Fast Pass + and baby swap

[Fern]

I apologize if this has been answered a million times already, but the new fast pass system has me a bit confused. How does the new system work for baby/rider swap. Example: we're traveling with me, husband, tall kid, short kid. If we all have FP for, say, TT. Myself and tall kid go through the FP line, husband and short kid are eating ice cream. Can I get a swap ticket for husband at that point to come back later? Or do all four of us need to go through the line, husband gets swap tix and then exits the line? TIA? I'm hoping to avoid crankiness in the line if we're not all even riding, but I can't even remember how we did this last year...

TIA!

 

[letsgoreds]

You can schedule 2 FP+ for tall kid + 1 parent. Bring short kid to line (with family), ask where child swap person is, obtain child swap ticket (good anytime that day for this ride), tall kid + 1 parent use FP+ to ride ride. Use paper child swap ticket later on for tall kid + other parent.

Short kid + parent can schedule a different FP+ for that time period and meet up later if they so desire.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

Just back. This is what we did as a part of 6 in Epcot:

- 3 FPs for Test Track
- 3 FPs for Soarin'
- Baby Swap for each ride to let the others who did not get FPs ride. With the Baby Swap pass 3-4 people can use it. Officially it is 3 but we had 4 a few times (me, my cousin and 2 taller kids) and we were not stopped.

 

[Fern]

Perfect, thank you!!

 

[mrsparker13]

Just back. This is what we did as a part of 6 in Epcot: - 3 FPs for Test Track - 3 FPs for Soarin' - Baby Swap for each ride to let the others who did not get FPs ride. With the Baby Swap pass 3-4 people can use it. Officially it is 3 but we had 4 a few times (me, my cousin and 2 taller kids) and we were not stopped.

How did you get soaring and TT at the same time? We are a party of 4 and will be using RS bc of our youngest (2 year old). I was thinking to use my FP+ for soaring and my husbands for TT, but bc of tiering my oldest DD would only be able to have one of those on her band.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

So your party is A1, A2, C1, and C2. C2 is too short for rides. Since C2 is under 3 you will not be able to use C2's magic band to book FP+. If C2 were over 3, C1 could "borrow" C2's magic band for fastpasses. Also with rider swap, the rider can bring 2 people with him (3 total, although this isn't heavily enforced. You usually can have 4 people use one rider swap pass).

With the scenario of a C2 under 3, this is what you do:

Test Track (assume this is C1's favorite): FP+ for A1 and C1. A2 gets a rider swap pass. A2 rides and brings C1 with her so C1 rides twice.

Soarin': FP+ for A2. Get rider swap pass for A1. A2 rides. A1 rides and brings C1 with him.

This way, everyone can use the FP line. Also with rider swap you can return whenever. There is no time limit. When I was there the week of 2/16 for all rides except Space Mountain, we got a pass that was good until the end of the month. So you can even use the pass on a different day.

 

[mrsparker13]

So your party is A1, A2, C1, and C2. C2 is too short for rides. Since C2 is under 3 you will not be able to use C2's magic band to book FP+. If C2 were over 3, C1 could "borrow" C2's magic band for fastpasses. Also with rider swap, the rider can bring 2 people with him (3 total, although this isn't heavily enforced. You usually can have 4 people use one rider swap pass). With the scenario of a C2 under 3, this is what you do: Test Track (assume this is C1's favorite): FP+ for A1 and C1. A2 gets a rider swap pass. A2 rides and brings C1 with her so C1 rides twice. Soarin': FP+ for A2. Get rider swap pass for A1. A2 rides. A1 rides and brings C1 with him. This way, everyone can use the FP line. Also with rider swap you can return whenever. There is no time limit. When I was there the week of 2/16 for all rides except Space Mountain, we got a pass that was good until the end of the month. So you can even use the pass on a different day.

Thanks for answering my question. I was figuring that 1 of the adults would have to ride alone. Luckily we have 2 days at Epcot so we can make the most of all the FP+ rides.

 

[burnetta696]

So your party is A1, A2, C1, and C2. C2 is too short for rides. Since C2 is under 3 you will not be able to use C2's magic band to book FP+. If C2 were over 3, C1 could "borrow" C2's magic band for fastpasses. Also with rider swap, the rider can bring 2 people with him (3 total, although this isn't heavily enforced. You usually can have 4 people use one rider swap pass). With the scenario of a C2 under 3, this is what you do: Test Track (assume this is C1's favorite): FP+ for A1 and C1. A2 gets a rider swap pass. A2 rides and brings C1 with her so C1 rides twice. Soarin': FP+ for A2. Get rider swap pass for A1. A2 rides. A1 rides and brings C1 with him. This way, everyone can use the FP line. Also with rider swap you can return whenever. There is no time limit. When I was there the week of 2/16 for all rides except Space Mountain, we got a pass that was good until the end of the month. So you can even use the pass on a different day.

