Rider Switch changing (Started June 16th)

[HopperFan]

well of course we are basing it off the report that was published which includes the 1 hour time frame - if that is not accurate than it changes everything - but that is part of the report so what we have to go off of

Seems complicated to have a varying time based on standby return time plus 1 hour or whatever. Why not just set it that you have it in your system and it is good until you use it - but you can't get another until you use this one? This prevents people from hording a ton of them

To me the biggest abuse of the system is not with being able to return later but with people that doubled up on FP - so 1 parents gets the FP for Soaring and one gets it for TT and then they rider swap so both get to ride both even though only using one FP each. That is the loophole I would hope the new system would close

I mean, of course the don't have to offer anything - they also don't have to offer FP at all, they don't *have* to do a lot of things .... providing a bit of a convenience to families with small kids (who is a big part of their target demographic) just doesn't seem like a crazy concept to me (and as other said, anyone with small kids would much prefer to not have to use rider-swap at all, it isn't' an advantage, just makes it a bit less of a challenge... at least if you don't abuse the loophole)

I didn’t read the article that there was any actual process to that hour just that an hour comes in to play. If that hour is added to expected time group A waits, then adding an hour to standby is a true hour. WDWNT is even more vague, since their aiming for Breaking News, that has already broken, seems they threw something together. Plus side it’s hapoening soon and we’ll know.

With you on closing the double up portion. With it already bring an issue with Pandora and long lines, will be even worse with TSL and don’t want to think about SWL.

I was under the impression that the child swap was specifically so that when you go through the line with children who obviously can't ride, it gives both parents a chance to ride without having to make the line twice, but back-to-back - meaning one parent rides, gets off and takes over watching the child while the other parent rides immediately after - I didn't realize it would allow for a return at any other time...

That was original intent but over time it became something else to guests.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

well, you do need something that would allow for the 2nd person to go if the FP window is open if it takes the first person an hour to fully cycle through the ride - otherwise the second person loses their FP (this would have happened to us many times in the past)

Right.

And it also makes total sense to me that Disney would not force people with small children to adhere strictly to the beginning of their FP window in order to get their entire group on the ride. This is why RS isn’t only for the standby line.

 

[MrInfinity]

well, you do need something that would allow for the 2nd person to go if the FP window is open if it takes the first person an hour to fully cycle through the ride - otherwise the second person loses their FP (this would have happened to us many times in the past)

Don't forget the 15 min late-arrival leeway. Seriously I can't imagine showing up to a FP+ window, being there with baby in stroller telling the CM hey half your party just rode and now we'd like to but our FP+ has expired because we were with the kid, they pull up your FPs and see you're being honest, and them not waving you thru. This is not meant to make life hard on people with babies, that is just making up unrealistic problems. It's just to prevent abuse, nothing more.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Don't forget the 15 min late-arrival leeway. Seriously I can't imagine showing up to a FP+ window, being there with baby in stroller telling the CM hey half your party just rode and now we'd like to but our FP+ has expired because we were with the kid, they pull up your FPs and see you're being honest, and them not waving you thru. This is not meant to make life hard on people with babies, that is just making up unrealistic problems. It's just to prevent abuse, nothing more.

I think it would be a terrible idea to force the CMs to be the decision maker as to who can or can’t ride. Much less drama for front line workers to give RS passes to those who qualify.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Don't forget the 15 min late-arrival leeway. Seriously I can't imagine showing up to a FP+ window, being there with baby in stroller telling the CM hey half your party just rode and now we'd like to but our FP+ has expired because we were with the kid, they pull up your FPs and see you're being honest, and them not waving you thru. This is not meant to make life hard on people with babies, that is just making up unrealistic problems. It's just to prevent abuse, nothing more.

yup, and I am all for that - and we had to do that once where we didn't get the rider swap and then the 2nd person didn't make the FP window ... but it took A LOT to convince the CM

I just think having the limit that you can't get another until you use this one would be sufficient rather than having that PLUS the hour and would go a long way to cutting down on the real abuse of the system

but if this is what it is, it is what it is and we will adapt - won't ruin our trip or anything, but knowing we will have a few small one with us this trip, having that additional flexibility would be nice)

 

[Gentry2004]

Probably, I’m sure the window would work similar to FP.

But that still eliminates a huge advantage of the current program, not having to hang around the area with the too small children.

I agree. I don’t mind the 1 hour part. I mind the schlepping the baby to the ride they can’t ride part. How will this work with Soarin/no strollers in the Land?

 

[JimmyBean42]

If the hour does come into play, I would bet they will be using the second tap stiles again as the "clock" for your hour. Not the entry one. But the entry one will be when you need to tap in within the hour by. So both tap stiles will be used again (some are only using one now).

I get why they are doing this and especially with Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opening next year. But (and I have no idea how much printing costs would be), wouldn't it just have been easier to have same day paper tickets printed? So instead of expiring end of the month like they do now, they expire at the end of the day? Surely they have statistics on roughly how many RS are used each day and at each ride so they would print the right amount. Costs couldn't be much higher than what they are printing now right?

 

[larry47591]

We use it with fastpass our 5 year old can ride with each of us this way. Neither my wife or I have to ride alone.

 

[marcar12]

From what I am gathering, it sounds like this new system will prevent fraud/people selling Rider Switch passes, but it does NOT close the loophole of being able to double-up on FP+. One parent could still schedule their FP for a ride, and the other parent could take advantage by getting the RS pass WITHOUT having their own FP for the ride. Also, it sounds like tall-enough kids will still be able to double-ride, and go with the first riding adult AND the second riding adult. (These assumptions are both coming from me reading about how things work with the digital RS system at Disneyland.)

