A little over a week ago, we attended a special event at RIDEMAKERZ in Downtown Disney, in Anaheim.  As Season Passholders of Disneyland, we always pass by RIDEMAKERZ but have never gone  in there.  I think it is because we know how car obsessed our son is.  It was perfect timing, because the event was the week of his sixth birthday.

When we arrived in the parking lot, we told him that we were going to a special place that started with the letter, “R”.  We have to get in a little education, right? Well he checked out every business until he saw RIDEMAKERZ.  He practically squealed when we told him that yes, we were going there.

RIDEMAKERZ is perfect for the 6-12 year old age range.  The concept of the store is that you get to customize your own vehicles, or RIDEZ as they call them.  You can customize the Ridez with different body styles, engines, parts, and decals to make your own unique Ridez. The best part (well my son’s favorite part), is that you can make your Ridez move, with an add-on feature of remote control.

Before, the kidz (awesome kids of the blogger’s who attended) got to customize their Ridez, we got to hear about the background of the company RIDEMAKERZ, from Larry Andreini, the Founder and ZEO of RIDEMAKERZ.  He spoke about the initial ideas, the concepts, the target age ranges, and how they figure out locations for their storefronts.  Angry Kid actually listened to Larry.  I think I need Larry to be in his school classroom.

Chooze

After hearing about the company, the kidz were able to pick out the body style for their RIDEZ.  My son chose a red RZ Rascal; my husband a Corvette C6RS; a Stealth Mater with a body lift for me.  I was overwhelmed with all of the choices.

Motorize

This is where you choose free-wheel or radio-control. The entire Angry Family chose radio control.

Mobilize

We selected our wheelz and treadz for our RIDEZ.  We then built and assembled the under carriage of our vehicles in the RZ Pit with the help of the RIDEMAKERZ employees.

Customize

In the customization stage at RIDEMAKERZ, you can add speciality lights, spoilers, side pipes, hood scoops, roll bars, decals, and much more.  My son took FULL advantage of the customizing.

Cruize

Your RIDEZ are finished and now they are ready to cruize around.  You get to take them home with you in their very own RZ CRUIZECASE (a box which has a great design and fits all of the accessories).

Moneyz (my own category that I made up)

RIDEZ are priced from $18 to $38, depending on body and paint scheme selected. Radio remote-control can be added for an additional $25 and custom accessories range in price from $2 for grille guards, spoilers and hood scoops to $15 for a deluxe “muscle kit” that includes a blow engine, spoiler, side pipes, muffler tips and roof vent. RIDEZ measure 10 to 12 inches long, about the size of a football, and range from approximately 1:14 to 1:20 scale.

Bloggerz

While I was at RIDEMAKERZ, and took some photos of the other bloggers while they were creating their RIDEZ. Here are a few of my photos:

Jim from @BusyDadBlog and his RIDEZ.

Aracely from DayTripping Mom and her awesome RIDEZ.

Kelly from According to Kelly and Just Spotted making her RIDEZ in the RZ Pit with her cute kiddos.

Cars 2 RIDEZ

RIDEMAKERZ has also recently increased their selection of RIDEZ from the Cars movies by offering four new Cars 2 vehicles, including Lightning McQueen, Mater, Finn McMissile and Francesco.  The Cars 2 line was released on May 16, 2011.  In June, RIDEMAKERZ will also be released a non-Cars 2 related, Chevrolet Camaro.

Dadz and Fatherz (Discount Information Here)

My parents came over last weekend to take us out to dinner for Angry Kid’s birthday.  My dad was completely fascinated with our RIDEZ.  Seriously, my son got a ton of birthday presents, but he is CONSTANTLY playing with his car that he got from RIDEMAKERZ.  My mom suggested that I get my dad (grown-up kid) a gift certificate for RIDEMAKERZ for Father’s Day.  I told her about the promotion they are having. (Seriously, this conversation actually occurred. I don’t make this random stuff up for my blog.)

On Father’s Day Weekend (Sat, June 18, 2011 & Sun, June 19, 2011), they are offering families to come on down and build one RIDEZ and get one FREE! This deal won’t include the brand new Cars line, but other RIDEZ like the Ford Mustang, NASCAR racecar, Viper, Challenger and the rest are included.  (Exclusions apply.  See store for details.)

Disclosure: My family was invited to a private event at RIDEMAKERZ.  We assembled our very own RIDEZ while we were there.  We got to take home our customized cars.  They did not pay me moneyz for this.  I was not forced to post this awesome post.  I typed up most of this on my own, and I even took the pictures. Ok, I may have been given an outline that helped me with my headings.  I am now a  little obsessed with the letter, “Z” now. So really, this post is brought to you by the letter, “Z”.