Babyswap pass

[alisonarod]

How do you get a babyswap pass? Is it one pass that you use for all the rides or must you get one babyswap pass per ride? How can you incorporate fast pass with babyswap to help minimize waiting in line with your child? I have an idea how to use babyswap but just don't know the specifics nor do I know how to take advantage of it with fast pass. If anyone could help me, i'd appreciate it. thank you

 

[Anthony1971]

Baby swap is only available where children can not ride or has restrictions. The idea is you tell the CM one parent waits in line while the other stays with the child after you are done with the ride the other parent goes to the front of the line. I do not think this works with fast pass???? as the wait would be minimal anyway.
Good luck
P.S. I used parent but it is who ever is watching the baby that is withyou.

 

[welovewdw]

It's different on each ride- we have used it with fastpass, too. We all get fast passes for the ride to make it work though. We ask the castmember at the start of the line how it works on that particular ride - it really is different for each ride. Heck, sometimes it's different for the same ride depending on the cast member.

One perk our big kids like is that one or 2 of them can ride the ride twice - once w/ me, once w/ dh - so it sort of makes up for having to work around a baby's schedule for them.

 

[alisonarod]

i realize that you can only use it with children. i have a 15 month old baby who can't ride on certain rides. that is when we'll use the babyswap. but i know you can definitely use fastpass with babyswaps but i just don't know how. if anyone experience parents know how this works, please let me know i'd appreciate it.

 

[alisonarod]

that is a nice perk for your children. i was told that not everyone had to use the fast pass for the ride . for example, mom can just use her fast pass for spacemountain and dad can use his fast pass for thundermountain. then everyone goes to spacemountain. mom rides while dad and baby wait, then when mom gets off, dad rides while mom watches baby. then everyone goes to thundermountain to use dad's fast pass and take advantage of the babyswap pass there too. is this true? i was told that not everyone had to get the fast pass for the same ride. only one had to.

 

[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 Feb and April of 07 with my 2yo 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 the attraction while the 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. Off hand I think only Star Tours still does it this way.

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. The CM will give the parent riding second the swap pass so they and the baby (or young child) can then leave to do something else while the first party rides. 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.

You can not get the swap pass if the child meets the restriction but chooses not to ride. In this case on most attracions you can wait the line together and switch at the exit (just check with the CM first) or use FP's to take turns.

Remember that rider swap isn't meant to be an extra fast pass or head of the line pass. Its meant to limit the extra wait time for a family who can't ride together because of a restriction.

Hope this is helpful!
TJ

 

[tjmw2727]

i realize that you can only use it with children. i have a 15 month old baby who can't ride on certain rides. that is when we'll use the babyswap. but i know you can definitely use fastpass with babyswaps but i just don't know how. if anyone experience parents know how this works, please let me know i'd appreciate it.

If there is only one child and both parents are riding alone anyway consider using the single rider line on attractions that offer it.

We used the single rider lines on TT, RnRC and Everest and they were faster than the FP line, esp for Everest.

TJ

 

[welovewdw]

That's a great description - well said!

It's never occurred to me to not get fastpasses for anyone who wants to ride a particular ride - since we all show up to ride it and ask for the swap pass/baby swap, I would think you need a fast pass for anyone wanting to ride. Maybe it's a loophole someone has found though. It would make more sense for everyone to have a fast pass, since w/o the babyswap, you'd need one for everyone anyways. I'd sure hate to get up there and not have the fastpass if it were required.

We just treat it as a regular ride, with the added perk of all of us being able to ride it by swapping our 5 month old (and prior to that our 9 year old - we've used it for years) and the older kids being able to do a ride twice is just fun for them.

 

[alisonarod]

thanks TJ...very helpful...i'm still curious if just one person in the group can a fast pass for one ride while the other member of the group gets a fast pass for a different ride. that way once you use the baby swap program for one ride, the entire family can then immediately enjoy the baby swap program for the other ride. is this trude?