Baby Swap Questions

[jjames]

Hi all! We're leaving for our first DL trip in three days! Three days!! I have learned so much from these boards, but I still have a few baby swap questions:
If the fastpass return time (as quoted in Ridemax) is fairly short, is the baby swap worth it, or should we just split up into two groups and take turns using our fastpasses? I'm specifically wondering about Indy, Matterhorn, and BTMRR - it sounds like the lines are as much fun as the rides, but if we baby swap, we'll miss the fun queues, won't we? Does the baby swap really save a lot of time?
Also, how difficult is it to figure out the various baby swap procedures? Do all of the baby swap passes just have you go through the exit, or do procedures vary according to the rides?

Thanks so much for all of the wonderful tips you've shared on these boards - I'm sure we'll have a wonderful trip thanks to my newfound knowledge!

Jennifer
DH, DD(15), DS(13), DD(9), DS(5), DS(2)

 

[avalon451]

It does depend on the ride, how they do the swap. One thing I didn't know until we tried it on Indy 2 weeks ago. There was a family in front of us asking about the baby swap (in the fastpass line); they had a toddler who was under the height restriction. The CM said that because of safety rules, they don't allow any kids under the height restriction to go through the queuing area. You have to make your own trade-off outside the ride. However, our 5 year old was tall enough; she just didn't want to ride. So she was able to go through the queue with us, and we were given a switch-off pass. A CM stationed partway through the queue showed me where to wait near where everybody exits the ride, with my daughter, then my husband took her out while I jumped back in line again with my older daughter, giving the pass to the CM.

 

[DangerMouse]

Baby swap is always a good idea because often times rides use the exit que for the second person/guest, which makes the time savings even that much greater (Matterhorn and Space both do this). Other rides use the FP que for the swap (BTMRR, Soarin)

Also, you can combine your FP with babyswap, which will increase your opportunties to get additional FP's for other rides.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[bumbershoot]

Matterhorn queue is very boring and worth missing.

With Indy, you don't miss all of it. You are put back into the queue, if memory serves, right before the room where you watch the safety film (fun film with John Rhys-Davies), and there's quite a bit more queue beyond that. Same queue for FP and baby swap, if memory serves.

Big Thunder...hmm, I don't remember.

Something that I have done at DLR is we get FPs, and then a kid swap pass, so the first person/people go through the FP line, then hand over the baby swap pass and the second person/people use that. Makes things a bit faster. I hear it's not really allowed at WDW, but it's worked at DLR for us.

Procedures vary.

And just in case it's confusing, it will all become clearer as you do it.

 

[ababydivine]

Okay..I had questions too and I'm confused. You need a pass to child swap? Do you get this from a CM as you enter the line or once it is time to get on the ride? Could someone explain the basics to me, my brain is not wrapping around this for some reason...could be the lack of caffeine today. We will be using this alot since we have 2 kids able to ride most rides with DH and I, but a 2 year old that will have to sit out quite a few.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Okay..I had questions too and I'm confused. You need a pass to child swap? Do you get this from a CM as you enter the line or once it is time to get on the ride? Could someone explain the basics to me, my brain is not wrapping around this for some reason...could be the lack of caffeine today. We will be using this alot since we have 2 kids able to ride most rides with DH and I, but a 2 year old that will have to sit out quite a few.

Okay, so what we would do is get 1 FP for dh, then when it was FP time, we would all go to the FP line, and talk to the CM, the CM would give me a child swap pass, and DH would go through the FP line to ride the ride... when he exited, he would find us, take dd, and I would return to the FP line, show the CM my child swap pass, and would then follow the FP line to ride the ride...

The only time we ever child-swapped without a FP was for BTMRR, because the line was so short... but we followed the same procedure, went up to entry point of the line together, told the CM we were child-swapping, were given a pass, I went through the line and rode the ride, then when I got off, DH gave me DD, and he went through the FP line to ride...

--Lisa

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

One more thing, we did this for Splash too... and DH rode, but by the time he got off we had to make lunch ressies... so I hung onto my child-swap pass and used it after dinner that night...

--Lisa

 

[jjames]

Wow - those were some fast answers! Thanks so much for all of your input - it looks like we'll be using baby swap a lot!

 

[katrina4]

I'm specifically wondering about Indy, Matterhorn, and BTMRR - it sounds like the lines are as much fun as the rides

Honestly, I dont think any of these lines are as fun as the rides. Indy maybe but you still get to see alot of the lines when you use the fast pass line.

 

[bonita_babe232]

My mom got a child pass when we did splash mountain.... the lady was really nice and let 3 of us back on instead of 2... she jsut gave us an extra pass.... But with soaring, my grandma was sitting in the resturant to the side and when we asked for a fast pass they wanted to see the baby, because he said theres been alot of people lieing to get the child pass.... it wasn't a big deal we jsut went and got them but just beware incase they are sitting somewhere else or doing something else they might ask...