"milking" baby swap

[NotUrsula]

Not a note about "milking" the system, but a note about Mom getting shafted when it comes to swaps -- a particular issue with kids under 2 yrs. old.

Sometimes even the FP line is long (Soarin' anyone?), and little ones can get fussy waiting. If they are really fussy and get on your last nerve,or if they are nursing, they may throw a fit if Mommy tries to walk away and leave after Daddy comes back from riding the ride ... therefore ... DO NOT ALWAYS LET DAD RIDE FIRST!

Sometimes, even though you have a swap pass, circumstances will make it not the best choice to actually end up using the second turn, so do make sure that parents take turns going first; otherwise, the parent who waits first will usually miss more rides.

 

[DopeyDame]

Not a note about "milking" the system, but a note about Mom getting shafted when it comes to swaps -- a particular issue with kids under 2 yrs. old.

Sometimes even the FP line is long (Soarin' anyone?), and little ones can get fussy waiting. If they are really fussy and get on your last nerve,or if they are nursing, they may throw a fit if Mommy tries to walk away and leave after Daddy comes back from riding the ride ... therefore ... DO NOT ALWAYS LET DAD RIDE FIRST!

Sometimes, even though you have a swap pass, circumstances will make it not the best choice to actually end up using the second turn, so do make sure that parents take turns going first; otherwise, the parent who waits first will usually miss more rides.

Amen to this!!!
I'd say we used about half of the rider swap passes we actually got. So def make sure the person who is most excited about it rides first.

As for those who are declaring various reasons for why baby swap exists... It doesn't really matter why YOU think it exists. It matters why and how Disney runs it. Which is exactly how the OP discussed using it.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

We got the baby swap pass for BTMRR, Splash Mountain and Soarin on our last trip and used ZERO of them. Ds was not interested in waiting around anymore and I preferred to just move onto something he could also do. They are good for 30 days so we always thought we might return to use them but even though we returned to the parks we pretty much stuck to rides he could also enjoy.

 

[Raenstoirm]

So I booked Splash for my husband, DS8 and DS6 and then a separate FP+ for me to take the baby on Winnie the Pooh. That kept him busy for some of the time. Then we saved the rider swap pass for when he was sleeping and I got to ride with the kids during that time.

I didn't think about it that way. That must be the thought process. I get a FP+ for Nemo and DH gets a FP+ for soarin. While one of us rides soarin, the other takes the twins on nemo without a wait so that is less time with them just hanging around waiting to do something.

 

[Crystal824]

Not a note about "milking" the system, but a note about Mom getting shafted when it comes to swaps -- a particular issue with kids under 2 yrs. old.

Sometimes even the FP line is long (Soarin' anyone?), and little ones can get fussy waiting. If they are really fussy and get on your last nerve,or if they are nursing, they may throw a fit if Mommy tries to walk away and leave after Daddy comes back from riding the ride ... therefore ... DO NOT ALWAYS LET DAD RIDE FIRST!

Sometimes, even though you have a swap pass, circumstances will make it not the best choice to actually end up using the second turn, so do make sure that parents take turns going first; otherwise, the parent who waits first will usually miss more rides.

Agree with this too. More than half the time, we didn't use the baby swap pass. Kids wanted to do something they could do or get a snack, etc. etc. We just never got back to it.

 

[buttercup5282]

I agree with a PP said about FP lines being long and then not be able to ride because parent #1 didn't get off the ride until after the FP window closed. Without the baby swap pass, we both wouldn't have been able to ride Soarin' because the CM at the FP line didn't care that parent #1 stood in FP line for over an hour.

So getting a baby swap pass: everyone (including non-riding parent and baby) must go to the FP line and the CM will give the non-riding parent a baby swap pass. Everyone going on the ride first, must have a FP for that ride and time. When the first riders get off of the ride, up to three people (non-riding parent and up to two others) take the baby swap pass to the FP line and the CM will allow them to enter the FP line.

For some rides, my husband and I rode the ride by ourselves seperately because even our almost 3yo DD was too short. Other rides, my DD got to ride twice while the other parent waited with the baby.

 

[Tigger1]

Last year I waited with a 2 and 4 year old while the others did Splash Mountain.
By the time they got off the ride we went to the bathroom at least twice to potty, change diaper. I could have used my RS ticket to go on one the ride after others got off but I was wore out at this point. It was nice that I could have went though and not by myself. RS does not really save time as you are waiting for first party to exit. You have no idea when they will exit and never go to far away. Then they have to wait for you to take your ride. Sure some get to ride twice but wouldnt you set alone in a seat if they did not?

 

[jeepnjudy]

And it has to be a little kid to really get the most out of the rental . And with a little kid you need to change their diapers and give them bottles and deal with the crying. Thats called babysitting. If anyone wants to give me money to babysit my twins for the day so you can use baby swap I am all for it! Dh and I can ride the headliners the normal FP+ way and be perfectly happy.

I am laughing so hard at this...I agree! That would be great if someone paid ME to babysit my kids so I could run through the parks and ride everything I wanted in a day!