Can someone please explain rider swap?

[OFF2NVRLAND]

I have never used rider swap because I assumed the child that couldn't ride had to go through the line and wait too. We always used FP and broke up into two groups for the rides that the little ones couldn't ride.
By reading other posts I'm gathering that you do not have to go through the line with the little one, and get a pass from a cast member?

How does that work? What line do the other adults get in when they return with the rider swap pass?

TIA

 

[snayak]

To my knowledge:
If you have a child that can't ride, then present them to a cast member, and you'll get a ride swap ticket (looks like an old paper FP, or a lanyard which you'll give to a CM further in the queue for a ticket - this happens at BTMRR and Splash).

The folks who want to/can ride wait in standby line as normal, or go through the FP+ line if they all have FP+.

Once they are done, the person waiting with the child + 2 guests take the rider swap ticket and then head through the FP+ line, regardless of whether they had a FP or not. If you want more than 3 guests, then the additional ones they'd need a FP+ (that is, if you have a party of 7 riders, 1 can wait with the child, 6 ride, but then only 3 can use the 2nd child swap ticket).

The reason sometimes you get a lanyard to give another CM for a ticket is so that you don't walk away and then present the rider swap ticket later without riding once, which is basically a "free" FP and cuts everybody in line. I believe RS tickets are good for a week or month or something...don't have to be used immediately.

 

[Sevey13]

Have you looked at the Guest Services section of the WDW website?

 

[OFF2NVRLAND]

my knowledge:
If you have a child that can't ride, then present them to a cast member, and you'll get a ride swap ticket (looks like an old paper FP, or a lanyard which you'll give to a CM further in the queue for a ticket - this happens at BTMRR and Splash).

The folks who want to/can ride wait in standby line as normal, or go through the FP+ line if they all have FP+.

Once they are done, the person waiting with the child + 2 guests take the rider swap ticket and then head through the FP+ line, regardless of whether they had a FP or not. If you want more than 3 guests, then the additional ones they'd need a FP+ (that is, if you have a party of 7 riders, 1 can wait with the child, 6 ride, but then only 3 can use the 2nd child swap ticket).

The reason sometimes you get a lanyard to give another CM for a ticket is so that you don't walk away and then present the rider swap ticket later without riding once, which is basically a "free" FP and cuts everybody in line. I believe RS tickets are good for a week or month or something...don't have to be used immediately.

Thanks! Good to know we can return to the FP line. I will definitely be using rider swap now when we do TT at rope drop. I was originally just going to ride it once later in the day with FP and take the little ones to see Baymax at rope drop. With Soarin' still closed it would be nice to ride TT twice

 

[OFF2NVRLAND]

Have you looked at the Guest Services section of the WDW website?

Not in a very long time. Didn't think to look....

 

[Willow1213]

The nicest thing about rider swap for us, is it allows us to save the FP reservation for the rest of the party who will be using the RS pass. For us, that means I book 1 FP for TT for DH, and 1 for Soarin' for me. Both parents get to ride both rides through the FP line! You also do not have to ride back to back, you can save the rider swap pass for later in the day. We typically did RS during stroller nap time

 

[snayak]

Thanks! Good to know we can return to the FP line. I will definitely be using rider swap now when we do TT at rope drop. I was originally just going to ride it once later in the day with FP and take the little ones to see Baymax at rope drop. With Soarin' still closed it would be nice to ride TT twice

Sure! This is definitely how it worked in Nov 2014, so there might be changes. We went with our friends, who had a 3yo and 8mo so we definitely used child swap a lot. My wife & I got lucky since one of the parents watched the 2 kids, so we got to go on the headliners twice, once with each parent.

 

[Megara5115]

On the wdw website it doesn't list SDMT under Magic Kingdom rider swap rides (unless I missed it) - is this correct or do the actually offer it there?

 

[quagmire0]

Here's a great article on it and tips how to use it with FP+: http://wdwprepschool.com/how-to-child-swap-at-disney-world/

 

[Sevey13]

Not in a very long time. Didn't think to look....

They have a pretty thorough, step-by-step explanation.

 

[Megara5115]

Another question: Does the second group always go through the FP line (if the ride has it)?

 

[OFF2NVRLAND]

The nicest thing about rider swap for us, is it allows us to save the FP reservation for the rest of the party who will be using the RS pass. For us, that means I book 1 FP for TT for DH, and 1 for Soarin' for me. Both parents get to ride both rides through the FP line! You also do not have to ride back to back, you can save the rider swap pass for later in the day. We typically did RS during stroller nap time

Good to know for the future! Especially in Epcot

Sure! This is definitely how it worked in Nov 2014, so there might be changes. We went with our friends, who had a 3yo and 8mo so we definitely used child swap a lot. My wife & I got lucky since one of the parents watched the 2 kids, so we got to go on the headliners twice, once with each parent.

We were there in Nov 2014 also

Here's a great article on it and tips how to use it with FP+: http://wdwprepschool.com/how-to-child-swap-at-disney-world/

Thanks!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Another question: Does the second group always go through the FP line (if the ride has it)?

Yes

 

[TinkLoverSam]

On the wdw website it doesn't list SDMT under Magic Kingdom rider swap rides (unless I missed it) - is this correct or do the actually offer it there?

There IS rider swap at SDMT

 

[TinkLoverSam]

The nicest thing about rider swap for us, is it allows us to save the FP reservation for the rest of the party who will be using the RS pass. For us, that means I book 1 FP for TT for DH, and 1 for Soarin' for me. Both parents get to ride both rides through the FP line! You also do not have to ride back to back, you can save the rider swap pass for later in the day. We typically did RS during stroller nap time

That's exactly what my dh and I did when we were there with our 7 week old ds this summer

 

[Delirium]

Rider Swap: If someone else's child is behaving better than yours, you offer to trade with the other parent.

 

[Megara5115]

There IS rider swap at SDMT

Thank you for answering my questions!

 

[tinkerbella16]

Was following along since we need to use it for the first time this trip, as we'll have an 18 month old with us. I don't know why this whole thing confuses me.. probably because I have read so many different experiences, and I wasn't sure how exactly it worked. Now I have a good idea. We don't do our FP's until July 5th, but I wanted to make sure I have our fps planned our beforehand. Thanks!

 

[quagmire0]

The nice thing about FP+ and rider swap is you can pretty much double your fastpasses by splitting your party. So, you can have a fast pass under one person's name for one ride, and do the swap on that ride so both of you ride. Then the other person can have a fast pass for another ride at the same time and do the rider swap. Getting all of your fastpasses done earlier in the day then allows you to order more.

 

[Iowamomof4]

What if the child is tall enough but too scared to ride and not old enough to wait alone?