Parent Swap

[pbharris4]

We have a 9 yo DD and a almost 2 yo DD. Last year we just split up a few times so DH and I could go on rides with our older DD. I would like to use the parent swap on some rides that the younger one can't go on. How are they about doing this and how DO you do it? Do people get pissed off? DO me and DD wait in line, DH gets a Fast Pass and then does DD still stay there and DH gets on right away? Have you done it?

 

[DisneyBaby2004]

I was also wondering about the same thing. My DD5 and DS2 will not be able to ride most of the rides and me and DH want to, even if we can't sit together.

I hope people wouldn't be pissed off because Disney gave us this legit option.
We are not trying to cheat anyone - it is just our circumstance.

**I'm so excited and I just can't hide it 4 DAYS LEFT!!!

 

[isyt]

We use kid swap all the time. I have a 8yr, 6yr and 4yr old and our trip in 42 days will hopefully be the first that my son can go on some "big kid" rides!!

As you get to the entrance of a ride tell the attendant you want to do kid swap They will give you a kid swap ticket( looks like fast pass) which entitles you to return on the fast pass line. If no one is at the ride entrance go to the fast pass entrance. I like to wait on line together and some rides let you like Star Tours ( MGM), Dinosaur (AK)or even Test Track(Epcot). My youngest always got a kick of all the stuff you can look at.

I have never seen anyone get upset by this service, since you are on the fast pass lane no one is ever the wiser.

Good luck!!

 

[dismom9761]

I used it the whole time on my trip. My kids are 9,7,6,1. Noone got upset. One more thing- the baby swap ticket is good for three people. Your older child can ride w/ you and then your DH.My oldest loved this.The CM's are really good at walking you through the process if you need them to.

 

[k_k_100]

OK - let me get this straight... I am traveling w/ dh & dd (3) I wait in line (or use my fast pass?) to get onto TOT. I tell a CM that I want to do baby-swap. Dh waits outside the attraction w/ dd - When I get off I go out & give dh a special ticket allowing him to return in the FP line?

I always thought all 3 of us would have to wait in line - then one of us would ride while the other waited - when the first got off they would take dd out while the other rode? I figured it wouldn't work because dd would NOT be happy to wait in line then not be allowed to ride...

mmmm... how does this work???

 

[beattyfamily]

OK - let me get this straight... I am traveling w/ dh & dd (3) I wait in line (or use my fast pass?) to get onto TOT. I tell a CM that I want to do baby-swap. Dh waits outside the attraction w/ dd - When I get off I go out & give dh a special ticket allowing him to return in the FP line?

I always thought all 3 of us would have to wait in line - then one of us would ride while the other waited - when the first got off they would take dd out while the other rode? I figured it wouldn't work because dd would NOT be happy to wait in line then not be allowed to ride...

mmmm... how does this work???

Yes, that's right. We usually get our fastpasses and then ask the CM about parent swap. Most rides do it the same way, with the special Fastpass. I think there might be a couple of rides where to you meet at the exit/end of the ride and swap there. At least it used to be that way at like at TT for example.

Also, if you have a child that is tall enough to ride but doesn't want to ride a ride like ToT, they will measure her and if she's tall enough they will make you all go in the line together and swap at the ride. That is what I was told at ToT and Splash Mountain because my 5 year old is tall enough.

Best advice is to ask the CM as you approach the ride you'd like to swap on and see what each ride's policy/procedure is.

 

[pbharris4]

My 2 yr old won't be able to do most rides and the ones she can do one of us will take her. As far as the Swap it sounds confusing..but let me have a go at it.... My older DD is 9 and is tall so she could pretty much go on anything. If we get FP's for a ride and her and I go on can, my DH then go on with her if I tell them before DD & I get on that we want a parent swap? And would they use the FP line as well? And where would the other parent wait?

