FOP at early entry with rider switch. Please help!

[AnotherWorld]

Our plan is to arrive at AK 45 minutes before EE and once we can tap in go strait to FOP. It will be 4 adults and 2 small children (4 and 1 year old). This will be Mon after World Marathon - 8 crowd level.

Question #1 - Where do we go to ask a CM for a RS pass?

Question #2 - Will this cost us the wait time we were trying to avoid by arriving at the park early?

Question #3 - DH and I will ride first while our DD, her DH and kids ride NRJ. Will they have to use their RS pass as soon as we finish our ride or can they use it later in the day when we take the kids back to the room? That's the only RS we will need for the day.

Thanks for any experinces and information you can provide. This will be our first trip to Disney using RS. It's been years since we have been to Disney and it seems all previous strategies have changed. Plus adding RS to the mix.....I need help!

 

[SueM in MN]

The short answer:
Entire group goes to the attraction and talks with the CM.
Rider Swap ‘entitlement’ issued for guest(s) will sit out (+ one other guest if person sitting out waited alone with non-rider)
Group 1 gets in Standby Line
After Group 1 rides, Group 2 scans in and enters LL line

The full details are on the WDW website Rider Switch page

I don’t know the answer to whether group 2 would need to go on right away after group 1 is finished

 

[lpereira]

Rider swaps have a had a hard expiration for a while now. Precovid expiration. It is good for about 1 hour from time you get it so you will need to use it immediately.

 

[AnotherWorld]

Thank you. I've read conflicting reports that either said you had a short window or some said you could wait until the end of the day. Glad to know it has to be used in an hour.

Does anyone know if taking the time to get the RS will cause you to lose your place in line? From reading post, it seems like if you don't get there quickly to line up, you could have a long wait. Just wonder if we should get ILL and not worry with getting there so early in the morning.

 

[mk717]

We were there 2 weeks ago and did EE at AK to get into the FOP queue. I had my magic band scanned so I could wait with my toddler and they also scanned one child's MB so she could ride again using the LL with me later. I don't think the RS process added too much time and they may even have held the line while this was being done. Have your card or MB ready so they can scan it quickly. At this point there was no line at Navi River so the two of us went straight on. We were done with Navi River before the rest of the family was done with FOP. I would recommend arriving around 30-45 minutes before the EE opening time. We took the first bus from Kidani to AK and there were a good number of people there already.

I don't know what the official policy is but I had no problems using my LL gained through RS in the evening after dinner, around 7:30pm or so. I guess YMMV.

 

[wilkydelts]

I have done this situation with child swap. Assuming you are early and ahead of the crowd. Get your child swap and have the first group ride FOP. Once everyone is off go straight for Navi to stay ahead of the crowds then go back to FOP to ride with your child swap. This will allow you to continue to stay ahead of the crowds.

 

[AnotherWorld]

Thanks for all the information! We'll plan to get there early and see how it goes.