Do I understand child swap correctly?

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

I didn't realize single rider lines weren't always available on the rides that list them. Is the "castle tour" line always available at FJ? I was wanting to do that once to not be rushed through and really take in all the queue. I know at Disney people do not let you walk slow to take in the queues if the line is moving.

 

[Kivara]

The line is pretty wide. My first few times through, I just stood near the rope on one side, and let people pass me, until I was ready to move on. No one complains about a person letting you jump ahead!

 

[bumbershoot]

I didn't realize single rider lines weren't always available on the rides that list them. Is the "castle tour" line always available at FJ? I was wanting to do that once to not be rushed through and really take in all the queue. I know at Disney people do not let you walk slow to take in the queues if the line is moving.

From our experience, the "tour" doesn't take you through anywhere near all the line. If you want to see what's in the line, you have to go in the line.

 

[kohlby]

We've never done the true "castle tour" line. We went during the off-season and FJ had a 5-10 minute wait most of the day. We did the regular line since the adults wanted to ride - and the oldest child. We took our time with the line and people passed us if they wanted to go faster - and we passed people stopped to look at things as well.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Yes you can us child swap with the single rider lines. My wife and if have been doing that for 4 years since our son was born. The only ride you cannot us single rider with child swap on is Escape from Gringotts and that's only because the single rider line doesn't go near the child swap room.

child swap at the coaters are different then the other rider. They always send the children and waiting adult up the ride exit to the Child Swap room while everyone else waits in the main or single rider line. We leave any loose items with the waiting adult instead of using the lockers.

I can't speak for everyone but we try not to abuse the single rider line with child swap. Even when we have multiple adults in our party if we go thru the single riders line after the waiting adults go to child swap with the kids everyone else still rider as single riders. Once everyone is done riding only the single adult that waited goes back to ride Even though you can bring extra riders back on when using child swap.

So if you use the single rider line with child swap. Just make sure all adults ride alone since they would have to anyways without kids.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Thanks. But do we have to get in the main line to get to the rider swap area or can we do the shorter single rider line when available?
My kids will hate having to wait with us and not getting the reward of a ride so I really hope we can make the wait as short as possible for them.

Yes, but like WDW, some of the single rider lines miss part of the preshow. That is especially true for Gringotts and Hogwarts. The first time you ride, you might want to use regular queue.

Unlike classic MK rides, the queues of those two rides contain many of the cool special effects.

Later use SR.

I prefer US SR style to WDW. They usually have a waiting room that is just off the loading area. at WDW, the 2nd rider has to wait through the FP lines. At US, you just get right on the ride in most cases after doing a swap.

To me, the US system makes more sense.

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

We just got back home and we were able to do child swap in single rider lines when they existed. Sometimes when there wasn't a single rider line when we asked about one, the staff sent us into the Express line upon seeing our 2 young kids who clearly weren't gonna tolerate the long line to not ride which was very appreciated. Overall we MUCH prefer Disney's rider swap system as making a 2 yr old wait in lines to not get to ride resulted in MANY tears that don't happen with Disney's system. We will not be returning to Universal until our children are all tall enough to ride most rides. Paying for a ticket for my 3.5 year old who is apparently 39.75" tall not 40" so therefore could hardly ride anything felt like a total ripoff.

 

[Turn the Page]

I didn't read all the responses here, just skimmed, so I'm not sure if this has been answered or not.

We will have 2 adults and 2 kids. When using rider swap does the kid that is tall enough to go get to go on the ride twice, once with each parent?

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I didn't read all the responses here, just skimmed, so I'm not sure if this has been answered or not.

We will have 2 adults and 2 kids. When using rider swap does the kid that is tall enough to go get to go on the ride twice, once with each parent?

Yes. (at least the last time I used it at WDW.)

With a group of four, that is basically the only time it will be useful to you.

In your case, if BOTH children are too small for RNRC or EE, simply use the single rider line. (or if the taller child doesn't wish to re-ride, you might wish to use SR for the 2nd adult at those 2 attractions.)

