How does the child swap work???

[VickiL]

I am going for the first time with my DH and my DS, age 9. I was told that the following would work:

We all 3 wait in line. When it's time to get on the ride, the boy gets on with one parent. The other parent waits. When the ride is over, the boy gets to ride again with the second parent.

Is this really true??? Sounds too good!

 

[Harmony]

Why wouldn't all three of you be able to ride together if your child is willing to ride the rides?

The child swap is for parents whose children are afraid or too young to ride particular rides. At least that's what I've always believed.

 

[VickiL]

I guess I am misunderstanding the concept of child swap. I thought it was too good to be true! Sorry!

 

[kaokulk]

Harmony's right, that's not what that's for.

What you're thinking of is sometimes called the Bubba Relay:

You and your kid wait in line at Dumbo. Your spouse lets 24 people (I think it's 24) get in line, then they get in line. When Jr. is finished, your child gets back in line with your spouse. This only works at a few rides, since the exit and entrance need to be adjacent. It's not really allowed or disallowed, it just is.

The child swap is supposed to work like this:

Mom, Dad, 6yr old and 2yr old get in line. 2yr old is too scared, or too little to ride. Mom and 6yr old ride, then since Dad can't ride because of 2yr old, Dad and 6yr old ride together. This is allowed by Disney Cast Members, just let the CM know you are doing a baby swap.

 

[VickiL]

The Bubba Relay! Well, we are from Texas!

How do you know which rides this is allowed on? If the boy can ride 2x in a row, with the parents taking turns, he will love that!

 

[kaokulk]

It's in the book "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World" which I don't have with me. When I get home, I'll let you know unless someone beats me to it.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

The Bubba Relay! Well, we are from Texas!

How do you know which rides this is allowed on? If the boy can ride 2x in a row, with the parents taking turns, he will love that!

Its not a matter of being allowed or not allowed. It's just something that works on certain rides like Dumbo where the entrance and exit are close by, and you can do a handoff. You couldn't do something like this on a ride where the exit is in a gift shop, for example.

 

[Nank]

I was also wondering how the real child swap worked since we are going with 4 year old and maybe we can switch off and go on a couple of adult rides.

 

[mill4023]

I guess I am misunderstanding the concept of child swap. I thought it was too good to be true! Sorry!

Yep. You misunderstood.
The child swap is a way of allowing both parents to get a chance to ride if they have a child that is too small to ride, without waiting in the regular line twice. What you have heard about is one of the nice side effects of the child swap, that if you have a baby AND an older child who can ride, the older child will get to go with both parents.

 

[mill4023]

I was also wondering how the real child swap worked since we are going with 4 year old and maybe we can switch off and go on a couple of adult rides.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=815167

 

[lovethattink]

The child swap has been a real blessing for us. We have 2 wonderful ds. One is 11 years old and the other is 14 months old. DS11 loves anything fast. So he and Dad will go in line. DS(1) and I go up and get the baby swap pass, while they wait in line. I check out the standby time. If it is more than 15 minutes, I'll take the little one and we'll go look in a shop, or get a snack, take a nap, whatever, to kill time before they get off the ride. When time is about up, we walk towards the exit and wait for dh and ds to get off the ride. When they are finished, then ds gets back in line with me. Usually we are sent to the fastpass line. Then dh plays with ds(1) until we are finished with the ride. Several rides have play areas near the exit. Mission Space and Splash mountain are 2 that do. Also, occasionally they have the kiddie concierge opened at MK by Space Mountain. This is a great place to cool off and watch a movie, till they get off the ride.

 

[kaokulk]

OK, Bubba Swap

Ride, followed by the minimum number of people that need to be between adults:

Animal Kingdon
Triceratop Spin - 56

Magic Kingdom
Mad Tea Party - 53
Dumbo - 24
Peter Pan's Flight - 64
Snow White - 52
Cinderella Carrousel - 75
Magic Carpets of Aladdin - 48

Not a lot of rides, but the most important ones for the kiddies.

 

[DISUNC]

You mean I can't swap one of my cranky hot & tired kids for a newer nicer cuter child??? Boy i misunderstood this one too!

 

[CarolA]

There was a VERY funny thread at one time about this.

The theroy was...

