Baby Swap Question

[HerdOHuds]

Hey!

I have a pretty basic question and please do forgive my ignorance. My friend is travelling with her 3 children, ages 3, 3, and 5, and her husband this spring. I am helping her plan a strategy for the parks and there are a few issues with which I have no experience.

One of her 3 year olds has some developmental delays that can be quite severe. She may need to do the baby swap thing and I don't personally know how it works. I have been fortunate for our last two trips to have one adult per child.

Could someone walk me through exactly what happens. Really, I am not an idiot and have read the UG description of how it works, but wondered what you do on the rides that only seat 2-like Dumbo. They will have-at times -2 kids riding and one adult. If she has to take one child back to the hotel, how will her husband manage those rides with 2 kids? Just wait til another time or she returns?

Again, sorry for my caution. I want her trip to go as smoothly as possible.

 

[Arabella1978]

Sure!

Everyone walks up to the CM at the entrance of the attraction, including the little kiddos. Someone says, "Hi there we'd like to do a baby swap". The Cm directs the riders going first into the main line and hands them a pass that looks like a fastpass but says "RIder switch pass" or something like that. They ride the ride. The other part of the group waits somewhere nearby. When the first group is done, they meet back up with the second, hand them the pass the CM gave them, and then whoever is riding next takes the pass and goes through the Fastpass line. You can have up to three people ride with the rider switch pass! It's super easy to do!

You can use the whenever you want to, so if that means coming back later that would work.

As for the two seater rides, if one child could ride in dumbo alone, the other parent could ride with the second child, otherwise, he'll have to wait for his wife if both children need an adult! Hope that helps

 

[PADISFAM]

I believe the child has to be 7 to ride alone, that is what a CM told me when my 6 y/o wanted to ride the Dino ride in AK & DS4 didn't want to (DH & our oldest were on EE)

 

[tzolkin]

Everyone walks up to the CM at the entrance of the attraction, including the little kiddos. Someone says, "Hi there we'd like to do a baby swap". The Cm directs the riders going first into the main line and hands them a pass that looks like a fastpass but says "RIder switch pass" or something like that. They ride the ride. The other part of the group waits somewhere nearby. When the first group is done, they meet back up with the second, hand them the pass the CM gave them, and then whoever is riding next takes the pass and goes through the Fastpass line. You can have up to three people ride with the rider switch pass! It's super easy to do!

This is an accurate description of Rider Switch, but the CM will only give you a rider switch pass if you have a child that does not meet the height requirement.


As for fitting one adult with two kids, there shouldn't be much of an issue. We are a family of 5 and have been able to ride almost everything two and three. Dumbo may be a tight squeeze, but the other attractions have more room. The only things that absolutely hold two the kids would not be old/tall enough for (Expedition Everest and RocknRollercoaster). Buzz and Toy Story only have two guns, but three can ride in one seat no problem.

 

[laughinplace199]

One adult and two small kids can fit on Dumbo, and many other rides as well. We are a family of 5, so we often ride 2 in one car and 3 in another.

 

[tjmw2727]

Rider swap is only going to work on attractions with a height restriction where at least one of the children isn't tall enough. So in your Dumbo example the "traditional rider swap" won't work.

However, I have been taking my dd's to wdw since they were 2 and 4 years old as the solo adult and we had no problems riding 3 in a seat for anything the 3yo's will be wanting/able to ride. This includes all of fantasyland, dumbo, barnstormer and even splash & big thunder mtns (if they are 40").

In fact with their family of 5 they will need to sit 3/2 most of the time anyway!

So if one parent has to sit out with a child for any reason the other parent will have no issues taking the other two children on an attraction.

There may be some accomodations available for a child who needs them so check with guest relations on the way in. The parents should have a clear idea of what would make the trip more manageble such as the ability to use a stroller in line for that child, wait out of the sun etc. Keep in mind there is no head of the line pass but WDW is great at making accomodations for those who need them. For exmaple; my sister in law has MS and needs to avoid direct sun so although the wait is often longer she has a pass that allows her to wait in an alternate shady area if the queue is in the sun.

Here in the dis there is a forum called DisAbilities where you may find additonal information that will help your friends.

 

[HerdOHuds]

Thank you everyone for your replies! I didn't realize that you couldn't do a switch if everyone met the height requirement. This will help me explain to my friend how it all works. I knew you all would know what was up!