Question re: rider swap

[twopearls]

Hi...this is my very first post! Our family will be visiting WDW in Oct. We have two kids, ages 6 and 13. The 6 year old won't want anything to do with a ride like Everest, but the rest of us may be interested. SO...my question is....if we want to do a rider swap, I assume all four of us will need fastpasses, then we go to the ride, one parent will ride with the 13 year old, and then when they get done, can my hubby come and get my 6 year old so I can ride it? Does it take a long time from where they will exit to come back through to swap with me? Will they have to come back through the FP line to swap with me? Or how does this all work?

Thanks!

 

[OldGrizzly57]

Quick and painless.... the "swap" area for most rides is at or near the unloading area for the ride (which is also in close proximity to the ride loading area).

The only real downside is that it takes twice as long for each ride and you or hubby ends up riding alone.

Good Luck!

Griz

 

[nchulka]

rider swap is only for kids who are too short to ride. Kids under the height limit cannot even wait in the line so the parents need to swap. If your son meets the height limit, which I'm assuming he would at 6 for almost every ride, you cannot do the swap. Instead you all wait in line and then you three get on the ride while your son goes to the ride exit. We did this on Everest and a few others my ds who turned 7 on our trip didn't want to do, it worked great

 

[Mel522]

Quick and painless.... the "swap" area for most rides is at or near the unloading area for the ride (which is also in close proximity to the ride loading area).

The only real downside is that it takes twice as long for each ride and you or hubby ends up riding alone.

Good Luck!

Griz

I've never done ride swap, but I talked to a CM about it. She said that the person who waits first and rides second can take one person with them, so no one has to ride alone.

 

[tzolkin]

I've never done ride swap, but I talked to a CM about it. She said that the person who waits first and rides second can take one person with them, so no one has to ride alone.

Yes, I also don't know what "swap areas" that poster is talking about.

The way it works with a child who does not meet the height requirement is that you ask the CM at the entrance for a Rider Switch Pass. The non-riding adult (who is waiting with the young child) can use this pass any time that day to ride with up to two other people so that s/he does not have ride alone. There is no actual waiting and "swapping" at the loading/unloading areas.


OP, you will not be able to get RS passes since your 6yo is likely tall enough for all the rides. You can, however, create your own version of RS using FPs. Ex. Get 4 FPs for Everest. Parent1 and 13yo ride using two FPs while Parent2 and 6yo wait nearby or do another attraction. Meet back up and Parent2 can then ride with 13yo using the remaining two FPs.

 

[brymolmom]

Not sure if this has changed in the last year or so but in my experience it is, at the very least, up to CM discretion to allow a tall enough 'non-rider' to do the rider swap. For us, this is how it worked:

Dh and I and one kid wanted to ride TOT, ds7-ish at the time, did not. So we all went in the line together per the CM instructions we were given at the entrance when we explained one child not wanting to ride (we happened to have FP's so we went in FP line). When at the very top...CM told me to let CM know I had a non-rider - so me and ds went down the 'chicken exit'. Once at the bottom, CM instructed us to stay there and wait for rest of party. Once they came down, dd and I stayed near that elevator entrance and when a CM came out - we indicated that we did rider swap --they brought us back UP the chicken exit and put us on the next elevator.

Two observations from my experience:
1) It was not a standard thing. There was no CM down at the bottom waiting to assist us back up - I had to track someone down and wait several minutes to even find someone.
2) I'm not sure if I would have done it had I known - I would have just used FP another time with my dd (of course, with the new enforcements, likely would have to have someone 'approve' late use of it if I have to wait for dh and dd to go through once - depending how long FP line is). DS was very apprehensive waiting in line - reminded me several times 'I don't want to ride this, remember mom?' - THe child in question has to go through the 'scary' movie room and then...ends up on an elevator. He had gone on before and knew that the elevator 'breaks' so he was a bit freaked out about having to get on an elevator at the end of it anyway.

YMMV.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Everest also has a Single Rider line *moves quick* DD was not tall enough for E *6 years old when we visited WDW* we rode with FPs 1st and then SR a few more times *I got 4 FPs - my mom was with us and I used DD's ticket to get a FP - so I rode with DS and then my mom did, using the FPs*