Rider swap for child tall enough but medically unable to ride?

[ilovefh]

My son has seizure disorder and when he was diagnosed in December I asked the neuro about restrictions, specifically Disney ones because we go twice a week. One he mentioned was roller coasters and I thought "Duh! He shouldn't be riding those anyway at his age." This weekend we went with friends and I started thinking about what we'll do for rides he's tall enough to ride but medically can't ride. There will be a point where he's tall enough but too young to wait alone. Do they just recommend the use of fast passes for this? If so, any speculation on how they'll do this with the new FP+? Isn't there a rumor you can only get 4 per day and they're from different categories of rides?

This is purely just a curiosity question as we're super hopeful he'll outgrow his seizures and he's barely 32 inches. He's under the 10th percentile for height so I don't think he'll be tall enough for anything with a height requirement for a long time.

[SueM in MN]

No one knows what Fastpass Plus will be specifically, especially in terms of numbers of Fastpasses per ticket.

For right now, while he is too short, I would just child swap.
Once he tall enough to ride, the easiest thing would be to still get a Fastpass for him. Then he and another member of your party would sit out the ride while the rest of your group rides.
When the group that rode finish, the person who stayed with your child can ride with their own Fastpass and someone else can ride agin, using your child's Fastpass.

You can try explaining he is not medically allowed to do the ride and seeing if they will do a rider's swap for him when he is tall enough, but there is a possibility they will not allow it. Using Fastpasses is a sure thing.

For what it's worth, I have never heard if a blanket 'can't ride roller coasters if you have seizures' recommendation, so it's possible that the doctor is just saying that at this point because your child is so young, the seizures are a new diagnosis and the evaluation for why he is having seizures is still being investigated.

Many kids do outgrow seizures (mine did not, but she has cerebral palsy, which put her at higher risk).
Hopefully, your child will outgrow them.

[ilovefh]

Originally Posted by SueM in MN

No one knows what Fastpass Plus will be specifically, especially in terms of numbers of Fastpasses per ticket.

For right now, while he is too short, I would just child swap.
Once he tall enough to ride, the easiest thing would be to still get a Fastpass for him. Then he and another member of your party would sit out the ride while the rest of your group rides.
When the group that rode finish, the person who stayed with your child can ride with their own Fastpass and someone else can ride agin, using your child's Fastpass.

You can try explaining he is not medically allowed to do the ride and seeing if they will do a rider's swap for him when he is tall enough, but there is a possibility they will not allow it. Using Fastpasses is a sure thing.

For what it's worth, I have never heard if a blanket 'can't ride roller coasters if you have seizures' recommendation, so it's possible that the doctor is just saying that at this point because your child is so young, the seizures are a new diagnosis and the evaluation for why he is having seizures is still being investigated.

Many kids do outgrow seizures (mine did not, but she has cerebral palsy, which put her at higher risk).
Hopefully, your child will outgrow them.

Thanks! Like I said, it's really just a curiosity question at this point. Something I never thought about before. The fast pass thing makes sense. I'm truly hopeful he outgrows it. As you said, it is a new diagnosis so we're just getting used to things. We're not worried about roller coasters right now for 2 reasons 1. He won't be tall enough for MANY years! And 2. Our main concern is getting him to speak more.

And in the grand scheme of life roller coasters are really inconsequential.

[jmartinez1895]

Did the doctor happen to say why he should not ride the coasters? I m only curious because my son has seizures and while we have had many different warning from his doctors while traveling, that has not been one of them. I was just curious if it may be something that I should look further into, or if maybe your doctor is being cautious until yall get a better idea of his condition and find his triggers.
On a side note, if you have not already you may want ot check out epilepsy.com It has a lot of good information.

[Nevada Jen]

You can do the child swap with a disabled person instead of a kid who is otherwise too short for the ride. People do it all the time with a kid who is otherwise tall enough but simply afraid.

[ilovefh]

Originally Posted by jmartinez1895

Did the doctor happen to say why he should not ride the coasters? I m only curious because my son has seizures and while we have had many different warning from his doctors while traveling, that has not been one of them. I was just curious if it may be something that I should look further into, or if maybe your doctor is being cautious until yall get a better idea of his condition and find his triggers.
On a side note, if you have not already you may want ot check out epilepsy.com It has a lot of good information.