You leave your child at the exit to the ride, on the way out you pick a child you like, yours or another cutie. Any kids left at the end of the day will be taken to Its A Small World, nailed to the floor and forced to sing that song forever!

 

[jenr812]

The child swap has been a real blessing for us. We have 2 wonderful ds. One is 11 years old and the other is 14 months old. DS11 loves anything fast. So he and Dad will go in line. DS(1) and I go up and get the baby swap pass, while they wait in line. I check out the standby time. If it is more than 15 minutes, I'll take the little one and we'll go look in a shop, or get a snack, take a nap, whatever, to kill time before they get off the ride. When time is about up, we walk towards the exit and wait for dh and ds to get off the ride. When they are finished, then ds gets back in line with me. Usually we are sent to the fastpass line. Then dh plays with ds(1) until we are finished with the ride. Several rides have play areas near the exit. Mission Space and Splash mountain are 2 that do. Also, occasionally they have the kiddie concierge opened at MK by Space Mountain. This is a great place to cool off and watch a movie, till they get off the ride.

OK I am confused now. So you don't have to wait with your DH and DS 11 the first time? They waited in line while you went to a CM to get the babyswap pass and then either decide to wait in line if the standby time is short enough or go off til DH and DS 11 are done? I like that idea. Am I understanding correctly? Originally I thought that it was necessary for the whole family to stand in line the first time, mom and baby get the baby swap pass and wait at that area for dad and other child to finish the ride. Then mom and older child ride while dad takes baby. Which is it???? Thanks so much I want to make sure I know how to properly use this to our advantage next week in the crazy busy heat

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

There was a VERY funny thread at one time about this.

The theroy was...

You leave your child at the exit to the ride, on the way out you pick a child you like, yours or another cutie. Any kids left at the end of the day will be taken to Its A Small World, nailed to the floor and forced to sing that song forever!

I was actually thinking if we could join the child swap thread with the how do you deal with temper tantrums on vacation thread we might have a winner?

 

[mickeyluv'r]

It depends on the ride. For some rides - Star Tours - the family does have to wait in line together. You do the swapping just outside of the actual ride. And pretty much all of the time you have to show the CM that you have the baby. So you walk up as a group, and ask the CM who is standing at the entrance to the ride about doing a baby swap. There is always a CM at the entrance to any rides with baby swapping. The CM will direct you from there. THEN, for the rides where they give you a paper pass - the person who is baby sitting can go to the gift shop while parent one rides the ride. Only certain rides have the baby swap. Rides like Pooh don't have it. The ride pretty much has to have a height restriction and a fastpass lane. As I type this I'm thinking an exception might be the haunted mansion, but I've never asked for a babyswap there.

Oh, and by the way - Universal also has baby swap, but there's is more like the Star Tours style. They have little wait rooms that you wait in while the rest of the family goes on the ride.

 

[PatsGirl]

I was of the same understanding of CarolA -- you just scout out one of the better-behaved children, gender and age of your choosing, and swap out whichever of your own you'd like to lose for a day

God knows there have been times.... Gotta love em' though, it's just a rule.

 

[alanda]

A few differences of opinion here, so this is how we've found that baby swap works for us. Get a FP for the ride you want to do. All the party goes through to ride when the FP time is right. Tell the CM that you want to baby swap - you don't need a baby - you can do it if you have a child in the party that does not want to ride. The CM will tell you where the baby swap area is for the ride you are on. For example our DS10 does not want to ride RnR, but DS7 does. DH and DS7 go on RnR, me and DS10 wait in the gift shop, then DS7 rides again with me after we walk back up through the ride exit. Double the fun for him. No long waits for the child who doesn't want to do it. Result!

There doesn't appear to be any rides were you can't baby swap if you want to.

In Universal/IoA it works differently - at least on Hulk and Dueling Dragons. There is a separate child swap area near the exit to these rides. The parent and child/ren go and wait there while the other parent rides. When s/he gets off, tell a CM that you want to swap and s/he will find a spare space within a couple of 'turns' of the coaster - this is because the child swap areas are on the opposite side to the normal entry for these coasters, so they will fit you in when an odd seat is available. On these rides, I suppose if you knew the initial wait was going to be a substantial length of time (because you haven't got a UE) then you could go and have a wander round and return nearer the time your partner is expected to ride.

All clear now?