Rider swap and tall 3 year old

[mel373]

My daughter just turned 3 and at her check up is 37.75 inches in the 75 percentile. With shoes she is sure to be 38". Do you think I will have a problem with rider swap at 7DMT?
She will prob just make the height requirement but there is no way she will go on it. She won't even go on a simple ride like jungle cruise without getting nervous.
Do they really measure the child? Last year when she was 2 they actually measured her at goofys barnstormer and I had to fight for the swap pass. They kept telling me she is tall enough to ride. I figured that was a fluke because that was the only incident I had the whole trip. I know the website says swap can be used for a child not wanting to ride too but it seems like the CM aren't familiar from what I have read on here.
Anyone have any recent experiences with 7DMT and their kid being measured so they can't get a swap pass?
Thank you

 

[bumbershoot]

The website is wrong. The cms are correct. At some point the website changed and I just don't think enough people are properly complaining in a way that will get to the people to change it.

Put her in thin flipflops and try at the end of the day when she's tired and slouchy.

 

[Alesia]

The website is wrong. The cms are correct.

This is 100% accurate. The website is full of incorrect information - this is just one example. CMs are instructed to follow their training, not the website.

 

[DavidNYC]

Worst case scenario - if she's tall enough they'll let her through the line with you. At the front of the line, they may be able to have one of you ride while the other person waits off to the side with her and rides when she comes back. I've seen swaps like this with people tall enough but who cannot ride for one reason or another. Perhaps someone else can chime in whether they've done this. (Note this doesn't work with someone who's too short since they won't be allowed in the queue).

 

[Disney_Alli]

If she's in her stroller they won't see how tall she is. Just say she's too small to ride it. Not that I advocate breaking any rules of course.

 

[kohlby]

Two trips ago, they wouldn't let us use Child Swap for our 3 year old who has sensory issues and so there was no way he could handle the 40" rides, yet he was tall enough. That happened several times. I didn't have any disability card or anything for him because I didn't think I would need it - the only thing I needed was to be able to do rider swap and I thought I could. I was wrong. They even made him get out of his stroller to get measured. However, the next trip, they let us do it.

*I did complain upon returning from my trip and all I got were the rules from their website copied and pasted sent to me - saying he could do it. So complaining is useless when the person you're complaining too is getting a different set of rules too.

 

[bumbershoot]

This is 100% accurate. The website is full of incorrect information - this is just one example. CMs are instructed to follow their training, not the website.

Thanks for the backup Alesia.

If she's in her stroller they won't see how tall she is. Just say she's too small to ride it. Not that I advocate breaking any rules of course.

Nice point. Or carrying her. Though actually that always gets an extra measurement, when you've got a kid *wanting* to get on a ride, at least.

*I did complain upon returning from my trip and all I got were the rules from their website copied and pasted sent to me - saying he could do it. So complaining is useless when the person you're complaining too is getting a different set of rules too.

I think that if people complained to Guest Service *while there*, had them pull up the info on the computer right there, I think that THAT could start effecting change. Afterwards, you aren't communicating with people IN the park. Talking to the CMs at the ride, they aren't going to talk to anyone. So I think that to go with the website info right there, to the people in the park where you give kudos or complaints, would be the best way.

 

[DisneyOma]

Two trips ago, they wouldn't let us use Child Swap for our 3 year old who has sensory issues and so there was no way he could handle the 40" rides, yet he was tall enough. That happened several times. I didn't have any disability card or anything for him because I didn't think I would need it - the only thing I needed was to be able to do rider swap and I thought I could. I was wrong. They even made him get out of his stroller to get measured. However, the next trip, they let us do it.

*I did complain upon returning from my trip and all I got were the rules from their website copied and pasted sent to me - saying he could do it. So complaining is useless when the person you're complaining too is getting a different set of rules too.

No disability card is going to allow for rider swap - the DAS only allows for a wait outside the standard queue. if the person with the DAS is not going to ride, then there's nothing the CMs can give you for access, as the DAS is for the person with issues, not the rest of the people in the group. If they let you do it, it was something special that they allowed that you can't count on happening again.

 

[Alesia]

Worst case scenario - if she's tall enough they'll let her through the line with you. At the front of the line, they may be able to have one of you ride while the other person waits off to the side with her and rides when she comes back. I've seen swaps like this with people tall enough but who cannot ride for one reason or another. Perhaps someone else can chime in whether they've done this. (Note this doesn't work with someone who's too short since they won't be allowed in the queue).

This is the exact way to handle this particular situation.

 

[porschegrl]

Worst case scenario - if she's tall enough they'll let her through the line with you. At the front of the line, they may be able to have one of you ride while the other person waits off to the side with her and rides when she comes back. I've seen swaps like this with people tall enough but who cannot ride for one reason or another. Perhaps someone else can chime in whether they've done this. (Note this doesn't work with someone who's too short since they won't be allowed in the queue).

This is the exact way to handle this particular situation.

And, I believe, this is exactly the way the website describes how rider switch works.