This makes it sound as if you can kind of beat the 3 fp+ system like this if you combine rider swap.

We are traveling with my 80 yr old gramma who obviously can't ride things like splash mtn. But we don't want her to wait alone. I was wondering if we needed to fp+ all of our party members including her and then maybe use her band on someone else so that person who waited wouldn't have to ride alone.

But this sounds like, we can fp it for one person in the party and then rider swap with her so that everyone uses fastpass time slot and we could schedule other fp+ to do a similar way. Is that making sense? And would that work? It seems a little shady to me but at the same time no one wants to wait alone or ride alone and that would be a solution I guess, especially if you used some fp+ selections for parades/shows.

 

[staceyeileen]

T
But this sounds like, we can fp it for one person in the party and then rider swap with her so that everyone uses fastpass time slot and we could schedule other fp+ to do a similar way. QUOTE]

Rider swap is only for children that don't meet height restrictions. Sorry.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Dumb question, but assuming you can use RS when using stand by line too. The reason I ask is because more than likely my niece will not hit the 44 inch mark and won't be able to ride space and some of the other rides on our trip. If we got there at rope drop and my sis, BIL, and nephews rode space could I get a RS to use later when the lines are long? My niece and I would probably go over to Buzz for a quick ride through there while everyone else is on space.

 

[larie21]

Yes you can use rider swap with the standby line also.

 

[puffkin]

This was very helpful and timely because I was just thinking about this. Thanks for the breakdowns.

Quick tag along question....if a child is under 3 and hits the 40" height requirement for a lot of the bigger rides, can they just go through with the rest of the family even though they don't have one on their band? My older son was very tall and riding all the 40" rides by 2.5 and my youngest is trending even taller at 20 months old. He only has 4" to go. I can't remember what we did with older DS when it was the paper fast pass system and he was under 3 so no park ticket.

 

[fairy8i8]

I have heard that some rider swaps force you to use the standby line, not the Fastpass line to get a rider swap pass. Is that true?

We are 2 adults with one DS4 who is too short for rides like RnR and Everest. However, each adult will go alone, so I really don't want to waste 40+ minutes apart on our family vacation. Currently, all 3 of us have FP+ to Everest. I have never ridden it and really want to try it. It's a wasted FP+ for DS4, who can't ride it, but it's not like I can get him a Fastpass to go on something by himself because he is too young.

What are people's experiences getting a Rider Swap ticket and then using a FP+ reservation for the first rider.

That would be ideal because then the other adult could still ride quickly, but the one with the child could enjoy a ride while waiting.

 

[fairy8i8]

This was very helpful and timely because I was just thinking about this. Thanks for the breakdowns.

Quick tag along question....if a child is under 3 and hits the 40" height requirement for a lot of the bigger rides, can they just go through with the rest of the family even though they don't have one on their band? My older son was very tall and riding all the 40" rides by 2.5 and my youngest is trending even taller at 20 months old. He only has 4" to go. I can't remember what we did with older DS when it was the paper fast pass system and he was under 3 so no park ticket.

Yes. Just tell the CM that the child is 2 and doesn't have a ticket.

 

[sflinch63]

Good....more notes for my binder. Gotta learn all these abbreviations though! Love the knowledge and wisdom on the DIS Boards!

 

[practicallyperfect77]

I have heard that some rider swaps force you to use the standby line, not the Fastpass line to get a rider swap pass. Is that true?

We are 2 adults with one DS4 who is too short for rides like RnR and Everest. However, each adult will go alone, so I really don't want to waste 40+ minutes apart on our family vacation. Currently, all 3 of us have FP+ to Everest. I have never ridden it and really want to try it. It's a wasted FP+ for DS4, who can't ride it, but it's not like I can get him a Fastpass to go on something by himself because he is too young.

What are people's experiences getting a Rider Swap ticket and then using a FP+ reservation for the first rider.

That would be ideal because then the other adult could still ride quickly, but the one with the child could enjoy a ride while waiting.

EE has a single rider line so the two adults could use this instead of burning a fast pass if there is another ride you'd like to all ride together.