Parent switching at rides

[disney09]

How does this works? Do you stand all in line, and somebody stays with the younger children that will not go in the ride and then.... what??

 

[irishbosoxfan]

The CM will give you a child swap pass then when the first person is done with the ride they will take you up to the front---with me they brought me into the FP line and they didn't give me a ticket though I was told they should have.

 

[tjmw2727]

Here is my child swap 101, very unofficial but based on my many years of using the various evolutions of babyswap/childswap most recently in April 2006.

My first advice on baby swap is to tell the CM at the attraction before you enter the line (Fastpass or Standby) that you want to use the swap and find out how they handle it. Do not wait until you are boarding!

The baby/child unable to ride must be with you to do a swap so everyone must approach the line together. Some CM's have you all wait the line together, then the first parent and older child(ren) ride and other parent and younger child wait at the exit and then switch via the exit allowing the older child(ren) to ride with both parents. Off hand I think only Star Tours and Primevil Whirl still do it this way.

Most rides now give you a rider swap pass. The rider swap pass works like a fast pass and allows up to 3 people total to return to that attraction anytime that day so the second parent can ride. You still all enter the standby line or use a FP in the FP line and ask to use parent swap. The CM will give you the swap pass and the parent riding second and the baby (or young child) can then leave to do something else while the first party rides. The second parent then returns to ride via the FP line with the rider swap pass and can bring 2 others along if they like. I prefer the rider swap pass because the baby or child that dosen't meet the height requirement dosen't have to wait the line for something he/she can't ride.

Just to clarify, the purpose of parent swap is to allow a family with a child who dosen't meet the height restriction to enjoy the attraction with only "1 wait", rather than "2 waits" not to expeidate the wait.

Hope this helps, if you have more specific questions ask away!
TJ

 

[tjmw2727]

The CM will give you a child swap pass then when the first person is done with the ride they will take you up to the front---with me they brought me into the FP line and they didn't give me a ticket though I was told they should have.

Not quite, but you do use the "Rider Switch Pass" like a fast pass via the FP line. There is no front of the line access for child/baby swap.

TJ

 

[disney09]

Just to clarify, the purpose of parent swap is to allow a family with a child who dosen't meet the height restriction to enjoy the attraction with only "1 wait", rather than "2 waits" not to expeidate the wait.

Hope this helps, if you have more specific questions ask away!
TJ

What happens if the young child (mine is 4) meets the height restrictions but he doesn't feel safe? Then the parent swap is not an option? I think (and might be mistaken) that I read on the official disney site that you can swap if your child doesn't want to ride. My kid is still learning to ride on rides but he needs timing, he might not want to go to the rides at first sight, maybe later...

 

[tjmw2727]

What happens if the young child (mine is 4) meets the height restrictions but he doesn't feel safe? Then the parent swap is not an option? I think (and might be mistaken) that I read on the official disney site that you can swap if your child doesn't want to ride. My kid is still learning to ride on rides but he needs timing, he might not want to go to the rides at first sight, maybe later...

Unfortunately no, you wont get the rider swap pass if the child meets the restrictions. Some people have reported that they were allowed to switch at the ride exit others were not but we haven't tried.

IMHO with a child who meets the restrictions but chooses not to ride then FP works as well as child swap. Just get FP's and then take turns riding within the hour window. We would just take the child who chose not to ride to do something else once the first parent was done and meet up after the second parent rides.

In my experience the CM"s were very strict about only giving the rider swap pass to those with a child who didn't meet the restriction present, and IMHO rightly so.

TJ

 

[ObsessedwithWDW]

I am eager to see what everyone has to say about these child swap passes....we are going in September with my 10 month old DD and we have 4 adults....so we plan to take turns while one person watches the baby. Is this how it works????????

 

[sdenis]

My DS (3) was unable to go on many rides last Feb. So we easily dit the parent swap thing with him. One of us stayed with him, the rest of us (2DDs ages 7 and 6) were able to ride twice!

Love that!

Can't wait to go back.

Anyone got a link to height requirements?

 

[tjmw2727]

My DS (3) was unable to go on many rides last Feb. So we easily dit the parent swap thing with him. One of us stayed with him, the rest of us (2DDs ages 7 and 6) were able to ride twice!

Love that!

Can't wait to go back.

Anyone got a link to height requirements?

Here you go:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/height.htm

TJ