How can I maximize rider swap and fastpass with a larger group?

[davea84]

The last time my wife and I went to Disney, my son was 2 years old. We used rider swap to essentially "double" our fast passes by using one fastpass and then using rider swap for the other person. Then the 2nd person would fast pass a different ride. It was fairly simple with just the 3 of us.

NOW however, my son will be 5 and we have a daughter who will be 2. We are also going with my wife's family that consists of her parents (both non-riders) and her sister, husband and their 8 year old daughter. I'm wracking my brain to come up with a way to use rider swap to our advantage with a group this size and I'm not sure any of them will work well. There will be a total of 4 adults and 2 children riding, with another 2 adults not riding and therefore not using their passes as well as our 2 year old who won't get any fast passes and won't be tall enough to ride anything with a height restriction (except MAYBE Barnstormer).

Options I've come up with so far:

1. 2 adults and 1 child ride, then use rider swap for the other 2 adults and 1 child. Probably the most "legal" way, but wastes the grandparents passes and the kids won't get to ride at the same time and they will also only get one ride each.

2. 2 adults and 2 kids ride, then the other 2 adults and ONE of the kids can ride. We would use the grandparents passes for the kids on the next ride. Obviously the biggest drawback with this option is that only one kid gets to ride twice. It also means the kids have to use the grandparents bands, which from my understanding isn't "allowed" but they don't really enforce that. Is this a correct assessment?

3. 1 adult and 1 child fast pass, getting a riderswap pass for a second adult and the child. Then 1 more adult and 1 more child use the same toddler to obtain 2 more riderswap passes. The grandparents' fast passes get used for the kids on the next ride. This is probably the sketchiest way I came up with and honestly it feels a little scummy, but it was the only way I could think of to get both kids on the ride twice and use up ALL of our group's fast passes. I would assume it depends on the cast member not noticing that the same toddler has been used to get rider swap passes twice.

Does anyone else have any thoughts or other options? Would any of these strategies work or not work? Am I misunderstanding something? Am I a jerk for trying to "abuse" the system? This is probably the last opportunity we will have to take advantage of the rider swap program, since no one is planning to have any more kids and they'll probably all be tall enough to ride by the next trip, so I want to make the most of it.

 

[CastAStone]

2 thoughts:
1) The Disney for Families board probably is a better place to ask this
2) My understanding is that for some high demand rides now you ALL have to have fastpasses, and that they scan your entire party’s magic bands to check when they set it up. I have heard this most commonly with SDD.

 

[Minniemoo15]

Does every kid have to ride every thing twice? When I set up our FPs/RS with a large group - I essentially split us into two groups. 1/2 use FP, the other 1/2 use RS. Sometimes the kids might ride twice if it works out that way, but I just count on every one being able to ride everything once. Truthfully the kids are happy to ride once and then have a break.. eat a Mickey bar, go to the bathroom, or do another attraction with no wait nearby.

With a big group everything takes a lot (A LOT)of time so plan for that. Rider Swap with my group of 13 is especially time consuming, but worth it.

 

[ClapYourHands]

I think part of the issue here is what you’re doing with the 2-year-old when everyone else is riding. Does she get to go on anything of interest to her?

I totally get the desire to maximize FP, but does it need to be that complicated? If you’re in MK, for example, the only RS rides are the coasters. Why not get FP for those who want them and then have grandparents take toddler on rides she’ll enjoy? I think option 1 is your best bet, and then have the grandparents FP Pooh or something. Otherwise it’s a lot of hanging around for them and your youngest. Having grandparents use FP on rides they and the youngest will enjoy is not a waste.

As for option 2, no one cares who is wearing which MB for FP purposes. Obviously Disney cares very much that you use your own band to enter the park, but after that switching is no biggie.

I wouldn’t do option 3. CMs aren’t stupid, and it sets a bad example for the older kids.