He didn't really say. I asked if there was anything we should watch out for or avoid specifically at Disney because we go at least twice per week and he mentioned roller coasters and not staying the whole day so he doesn't get too tired. In everyday life he mentioned to try and make sure he doesn't get overstimulated so maybe he was saying the roller coaster would be too much stimulation? I'm not too sure. We're still trying to understand everything. Right now they're just absence seizures and he's on Keppra. I'm still trying to figure out how we know if the Keppra is working when we don't really see the seizures. Anyway....sorry to digress!

I will check out the website you sent me. Thanks!

[gilesmt]

First I would say check back with your doctor as he gets older, both me and my dd have seizures and we both do coasters, but there are different seizure types, and it could be more along the lines of wait until we see what medications help or don't help.

Secondly, when DD's where younger we got child swaps, if they did not want to ride even when they were older and taller. We have even got a child/ ride swap for papa who does not like some rides, and we have gotten child swaps for my guide dog. I have to say most of our trips are dlr, I can not actually remember doing it at wdw, except with the dog, but when we go we can try it and see. But I believe that they do allow them for any member of family that can not go on ride, as long as it is a ride that has child swap, but even on rides that do not have child swap, if the dog can not go, they allow us to swap, always, so it would be for a medical reason so I assume it would work the same for a human. There are some rides the dog can go on but I don't feel safe with him on and they allow a swap. The one that comes to mind for me is that my new dog hated the autotopia ride in DL, she would not sit down under the foot area and kept getting up, I never took her on it again, for safety reasons. My old dog was a lot bigger and had not trouble, but the new one would not, so we just get a child swap, my granddaughter goes with everyone else and I wait, then me and her go again I one car while the family holds the dog.

[ilovefh]

Originally Posted by gilesmt

First I would say check back with your doctor as he gets older, both me and my dd have seizures and we both do coasters, but there are different seizure types, and it could be more along the lines of wait until we see what medications help or don't help.

Secondly, when DD's where younger we got child swaps, if they did not want to ride even when they were older and taller. We have even got a child/ ride swap for papa who does not like some rides, and we have gotten child swaps for my guide dog. I have to say most of our trips are dlr, I can not actually remember doing it at wdw, except with the dog, but when we go we can try it and see. But I believe that they do allow them for any member of family that can not go on ride, as long as it is a ride that has child swap, but even on rides that do not have child swap, if the dog can not go, they allow us to swap, always, so it would be for a medical reason so I assume it would work the same for a human. There are some rides the dog can go on but I don't feel safe with him on and they allow a swap. The one that comes to mind for me is that my new dog hated the autotopia ride in DL, she would not sit down under the foot area and kept getting up, I never took her on it again, for safety reasons. My old dog was a lot bigger and had not trouble, but the new one would not, so we just get a child swap, my granddaughter goes with everyone else and I wait, then me and her go again I one car while the family holds the dog.

Thank you for responding. And thanks for sharing that you both ride coasters. We're so new to this whole thing that we learn something new every day.

[lanejudy]

Originally Posted by Nevada Jen

You can do the child swap with a disabled person instead of a kid who is otherwise too short for the ride. People do it all the time with a kid who is otherwise tall enough but simply afraid.

YMMV...this seems to be hit-or-miss depending on the attraction and/or the CM at the time. While some (like this poster) have apparently had no problem, others are turned away and refused "rider swap" unless the non-rider is too short. So, I wouldn't count on it and have a PlanB if necessary - though sounds like this isn't likely to be your situation for at least a few years anyway.

Enjoy your vacation!

[Lisa71]

They let us rider swap when DS fell asleep in the stroller.

[Mama Who]

Originally Posted by gilesmt

First I would say check back with your doctor as he gets older, both me and my dd have seizures and we both do coasters, but there are different seizure types, and it could be more along the lines of wait until we see what medications help or don't help.

This. The good news is my epileptic husband (petit, grand mal and absence seizures) has zero restrictions on roller coasters. As the get a better handle on your kid and his triggers he may well be able to ride everything when he's older.