Rider swap changes

[smartlabelprint]

I hope more people report back on how it works. I still feel confused. Yes we collected multiple switch passes and often the parent who got to ride would go back to the hotel with the baby at 7 to put the baby to bed and the other parent would stay up later with older kid and use up the switch passes. I really don't see how people think this is "abusing" the system. But if that's not how it works anymore it will just change how we do things and make it a bit harder for both parents to ride the big rides as with a baby your day is shorter usually. Change is hard no matter what it is and often it's not a change for the better which is why people get upset.

I agree. We did this too. We were never in the parks for more than 5 hours a day with naps and such.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Thank you so much for this link!! We were told by a CM at Toy Story Midway Mania that they did not offer a Rider Switch and that my 4 month old (at the time) could just sit on my lap...huh? And how exactly would I "ride" the ride...car spinning in the dark, wearing 3D glasses, pulling furiously at the cannon string, holding a 4 month old...??? For real? The CM had no answer. Just looked at me, shrugged, and said that they didn't offer a Rider Switch because the ride had "no official height limit". Would've loved to have had this info at the time! Really appreciate it and will be printing my own copy.

we've always ridden with our babies and played just fine.

 

[onlyoneash]

I had this message left for me. This is the exact voicemail transcription from my iPhone (just copy and pasted):

...a rider swap pass is not going to be counted against your regular fast pass number however you are only able to have one of the rider swap passes attached to your ticket at one time if you have any other questions feel free to give us a call Disney relations we can be reached at 714-781-4565 and that would be the guest information and ticket sales office thank you so very much bye-bye…”

 

[lcp9]

I had this message left for me. This is the exact voicemail transcription from my iPhone (just copy and pasted):

...a rider swap pass is not going to be counted against your regular fast pass number however you are only able to have one of the rider swap passes attached to your ticket at one time if you have any other questions feel free to give us a call Disney relations we can be reached at 714-781-4565 and that would be the guest information and ticket sales office thank you so very much bye-bye…”

I was told the opposite, that you could hold as many as you wanted at once.

 

[onlyoneash]

I was told the opposite, that you could hold as many as you wanted at once.

That is hilarious I really think a lot of Disneyland problems would be solved quicker if guest relations just followed the DIS threads.

 

[tammytam]

Oh man.. this thread! Lol

Our trip is at the end of this month, and I thought I had rider swap all figured as it will be our first time needing to use it. All this contradictory info is crazy! Hoping this gets sorted/clarified in the coming weeks.

 

[Bossy22]

What happens if you don't have a smart phone? How do you know when to return?

 

[SMD]

I get the feeling that oh don't have kids that require a swap, and your opposition to this comes from your worry that somehow other people are getting "more" than you are. I can assure you they aren't.

I don't care how many rides or how often people are riding. Not that it's any of your business, but I don't have kids, I do wait for friends' kids while they ride, but often don't use the switch if I wait alone because I go frequently. No one is forced to wait for 90 minutes, they also can choose not to enter a long queue if their children aren't able to wait. People who were bringing their switch passes back on subsequent trips were exploiting a loophole. By assigning the switch to a ticket on the day the switch is requested, Disney has closed that loophole.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

If it isn't now, then people will have to adjust their touring plans.

And by the way, how are parents any better for non-Mommy shaming? Someone whined earlier about feeling shamed, but shaming others has been going on in this thread all along. It goes both ways, if you don't like it, don't dish it.

Very true!

It's not "shaming." But I'm not sure you understand the realities of having babies and toddlers in tow. And I do think it's different going to Disney with a baby/toddler versus an older child who you can communicate more easily with. Us parents are not trying to "work the system," we are enjoying a system that Disney purposely put in place so that we can more easily enjoy rides when bringing LOs to the parks.

 

[onlyoneash]

By assigning the switch to a ticket on the day the switch is requested, Disney has closed that loophole.

All of my rider swaps ALWAYS had the date on them, so no matter what, it wasn't possible to use them another day in the first place. You couldn't get a swap and then use it the next day. You could however, use it a few hours later or later in the evening. But it had to be the same day.

It seems now there is a strict one hourish beginning and maybe? ending time from the moment the first party scans onto the ride. Pretty narrow window, but cms are all giving different rules, so who knows what it truly is right now.

It's so tricky to plan Disneyland with small children. There are already so many variables...it would be nice if at least Disneyland knew their own logistics and could pass them on to us.

 

[onlyoneash]

If it isn't now, then people will have to adjust their touring plans.

And by the way, how are parents any better for non-Mommy shaming?

I don't think anyone is trying to make you feel bad, I just think it's hard to fully understand what this whole child swap confusion feels like to parents and those who actively need to use it to enjoy any of the "big kid" rides unless you have children.

 

[monica9]

I don't understand. The child has to go with both parents to the second scanner? If so, I'm not too happy about that. It can be a real pain if you have a toddler, have to park the stroller, etc. what if your child is alsleep in the stroller? You have to wake them up and cary them through the fast pass line? How do you get back out?

