Can someone please explain rider swap?

[tinkerbella16]

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

From everything I've read, unfortunately you can only use rider swap if a child is not tall enough to go on the ride.

 

[ArielSRL]

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?

Apparently that part of the site is out of date. Thats been mentioned several times on RS threads on the Dis, so don't count on that info being correct.

 

[kengquist]

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

Yes

 

[kengquist]

From everything I've read, unfortunately you can only use rider swap if a child is not tall enough to go on the ride.

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

We were just there this week. It doesn't matter what size your child is. If they don't want to ride, you get a rider swap

 

[kengquist]

The actual requirements for the RS is to have the non-riding child present. However we were there this week, went to all four parks, and were only asked to see our non-riding kids twice. And we used RS a lot

 

[Dismama2boys]

We were just there this week. It doesn't matter what size your child is. If they don't want to ride, you get a rider swap

That has not been the experience for many others here. I don't think it can be counted on, but rather up to the discretion of the CM at the time.

 

[TheWorld101]

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

So they will give you a rider swap pass even if not all have the FP? I have a party of 8, and only four were able to get a FP for 7DMT. One of the other 4 is too small to ride, and one gets motion sickness, but the other two would want to ride. So if I'm understanding correctly, we can RS the too little one, and allow the other two to use our ticket?
Another scenario is with my family of 4, one of my daughters is too short for Space Mountain, so I used FP for her and me for the Speedway while my hubby and the older one does Space. Will the give me a RS bc my little one can't ride?

 

[ArielSRL]

That has not been the experience for many others here. I don't think it can be counted on, but rather up to the discretion of the CM at the time.

This.

 

[ArielSRL]

So they will give you a rider swap pass even if not all have the FP? I have a party of 8, and only four were able to get a FP for 7DMT. One of the other 4 is too small to ride, and one gets motion sickness, but the other two would want to ride. So if I'm understanding correctly, we can RS the too little one, and allow the other two to use our ticket?
Another scenario is with my family of 4, one of my daughters is too short for Space Mountain, so I used FP for her and me for the Speedway while my hubby and the older one does Space. Will the give me a RS bc my little one can't ride?

Yes and yes.

 

[kengquist]

That has not been the experience for many others here. I don't think it can be counted on, but rather up to the discretion of the CM at the time.

I understand that everyone's experiences are different. But we were never questioned about the size of our kids not riding.

 

[Kathryn777]

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

My children were not measured for RS. They were fairly close to the required size. If that's the case, I would just have the other parent with the child away from the entrance a bit, close enough to wave when the attendant asks who is waiting. I'd be surprised if they made you come up to get measures but it wouldn't surprise me if they did it if the child was right there.

 

[Legendteri]

I apologize in advance if this is a dumb question, but next time we go we will be bringing my mom with us so she can help us with the kids. MY husband and I have three children and the youngest won't be able to ride much. So if all of us including my mother show up at the ride entrance, will we still get a RS or will a CM say " too bad for grandma, mom and dad are already riding with the kids " or do they not care. Is the rule that even if only one adult has to stay back and watch the baby, they will get the rider swap or is it only for parents ?

 

[quagmire0]

I'd probably have grandma or DH stay behind when you get the pass. While they probably won't give you any trouble in most cases, it's easy to avoid that possibility.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I'd probably have grandma or DH stay behind when you get the pass. While they probably won't give you any trouble in most cases, it's easy to avoid that possibility.

I traveled with DH, DS and my mom and dad... They pretty much always wanted to see the baby and as soon as they saw him (with me and dh while mom and dad rode, with mom and me while dh and dad rode, with mom and dad while dh and I rode) they either handed us the rider switch pass (which is good for up to 3 ppl) or they handed us a lanyard to swap out for a pass later in the line... A few rides even handed the switch pass directly to the non riding members of our party.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I apologize in advance if this is a dumb question, but next time we go we will be bringing my mom with us so she can help us with the kids. MY husband and I have three children and the youngest won't be able to ride much. So if all of us including my mother show up at the ride entrance, will we still get a RS or will a CM say " too bad for grandma, mom and dad are already riding with the kids " or do they not care. Is the rule that even if only one adult has to stay back and watch the baby, they will get the rider swap or is it only for parents ?

Pls see my response above... I quoted the wrong post

 

[mco65]

I miss those rider swap days.. kids grow up too fast..