Party of 7 w/one 3yr old - strategy for Fastpass use and rider swap?

[Bmh4796]

i promise I read the Fastpass sticky, but did not see this covered.

We are a fam of 7 (5 kids- 17,16,10,7,3)
Our 3 year old won’t be able to ride some things.

My sister-in-law told me that we can book Fastpasses for 4 members of the family and then give 3 fastpasses to the 2 who stay behind with the baby as soon as the 4 get off. She said that if i book only 4 members on the Fastpass then i can book the 2 who stayed behind with the baby on another popular ride with a Fastpass then give 3 fastpasses to 3 family members who stayed behind with the baby for that ride?

Am i making sense? Basically it allows a family with a baby To book more Fastpass rides by booking only half the family on one ride.

But I’m wondering if this is really true??

For example:
I booked space mountain for me and 3 kids
My husband, the baby, and an older kid would stay behind while we ride then hop upon as soon as we get off

I also booked thunder mountain for my husband and the older kid who stayed behind the first round of space mountain. When they get off, me and 2 of the other older kids who waited with the baby would go on.

I booked splash like space mountain too.

Then Peter Pan just me and the little one
And whoever else didn’t already have 3 fastpasses used up

 

[Bmh4796]

I’m guessing we now have to book all 6 of us at one time? then they allow us to wait behind with the baby then the waiters go on afterwards. This is a bummer considering one ride takes twice the amount of time for riderswap families. You’d think they’d give at least the waiting parent a Fastpass one other kid? I get it if they want to stop giving 3 fastpasses to each swapping family, but 2 would be a nice gesture since the ones waiting are not able to ride anything while waiting

 

[hiroMYhero]

I’m guessing this would be frowned upon and we actually have to book all 6 of us at one time? then they allow us to wait behind with the baby then the waiters go on afterwards.

Rider Swap is discussed on the Families Board - lots of threads can be found.

 

[Bmh4796]

Thx!

 

[super7wdw]

We are the exact same.... family of 7. Kids 17, 15, 10, 10 and 3. Our three year old will probably be about 39 inches when we travel this summer.

What you explained is how rider swap traditionally has worked.... we’ve used this exact method for years now. But, some recent reports are saying that CMs are requiring a FP+ for all the members of your party who will be riding.

The rider swap is now also digital.... it’s connected to your MB and will show up in MDE.

If you look in the family board you can find lots of discussion on this. I hope this helps!!!!

Good luck!! I understand the challenge and joy of the large family at WDW!

 

[Bmh4796]

Crazy. We really are almost exactly the same! Our 3 year old is 38.5” tall so even with shoes, he won’t be y’all enough for a lot.

I already booked all of our fastpasses, so now i have to go back and redo everything and we are about 24 days away from our trip

It’s going to be hard to get fastpasses for
the entire family now

I’m about to start trying.
So what what exactly is the rule now? Book the whole family (except our 3 year old)?
Hypothetical:
Space mountain-
Book 6 fastpasses and my husband and 3 older kids ride while me, out 3 year old, and our 17 year old wait. (I will probably have one of the older kids wait with me some of the times). Then when my husband and 3 kids get off (4 fastpasses used), me abd the older child who waited with me and my husband can go together while our 17 year old who just got off waits with the other 2 kids who just got off as well as the baby. (2 fastpasses used)
So we get one “free” Fastpass for my husband or anyone of the first riders to ride again?

Is this correct?

 

[super7wdw]

Crazy. We really are almost exactly the same! Our 3 year old is 38.5” tall so even with shoes, he won’t be y’all enough for a lot.

I already booked all of our fastpasses, so now i have to go back and redo everything and we are about 24 days away from our trip

It’s going to be hard to get fastpasses for the entire family now


I’m about to start trying.

So what what exactly is the rule now? Book the whole family (except our 3 year old)?

Hypothetical:
Space mountain-
Book 6 fastpasses and my husband and 3 older kids ride while me and the baby and our older kid waiting

I honestly am not 100%. I’ve been following threads closely. I have time because we don’t travel until June.

So, maybe you now need everyone to have a FP, and maybe you don’t. Reports here on these boards say they’re only asking for everyone to have a FP for FoP and SDD.

Many have tried calling Disney. You could do that as well... though CMs on the phones seem to give unreliable info.

I’d love to hear what you find out. I’ll try to find a link to a good thread on this for you. Don’t redo anything just yet.

 

[Bmh4796]

I honestly am not 100%. I’ve been following threads closely. I have time because we don’t travel until June.

So, maybe you now need everyone to have a FP, and maybe you don’t. Reports here on these boards say they’re only asking for everyone to have a FP for FoP and SDD.

Many have tried calling Disney. You could do that as well... though CMs on the phones seem to give unreliable info.

I’d love to hear what you find out. I’ll try to find a link to a good thread on this for you. Don’t redo anything just yet.

Thank you so much! What is SDD?

 

[super7wdw]

Thank you so much! What is SDD?

Slinky Dog Dash

https://www.disboards.com/threads/j...nge-to-digital-returns.3731019/#post-60189673

 

[Bmh4796]

Slinky Dog Dash

https://www.disboards.com/threads/j...nge-to-digital-returns.3731019/#post-60189673

Ok thx. I wasn’t able to get Fastpasses for slinky dog dash nor the 7 dwarves train. I think our 3 year old is tall enough for those 2 so I’ll be trying for 7 fastpasses for those.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

I wouldn't change all your FPs around. There have been many people here who haven't had FP for everyone and were able to use Rider swap. There have been a couple reports of people saying they were told they needed them, but as far as I can tell, no one has said they've actually been denied a rider swap when the waiting people didn't have FP.

