Baby Swap question

[northriver]

Someone please explain the exact baby swap proceecure to me. I just read somewhere that you swap the baby, that whoever waits with the baby plus 3 others get to ride again - is this correct? Does it vary from ride to ride? We are traveling with 3 adults, 1 teen and 1 toddler. I'm assuming the 3 extra riders rule assumes you are travelling with other children - but since we are adults it seems like we would be stretching the rule. I think Splash, Soarin' and possibly Test Track would be the only rides we would all want to go on toghther as my parents mostly fall into the "non-rider" category and generally one or the other are happy holding down park benches while the rest of us ride. TIA!

 

[thunderbird1]

Here's how it generally works: your entire party walks up to the entrance to the line. Those who are going to ride first enter the line, and you are handed a baby swap ticket. You wait for the riders to exit the attraction, "swap" the baby, and you (and the re-riders) reenter the attraction, usually through the fastpass line, sometimes through the exit. Does that make sense?

I'm sure the "plus 3" rule was designed to accomodate older siblings but, unless they're tightening the policy, the "swappers" have always been able to take any 3 people with them. I've even heard of families of 4 (1 too small to ride) temporarily adopting another couple to ride with them on the swap ticket.

Even if your parents don't want to ride, definitely still get the swap ticket so your teen can ride twice in a row. Kids LOVE riding twice in a row, and I always told my dd that it was her reward for having the patience required to tour with a toddler, which inevitably slows the pace down.

A couple of other quick thoughts-if you can't ride again right away, you can save the swap ticket and come back later in the day to ride again with no wait. You can also combine the swap tickets with fastpasses to double your number of fastpass experiences. For example, instead of getting FP's for all 5 adults for one attraction, use 2 of your tickets to get FP's for ToT, and 2 to get FP's for RnRC. When you come back at your FP return time, your dh and teen ride, and you get a baby swap pass, so you and teen (and g'ma and g'pa, if they wish) can ride again. HTH!

 

[Stimpy]

Not all the rides with Child Swap offer the CS Fastpass. We couldn't do it at Star Tours or Space Mtn. They have the whole party go through the line. Then 1 parent stays at the exit with the younger child until the other one gets off and then they switch. Personally, it turned into a nightmare for us b/c DD was old enough to know what rides are so making her go through the whole line just to walk past the ride vehicle was torture for her. (Especially at Star Tours where we had to walk through the simulator to wait on the other side) I'm not sure which rides still do this though.

The CS fastpasses though are great! Our DS loves them more than us since he gets to ride several times LOL

 

[northriver]

thunderbird1, thank you so much for the information! I'll have to work the baby swap into our strategy, between that and Fastpass it will be a great deal for me and my teenager! Not too many rides that my parents will go on - when I was 10 they sent me on Space with some random family they picked out in line, lol!

 

[Steph9072]

WOW! Thanks for asking the question... I assumed the baby swap was the same as the one @ Kings Island. There one parent waits in line and gets the baby swap pass rides the ride. Then the other parent enters through the exit and rides. You have like 2 hours to ride the ride. So I am glad somebody filled me in on the differences.

Thanks again!

 

[tjmw2727]

Here is a repost of my child swap 101. It is very unofficial but based on my many years of using the various evolutions of babyswap/childswap most recently in October and Decemberr 06 and Feb 07 with my 3yo neice and 4yo nephew and 10 & 12yo dd's.

My first advice on baby swap is to tell the CM at the attraction before you enter the line (either Fastpass or Standby) that you want to use the swap and find out how they handle it. Do not wait until you are boarding!

The baby/child unable to ride must be with you to do a swap so everyone must approach the line together. Some CM's have you all wait the line together, then the first parent and older child(ren) ride and other parent and younger child wait at the exit and then switch via the exit allowing the older child(ren) to ride with both parents. Lately only Star Tours still does it this way as most rides now give you a rider swap pass. The rider swap pass works like a fast pass and allows up to 3 people total to return to that attraction anytime that day so the second parent can ride.

You all go to the entrance of the standby line or use a FP in the FP line and ask to use parent swap. The CM will give you the swap pass and the parent riding second and the baby (or young child) can then leave to do something else while the first party rides. The child who dosen't meet the restricion must be with you to get the rider swap pass!! The second parent then returns to ride via the FP line with the rider swap pass and can ride with 2 others (3 max) if they like. I prefer the rider swap pass because the baby or child that dosen't meet the height requirement dosen't have to wait the line for something he/she can't ride.