 

[KayaWildfire]

Honestly I wouldn't even bother with rider swap. If you have someone to watch the 2 year old and it sounds like the grandparents are willing, get fastpasses for them on a nearby kiddie ride(buzz lightyear while you ride space mountain, etc) and have everyone go once. Seems the easiest and least time consuming. Also it alleviates the 2 year old and the grandparents being stuck on a bench while everyone else has fun.
Option 3 will never work and the cast members will catch on. Option 2 is possible, they truly don't care who wears what magicband as long as the person has entered the park. So no taking grandpa's magicband to MK and using it while he is back at the resort.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Rider swap is designed so everyone gets a chance to ride once. Not multiple rides.

Also discussions requesting advice on circumventing Disney procedures are against the board's rules.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Also remember that your 3 FP are not your only FP. With some patience and a phone, you can probably find some good FP after using your first 3.

Try not to get so caught up in “maximizing” FP for the “big” rides that you lose the fun of doing Disney as a family. There are lots of rides everyone, even grandparents and toddlers, can enjoy together. Make sure you take some time to do them. I promise it’s not a waste to get everyone FP for Peter Pan and ride together

 

[ClapYourHands]

Also, from personal experience, RS seems like a good idea (and it is), but it is also very time consuming to always have to wait for the other people.

When we went with another family, we had an infant and no grandparents, so RS was necessary. The other family also had a younger child whose height was borderline and who was timid about the fast rides, and they sometimes used RS with her.

I divided the group to take advantage of RS, but I’m glad we also did HM, Buzz, etc. all together. Keeping the non riding kids occupied for 20-30 minutes was a bit of a chore, and doing everything twice slowed down our touring pace. If it takes 40 minutes for both groups to get through the FP line and ride something twice, that’s not really much time saved vs standby, except for the headliners.

My trip was in the days when you had to book additional FP on the kiosk. If I were going with a group like yours, I’d let grandparents do babysitting, let everyone ride together, and then go on to the next thing.

 

[davea84]

Also remember that your 3 FP are not your only FP. With some patience and a phone, you can probably find some good FP after using your first 3.

Try not to get so caught up in “maximizing” FP for the “big” rides that you lose the fun of doing Disney as a family. There are lots of rides everyone, even grandparents and toddlers, can enjoy together. Make sure you take some time to do them. I promise it’s not a waste to get everyone FP for Peter Pan and ride together

Well the goal was to use fast pass and rider swap to get the big rides in for the adults and older kids with minimal time waiting and being separated. We still absolutely intend to ride the smaller rides as a family, but we'll be able to be with one another (even while waiting) for those rides so it's not really time apart. The smaller rides also usually have shorter lines. We just want to get as much in for everyone as we can as this may be the only trip we ever take together. Her family is really breaking the bank to go before our niece gets too old to fully experience the magic and I don't see them managing to take another trip with us anytime soon. They've kind of put us in charge of planning everything since we've gone twice and none of them have ever gone at all and I want to make sure everyone gets as much fun in as possible.

 

[Itsnotmykitchen]

2 and 3 you would be caught with. A lot of CMs will actually check to make sure magic bands belong to the right gender/age.

As someone who actually needs to use rider swap given I don’t usually travel with additional adults, I always try and advise people to not game the system so I would discourage 1. It’s not fair to people who can’t use rider swap and to those who actually need it and are waiting around by themselves with tiny little running people.

 

[lanejudy]

with minimal time waiting and being separated.

Honestly, using Rider Swap ends up taking almost as much time as standby for many rides; maybe only shorter than standby for the main headliners with really long standby waits. The grandparents and little one could easily end up trying to kill an hour waiting for 2 groups of you to go through FP+ queue/RS. That can add up to a huge chunk of the day. I recommend just doing FP+ for all riders, then use the refresh method for more after your first 3 are used. You'll spend much more time together than if you try to "maximize" FP+ and RS.

We just want to get as much in for everyone as we can as this may be the only trip we ever take together.

Don't push yourselves too hard to squeeze in as much as you can. Take time to smell the roses, so to speak. WDW is much more than rides.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[lorenae]

Well the goal was to use fast pass and rider swap to get the big rides in for the adults and older kids with minimal time waiting and being separated.

The smaller rides also usually have shorter lines.