Rider swap IS faster than standing in the standby line twice, but it did slow down our touring quite a bit. It is especially slow to swap at Soarin'. We often used the split to get a snack in the Land's food court.

VERY IMPORTANT: In order to get a rider swap pass- your whole family has to approach the ride together. The CM's have to see your family together before they will give out a pass.

 

[Turn the Page]

Yes. (at least the last time I used it at WDW.)

With a group of four, that is basically the only time it will be useful to you.

In your case, if BOTH children are too small for RNRC or EE, simply use the single rider line. (or if the taller child doesn't wish to re-ride, you might wish to use SR for the 2nd adult at those 2 attractions.)

Rider swap IS faster than standing in the standby line twice, but it did slow down our touring quite a bit. It is especially slow to swap at Soarin'. We often used the split to get a snack in the Land's food court.

VERY IMPORTANT: In order to get a rider swap pass- your whole family has to approach the ride together. The CM's have to see your family together before they will give out a pass.

Wonderful, thank you.

Actually, I think the only place we will need to use it is at Universal. The younger one is about 41" tall so there are very few things she can go on at WDW anyway and of those few, I'm not sure there is anything the older one would want to go on so we will be utilizing single rider line for those things.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Oh, US! This thread is from some time ago. Yes, the older child gets to ride twice at US as well.

US also has SR at some attractions.

US also has some shows like Minions where most seats move. Not a ton but they are the motion plus 3d goggles. In Minions, guests can sit in non-moving seats. I'm not 100%, but I think guests in the non-moving seats can be any size.

The line for Minions quickly gets pretty long. It is very cute though, so worth doing in the morning.

 

[bumbershoot]

Overall we MUCH prefer Disney's rider swap system as making a 2 yr old wait in lines to not get to ride resulted in MANY tears that don't happen with Disney's system.

Although I didn't experience it at Uni, I feel the opposite way. When using rider switch at Disney, you have to find something for the others to do the *entire* time you're in the line, riding, and exiting. That can get really boring. Whereas the kid can see neat things, experience the lines, and hang out with the whole family, and then watch TV and hang out in air conditioning for just the time of the seating line and ride itself (for both sets of riders of course). It's a lesser amount of time of being without the whole family, at Uni, and for my son (and me) that would have been far superior to the "split the family up outside" method WDW&DLR have.

 

[kohlby]

US also has some shows like Minions where most seats move. Not a ton but they are the motion plus 3d goggles. In Minions, guests can sit in non-moving seats. I'm not 100%, but I think guests in the non-moving seats can be any size.

The line for Minions quickly gets pretty long. It is very cute though, so worth doing in the morning.

I've used the non-moving seats even with a baby back when it was Jimmy Neutron! When it was Despicable Me, my youngest was tall enough but didn't want to go in the moving seats so we sat in the non-moving ones, so it's been a while since I tested out smaller kids being allowed.

 

[pcstang]

Absolutely! To add, the entire family does not have to be in front of the cm to get the rider swap. We haven't all gone to the start of the que and have not had a single issue getting the rider swap at wdw.

Although I didn't experience it at Uni, I feel the opposite way. When using rider switch at Disney, you have to find something for the others to do the *entire* time you're in the line, riding, and exiting. That can get really boring. Whereas the kid can see neat things, experience the lines, and hang out with the whole family, and then watch TV and hang out in air conditioning for just the time of the seating line and ride itself (for both sets of riders of course). It's a lesser amount of time of being without the whole family, at Uni, and for my son (and me) that would have been far superior to the "split the family up outside" method WDW&DLR have.

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

Yes the child that is tall enough gets to ride twice. My daughter did like that aspect.
If you only want the stationary seats at the Minion ride/movie they let us go through the Express line, since the stationary seats are almost always empty they said. Neither child was tall enough for the moving seats. There was a 1 year old in the stationary seats when we went so I think any age/size is allowed there.

