Help! Please explain the baby swap!

[lissawynn]

DS and I will be in WDW in June with DS's 3yr. old son. Although he is very tall for his age, I know he won't be up for many rides, including my favorites, ToT and RnR.
My most recent trips have been without a little guy, and I'd like to know exactly how the baby sway works so we can maxamize our time and ride everything we want.
Thanks!

 

[cleo]

Attractions that allow Child Swap will have an area for one parent to stay with the child while the other parent enjoys the attraction. Then you 'swap places' so that the second parent can ride without waiting in line again.

Some attractions have the swap area right at the front of the line, where you'll enter the ride. Others have a location elsewhere. When you get to the attraction ask any CM if they could direct you to the child swap area. If there isn't a CM at the entry to the attraction, ask the CM when you get to the front of the line.

 

[GarrettJD]

OK, basically, it would work like this...

All three of you would go through the line for the ride. When you get to the ride attendant, you tell them you want to do the baby swap. Then, for example, you ride while your son waits at the loading area with the lil' one. When you get done riding, you tell the attendant and they lead you back to the loading area where you "switch off" and your son rides while you take the lil' one back to the unload area, where you all meet up after your son rides.

Hope this is clear enough

 

[lissawynn]

Thanks for the info! Just to clarify, I'm travelling with my sister and her son.

 

[GarrettJD]

hehe.... oops..."DS" can mean two different things, I guess. I should have read your sig.... I would have figured it out. Looks like our trips overlap, so we'll be there too! Have a great trip!

 

[buzz2400]

The way it works is when you get sick of your kid you go to the designated area and make a swap for a different kid. Sorry I couldn't resist this one (after you are there a few days you really want to do this).

 

[DisneyNut_34]

Cleo, I noticed you said "on attatctions that allow it" is there a list of attractions that offer the child swap? I'm assuming the biggies all do....RnR, TOT, Space Mountian.


Thanks.

 

[pklein09]

We tried to do the baby swap thing at RnR and we were told to get a FP for the other parent and that the kids had to wait outside with them. I was irritated because we wanted them to wait through the line (it would keep them occupied) and one of us wouldn't have to wait through the FP line. Needless to say, we passed on this and it was the only time we tried the baby swap thing.

 

[BradyBunch]

Can you use a fastpass to ride then do the babyswap for the second parent? I didn't know if you could combine the two.

 

[pklein09]

No - the first parent had to wait in the regular line and the second parent could use FP.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We used the baby swap when the first adult went through the fastpass line. We did this at RnR and Mission to Space. The first adult did not have to wait in the regular line if they had a valid fastpass. I think we each (each of the adults) had a fastpass at the time.

Ask outside of each line that has a height restriction and the CM will explain how that particular ride works. Also, if the child is tall enough to go on the ride, but chooses not to, then they may be able to go through the queue.

My sister and I went with my 4yo and Jake did every ride that he was tall enough for, including my favorite, ToT 5 times! He was 42" tall and could do almost everything.

T&B

 

[lissawynn]

Tigger&Belle
How did your son react to the CMs at ToT? They are kind of creepy if they're really into their job. My nephew got freaked out by the CMs at HM last summer, so I'm kind of worried he'll freak at ToT, too.
Like your son, my nephew is a very tall 3 1/2 yr. old. He'll be tall enough to ride almost every ride, but I'm not sure if he will.

 

[cleo]

Here is a list of attractions where you can use "baby swap".

MK:
Space Mt.
Splash Mt.
Big Thunder Mt.

Epcot:
Test Track
Mission Space
Body Wars

MGM:
Star Tours
Tower of Terror
Rock n Roller Coaster

AK:
Dinosaur
Kali River Rapids
Primeval Whirl

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Originally posted by lissawynn
Tigger&Belle
How did your son react to the CMs at ToT? They are kind of creepy if they're really into their job. My nephew got freaked out by the CMs at HM last summer, so I'm kind of worried he'll freak at ToT, too.
Like your son, my nephew is a very tall 3 1/2 yr. old. He'll be tall enough to ride almost every ride, but I'm not sure if he will.

My son wasn't bothered by people acting spooky at all (he lives with me, afterall ). Last Halloween he went into my neighbor's haunted garage by himself. Funny boy. I did prepare him for the ToT--showed him the ride photo of my sister and me from a couple of years ago (that trip my sister and I rode it 13 times) and told him what would happen in the ride. I really didn't know beforehand how he would do because when we'd been down at Universal almost a year before, he was freaked out by most everything. I would have been happy to have gotten him on it one time. I don't think that he would have chosen 5 times on his own, but we gave him the child swap option and he didn't want to be left behind (and I kept telling him that we needed to get a better ride picture lol).

The only thing that really scared him were the 3D type shows. Strange that he could do ToT, but then would be scared for the shows. We went back to Universal this April and he was fine on the 3D, so I guess that was another one of the wonderful stages.

I've always encouraged all my kids to try something once and then if they don't like it they don't have to repeat it. It doesn't work for them on all rides (my now 10yo son has never ridden an upside down roller coaster), but they are braver than a lot of the adults that post on this message board. I'm fairly daring, at least will try most anything at an amusement/theme park and thankfully my kids are pretty open to trying things.

Have fun with your nephew! It will be a big help to your sister to have you there. Last Feb I had originally planned on bringing Jake by myself, but my sister was able to join us at the last minute and it was a lot easier having that second pair of hands. I hope to go alone with Jake this fall, but at least I know what I'm getting myself in to now.

T&B
T&B

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Cleo, I thought that a person could also use the baby swap on some rides that have no height restriction, such as Haunted Mansion or the safari ride at AK. I've never done it so don't know for sure, but its worth asking about if there is a ride that is too spooky for a child like the HM is for some or too bumpy like the safari ride might be for a baby.

T&B