Do I understand child swap correctly?

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

My husband and I will be taking our 2 small children to Universal for the first time. We are used to the rider swap at Disney. I want to confirm I understand how Universal does there's. Neither child is tall enough for the height restricted ride. If there is a single rider line can we all get in that line together, then one of us adults rides while the other stays with the kids, then the other adult gets to ride right away? You can combine the rider swap AND the single rider line since we'd be riding alone anyway? It seems this will save us some serious wait time on rides like FJ and Gringott's if so. We can avoid all the lockers this way as well then correct?Thanks for helping me understand the dark side.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't know about the single rider lines, but at Uni everyone can enter the line. You go on through the line until the point where the Team Member points the too-small kids and the waiting adult to the waiting room. They go there, the riding adult rides, then the riding adult follows the signs to the waiting room and the adults switch.

 

[RMulieri]

you all enter the ride line together.You let the TM know you are doing a rider switch. One of you rides while the other waits in the swap room.the swap rooms are family friendly and often show attraction related kids shows on a tv ( at HP they show the HP movies)

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

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.

 

[HM]

When are you travelling? Will it be a busy time?
If you do single rider you miss out on a lot of queue theming, just to you know.

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

We're going next week. Only on week days so I'm hoping crowds aren't too bad. I will do the full line on the HP rides once for the themeing, but I don't want to make my kids do that repeat times. We are honestly just going to see HP but will fill in other stuff as time allows. There are such few things my 2 yr old can ride on, he'll be unhappy already. Trying to keep his time in lines to a minimum.

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

Oh and with the kids and time zone changes we will not be there at open any day. Likely won't be in the park till 10:00 realistically, since we're staying over across town at Disney on DVC points.

 

[bumbershoot]

There are such few things my 2 yr old can ride on, he'll be unhappy already. Trying to keep his time in lines to a minimum.

If I were traveling with a 2 year old I would consider splitting up anyway. Send one parent to do single rider while the other parent hung out in the areas with things for the littles to do. Then switch.

 

[damo]

The play areas at Universal are great for the 2 year old. Our little nephew had much more fun playing there than he did riding any rides at WDW.

 

[kohlby]

I'm not sure about the single rider lines either. What we do is all go through the regular lines so the kids can enjoy the interesting lines too. Then do rider swap inside the ride. It's really easy and my kids actually prefer how US/IOA does it to Disney - since they get to go through the line too. For rides with more boring lines - we split up. For example, one adult would go to Hulk or RRR while the other was with the kids doing something else. And then that adult would do the single rider line. We've never had waits in the single rider line so this has worked out better for us - not making the kids wait at all if the line isn't an interesting one.

We don't split up much outside the rides - and we've been to US/IOA with kids as young as 2 months old. We just split up for a bit of single rider line for the boring lines. My kids loved IOA/US even when they were quite young. (Meaning 3 years old and younger). We found a lot they could do - to the point that IOA was two of my kids second favorite theme park of the 7 parks when they were 3 years old. (With Epcot being their favorite. I'm including all 4 Disney parks, US and IOA, and Sea World). Just splitting up for 30 minutes once a day worked well.

We've never used the lockers either - as we've always had at least one child who wouldn't ride the ride that needed them. You can also keep things in your stroller - though it's at your own risk, of course. (We've never had any issues but it's always a possibility. The only stroller item theft we've ever had was at Epcot - a squirrel broke into my backpack and broke the zipper and stole some trail mix).

*Most of the rider swap areas have tv's in them. My kids don't watch much tv at home and we don't have cable so they liked those areas.

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

We plan to split up on a few rides like Mummy and Transformers as my kids are too young to find those queues of interest anyway. But we really want to experience the HP worlds together as my husband and I are both big HP geeks. Getting to geek out together will be much more fun. So we have no plans to purposefully split up in those areas. One of my children hates water and I saw many of the play areas had water involved. So those will not all be viable options either.
I wasn't sure if stroller parking was about the same as at Dianey. I leave quite a bit in my stroller at Disney but not my camera, phone, or wallet.

