Just found out about Rider Swap change to digital returns

[Lilsia]

I would like for him to be able to ride the baby rides though. And he turned less than 2 months b4 the start of our trip so i am paying for him

Like i said, my husband and i will take turns using our fast passes on the baby rides if the new rule is in place.

I’m most annoyed that i already spent several days planning our trip (shows, rides, fastp


I want him to be able to ride! He turned 3 less than 2 months before the first day of our trip, so he is payed for.

Here’s the thing. I have already spent a week booking our trip(shows, fastapasses, dinner etc). It’s less than 3 weeks away and it’s not going to be easy to change everything around at this point. That is what I’m most annoyed about. This new policy was not made known to me before I made our plans. So I’m leaving them as is and hoping they understand. If they don’t then we will adjust the plans. It’ll be a huge cluster mess though.

Your child can ride whatever you decide to take him on. There is such a thing as stand by line. You are not limited to taking him only on things with a fastpass.

 

[Lilsia]

I’m sorry for the amount of money you pay for a 3 year old those fast passes need to be used. That said there are other strategies (like booking another ride for someone else with their fast passes, etc) but it’s not like a child’s ticket is half the cost of an adult. Which also speaks towards Disney being designed for kids. If it wasn’t most parents wouldn’t spend that kind of money for a 3 year old to go to a theme park.

And before someone says other parks are like this - the ones with roller coasters, at least those in VA, are not at all like that. At my local Busch gardens and Kings dominion I can get my 3-5 year old a pre-k pass which gets them unlimited admission to the park for the year for free. At Kings dominion I can get the 2019 pre-K pass in October of 2018 - which worked out great for us because DD turned 6 in November. Anyway, my point is that at those parks to try to get families with young kids they literally give them free passes (for the kids) whereas at Disney they are essentially the same cost as an adult.

And for reference the 4 day park ticket deal for an adult is 340 and for a kid is 320. Essentially the same cost.

You CAN use the child's fast passes. BMH4796 chose NOT to use them and instead used them for rides that the child could not go on. She just as easily used them for rides like Peter Pan, Dumbo, Pirates, all rides that have long lines but the child could go on. You only get 3 anyway, so there will be some popular rides that you will have to wait in line for. If you have a small child then you know that there are things that they can not go on, plan your trip accordingly. People are just mad because they do not get the double the FP glitch that there was for a while. What happened to people knowing that having kids, you will have to sacrifice doing some things? You are still going to WDW for a vacation for goodness sake.

 

[Brian4891]

I would like for him to be able to ride the baby rides though. And he turned less than 2 months b4 the start of our trip so i am paying for him

Like i said, my husband and i will take turns using our fast passes on the baby rides if the new rule is in place.

I’m most annoyed that i already spent several days planning our trip (shows, rides, fastp


I want him to be able to ride! He turned 3 less than 2 months before the first day of our trip, so he is payed for.

Here’s the thing. I have already spent a week booking our trip(shows, fastapasses, dinner etc). It’s less than 3 weeks away and it’s not going to be easy to change everything around at this point. That is what I’m most annoyed about. This new policy was not made known to me before I made our plans. So I’m leaving them as is and hoping they understand. If they don’t then we will adjust the plans. It’ll be a huge cluster mess though.

Don't get too worked up about this. I spoke to someone who was in the parks last week who said the system was running the same as always, that system being Party 1 enters ride with Fast Pass; Party 2 who does not have a Fast Pass booked ahead of time, gets rider swap to go on the ride when Party 1 returns.

I am in the same situation as you. I will be there the last week of February and booked all my fastpasses in December under the assumption that the rider swap would work in this way. I have been monitoring various message boards and the majority of reports are that it is still working same as always. There are a few reports of CMs requiring Party 2 to have FastPass as well, but there are far fewer reports of this being this case.

I agree that the policy should be crystal clear, but unfortunately it is quite vague. I will make sure to post on how the rider swap works for my family when I get back.

 

[Tink_83]

You CAN use the child's fast passes. BMH4796 chose NOT to use them and instead used them for rides that the child could not go on. She just as easily used them for rides like Peter Pan, Dumbo, Pirates, all rides that have long lines but the child could go on. You only get 3 anyway, so there will be some popular rides that you will have to wait in line for. If you have a small child then you know that there are things that they can not go on, plan your trip accordingly. People are just mad because they do not get the double the FP glitch that there was for a while. What happened to people knowing that having kids, you will have to sacrifice doing some things? You are still going to WDW for a vacation for goodness sake.