We've been in Jan/Feb before and didn't have this problem (well the little one wasn't here then anyway). Last year in Jult it was so crowded we hardly got to go on anything (even with FP). I took DD on TT, DH took her on MSpace, I took her on that Ellen DeGenerous thing, and DD took her on TT so he could do it. Then at MGM, I took her on ToT (won't do that one again and DH took her to see Beauty & the Beast. I took her to Who Wants to be a Millionaire. So we got to do some things, but we were hardly together..so I'd really like to do this Parent Swap thing and test it out this year because next year my youngest will be 3 and we'll really need to utilize it then. Thanks!

 

[Miller1412]

We went all prepared to use the Parent Swap for my DD 4 and DS 2 and found it easier to use fastpass. While one of us would go to do something fun with the kids like meeting a character, etc. the other would ride using FP. We never had more than a 10 minute wait that way and the kids were entertained. Plus, we were able to avoid the dissappointment of our 2 year old when he was too small, but his big sister wasn't. He would have been very upset to wait in line and then not be able to go on.

 

[pbharris4]

My older one is more of a thrill seeker like myself and youngest (at least for now) does not like rides. She won't even go on those ones in the mall you put 50 cents into. But she may pitch a fit if she sees Daddy leaving. Hmmm..I'll have to figure that one out.

 

[beattyfamily]

My 2 yr old won't be able to do most rides and the ones she can do one of us will take her. My older DD is 9 and is tall so she could pretty much go on anything. If we get FP's for a ride and her and I go on can, my DH then go on with her if I tell them before DD & I get on that we want a parent swap? And would they use the FP line as well? And where would the other parent wait?

Thanks!

This is what my family of 4 does. We have one child that's been too young for rides or didn't want to go on them and one that is almost 9 that loves to go on just about everything.

We go to a ride like RnR for example and DH gets ALL 4 of us Fastpasses. Then we also approach the CM guarding the ride and ask how they handle parent swap. Most give a special Fastpass that is good all day for up to 4 people. We get one. Then one parent and child go while other parent and child wait or go do something. Then other parent and again bigger child go on with the second set of Fastpasses and then yet again one parent (or whatever adult wants to) goes on the ride again with the special fastpass with the bigger child. This way each parent goes on at least once and older DD goes on at least 3 times!

Another thing we do if we do not want to make younger DD wait, we'll get 2 fastpass at RnR and then other parent takes younger DD to another ride and gets fastpass but we meanwhile also got the special fastpass for parent swap for RnR. So this means one parent and older child goes on RnR and then the other parent and younger child go on a different ride with their fastpass and then at some point the other parent and older child can ride RnR with the special Fastpass. I hope I'm not confusing you!

Some rides, though will measure younger child and if they are tall enough will make you all go in line and swap at the ride. I was told this at RnR and Splash since my younger DD is 5 and tall enough.

 

[pbharris4]

A little confusing, but I actually think I got it! :0) The youngest DD will just turn 2 and she's a shortie..no problem with her. The 9 yo DD is the opposite. she's tall. Can we still get FP's and then do the Parent Swap?

 

[beattyfamily]

A little confusing, but I actually think I got it! :0) The youngest DD will just turn 2 and she's a shortie..no problem with her. The 9 yo DD is the opposite. she's tall. Can we still get FP's and then do the Parent Swap?

Yes. I would go to the ride and get Fastpasses for 2 of you. Then I would ask the CM about parent swap and they'll give you the special fastpass that's good for all day. Then once your fastpass time comes up, 2 of you go with the 2 fastpasses you got. Then when they return, the other parent and older child use the special fastpass. Your 9 year old will get to ride twice!

Also, if you'd like the other parent with the baby could go for a walk and get one fastpass for something that child would like if you'd like to that is.

Good luck!

