packing list management
  • Trip and queue games
Features
Read full description

Planning a Disney World trip with your group has never been easier. Magic Planning keeps everyone on the same page — from park days and dining reservations to flights, tickets, and Lightning Lane purchases. Built for groups. Invite your travel party and plan together in real time. Chat with your group, share your location at the parks, and make sure nobody misses a reservation. Assign roles — owners, members, guests, viewers, travel agents, and kids — to keep the whole party organized. Child accounts include guardian attribution and age-appropriate safety settings so the whole family can participate safely. Friends & Family. Connect with fellow Disney fans using your unique friend code or QR code. Add friends to trips directly from your friends list, and optionally share a read-only trip summary so your group can stay in the loop — even those who aren't on the trip. Friend requests are push-notified the moment they arrive. Community Stories. Share your Disney trip experiences with the Magic Planning community. Write a trip story, add a cover photo, and inspire others planning their own adventure. All stories are reviewed for safety before going live. Never miss a window. Get push notifications the moment your dining reservation or Lightning Lane purchase window opens — down to the second. Magic Planning does the math so you don't have to. Everything in one place. • Organize park days with a shared trip calendar • Track dining reservations with countdown reminders • Add flights and open FlightAware with one tap • Manage park tickets and annual passes for every traveler • Log hotels, activities, and anything else your group has planned • Track your snacks and attractions, including for special park events • Browse Magic Planning merchandise in the in-app shop • Play queue games: Trivia, Timelines, and Word Search • Manage your packing list and wellness goals for each trip • And much more! Premium features unlock even more. • Day Planner: AI-powered park planning that builds an optimized itinerary for each day of your trip and helps you rethink on the fly when plans change. • World Traveller: Explore EPCOT's World Showcase pavilions, log your meals and drinks, attach photos, and challenge your friends to see who has explored more of the world. Complete with a cinematic photo slideshow with music. • Budget Tracking: Split trip expenses with your group, track who paid what, and settle up without the awkward conversations. Try it free for 48 hours. • Games: Play premium trip games — Park Hopper (navigate the parks and earn achievements) and Trip Magic (customizable scavenger hunts for your trip). All future games included with subscription! Premium is available as a 1-month or annual subscription. Individual features are also available as standalone purchases (budget now has a 48-hour trial!). No auto-renewal. Pay once for the period you need. Reminders that work for you. Choose exactly which notifications you want: dining windows, Lightning Lane alerts, reservation reminders, payment due dates, trip countdowns, friend requests, and more. Control everything from Settings. Magic Planning is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Walt Disney Company. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Ride Planner4 screens
Magic Planning4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Ride Planner at every 6 days against Magic Planning's every 2 weeks. Ride Planner also leads on ratings volume (3 vs 1). Magic Planning's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Ride Planner sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Magic Planning sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Ride Planner against 5.0 for Magic Planning. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ride Planner ships an update every 6 days, Magic Planning every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Ride Planner versus Magic Planning: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRide PlannerMagic Planning
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS26.117.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB35 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperUltra Saturn LLCChris St Pierre

Customer experience

Ride Planner

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Magic Planning

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Ride Planner

Subscriptions2
  • Ride Planner Pro - Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Ride Planner Pro - Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Ride Planner Pro$49.99
6 purchases

Magic Planning

One-time6
  • Magic Planning Magic is Out There$1.99
  • Magic Planning Park Hopper$1.99
  • Magic Planning Budget$4.99
Show 3 more
  • Magic Planning World Traveller Game$4.99
  • Magic Planning One-Month$9.99
  • Magic Planning Annual$49.99

Questions

Is Ride Planner free?
Ride Planner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Magic Planning free?
Magic Planning is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Ride Planner or Magic Planning?
Ride Planner and Magic Planning are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Ride Planner or Magic Planning have ads?
Neither Ride Planner nor Magic Planning shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ride Planner or Magic Planning?
Ride Planner ships an update every 6 days, and Magic Planning every 2 weeks. Most recently, Ride Planner was updated on September 25, 2026 and Magic Planning on October 5, 2026.

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