Back from a week at WDW. Have a baby swap question

[BabyElephant]

Hey everyone! Just got back from a week at WDW. We had a great time and it was not dead and fairly crowded at times. There were a lot of Pop Warner kids, but most of them were very polite and it was good to see kids have fun. There were some cheerleaders that were very loud on the bus and would spontaneously start a cheer or scream. That got irritating and I wish the parents watching them would get the fact that it's only cute for about 10 seconds. It's not fun for a 10-20 minute ride from the resort to a park and would quiet them down. Thankfully, that didn't happen too often. Overall, we had a great trip and my two kids, age 5 and 2 had a great time. My DS5 particularly enjoyed the Carolers and Jugglers in Downtown Disney.

In any case, I've got a question regarding the baby swap. This actually got us upset for a bit and I'm thinking of sending a complaint letter. The first day we were there, we were able to do a parent swap on the Winnie the Pooh ride. The CM was very nice about it. On the second occasion, the CM told me I couldn't do that and just shrugged at me when I told her we were able to do that on a separate occasion. She just said that I should take on everyone. I mentioned that my baby daughter was afraid and cried the last time through the ride, but she just said I couldn't do that. I wish I got her name because when I exited the ride, she was gone. At the very least, their policy is inconsistent and that particular CM was just rude about it and very matter of fact about her answer. Does anyone know the email address or mailing address for me to send them a letter? I went to the Contact Us link on the web, but there's no option to send in a concern about the park.

Thanks!!

 

[julsmom]

That is not right. I don't know an address, but if it were me I would call the 407 number and talk to someone or get an address from someone. Baby swap is a well known occurence. Good luck.

 

[Whosemom]

They don't seem very consistent or polite about the babyswap stuff. Some CMs have a real issue with kids who are tall enough but afraid. Some let you have a pass and some get ugly. Some understand that if the kid is too little to leave alone, you need the pass. But some interpret the rules as only if Disney rules prohibit them from riding.
Our worst problem though was at EE. Each CM we saw said we were to ask someone else. It was insane. They got really snappy and finally I was back at the front of the line and said, look, I've talked to everyone here, and I'm full circle and really need an answer. Then she gave me the pass thing (I don't even remember whether it was a slip of paper or what). Which she had all along. UGH!!

 

[lovethattink]

The only attraction that I was ever told they don't do baby swap was for Kilamanjaro Safari.

One thing I have noticed is that the fast pass policy seems to differ from attraction to attraction and from day to day. We have learned to ask the cm as the other riders enter the queue. Sometimes we've been told to pick up the baby swap pass at the entrance to the ride, other times from the fast pass entrance, and other times at the exit.

Whosemom, I agree, EE is the worse. Once when I asked, I was told to get in the standby line with the rest of the family, and when we get up to her point she'd give us the pass. So I waited in line with the others in our party to get the baby swap pass from the exact same person I had asked in the 1st place.

 

[DizBelle]

Whosemom, I agree, EE is the worse. Once when I asked, I was told to get in the standby line with the rest of the family, and when we get up to her point she'd give us the pass. So I waited in line with the others in our party to get the baby swap pass from the exact same person I had asked in the 1st place.

I guess you're wondering why she didn't just give you he pass before you waited in line. I don't see the problem with this. This would prevent guests from obtaining a baby swap pass and immediately using it without waiting in line at all. Baby swap is designed to allow everyone in the group to ride without waiting twice. It isn't designed to allow anyone to ride without waiting at all.

I also thought its purpose was to give all members of a group an opportunity to ride when a child can't ride. Not when a child won't ride. Disney isn't keeping your child from riding The Many Adventures of Pooh, you're child is preventing themselves from riding it. But I agree that CMs should be consistent in this.

 

[BabyElephant]

I guess you're wondering why she didn't just give you he pass before you waited in line. I don't see the problem with this. This would prevent guests from obtaining a baby swap pass and immediately using it without waiting in line at all. Baby swap is designed to allow everyone in the group to ride without waiting twice. It isn't designed to allow anyone to ride without waiting at all.