We are going with our 9 yr old and our 13 month old. I can't believe we'd have to take our dd13m out of the stroller while she is sleeping just to go on a ride that I have a fast pass for! Hope that's not true

 

[SMD]

Very true!

It's not "shaming." But I'm not sure you understand the realities of having babies and toddlers in tow. And I do think it's different going to Disney with a baby/toddler versus an older child who you can communicate more easily with. Us parents are not trying to "work the system," we are enjoying a system that Disney purposely put in place so that we can more easily enjoy rides when bringing LOs to the parks.

I do know what it's like to go with a toddler, but I also recognize that it's my choice to go with a toddler. It's great that Disney and other parks have started a swap system, but it's not an entitlement where they have to tailor their system to however you want to tour or build in contingencies for every possible thing that could happen. Ultimately it is everyone's decision if a Disney park is the right fit for their family at that time. Ultimately, they won't stay toddlers forever and there will be other chances to ride if you do have to skip one due to whatever circumstances.

All of my rider swaps ALWAYS had the date on them, so no matter what, it wasn't possible to use them another day in the first place. You couldn't get a swap and then use it the next day. You could however, use it a few hours later or later in the evening. But it had to be the same day.

It seems now there is a strict one hourish beginning and ending time from the moment the first party scans onto the ride. Pretty narrow window, but cms are all giving different rules, so who knows what it truly is right now.

It's so tricky to plan Disneyland with small children. There are already so many variables...it would be nice if at least Disneyland knew their own logistics and could pass them on to us.

I think dates are relatively new. They used to use bright pieces of paper, similar to the single rider passes some rides use and reuse over and over again. I can definitely see areas where they might need to improve, but it's only been a few days. What if a ride goes down but you don't exit the line. One would hope that if that causes you to run through the hour but you return right after the ride had been down they'd be flexible. If they really wanted to simplify it, they could go to a system like USH where you have to wait in a room near the loading area and swap in that room. I think people would rather wait until the work out the kinks in this digital switch pass, even if it does put an hour limit on it, in lieu of sitting in a stuffy room.

 

[onlyoneash]

I called Disney relations again and got ANOTHER DIFFERENT answer. This cm said that the wait time to use your rider swap was NOT one set hour, but rather the estimated standby time (that might be 20 min or even 90 min). But if the first parent using the ride uses a fastpass and only takes 10 minutes, but the standby line is 90 minutes, then I guess you just have to wait 80 minutes until you can use your ride swap. Hmmmm.

I wish a cm would just go use the rider swap a few times during the day so they could tell us how it actually worked!

I'm going to just keep calling and see how many different answers I get! Maybe I'll break some sort of record!

 

[SMD]

I called Disney relations again and got ANOTHER DIFFERENT answer. This cm said that the wait time to use your rider swap was NOT one set hour, but rather the estimated standby time (that might be 20 min or even 90 min). But if the first parent using the ride uses a fastpass and only takes 10 minutes, but the standby line is 90 minutes, then I guess you just have to wait 80 minutes until you can use your ride swap. Hmmmm.

I wish a cm would just go use the rider swap a few times during the day so they could tell us how it actually worked!

I'm going to just keep calling and see how many different answers I get! Maybe I'll break some sort of record!

You'd think they could set the scanner to whether they're giving out passes in the FP or standby queue so that the times match. I guess there could be an operational reason why they'd want to delay re-entering FP, but I don't know what that could be right now. Makes single rider seem more appealing on the rides that offer it.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I called Disney relations again and got ANOTHER DIFFERENT answer. This cm said that the wait time to use your rider swap was NOT one set hour, but rather the estimated standby time (that might be 20 min or even 90 min). But if the first parent using the ride uses a fastpass and only takes 10 minutes, but the standby line is 90 minutes, then I guess you just have to wait 80 minutes until you can use your ride swap. Hmmmm.

I wish a cm would just go use the rider swap a few times during the day so they could tell us how it actually worked!

I'm going to just keep calling and see how many different answers I get! Maybe I'll break some sort of record!

I can't even imagine that this is what Disney intended. How in the world would you ever know when you are allowed or not allowed to use your rider swap? Ugh, what a mess. I hope they get the system figured out soon. Thanks for your continued investigation!

 

[lcp9]

I think dates are relatively new.

We have needed to rider switch since 2011 and I have never not ultimately ended up with a piece of paper that had a date on it.

Reading this thread, it is interesting to me that the difference here (and the term "entitlement") appears to be from two vastly differing opinions on who Disney exists for. Honestly, until I found this board, I thought Disneyland was primarily a child-centered theme park, which is why I would not consider it entitlement to have accommodations for small children/parents. There are obviously differing opinions I hadn't considered as it has been mentioned that it is your choice to bring children to Disneyland and suffer the consequences. haha. Interesting.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

It's a shame that this thread turned. It's not in the spirit of these boards, so I'm closing it.