First I never said you can’t use the Fastpasses (read my response) I just said that for the amount of money you pay you should use them. Which was in response to your comment regarding “who cares if a toddlers Fastpasses are used” and “your getting a discount on their ticket”... which again the “discount” on children’s tickets are a joke.

Further, I’m pretty sure she is mostly upset about the change in how the system works. No system is perfect and it won’t work for everyone all the time (again Disney ride swap sounds like insanity even with the “extra” fast passes- but others seem to love separating from their families and letting their kids play while one set stands in line...). Regardless it’s more that they are modifying how the system works without clear instructions from Disney prior to organizing her trip. That alone would irritate most people (honestly reading Disney’s website there is little to no instruction on this topic). Considering most sites are still explaining this strategy it is very confusing for someone like me who hasn’t used it at Disney...

I’m sure she understands that having kids means sacrificing some of what she wants to do.

Also, you realize that no matter how you look at it party 2 gets “extra Fastpasses” since if party one does standby party 2 still gets Fastpasses for their ride... which is probably why only party 1 needed fast passes originally.

 

[rosedolph]

You could use the 4 year olds FP to stagger FP and then not have to worry about rider swap. Depending on how big the family is.
Once our little ones were old enough for tickets but not tall enough for rides, that was sometimes easier for us than messing with Rider Swap.
Example: Soarin' Mom and older child have FP at 9:30-10:30
Dad and too short child have FP at 10:30-11

Mom and older child ride Soarin' Dad rides Living with the Land with younger child. Then older child and younger child swap Magic Bands and Dad and older child ride again.

Now this is what I like to see here - very nicely worded suggestion. And it is actually helpful! This is a great idea that I will use instead of the RS. We have a family of seven with 2 nonriders. This makes so much more sense then trying to figure out how to do RS. Thanks for this tip, Smiths02!

 

[rosedolph]

You have the choice to book her and another rider 14 or older a FP for another attraction, or book FP's for rides everyone can go on. The same as any other family who does not qualify for a rider swap and has a member of their party who can or will not go on an attraction.

DS 11 is tall enough to ride Space Mountain but prior to our last trip, chose not to. My choices were to either let someone else in our party use his FP to ride twice, OR to get him and another person (usually me, sometimes DH or his sister) an FP for another attraction.

Actually, you can get a RS for your 11 yr old. Disney states in the RS policy on the website, that rider switch is for riders who are too short or a "Guest that does not wish to board a particular attraction." The policy doesn't state anything about age - so basically anyone can qualify for RS.

 

[rosedolph]

So what would you do if your child is no longer height restricted, but hates coasters and everyone else in your party likes them, but you don’t feel comfortable leaving them by themselves while you ride?

Then you can use rider switch!

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

"If Guests in your party can’t or don’t want to board an attraction, you don’t have to miss out!

If a child does not meet the height requirement or a Guest does not wish to board a particular attraction, no problem! With Rider Switch, one adult can wait with the non-rider (or riders) while the rest of the party enjoys the attraction. When the other adult returns, they can supervise the non-riding Guests, and the waiting adult can board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again!"

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

Actually, you can get a RS for your 11 yr old. Disney states in the RS policy on the website, that rider switch is for riders who are too short or a "Guest that does not wish to board a particular attraction." The policy doesn't state anything about age - so basically anyone can qualify for RS.

The policy does state that, but in actuality many people have reported otherwise and have not been able to do this. I just don’t bother, it’s not worth spending vacation time at guest services or standing there spouting policy at a CM who’s trying to do their job.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Actually, you can get a RS for your 11 yr old. Disney states in the RS policy on the website, that rider switch is for riders who are too short or a "Guest that does not wish to board a particular attraction." The policy doesn't state anything about age - so basically anyone can qualify for RS.

Then you can use rider switch!

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

"If Guests in your party can’t or don’t want to board an attraction, you don’t have to miss out!

If a child does not meet the height requirement or a Guest does not wish to board a particular attraction, no problem! With Rider Switch, one adult can wait with the non-rider (or riders) while the rest of the party enjoys the attraction. When the other adult returns, they can supervise the non-riding Guests, and the waiting adult can board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again!"

They will allow a swap but it is generally done at boarding for those who are tall enough. If someone is tall enough but doesn't wish to ride, they can still enter the queue, so the rider swap pass which allows the non-riders to wait outside the line typically isn't given. Everyone would go through the line together (and if using FP, this would mean the non-riders would need a FP as well), and when you get to the boarding area, the swap would be performed there. It's still a swap so it doesn't go against policy, but it's handled differently than with a child who is too short to enter the queue.