I also thought its purpose was to give all members of a group an opportunity to ride when a child can't ride. Not when a child won't ride. Disney isn't keeping your child from riding The Many Adventures of Pooh, you're child is preventing themselves from riding it. But I agree that CMs should be consistent in this.

I had brought my daughter on the ride previously and she screamed the whole way through. I supposed I should have been inconsiderate to everyone else and forced her on again. That way everyone could hear her scream throughout the ride again. I guess it's just easier to do the wrong thing. I wouldn't have gotten the attitude from the CM that way and who cares about other's enjoyment as long as our family gets to do what they want, right? Why do some always have to assume that you're trying to pull a fast one?

 

[Pooh Bear Hugs]

I had brought my daughter on the ride previously and she screamed the whole way through. I supposed I should have been inconsiderate to everyone else and forced her on again. That way everyone could hear her scream throughout the ride again. I guess it's just easier to do the wrong thing. I wouldn't have gotten the attitude from the CM that way and who cares about other's enjoyment as long as our family gets to do what they want, right? Why do some always have to assume that you're trying to pull a fast one?

How about if your child doesnt want to ride then either you don't ride at all or one of you stay with that child while the other rides with the second child.

 

[buzzboys]

On Tower of Terror this past Oct., the cm not only wanted to see the baby, whom I brought with me to get the pass, but insisted on seeing the rest of my party also. I understand wanting to see the baby, but we try not to block the fast past entrance when we do baby swap so the rest of the group usually stands back and only one of us brings the baby up to get the pass. I don't know why he wanted to see everyone. We ended up not using it because the wait was not that long.

 

[lovethattink]

I guess you're wondering why she didn't just give you he pass before you waited in line. I don't see the problem with this. This would prevent guests from obtaining a baby swap pass and immediately using it without waiting in line at all. Baby swap is designed to allow everyone in the group to ride without waiting twice. It isn't designed to allow anyone to ride without waiting at all.

Exactly, just thought it was silly, especially since this was one of those days when the line was huge before we ever got to her. It was back when it first opened and fast passes had already been distributed for the day, otherwise we would have just gotten a fast pass.

Now we are even wiser. We just use the single rider line when fast passes are all distributed and the stand by is too long. I've never had to wait more than 20 minutes in the single ride line.

As for the not waiting, it is just easier with a testy toddler when I can send dh and ds in line, and go do something else with the toddler to keep him occupied. Was just too much that day for him to wait in line, only for us to walk away from dad and brother after walking through that winding queue up to the cm.

 

[BabyElephant]

How about if your child doesnt want to ride then either you don't ride at all or one of you stay with that child while the other rides with the second child.

Do you have kids? Not going is not really an option, since one of the main reasons is for them. Did this ruin my vacation? Of course not. The whole reason for the child swap is that everyone can go without having to wait in line twice. My second child did go with one of us, but I'm not going to wait 50 minutes twice for both parents to be able to ride with him when we could be waiting 50 minutes to get on Peter Pan (and these are the actual posted wait times). What irritated me was the CM was less than polite when I was told me wasn't an option.

 

[princesspwrhr]

I didn't have a problem obtaining a baby swap pass from EE. Of course I had a double stroller with the tots in it and my husband & older child were standing next to me but had just entered the queue.

I think I may still be tired from all the traveling because this isn't making any sense to me.

I guess you're wondering why she didn't just give you he pass before you waited in line. I don't see the problem with this. This would prevent guests from obtaining a baby swap pass and immediately using it without waiting in line at all. Baby swap is designed to allow everyone in the group to ride without waiting twice. It isn't designed to allow anyone to ride without waiting at all.

How would you get a baby swap and immediatly ride? They require you to have a non riding child and another adult, so I'm confused by what you mean. I'm sure consistancy is lacking but at every ride that I've ever used baby swap, the CM had to see either the child that was to small to ride and/or the other adult w/ that child. Ex - a CM would give me the pass if I was alone and had the smaller children, but wouldn't when I walked up alone w/ no smaller children, but the same CM gave me the baby swap pass when I showed him my dh (10 ft from me) with the smaller children while I had my older/taller children. The rides also offer Fast Pass. Fast Pass allows anyone to ride with little to no wait. Plenty of people get a fast pass for a ride and when their fast pass time comes up they get a baby swap if needed.

