Rider swap - am I doing my math right?

Jennyh02 · Jul 23, 2015

We are going to Disney World in dec.

There will be 7 of us (mom, dad, sister, me, husband, 5 yo DD, & 1 yo DD)

If my husband, dad, and 5 yo get a fast pass for soarin and husband bring 1 yo old and get rider swap

When they get off, I can bring myself, mom, & sister on ride with rider swap?

Then for next fast pass ride let's say test track. Me, my mom, & sister get a FP. I bring 1 yo and get rider swap for husband.

When we get off of ride, husband, dad, & 5 yo can rider?

Just trying to see if we can double up on FP. Also I've read on here that rider swap gets you 3 people back on, but Disney world website says rider swap is only good for 2 people. Any info on that would be helpful too

thanks!

roller99 · Jul 23, 2015

I have almost the exact same situation, and I believe that will work. I haven't done it yet, we don't go until October, but I am planning the same thing for Soarin' and Test Track.

Jennyh02 · Jul 25, 2015

Any one?

quagmire0 · Jul 25, 2015

It used to be yourself and two guests. Looks like it has been reduced to 1 guest though: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

quakechicago · Jul 26, 2015

It's just one.

beccalines · Jul 27, 2015

We doubled up on fast passes lots of times in November. The rider swap allowed three total. Just make sure to bring your 1 yr old up to the line to get the FP. We would take the baby to the front, get the rider swap pass, and then I'd take the smaller children and do something else while my husband rode with the older kids. Our rider swap passes said they expired Nov. 30th. There were a few days when we didn't make it back to the ride or didn't want to use it right away. You can use it any time that day or another day during your trip. Anyone can use it, so if some of your party didn't want to ride the ride, ones that already rode it could go again. Most of the time they were specific to the ride you swapped on, but occasionally the rider swap would say 'admit 5 to any ride'. We used that one to let my older kids ride 7 dwarfs again.

There were some days we had a total of 6 FPs. I would list my husband and 3 older kids on one and myself with the 3 younger kids. We would use rider swap and all who where tall enough would get to ride. (We would just swap out magic bands to make sure the right ones had the FP. For example, my 4 yr old was too short to ride many bigger rides. She still had a FP for, let's say, Mt. Everest. One of my other kids would put on her magic band and use her FP.

Hope that wasn't too confusing! We loved rider swap! With kids aged 14, 12, 11, 8, 6, 4, and 1 and only two adults, it was a great way to get to ride the rides.

Gabriele73 · Jul 27, 2015

quakechicago said:
It's just one.

We´ve been to WDW two weeks ago and rider-switch-passes were good for up to 3 people.

Gabriele73 · Jul 27, 2015

Sorry, I don´t have a pic from our July-Switchpasses, because we used them all.
We had a splitstay, and the one on the picture is from June 29.

patdoc98 · Jul 27, 2015

The official policy on Rider Swap has not matched the actual practice for years. And the official practice has been inconsistent.

Does that help???

Our experience last year was similar to what beccalines described, except we never got an "admit 5 to any ride" pass. We got rider swap passes for 3 people to use, any day until the end of the month.

We got the 3-person swap passes at: Everest, KRR, Dinosaur, Tower of Terror, Star Tours, Soarin', Test Track, Mission Space, Mine Train, Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Splash, and Barnstormer. So it worked the same at almost every ride, at that time.

BUT at Barnstormer around (I think) 10 am one day, they did not give us a pass, they just told us to wait at the exit, and then we could swap and ride right away, by entering at the exit. The posted wait at the time was 10 minutes. I am not sure whether the CM just made his own decision, or whether the CMs are instructed not to give a rider swap pass when the lines are short. At Barnstormer at 3:30 pm (using a 5th FP), they gave us a physical rider swap pass.

BritBrit · Jul 27, 2015

Where do they distribute the switch pass if you use FP+ line? Where you scan your bands or at the very front of the line?

Jennyh02 · Jul 28, 2015

Thank you! So helpful!

lahobbs4 · Jul 28, 2015

This is a hard practice for me to figure out, too! If I have 5 eligible riders, and one that is not… do I need to only get 5 FP for that ride? Or can I get less?

mandis77 · Jul 28, 2015

BritBrit said:
Where do they distribute the switch pass if you use FP+ line? Where you scan your bands or at the very front of the line?

At the FP+ entrance where you scan your bands. Everyone needs to be present in order to get the Rider Switch pass - the CM needs to see the little kid. When you are ready to use the pass, you use the FP entrance. Instead of scanning your band, show the CM your pass and they will wave you through.

smiths02 · Jul 28, 2015

quagmire0 said:
It used to be yourself and two guests. Looks like it has been reduced to 1 guest though: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

Rider switch was good for 3 people and until the end of the month when we went in mid-late June (in other words, we didn't have to immediately switch).
The only ride where we didn't get an actual pass was Dinosaur and Mission Space, but they had really no wait, at the time anyhow

patdoc98 · Jul 28, 2015

lahobbs4 said:
This is a hard practice for me to figure out, too! If I have 5 eligible riders, and one that is not… do I need to only get 5 FP for that ride? Or can I get less?

We never had to scan the magic band of the person who was not riding in the first group. So you would need less than 5 FP.

But there is no guarantee. On rides like Mine Train, you may want to get FP+ for all 5 in advance, just in case.

patdoc98 · Jul 28, 2015

smiths02 said:
The only ride where we didn't get an actual pass was Dinosaur and Mission Space, but they had really no wait, at the time anyhow

Yep. We got swap passes on these rides, but we were using FPs to ride in the early afternoon, when there was a real wait. I guess it makes sense that Disney doesn't want a family with one infant to be able to run to BTMR at 9 am and ride 4 times, and get 4 rider swap passes that they can use in the afternoon when waits are long.

disneypolybride2008 · Jul 28, 2015

So we use DH's FP+ for an attraction, all go to it at the FP+ entrance, I stay with the infant, and 4 year old, and he goes riding it but we get a rider swap ticket? then i can go and he can watch the kids, or if dd4 decides to go she can be my+1.... is that correct?
sounds like a good deal if i have it correct

smiths02 · Jul 28, 2015

disneypolybride2008 said:
So we use DH's FP+ for an attraction, all go to it at the FP+ entrance, I stay with the infant, and 4 year old, and he goes riding it but we get a rider swap ticket? then i can go and he can watch the kids, or if dd4 decides to go she can be my+1.... is that correct?
sounds like a good deal if i have it correct

Or your DH and DD4 can have a FP+ and both ride together, get a rider swap ticket (because of the 1 year old), then you and DD4 can ride together so she gets to ride twice and your DH doesn't have to ride alone

disneypolybride2008 · Jul 28, 2015

smiths02 said:
Or your DH and DD4 can have a FP+ and both ride together, get a rider swap ticket (because of the 1 year old), then you and DD4 can ride together so she gets to ride twice and your DH doesn't have to ride alone

that's even better

amandasomerville · Jul 29, 2015

So much good information on this thread, I am so glad I read it. I am so confused about rider swap (or was).

Rider swap - am I doing my math right?

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