 

[rosedolph]

They will allow a swap but it is generally done at boarding for those who are tall enough. If someone is tall enough but doesn't wish to ride, they can still enter the queue, so the rider swap pass which allows the non-riders to wait outside the line typically isn't given. Everyone would go through the line together (and if using FP, this would mean the non-riders would need a FP as well), and when you get to the boarding area, the swap would be performed there. It's still a swap so it doesn't go against policy, but it's handled differently than with a child who is too short to enter the queue.

LongLiveRafiki - just wondering if you've ever done a RS the way you explained? I can't imagine where a nonrider would wait while the rest of the party is riding. There doesn't seem to be room in the loading/unloading areas.

In my experience. (We have an older child who is tall enough for all rides, but too young to wait by themselves.) I've always taken care of the RS outside the queue by talking to the CM at the entrance. We have never been asked to check height or even why the guest didn't want to ride. They only time the non-rider has entered the line was once to check out the queues for Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror. BUT like its been pointed out in previous post each CM can handle it differently, and we've never had to deal with the electronic RS. So I guess it could all be different the next time we visit.

 

[Lilsia]

LongLiveRafiki - just wondering if you've ever done a RS the way you explained? I can't imagine where a nonrider would wait while the rest of the party is riding. There doesn't seem to be room in the loading/unloading areas.

In my experience. (We have an older child who is tall enough for all rides, but too young to wait by themselves.) I've always taken care of the RS outside the queue by talking to the CM at the entrance. We have never been asked to check height or even why the guest didn't want to ride. They only time the non-rider has entered the line was once to check out the queues for Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror. BUT like its been pointed out in previous post each CM can handle it differently, and we've never had to deal with the electronic RS. So I guess it could all be different the next time we visit.

This is how they used to do it for all rider swaps. The whole family would go through the line and when you got to boarding, the small child and the adult staying with them would be sent to the ride exit internally. All of the rides at WDW have a way to do this and they all have a chicken exit if you get to the boarding and change your mind. I imagine as the parks got busier, they started to get a bit congested, hence the paper rider swap ticket system. But this was really not all that long ago. When my kids were little, they still had the system where everyone went through the queue and my youngest is almost 17.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

LongLiveRafiki - just wondering if you've ever done a RS the way you explained? I can't imagine where a nonrider would wait while the rest of the party is riding. There doesn't seem to be room in the loading/unloading areas.

In my experience. (We have an older child who is tall enough for all rides, but too young to wait by themselves.) I've always taken care of the RS outside the queue by talking to the CM at the entrance. We have never been asked to check height or even why the guest didn't want to ride. They only time the non-rider has entered the line was once to check out the queues for Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror. BUT like its been pointed out in previous post each CM can handle it differently, and we've never had to deal with the electronic RS. So I guess it could all be different the next time we visit.

Yes, I only did it once on my last trip since we had a toddler and qualified for a regular rider swap. At one point though, it was just DH, my 7 yo, and I, and she didn't want to ride Mission Space Orange. We asked about our options and the CM told us to take care of it at boarding. We all waited together in line and since she was old enough to wait alone, they gave us the option of both of us riding while she waited in the hallway, or for DH and I to take turns while the other adult waited with her in the hallway. We weren't comfortable with her waiting alone completely outside the ride, but had no issues with (and neither did she) having her wait in the hall, just outside the room where the simulators are. We also asked about rider swap at FEA when my toddler was sleeping. I know there's no height requirement, but had heard on here that they offered it due to the drop. We were told they don't give the rider swap pass but we could swap out at boarding. We chose to just take him on the ride since either way we'd have to get him out of the stroller and wake him up.

My trip before that, we utilized the swap at boarding several times when my 9 yo brother didn't want to ride and didn't want to wait alone. No CM offered a traditional rider swap pass. They all just told us to go in line together and let them know at boarding who we needed to swap out. On every ride, there was room near boarding off to the side for them to wait.

It wasn't until joining these boards (between those two trips) that I heard about people sometimes being given a regular rider swap pass for a tall enough child. It seems like more often than not though, people are told no or to do the swap at boarding. @HopperFan is one of those people who has posted on here several times about being denied the rider swap pass with her adult son with medical issues who can't be left alone.