 

[tjmw2727]

Actually you were lucky they allowed you to baby swap on WtP the frist time but I agree that the CM should not have been rude.

Childswap/Babyswap is offered on rides that have a Disney imposed restruction, usually height. Since the family can't ride together if they have a child who dosen't meet the restriction WDW offers the rider swap pass so the family can split up and ride with only one wait rather than two.

Since there is no height restriction on WtP they woudn't even have acces to the rider switch pass. When one of my dd's chooses not to ride but meets the height restriction we just use Fast Pass instead. In your case it was a choice to keep your baby off the ride (and it was a good choice!) but WDW didn't force you to do so, hence no rider swap.

Again - swap or not there was not need for a snarky CM

TJ

 

[BabyElephant]

Actually you were lucky they allowed you to baby swap on WtP the frist time but I agree that the CM should not have been rude.

Childswap/Babyswap is offered on rides that have a Disney imposed restruction, usually height. Since the family can't ride together if they have a child who dosen't meet the restriction WDW offers the rider swap pass so the family can split up and ride with only one wait rather than two.

Since there is no height restriction on WtP they woudn't even have acces to the rider switch pass. When one of my dd's chooses not to ride but meets the height restriction we just use Fast Pass instead. In your case it was a choice to keep your baby off the ride (and it was a good choice!) but WDW didn't force you to do so, hence no rider swap.

Again - swap or not there was not need for a snarky CM

TJ

OK, Thanks! Now I understand how it works a bit more! I suppose I should take the positive in that case and thank the first CM for being so nice about it. The wait wasn't that long, so he probably figured it wasn't such a big deal. In all, my son went on that ride 5 times during our week there.

By the way, we got the Year of a Million Dreams Lanyard and special pins. They were handing them out at the end of the Peter Pan ride Thursday morning about 9:00 am. I guess we were in the right place at the right time. My son was so excited he got the special prize. I loved to see how that made him so happy.

 

[SandrainNC]

Hi! This happened to us last trip at Haunted Mansion. I didn't realize it was a height thing, but thought anything that my child could be scared to go on, that they offered the pass. My son hated HM the first time, so we were just going to babyswap. And of course, they said no. I just waited on my DH and SIL and chose not to ride again. No biggy. And now I know!

Sandra

 

[LAL77]

I just wanted to add - about the rider swap feature - for you pregnant travelers....

I'm six months pregnant and last week we took advantage of the rider swap several times in the case where I wasn't able to ride something but both my kids wanted to ride. For example, on the Barnstormer, they allowed my husband to ride with one daughter, then have a baby swap pass to ride right away with my other daughter. Of course, he waited in the line as appropriate the first time.

Another instance when it turned out to be really great for us was at the Indy Speedway where they don't recommend expectant mothers to ride. They allowed both my girls to go with my DH. They tied a cloth to the car to signal a rider swap and they let him go around once with one daughter driving and go a second time without getting out with the other daughter driving. Of course I had to walk through the line the first time with them to "prove" we qualified for this but it was no biggie.

Just wanted to share, I hope this makes sense. hee hee.

 

[tink1978]

I guess you're wondering why she didn't just give you he pass before you waited in line. I don't see the problem with this. This would prevent guests from obtaining a baby swap pass and immediately using it without waiting in line at all. Baby swap is designed to allow everyone in the group to ride without waiting twice. It isn't designed to allow anyone to ride without waiting at all.

I also thought its purpose was to give all members of a group an opportunity to ride when a child can't ride. Not when a child won't ride. Disney isn't keeping your child from riding The Many Adventures of Pooh, you're child is preventing themselves from riding it. But I agree that CMs should be consistent in this.

I also thought it was for when a child could not ride.....