Hope this is helpful!
TJ
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[thunderbird1]

The baby/child unable to ride must be with you to do a swap so everyone must approach the line together.

You're right TJ--you definitely have to have the baby/toddler with you to get the swap ticket, otherwise anyone could walk up and ask for one, right?

I prefer the rider swap pass because the baby or child that dosen't meet the height requirement doesn't have to wait the line for something he/she can't ride.

This was just a terrible system for everyone--I'm surprised they're still using it for Star Tours. Who wants to wait in line with (or near) a wiggly toddler who is likely to have a fit at the end when he's told he can't ride? And that doesn't even take into consideration the poor kid. It's much better to get that swap ticket and take the child to do something fun for him while others ride. My ds loves getting to go on Buzz Lightyear (again) while big sis rides Space Mountain. And many of the attractions (Mission: Space and Splash Mountain come to mind) even have play areas near the ride exit for little kids.

 

[tjmw2727]

You're right TJ--you definitely have to have the baby/toddler with you to get the swap ticket, otherwise anyone could walk up and ask for one, right?



This was just a terrible system for everyone--I'm surprised they're still using it for Star Tours. Who wants to wait in line with (or near) a wiggly toddler who is likely to have a fit at the end when he's told he can't ride? And that doesn't even take into consideration the poor kid. It's much better to get that swap ticket and take the child to do something fun for him while others ride. My ds loves getting to go on Buzz Lightyear (again) while big sis rides Space Mountain. And many of the attractions (Mission: Space and Splash Mountain come to mind) even have play areas near the ride exit for little kids.

Yep - the only time having the baby/toddler with you can be an issue is at Soarin where strollers aren't allowed. Having a plan to either use a snugli or sling for a sleeping baby helps.

As far as waiting, ITA - we always have something alternate and fun picked out for toddlers/preschoolers who can't ride. Sometimes its a favorite attraction re-ride, playground or even just an ice cream treat!

TJ

 

[BarbWB]

Adding another vote for talking to the CM AT THE ENTRANCE. Each ride varies. Some rides give passes for the non-riding adult, plus 2. Some give passes for non-riding adult, plus 3. That was a real problem for us at Soarin' b/c we have 3 riding kids, plus the baby. It's hard to tell ONE of the kids he/she couldn't ride twice. I tried begging, but no dice. We ended up fast-passing everyone, then using one fast-pass, plus the rider-swap passes. We surveyed the incoming crowd and gave away our fast-passes (at the time there was a 60 minute wait) to a couple on their honeymoon.

Be forewarned that if you are following the UG plan, you need to realize that you are going to fall behind when you do babyswap. But, it gives the non-rider some time to explore, shop and feed/change the baby in peace!!!

 

[tjmw2727]

Adding another vote for talking to the CM AT THE ENTRANCE. Each ride varies. Some rides give passes for the non-riding adult, plus 2. Some give passes for non-riding adult, plus 3. That was a real problem for us at Soarin' b/c we have 3 riding kids, plus the baby. It's hard to tell ONE of the kids he/she couldn't ride twice. I tried begging, but no dice. We ended up fast-passing everyone, then using one fast-pass, plus the rider-swap passes. We surveyed the incoming crowd and gave away our fast-passes (at the time there was a 60 minute wait) to a couple on their honeymoon.

Be forewarned that if you are following the UG plan, you need to realize that you are going to fall behind when you do babyswap. But, it gives the non-rider some time to explore, shop and feed/change the baby in peace!!!

Wow - in all my time using rider switch I have never had a pass that allowed 4 people, it has been always 3 total.

I guess it is a good idea to plan for 3 all the time just in case, we alternate who gets a re-ride on which attraction when we have more kids than the swap allows for.

TJ

 

[Stimpy]

All the child swap passes we had were always for 4 people total....the non-rider & 3. We've never actually needed that many but it's great for larger families. I can see when it is more busy that they would limit it to less people. Like other posters have already said, check with the CM at the entrance to the ride.

Like I mentioned, the Star Tours one is really unfair to the non-rider child. But if you go at non-peak times, there is rarely a very long wait for Star Tours.