That’s the issue to me- the “smaller rides” often have longer queues than the bigger rides. Peter Pan and Pooh are two that come to mind right away- good (and enjoyable) for everyone and it’s not unusual to have a 75 minute plus wait. Buzz can have a line as well.

Little Mermaid rarely has a long wait (but a heck of a line walking queue) but many other rides in Fantasyland can have a long wait and would be a great use of a FP.

 

[Feberin]

We're going with my Dad who doesn't want to do a lot of rides and I'm trying to figure out our Fastpasses. The only rides we're planning on using rider swap are ones my Dad wants to ride like Smugglers Run. Otherwise I'm I'm scheduling Fastpasses for my husband, bigger daughters and me while scheduling tamer rides for my Dad to take our toddler on. I think it'll be more fun for all of us to ride together anyways and less risk of getting told no we all needed a fastpass. This is our first trip in six years and it'll probably be awhile before we come back again so I'd be really annoyed if I miss SDMT or something because I'm trying to game the system and it backfires.

 

[TDSAXX]

Am I a jerk for trying to "abuse" the system?
Yes.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Well the goal was to use fast pass and rider swap to get the big rides in for the adults and older kids with minimal time waiting and being separated...
We just want to get as much in for everyone as we can ...
and I want to make sure everyone gets as much fun in as possible.

I understand why you want to do this. But I don't think it's going to accomplish what you think it will accomplish, even if you can get a RS strategy to work. As @lanejudy said, going through a ride twice, even with RS is time consuming. You should plan 40-60 minutes for each time you want to do RS. That's a lot of time being separated, especially as it seems like you plan to do it for multiple rides, and it's a lot of time for the grandparents to sit there with the toddler in the Florida heat. That's not everyone having as much fun as possible; that's not thinking about everyone at all. This leaves out the grandparents and the toddler, and splits the others every time the adults and older kids want to ride something.

You have built in babysitters. If the parents and older kid all went on a "big" ride while the grandparents used FP on a "smaller" ride with the toddler, then you could move on to another ride. Personally, I think your chances of getting same-day FP are good with some patience, but say you don't. Even if you had to do 30-40 minutes of SB for the second "big" ride, you're still coming out ahead time-wise because you got through the previous ride in only 20 minutes by all going at the same time. And you're not leaving grandparents and toddler sitting there.

Her family is really breaking the bank to go before our niece gets too old to fully experience the magic and I don't see them managing to take another trip with us anytime soon.

Let go of the idea of a perfect trip. Your niece isn't going to get too old for Disney magic. Some people never make it to WDW until they're adults, and it's still a special place the first time they go.

The fact that your SIL/BIL are stretching their budget for WDW doesn't make them special or more deserving of FPs. It makes them pretty typical WDW visitors. Unlike the die-hards on this board, most families save up carefully for WDW trips, and take maybe one or two trips - ever. I went to WDW a grand total of ONCE as a child, when I was 13. It was an amazing trip that my parents saved for. I'm sure I didn't do 'everything' there was to do. Heck AK didn't even exist yet. But I know I enjoyed the things I did do.

My niece recently saved for a WDW trip for her family. They stayed value and had a blast. One pic she posted on Facebook was of her and her 8-year-old DD grinning from ear to ear while standing in line for SDD! Her DD was so proud of herself for making it through the long line like a big kid.

If you let yourself get focused on how to game the system for FP for big rides, you’re going to miss so much of the magic

 

[TEM1234]

When I use RS I get a fast pass for the ride I (or my husband) rides with the too small kid(s) and then the rider switch gets me (or my husband) back on with my big enough kids. Now that I have 3 big enough kids they take turns as to who gets to ride twice.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Am I a jerk for trying to "abuse" the system?
Yes.

I’m not thinking of it in moral terms. I just don’t think it’s practical for your situation.

RS is a cumbersome system. It’s very functional and can be a lifesaver if you have a little one, and no non-rider who can watch him or her. But I personally wouldn’t choose to do RS unnecessarily because it just eats so much time, and I’d rather move on to the next ride. Last trip we had no small children, and I was amazed at how much more we got done than when we had to use RS.

Have you been to WDW lately? Have you tried to get additional FP after your first 3? Because I think with some practice, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you can pull same day.