Chicken Exit Questions

[brandyshea]

I've searched the forums and can't come up with a clear answer. I'm afraid there is no straightforward answer, but I'll give this a shot anyway.

We are taking our daughter to Disney for the first time at the end of September. She is 7. We are also taking her brother who is 11. It gets kind of complicated because he doesn't live with us. We adopted our daughter who lived with her birth mom, but her brother has always lived with his grandparents so he still lives with them. He has stayed over at our house before, but we don't know him as well as we know our daughter.

I do know though, that he is very timid. He didn't learn to ride his bike until this year because he was scared of falling off. Our daughter is a daredevil and I'm pretty sure she will want to ride all of the fast rides.

My question is this: Will he be able to go through the line with us, and then just pass on the ride and meet us at the exit? I think I remember reading that some rides exit at a different place than they start. I don't want him to wait outside the entire time we are in line for rides. But I am comfortable for him to wait as long as it takes us to ride.

I know there is the rider swap option, but it's just for kids who aren't all enough to ride, correct? Like I said, he's 11 so he is tall enough for everything.

 

[mesaboy2]

I've searched the forums and can't come up with a clear answer. I'm afraid there is no straightforward answer, but I'll give this a shot anyway.

We are taking our daughter to Disney for the first time at the end of September. She is 7. We are also taking her brother who is 11. It gets kind of complicated because he doesn't live with us. We adopted our daughter who lived with her birth mom, but her brother has always lived with his grandparents so he still lives with them. He has stayed over at our house before, but we don't know him as well as we know our daughter.

I do know though, that he is very timid. He didn't learn to ride his bike until this year because he was scared of falling off. Our daughter is a daredevil and I'm pretty sure she will want to ride all of the fast rides.

My question is this: Will he be able to go through the line with us, and then just pass on the ride and meet us at the exit? I think I remember reading that some rides exit at a different place than they start. I don't want him to wait outside the entire time we are in line for rides. But I am comfortable for him to wait as long as it takes us to ride.

I know there is the rider swap option, but it's just for kids who aren't all enough to ride, correct? Like I said, he's 11 so he is tall enough for everything.

Castmembers at the boarding area will be able to direct him to the exit of the attraction, where he can meet you.

Rider swap is, in theory, only for use by groups with members who do not meet the height restriction. That has been known to be bent from time to time by CMs, but cannot be counted on.

 

[Indio]

Yes, he can go all the way through the line with you. My nephew used to do this before he got brave enough to ride everything. Just tell the CM at the end that he decided not to ride and they'll direct him to the exit.

 

[Baptist]

"Chickening out" at the last minute happens all the time. It has happened to our family (my wife on Tower of Terror and daughter on Rock-n-Roll roller coster).

 

[disney world dreamer]

its true that many of the rides do not exit where you get on.
and the ones that do don't just let kids stand there. he would actually have to move away from the immediate loading/unloading area and i assume that if he is that timid and not all that used to being with you in the first place that he would not feel comfortable just standing somewhere alone.

swapping is NOT just for kids that are not tall enough its also for kids that don't want to go on the ride.
this will allow for someone in your party to wait with him at all times so he's not alone and you don't have to wait in line twice.

here is a direct link to the page on the disney world website and it specifically says for people that DO NOT WANT to ride.
so that shows you its not just for those people not tall enough to ride.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

 

[NC Disney Fan]

Don't worry. This is an everyday occurrence. I can assure you that all of the rides have an exit route that you just need to ask about when you get up there. My hubby used to not want to ride the roller coasters--even though his little girls did--so we finally convinced him to hang with us in line that it wasn't some kind of trick. Now, my 12 year old has become nervous so we use the "chicken" exit for all of them. This is true of all the roller coaster from Space Mountain to Rockin Rollercoaster. Please assure him that there is a way out of every ride and no spotlight will be shined on them. It's very discreet.

 

[brandyshea]

its true that many of the rides do not exit where you get on. and the ones that do don't just let kids stand there. he would actually have to move away from the immediate loading/unloading area and i assume that if he is that timid and not all that used to being with you in the first place that he would not feel comfortable just standing somewhere alone. swapping is NOT just for kids that are not tall enough its also for kids that don't want to go on the ride. this will allow for someone in your party to wait with him at all times so he's not alone and you don't have to wait in line twice.

All these answers make me feel a lot better. He is actually very small for his age (he is only a few inches taller than our 7 year old. He's 52 inches which is like the 3rd percentile for his age. So maybe the CMs will take pity and let us do the rider swap option. I don't care at all about getting to ride things twice, but would be so much more comfortable having an adult with him.

All that being said, he is very responsible for his age. Like almost weird he's so responsible. He never goes anywhere without letting his grandparents know he arrived, calls them when he's leaving, etc. Him waiting by himself at the exit isn't the ideal situation, but if we have to do it then I think it will be ok.