 

[Bmh4796]

I wouldn't change all your FPs around. There have been many people here who haven't had FP for everyone and were able to use Rider swap. There have been a couple reports of people saying they were told they needed them, but as far as I can tell, no one has said they've actually been denied a rider swap when the waiting people didn't have FP.

If this change really goes into effect and everyone needs a Fastpass then Disney needs to announce this change loud and clear before people start booking their fastpasses. There needs to be an official date it goes into effect and anyone already booked should be grandfathered into the old policy.

 

[super7wdw]

Absolutely agree.

 

[Bmh4796]

Absolutely agree.

So I’m trying to decide if i should book 6 fastpasses for thunder mountain rather than 3. If i do this i will have to give up 3 fastpasses to space. Should I? I hate doing that if it’s still the old way and we get the usual 3 passes getting off for rider swap. I don’t want to mess up our plans but i also don’t want half of my family to not be able to ride.....

 

[sponica]

So I’m trying to decide if i should book 6 fastpasses for thunder mountain rather than 3. If i do this i will have to give up 3 fastpasses to space. Should I? I hate doing that if it’s still the old way and we get the usual 3 passes getting off for rider swap. I don’t want to mess up our plans but i also don’t want half of my family to not be able to ride.....

From what I understand (and it's pretty fluid/inconsistent), is that the return time for party two is based on whether party 1 used a FP or not. It doesn't look like party 2 needs the FP to use the rider switch. But I have read reports that FOP and mine train are where they look for all party members to have FP.

I didn't use RS on my last trip because I had a non rider with me. My next trip that might not be feasible, so I'm just going to stagger the FP times rather than deal with RS.

 

[Bmh4796]

From what I understand (and it's pretty fluid/inconsistent), is that the return time for party two is based on whether party 1 used a FP or not. It doesn't look like party 2 needs the FP to use the rider switch. But I have read reports that FOP and mine train are where they look for all party members to have FP.

I didn't use RS on my last trip because I had a
non rider with me. My next trip that might not be feasible, so I'm just going to stagger the FP times rather than deal with RS.

Ok. Thx everyone. I’ll make sure to book fastpasses for the entire family for any of the
new rides. The slinky dog, mine train,&FOP. But i’ll Keep my fastpasses the way they are for the other dudes I’ve already booked. (I wasn’t able to fastpasses fur those 3 rides anyway)

I think we will have to rope drop FOP.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

If this change really goes into effect and everyone needs a Fastpass then Disney needs to announce this change loud and clear before people start booking their fastpasses. There needs to be an official date it goes into effect and anyone already booked should be grandfathered into the old policy.

This is a discussion that has literally been going on for years. One of the issues is that Disney has never advertised or promoted any guidelines on whether or not Group 2 needs FP to use Rider swap, so should they begin requiring it, there's no need to announce it since they are not changing any written policy-just what has been done in practice. I'm not saying I agree with that, but that's what has been discussed on here by people whenever this has been brought up.

The second thing to keep in mind is the talk of everyone needing FP pops up every few months on here... for the past several years. Someone pops up every few months saying they heard everyone needs FP/a CM (phone, email, in person) tells them they should schedule FP for everyone, etc, it's debated on here for a while, and the end result is nothing has changed in practice of CMs granting a riderswap without Group 2 needing FP.

This can change at any time, and they could one day start requiring FP for all riders using rider swap. Personally, given the number of times it's been brought up over the years with no actual change, I'm not really inclined to believe it until I see actual reports of people being denied rider swap for Group 2 when they didn't have FP. It seems that every report of needing FP for everyone is based on a CM advising or asking if everyone had FP or overhearing that it was needed and not on reports of actually being told, "You don't have FP for Group 2 so I am not giving you a rider swap." CMs are great, but frankly many of them (especially when you call or email) don't know how things work in practice.

 

[sponica]

Ok. Thx everyone. I’ll make sure to book fastpasses for the entire family for any of the
new rides. The slinky dog, mine train,&FOP. But i’ll Keep my fastpasses the way they are for the other dudes I’ve already booked. (I wasn’t able to fastpasses fur those 3 rides anyway)

I think we will have to rope drop FOP.

It's basically a whole can of worms, just prepare for everything. The reality is if party 1 uses an FP and party 2 needs to rider swap, but can only go through the FP line with an FP, then it defeats the purpose of rider swap and it makes more sense to just stagger the fast passes.

There's probably going to be a ton of fluidity at the 30 day mark before your trip (when packages get cancelled) and in the day before/day of when people actually decide what they're doing.

 

[Crystal824]

There are a ton of recommendations on what to do on other boards. Here is what I do. I have three kids and two adults. One child is old enough for everything, one has hit the 40 inch mark (so she can ride most things), and one is a toddler (almost 2). My older two can ride most attractions. I will typically book the FP for one adult and the two girls if they can both ride. For instance SDD, I booked 3 FP for that. I will book one FP for Toy Story Mania at the same time. We will get a RS for SDD and my girls get to ride twice (once with each adult). Meanwhile, the adult who doesn't ride SDD can take our nearly 2 year old son on TSMM instead of spending that time for both groups to ride just waiting. Same with Soarin' I will book one FP on Living with the Land and the rest on Soarin'.

When my youngest daughter can't ride the "big" attraction, I will book 2 on the big attraction and two on a smaller nearby attraction. For instance, FOP. I book two FP on that and two on Navi. While an adult and my oldest are on FOP, I can take the younger two on Navi. We get a RS and my oldest rides FOP twice.

I try to do something similar with most FP. Of course, not everyone in our group is getting to experience the smaller attraction together. This way my little guy and girl depending on the attraction aren't just waiting and waiting. Now that you have to return within the return time, which is usually close after the first group rides, it can take a while for everyone to go through the line (depending on the attraction- some are really fast like 7DMT and other take a while FOP, Soarin').