The swap at boarding may not be ideal for all families, but it does help to prevent cases in which people try to get extra FP by using rider swap by saying their tall enough kid is too scared to ride, then letting that kid and 2 others ride with the rider swap. That scenario has been debated on this forum too where someone said they were going to ask for rider swap even though everyone in their party was tall enough. They said they couldn't get FP for everyone so they were going to claim someone was too scared to ride, get the rider swap passes, then have the "too scared" person and 2 others use the rider swap to ride. I don't think they ever updated on whether it worked for them, but I imagine it's things like that which have influenced the way Disney handles swaps for those tall enough but too scared to ride.

With someone too short to ride, they aren't permitted to enter the queue. With someone tall enough, they can wait in the queue even if they aren't going to ride. It's possible some CMs might give a rider swap pass for a tall enough child so they and an adult can wait outside the line, but I really wouldn't count on it since there is the other way (at boarding) that it can be handled.

 

[Beth33]

You could use the 4 year olds FP to stagger FP and then not have to worry about rider swap. Depending on how big the family is.
Once our little ones were old enough for tickets but not tall enough for rides, that was sometimes easier for us than messing with Rider Swap.
Example: Soarin' Mom and older child have FP at 9:30-10:30
Dad and too short child have FP at 10:30-11

Mom and older child ride Soarin' Dad rides Living with the Land with younger child. Then older child and younger child swap Magic Bands and Dad and older child ride again.

So the short kid is basically giving their FP to their older sibling. That's certainly doable, but it doesn't seem entirely fair to the short kid.

Oh well, the rider swap situation (and other related strategies) is what it is. Life's not fair and all. Personally, I don't like a vacation in WDW to be the place to be teaching that lesson, but what are you going to do.

 

[smiths02]

So the short kid is basically giving their FP to their older sibling. That's certainly doable, but it doesn't seem entirely fair to the short kid.

Oh well, the rider swap situation (and other related strategies) is what it is. Life's not fair and all. Personally, I don't like a vacation in WDW to be the place to be teaching that lesson, but what are you going to do.

It was really no big deal. I mean the biggest hurdle is that the too short kid has to go up to the ride and can't ride it, but that is how it works in any system. At least with this, my kids either got a treat or to ride something else they liked that did not require a FP. And the big kid had to give up things too, I mean he had to eat with Cinderella!

 

[Lilsia]

It was really no big deal. I mean the biggest hurdle is that the too short kid has to go up to the ride and can't ride it, but that is how it works in any system. At least with this, my kids either got a treat or to ride something else they liked that did not require a FP. And the big kid had to give up things too, I mean he had to eat with Cinderella!

This is how everyone should look at it, as a compromise. Not everyone can, or will want to do, all of the rides. Sometimes you get what you want and other times you don't. Like your example, one child goes on a ride while the other gets a treat. Kids are much better at understanding compromise then some adults give them credit for and it is usually the adult making a bigger deal out of something then it should be.

 

[Lilsia]

So the short kid is basically giving their FP to their older sibling. That's certainly doable, but it doesn't seem entirely fair to the short kid.

Oh well, the rider swap situation (and other related strategies) is what it is. Life's not fair and all. Personally, I don't like a vacation in WDW to be the place to be teaching that lesson, but what are you going to do.

Your kids should have already had plenty of opportunity to know that life is not fair by the time they get to WDW. When your family dynamic is such that there is an age gap where 1 is big enough to ride and another is not, then there is zero chance that everything will be "fair". It is kind of surprising how many parents now are trying to make life "fair", unnecessarily. We all grew up in these situations, nothing has changed and are any of us emotionally scarred because when we were 4 and our parents took us to WDW, we could not ride Space Mountain? NO. Heck, most of us never even got to go to WDW growing up. Instead of projecting the attitude of "poor little Jimmy" maybe we, as parents, should be keeping it positive and teaching our kids how lucky they are to actually be at WDW.

 

[Beth33]

Hi Lilsia. I am betting that, overall, we agree philosophically more than we disagree. There are definitley times that one person gets something another doesn't, and that's just life. For example, if one sibling gets invited to a friend's birthday party, they get to go to a party and the other sibling doesn't. That's life. Also, I've had several discussions with my kids about how we can choose to focus on how something out of our control makes us unhappy, but that will only make us feel worse, or we can try to think about the ways that we're lucky and enjoy what we have.

However, what rubs me the wrong way is when two kids are participating in a group activity and one gets a highly valued treat and the other does not without a compelling reason. Not everyone will feel the same way, of course, and that's ok. But it feels off to me.

A couple of thoughts on your post:

When your family dynamic is such that there is an age gap where 1 is big enough to ride and another is not, then there is zero chance that everything will be "fair".

There's a difference between missing out on something because it is physically impossible / against the rules and missing out on something because it is logistically more convenient for others.