 

[mill4023]

We just got back and used the swap on everything. We had DS10, DD7, DD4, and DD1. For most of the rides, you all go up to the line entrance together. That way, they see that you do actually have a small child that is too short to ride. CM gives you a "rider switch" pass, then one parent gets in line(FP if you have a FP or stand-by if not) with the riding kids and the other parent does whatever they want while waiting with the too-small kid(s). When the first parent is done, the second parent uses the rider switch pass to go through the fast pass line(whether or not you have a FP) with up to 2 other people.
For most rides, it's not really any different than using FP's, except you can use it in addition to FP's and it means up to 2 older kids can ride twice, once with each parent. My DD7 and DS10 got to ride almost everything twice in a row because of this.
Some rides, like Star Tours and Primeval Whirl are different, in that the second parent doesn't use the FP line, but instead the whole family goes all the way up to where the ride loads and waits there. So as soon as the first parent gets off, they swap the baby and the second parent gets on. On Star Tours, you actually take the baby onto the ride as soon as the doors open and hand off to the first parent before they exit.

 

[Pocahontas1]

We used the baby swap last summer and didn't have any problems. We're going in a couple of weeks and plan on using it again. DS (5) has it all figured out. He calls it the "babysitter swap" and tells me who he will ride with first, who waits with his sister and who he will ride with the second time.

When we went last year, we usually waited in a cool, air-conditioned place and the first set of riders would meet us there and then we'd switch off. If I remember correctly a lot of rides have shops at the end and that was a good place to wait. Mission: Space has a really cool interactive area and we spent a lot of time in there. I'm remembering a playground type thing (you know the kind they have at McDonalds). Test Track also had a large display, store area. I remember hearing the Chevy theme song again and again and again while we waited.

Good luck!

 

[Nora94]

the swap is so awesome! The whole family goes to the line, either with your fast pass or the regular line. Tell the Cast Member there you are doing the kid swap. They give you a little ticket, and the people riding the ride go in line for the ride while the little non rider and swapper go to the exit of the ride.

Riders ride ride, swapper and too tiny wait. Riders come out, Adults switch. The person with the swap ticket goes with other kid and goes to the fast pass line. They go right in, handing in their child swap ticket. They can take up to 3 people with them, so party of 4 altogether. When we did this at Tower of Terror, I grabbed 2 teens from the back of the line, they were beyond thrilled! They saved an hour of waiting and got to go right on. Made their day and didn't hurt anything.

The great thing about kidswap is the kid who loves thrill rides gets to go twice in a row and gets their fix out.

Nora

 

[caribear]

Has anyone done this with Soarin' yet? I was wondering if it was like the scenario described with Star Tours where the whole family went through the que and then parent and child waited while other parent rode...then quickly switched while the ride was loading/unloading.

Non-related, but:

We are leaving tomorrow morning for Disney!!!!

 

[pbharris4]

Awesome, I think I got the hang of it now. I am DEFINTELY going to utilize this Parent Swap thing! I felt bad last year because I didn't think my DD got enough time to ride things and it felt like we were always splitting up. It's a vacation and we should spend time together. Thanks so much everybody!

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Just a couple of side notes, since we just got back last night. We have three sons, 7,5 and 2.

1. On most of the rides where we were given a "rider switch" pass, the pass was valid until the end of the month. Yes, you read that correctly. We were given switch passes that had an expiration date of 5/31/05. I can't guarantee that this will always happen, but check the expiration date.

2. You don't have to use the swap right away. For example: I rode TT with DS's 7 and 5 while DH waited with DS2. We got a rider switch pass. When I exited TT with the older boys, DH went to MS with the older kids while I went to Soarin' to get FPs with DS2. After DH and big kids rode MS, they then went back to TT to ride with the rider switch pass. We then all met up at Turtle Talk while waiting for our Soarin' FP window.

3. Yes, Soarin' does give out the rider switch pass as well. While I rode with the big kids, DH took DS2 to the new kidcot station inside the Land. We then went and had lunch and DH and big kids rode Soarin' later in the day with the switch pass.

You can really utilize this pass to save some time, especially during those busy mornings. We did not wait more than 10 minutes for anything!!!!

HTH

 

[pbharris4]

You can really utilize this pass to save some time, especially during those busy mornings. We did not wait more than 10 minutes for anything!!!HTH

Music to my ears!!!!!!