 

[damo]

We plan to split up on a few rides like Mummy and Transformers as my kids are too young to find those queues of interest anyway. But we really want to experience the HP worlds together as my husband and I are both big HP geeks. Getting to geek out together will be much more fun. So we have no plans to purposefully split up in those areas. One of my children hates water and I saw many of the play areas had water involved. So those will not all be viable options either.
I wasn't sure if stroller parking was about the same as at Dianey. I leave quite a bit in my stroller at Disney but not my camera, phone, or wallet.

Stroller parking is the same.

Even though there may be a water element in some of the play areas, you can enjoy each play area and ignore the water. This is totally necessary during the cooler days. Sure wouldn't want a little one getting soaked in January! For example, the Curious George play area has a big outside water area but inside they have this fabulous ball play area. They also have the entire Barney play area as well as the Fievel attractions that aren't the water slide.

Ball Factory at Curious George:

Barney Play area:

Fievel Play area:

The play areas at IOA are similar. There may be some water elements but they are not the main attraction at the play area.

Jurassic Discovery Centre:

If I ran the Zoo:

Me Ship the Olive:

 

[HM]

We can avoid all the lockers this way as well then correct?Thanks for helping me understand the dark side.

Unless someone actually stays out of the line/ride, you will have to use the lockers. They don't let you take anything through the lines at Gringotts and FJ (as well as other rides).

 

[Kivara]

You cannot take anything through the lines of the big coasters with metal detectors (Hulk, RRR, Dragon Challenge), but you can through the Forbidden Journey and Gringotts line.
When a worker tries to direct you to the lockers, you just have to let them know you are doing Child Swap, and they move you along. At least that's how it worked up til June of this year (that's when I was there last.)

 

[katie111]

On FJ and Gringotts I would just go through as a family in the regular line so you don't miss anything. If you want to ride Gringotts again, go in the single rider line alone and leave the kids out with the other parent. The single rider line moves very fast as they fill up entire carts with single riders when the regular line does not have enough people getting off of the elevators. Be aware though that the single rider lines are not always open. Gringotts didn't open till about noon when we were there this past Monday. The park was pretty empty but Gringotts had a 60 min wait. Not sure if FJ has a single rider option. Make sure you visit the Cat in the Hat area, your kids will love it. Also, all the playgrounds listed above are really great. Minion ride & Shrek are fun for kids as is the Hogwarts express.

 

[kohlby]

I have a child with sensory issues so water play areas do not work at all. There were still plenty of play areas. I do need to carry him through the Curious George area to get to the balls, as he's petrified of one single drop touching him. In Jurrasic park, we just needed to make sure a parent was with him to help him avoid a spray area - though I'd recommend parents stay with young children in the Jurrasic park area anyway, as it's easy to get lost in there.

We always took our backpack with us through the FJ line with zero issues. In the past, we've always had a child too short for the height minimum so it was obvious we were doing child swap. (My kid with sensory issues is going to make the height now - but he can't handle it, so we'll likely have to tell them he's not doing it in order to bring the backpack in). I haven't been to the parks since Gringotts opened so I can't comment on how best to do that one.

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

Thanks for the info on the play areas! The website made it sound like the water was near all the rest. My son would FLIP OUT if he got shot with water. So I was thinking we'd have to avoid the area to prevent that.

 

[bumbershoot]

I do need to carry him through the Curious George area to get to the balls, as he's petrified of one single drop touching him.

You need to follow the footprints on the ground leading to the ball area! That keeps you away from the water.

 

[damo]

Thanks for the info on the play areas! The website made it sound like the water was near all the rest. My son would FLIP OUT if he got shot with water. So I was thinking we'd have to avoid the area to prevent that.

No problem! People always say there is nothing for the little ones to do at Universal. However, our little guy was scared of every ride at WDW and his favourite place at all four parks was the play area at Animal Kingdom. Universal has no shortage of great play areas for the little ones and they don't miss going on the rides at all.

 

[kohlby]

You need to follow the footprints on the ground leading to the ball area! That keeps you away from the water.

Yes, but he's still so scared that he's going to get a rouge drop on him that carrying has been the only way to get him in there. That was almost 2 years ago though, so we'll see if he will walk on his own this time!