 

[Alesia]

And, I believe, this is exactly the way the website describes how rider switch works.

No, it isn't.

The website description is a weird combination of how a couple of different scenarios would be handled. It's just a mess:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

 

[porschegrl]

No, it isn't.

The website description is a weird combination of how a couple of different scenarios would be handled. It's just a mess:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

Wow, you aren't kidding. Total mess.

I was thinking about the "wait in a designated area" part, and I didn't remember the "(usually outside the attraction)" part.

I did notice that the list of attractions where you can use rider switch does not include 7DMT. But just like I wouldn't rely on the website as "policy" on rider switch in general, I wouldn't assume that list is complete and correct.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Wow, you aren't kidding. Total mess.

I was thinking about the "wait in a designated area" part, and I didn't remember the "(usually outside the attraction)" part.

I did notice that the list of attractions where you can use rider switch does not include 7DMT. But just like I wouldn't rely on the website as "policy" on rider switch in general, I wouldn't assume that list is complete and correct.

Kennythepirate has the listing of Rider Swap/Switch rides on his site. Readers confirmed his info regarding 7DMT having Rider Swap as well as switching for those who are tall enough yet didn't want to ride.

Kenny did say it may not work for a 9 or 10 year old. His info was current for 2015.

I wonder if they were denying the Swap at 7DMT due to long Standby lines as Rider Swap is a way for a family to run through the FP line twice while Standby lines were barely moving.

 

[AngiTN]

I wonder if they were denying the Swap at 7DMT due to long Standby lines as Rider Swap is a way for a family to run through the FP line twice while Standby lines were barely moving.

I know for certain you can get a Rider Swap pass at 7DMT.
Someone gave us theirs last week. They were in line in front of us at Buzz and had to leave and weren't using their Swap pass and just handed it to us.

 

[hiroMYhero]

I know for certain you can get a Rider Swap pass at 7DMT.
Someone gave us theirs last week. They were in line in front of us at Buzz and had to leave and weren't using their Swap pass and just handed it to us.

Disney probably kept it off the website so that they can accept or deny Rider Switch for those who are taller than the listed height based on wait times.

It's like how they adjust meet and greets. Lengthy interaction if the wait times aren't long and convert to "love and shove" when Managers feel the lines need to move faster.

 

[AngiTN]

Disney probably kept it off the website so that they can accept or deny Rider Switch for those who are taller than the listed height based on wait times.

It's like how they adjust meet and greets. Lengthy interaction if the wait times aren't long and convert to "love and shove" when Managers feel the lines need to move faster.

I figure they just hadn't bothered to update the list after Mine Train opened

 

[mel373]

Thank you everyone for your input. 7DMT definitely has rider swap as we used it last year with no problem and no measuring. My daughter was just 2 and you could tell she was too tiny to ride. This year though she is probably just going to make the 38" so I didn't know if they were actually going to measure her.
I wish we could all ride together as a family but she won't go on it. She also has mild sensory issue which is why all the rides really scare her. I am tiny and my kids all got the tall gene from my husband. Just don't want to have to wait in the line 2x. Will take hours to just do the one ride. I'll take off her shoes if they try to measure her. Even if she Meets the height requirement because of her age i don't think I would feel safe letting her on the ride anyway.

 

[Shellyb84]

When we went this past July, my DD(almost 6 at the time) met the height requirement for everything but wouldn't ride much. We had no problem getting a rider swap pass for anything she didn't want to ride (I'm sorry, I can't remember exactly which rides though). The only time they wouldn't give us one was one time when we went to ride Expedition Everest and the stand-by line was only a 10 minute wait. Usually, though, we had FP+ and got there in time for us both to switch out and use our FP+ within our time window (it was myself, DH and DD).

 

[DavidNYC]

And, I believe, this is exactly the way the website describes how rider switch works.

No - rider switch is usually used when someone is too short to ride (although as others have pointed out SOME cast members have given them in SOME situations where someone is tall enough but doesn't want to ride). The too short person is not allowed to even enter the queue for the ride so there is no way to swap at the ride. The waiting parties wait outside of the ride.

My suggestion was that every ride has a "chicken out" exit and someone can decide not to ride when it's their turn for loading. I would suspect - but would like to see if anyone can chime in with personal experience - if a child wants to use the chicken out exit a cast member would allow the parent who stays with the child to ride after and swap there. For some rides - there is an area to wait off to the side (often used as a handicap entrance or waiting area). No reason it can't be used for swap when a child is in the line. Just don't know what the rules are regarding that. Very easy to do when loading and unloading are at same point but might be a little harder when they're at different locations (but I'm sure still possible - just a matter of whether they do it).

 

[GaryDis]

My suggestion was that every ride has a "chicken out" exit and someone can decide not to ride when it's their turn for loading. I would suspect - but would like to see if anyone can chime in with personal experience - if a child wants to use the chicken out exit a cast member would allow the parent who stays with the child to ride after and swap there.

That's how it used to work, once upon a time. It seems more efficient, so I'm not sure why they changed things.