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

Although I didn't experience it at Uni, I feel the opposite way. When using rider switch at Disney, you have to find something for the others to do the *entire* time you're in the line, riding, and exiting. That can get really boring. Whereas the kid can see neat things, experience the lines, and hang out with the whole family, and then watch TV and hang out in air conditioning for just the time of the seating line and ride itself (for both sets of riders of course). It's a lesser amount of time of being without the whole family, at Uni, and for my son (and me) that would have been far superior to the "split the family up outside" method WDW&DLR have.

It was much harder on my 2 yr old to get to see the ride cars, see how cool they looked, and not get to ride vs at Disney I can take him to a play area, another ride, or the bathroom while others ride. He doesn't know/see what he's missing out on when dad just gets into a line and we walk off. He didn't enjoy the US queues at all (they aren't themed to 2 yr olds) so to him, he waited to get excited about riding what he saw then didn't get to ride. And the TV they get to watch wasn't themed for 2 yr olds either. Watching the dragon scene of Harry Potter while waiting at Gringott's ride terrified him.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Although I didn't experience it at Uni, I feel the opposite way. When using rider switch at Disney, you have to find something for the others to do the *entire* time you're in the line, riding, and exiting. That can get really boring. Whereas the kid can see neat things, experience the lines, and hang out with the whole family, and then watch TV and hang out in air conditioning for just the time of the seating line and ride itself (for both sets of riders of course). It's a lesser amount of time of being without the whole family, at Uni, and for my son (and me) that would have been far superior to the "split the family up outside" method WDW&DLR have.

We've done RS in both parks and I agree that the Universal system is much, much better. We loved the little waiting room and our son loved being able to go through the castle with us. Hogwarts is so cool that it's like an attraction in itself and it would be a shame for him to have to miss it (like he had to miss the cool Star Tours queue back when he was under 40 inches).

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Absolutely! To add, the entire family does not have to be in front of the cm to get the rider swap. We haven't all gone to the start of the que and have not had a single issue getting the rider swap at wdw.

Depends what you mean here.

Most of the time we used rider swap at WDW, the CM needed to visually verify that our group included multiple people over the required height, and at least one child below the required height. It was not enough to simply tell the CM that we had a child, nor was it simply enough for the waiting adult+infant to ask for a rider swap. If you were able to simply SAY you had a child, then you got lucky.

Now we always had a group of 7people or more, so not all 7 of us had to be present, but at least 2folks tall enough+1 too young/short had to be present, and even that wasn't enough for many CM's. We'd be told solo riders don't need a child swap pass until we presented enough people.

It got frustrating especially in the Splash/BTMRR area. As soon as someone tried to find a place to sit or park a stroller around there, we'd lose them in the crowd, and the BTMRR CM's were often the most insistent. Even after we presented everyone, a few CM's STILL gave us a suspicious look. Go figure!

 

[damo]

The main thing that I don't like about the child swap system at Universal and one that I think they could easily change, is that you cannot bring a stroller into line. So if you have a sleeping child in a stroller, you have to remove the child and carry them through the line.

 

[pcstang]

Depends what you mean here.

Most of the time we used rider swap at WDW, the CM needed to visually verify that our group included multiple people over the required height, and at least one child below the required height. It was not enough to simply tell the CM that we had a child, nor was it simply enough for the waiting adult+infant to ask for a rider swap. If you were able to simply SAY you had a child, then you got lucky.

Now we always had a group of 7people or more, so not all 7 of us had to be present, but at least 2folks tall enough+1 too young/short had to be present, and even that wasn't enough for many CM's. We'd be told solo riders don't need a child swap pass until we presented enough people.

It got frustrating especially in the Splash/BTMRR area. As soon as someone tried to find a place to sit or park a stroller around there, we'd lose them in the crowd, and the BTMRR CM's were often the most insistent. Even after we presented everyone, a few CM's STILL gave us a suspicious look. Go figure!

Hope I didn't come across as doubting what you said. I know that's the policy but it hasn't enforced at all for us this week.
I guess we have been lucky this week. We have used the child swap numerous times and the CM's never batted an eye when we asked. We are a family of 5 and had a 6th with us one day.