Instead of projecting the attitude of "poor little Jimmy" maybe we, as parents, should be keeping it positive and teaching our kids how lucky they are to actually be at WDW.

Please keep in mind that one can both find a situation unfair and teach ones kid to deal with the situation in a positive, productive way. The two are not mutually exclusive.

 

[tjmw2727]

So the short kid is basically giving their FP to their older sibling. That's certainly doable, but it doesn't seem entirely fair to the short kid.
sniped
.

Only if you chose to use FP+ as suggested in the quote.

Alternately one adult can use his/her FP+ to accompany the younger child on a different attraction when there is a height restriction. This is how we did it back in the day. Now both kids get to use their own FP+ on an appropriate ride and adults take turns accompanying each kid. Aure I didn't get to ride space mountain but I had 1-1 time with my youngest on peter pan!

Adults don't need to ride everything and older kids don't need to ride twice (imho).

 

[PeacefullyContent]

Let me start off by stating - some of you on this thread definitely needed a HUG!

So curious, for those who posted before their trip, now that you have returned - what was your experience regarding rider swap & fastpass? If group 1 had fastpasses, did group 2 need/use their pre-scheduled fastpass in addition to their rider swap fastpass?

& regarding this ongoing conversation on whether it's fair or unfair for swapping families to receive 'additional' fastpasses... I think many of you underestimate the conglomerate we know as disney... If disney wanted to clarify their rider swap/fastpass policy they would have - yet, this post was started in January, it is now October, and the rider swap policy posted on disney's website remains unchanged despite many reports that it would be updated.... maybe for this exact reason, both sides of the coin feel very passionate about the fairness/unfairness of the process so it may be in disney's best interest (it's a business so always from a financial standpoint) to remain 'mum' & leave it up to CM discretion. Disney has NEVER had a problem rolling out new rules, yet nothing is written in stone on this one... the question we need to ask ourselves is why???

I am on the side of the coin that additional fastpasses to families is fair. It allows everyone in the family to enjoy the Disney magic which, again, is in the best financial interest for disney. Since kids can't ride by themselves, it allows parents to use their prescheduled fastpasses to join their young children on 'their rides' while the parents use the rider-swap-fastpasses for the rides they are interested in. Most parents could not justify paying thousands, upon thousands of dollars for only 1 age group to enjoy... disney knows this and therefore it is in their financial interest to be as accommodating as possible to as many in the family as possible without damaging their bottom line.

Ideally, everyone in the family would be able to go through the line & the child & parent wait somewhere close to the boarding zone so as soon as parent 1 is off, parent 2 could immediately ride but i would think from a safety and space standpoint, this became no longer feasible with the uptick in crowd size and, let's face it, not all kids are well-behaved & wait nicely as parents have their fun, hence the fastpass.

I've read many posts, many articles about this... one article stated that if a CM is demanding group 2 have a FP as well, ask for a Lead (CM manager) and this will be straightened out in the family's favor.
I also find it VERY interesting that this exact question was posed to the Disney's Mom's Panel (which is Disney run/maintained) and the Disney Mom clearly responded that group 2 did not need a fastpass. This was posted in late June 2018 - after the new electronic system was in place. I found this post pretty easily, if Disney was not going to abide by it, i'm sure this post would have been removed by now.

 

[Lilsia]

I am on the side of the coin that additional fastpasses to families is fair. It allows everyone in the family to enjoy the Disney magic which, again, is in the best financial interest for disney. Since kids can't ride by themselves, it allows parents to use their prescheduled fastpasses to join their young children on 'their rides' while the parents use the rider-swap-fastpasses for the rides they are interested in. Most parents could not justify paying thousands, upon thousands of dollars for only 1 age group to enjoy... disney knows this and therefore it is in their financial interest to be as accommodating as possible to as many in the family as possible without damaging their bottom line.

Why stop at giving extra FPs to just families with small kids? How about those who take grandma/grandpa that can't do the "thrill" rides. Or those with certain disabilities/illnesses that can't ride certain things. Don't they deserve to have their dream vacation and be able to ride more to "justify paying thousands"? Most of the rides at WDW are family friendly that everyone can ride together anyway. Having small children is not some kind of burden or disadvantage that you should be entitled to more then any other family. We took our kids when they were young and experienced plenty of Disney magic, more so because we spent the time with our kids watching them enjoy the park. I really don't understand where this mentality of "I have small kids so you should all feel sorry for me and cater to us" comes from. I see it all the time. People act as if they invented having kids.