 

[NC Disney Fan]

PS. I didn't realize that you are talking of a kid as well. My daughter did go on her own down the chicken areas but I had to do it with her the first time so she knew where she was going but she was 10 & 11. I do know that the Tower of Terror recently said the child had to be accompanied by an adult down the chicken elevator. So now we go place her on the bench out where the ride lets out.

Maybe you will be able to convince your child to try. We bribed ours with a stuffed animal Dumbo and it got her to finally ride Rockin Roller Coaster. She actually liked it. Okay, maybe it is not the best parenting but it has helped the whole family ride together. Good luck.

 

[brandyshea]

PS. I didn't realize that you are talking of a kid as well. My daughter did go on her own down the chicken areas but I had to do it with her the first time so she knew where she was going but she was 10 & 11. I do know that the Tower of Terror recently said the child had to be accompanied by an adult down the chicken elevator. So now we go place her on the bench out where the ride lets out. Maybe you will be able to convince your child to try. We bribed ours with a stuffed animal Dumbo and it got her to finally ride Rockin Roller Coaster. She actually liked it. Okay, maybe it is not the best parenting but it has helped the whole family ride together. Good luck.

I'm hoping if he sees his much younger sister so excited to ride that it will encourage him to also ride. I won't force it though.

I'm still traumatized from a trip to Disney when I was 6. I was scared to death to go on space mountain. We all went on the people mover ride, but I didn't realize that it went through space mountain. When it got all dark I freaked out thinking my parents had tricked me into getting on the ride (my mom has a history of tricking me into doing things I didn't want to). Then when we were off, instead of being reassuring my mom and brothers laughed that I was so scared of something that wasn't even happening.

 

[Robo]

swapping is NOT just for kids that are not tall enough its also for kids that don't want to go on the ride.
this will allow for someone in your party to wait with him at all times so he's not alone and you don't have to wait in line twice.

here is a direct link to the page on the disney world website and it specifically says for people that DO NOT WANT to ride.
so that shows you its not just for those people not tall enough to ride.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

Sorry, but the website has incorrect information about this.
(Which is not too surprising, as it has incorrect info about far too many things to list here.)

The fact remains that it will come under the control of the particular CM(s) at the attraction(s) at the time you are there as to whether a person who is tall enough to board the ride will be allowed to participate in a "Swap" situation.

 

[mesaboy2]

Sorry, but the website has incorrect information about this.
(Which is not too surprising, as it has incorrect info about far too many things to list here.)

The fact remains that it will come under the control of the particular CM(s) at the attraction(s) at the time you are there as to whether a person who is tall enough to board the ride will be allowed to participate in a "Swap" situation.

 

[bumbershoot]

swapping is NOT just for kids that are not tall enough its also for kids that don't want to go on the ride.
this will allow for someone in your party to wait with him at all times so he's not alone and you don't have to wait in line twice.

here is a direct link to the page on the disney world website and it specifically says for people that DO NOT WANT to ride.
so that shows you its not just for those people not tall enough to ride.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

The website shows it.

It's not how CMs are trained, though.

If I were in need of this sort of swapping I would definitely print that out and have it on my mobile, to show any CM, so they would know WHY I was asking to swap with a taller kid. I would, however, not expect the CM at the entrance to follow it, and I would expect that I would ultimately be showing it to a manager type person at guest services later on. And if something were to change from it, I would expect that the change would be on the website, NOT in the in-park operations.

PS. I didn't realize that you are talking of a kid as well. My daughter did go on her own down the chicken areas but I had to do it with her the first time so she knew where she was going but she was 10 & 11. I do know that the Tower of Terror recently said the child had to be accompanied by an adult down the chicken elevator. So now we go place her on the bench out where the ride lets out.

The 10 or 11 year old needed an adult? That makes no sense. A child at 7 can go into the lines and ride alone. The CM must have been confused.

 

[TillyMarigold]

I used to work at Journey into the Imagination (the original) and we were trained on what to do for people who decided at the last minute not to ride. If we had it, I'm sure everyone else is used to it!

 

[NC Disney Fan]

Bumbershoot "The 10 or 11 year old needed an adult? That makes no sense. A child at 7 can go into the lines and ride alone. The CM must have been confused.[/QUOTE]"

Yes, it was only for the Tower of Terror. Maybe they think that for safety reasons for both the child and the employee as they would be in the elevator alone, that there must be an adult. I have not experienced this on any other ride but then again, the employee is not escorting an unattended child. In today's society, sadly, I understand this policy.

That is why we now just leave her down at the bench which is where she would end up anyways.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm not doubting you. I'm doubting the CM. Just in case it's not coming through.

If my son went into TOT on his own, there wouldn't BE an adult to go with him if he suddenly needed the chicken exit.

 

[Alesia]

I'm not doubting you. I'm doubting the CM. Just in case it's not coming through.

If my son went into TOT on his own, there wouldn't BE an adult to go with him if he suddenly needed the chicken exit.

A ride CM cannot be alone in the elevator (or anywhere else) with a child.

My guess is that the solution to this would be for the child and an adult ride the chicken exit elevator, the child gets off and goes to the gift shop and the adult rides it back down and gets on the ride.