So the biggest changes will be having it all be digital, only 1 Rider Switch pass at a time, and having a specified window of time where you can return for it (around 1 hour-ish).

 

[MamaBelle4]

The only issue I have with this is I used rider swap tickets we couldn't use for various reasons to spread the magic. I guess that could be looked at as abusing the system.

For example, when we went, we got RS for FOP. Everyone in my party had FP for it. DH wasn't sure he would be able to handle it so he told me to ride it first and tell him how intense it was (he can hardly handle Soarin'), and if I thought he could he'd use the RS.

I didn't think he could. Rather than ride again, we found a family of 3 who couldn't get FP and didn't get a chance to ride it and gave our ticket to them.

We've done that sort of thing a couple of times when DH decides he's not up to a certain ride after the fact, but we always have FP for everyone in our family.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

From what I am gathering, it sounds like this new system will prevent fraud/people selling Rider Switch passes, but it does NOT close the loophole of being able to double-up on FP+. One parent could still schedule their FP for a ride, and the other parent could take advantage by getting the RS pass WITHOUT having their own FP for the ride. Also, it sounds like tall-enough kids will still be able to double-ride, and go with the first riding adult AND the second riding adult. (These assumptions are both coming from me reading about how things work with the digital RS system at Disneyland.)

So the biggest changes will be having it all be digital, only 1 Rider Switch pass at a time, and having a specified window of time where you can return for it (around 1 hour-ish).

I believe it states part of the change would be checking that everyone has a FP for the ride - so maybe you could still double up and get two rides on the same attraction but I think it might prevent where the 2nd parent gets a FP for a different ride and would only use the rider swap for this ride

 

[tlmadden73]

To me it seems the system was WAY too flexible and thus was ripe for fraud.
With the MB technology, I am surprised it took this long to get it digital anyway.

I never felt the need to use it -- as I dont mind riding alone or just simply didnt go on rides the kids cant go on.

The only time I went with two kids (one old enough to ride most everything, the other not) -- we just rode solo on things (like Soaring or SDMT) and used our fast passes as normal. No need for Rider Swap.

I wonder how abused it was?

 

[DGsAtBLT]

To me it seems the system was WAY too flexible and thus was ripe for fraud.
With the MB technology, I am surprised it took this long to get it digital anyway.

I never felt the need to use it -- as I dont mind riding alone or just simply didnt go on rides the kids cant go on.

The only time I went with two kids (one old enough to ride most everything, the other not) -- we just rode solo on things (like Soaring or SDMT) and used our fast passes as normal. No need for Rider Swap.

I wonder how abused it was?

I’m curious too, and whether it was actually abused or it was just inevitable it became digital.

I’m also curious if it was a case of clear abuse (selling them) or use not abuse as was the case of the GAC. I think it’s harder to abuse the RS pass since it does require some waiting in some way before it can actually be used.

 

[JimmyBean42]

To me it seems the system was WAY too flexible and thus was ripe for fraud.
With the MB technology, I am surprised it took this long to get it digital anyway.

I never felt the need to use it -- as I dont mind riding alone or just simply didnt go on rides the kids cant go on.

The only time I went with two kids (one old enough to ride most everything, the other not) -- we just rode solo on things (like Soaring or SDMT) and used our fast passes as normal. No need for Rider Swap.

I wonder how abused it was?

I'm not sure if it's the abuse that (I agree it was flexible but I felt they were getting stricter, particularly with FOP, this year) or that people are selling them online. Go on eBay right now and put in "Fast Pass Disney" and you'll find someone selling two RS for Rock N Rollercoaster for $50, 3 Soarin RS for $19, and someone selling 21 RS tickets for $395 dollars!!!! It's people like that that ruin it for others. And I'm sure it will be only a matter of time before they figure out how to scam the next system.

 

[tlmadden73]

I believe it states part of the change would be checking that everyone has a FP for the ride - so maybe you could still double up and get two rides on the same attraction but I think it might prevent where the 2nd parent gets a FP for a different ride and would only use the rider swap for this ride

I would hope it closes the loophole. Rider swap should be used if you area doing Standby .. or if doing Fast Pass then everyone should have a Fast Pass and the older children can ride a second time if they want with another adult (who has a fast pass).

So as a family of four - one toddler and one elementary aged child, if we want to ride SDMT and have a fast pass - we go to the FP queue .. scan our Fast Passes. CM checks that Mom/Dad/son have valid Fast Passes. They let the CM know that Dad/son are going on the ride .. while Mom/daughter wait. Mom/son are given a digital rider swap. They both ride SDMT shortly after Dad/son get off the ride.

Simple .. rider swaps should not be used to allow Mom to use the FP queue unless she had a FP to being with or Dad/son waited in standby to begin with.

Rider Swap sorta breaks down the Fast Pass system if some families can double up on their fast passes simply because they have a small child in tow.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I’m curious too, and whether it was actually abused or it was just inevitable it became digital.

I’m also curious if it was a case of clear abuse (selling them) or use not abuse as was the case of the GAC. I think it’s harder to abuse the RS pass since it does require some waiting in some way before it can actually be used.

I suspect it was the eBay selling that woudld get noticed by Disney and want them to shut it down

There is the other abuse of people in the parks where 1 parent would get a FP for one tier 1 attraction (say, Soarin) and then the other would get a FP for another (say, Test Track) and then each other would ride the opposite attraction using the rider swap - so both would get on 2 tier 1 attractions while only using up 1 FP each. If the new system checks that everyone has a FP for the given ride and only then gives you the rider swap ability, that should cut out on that

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I would hope it closes the loophole. Rider swap should be used if you area doing Standby .. or if doing Fast Pass then everyone should have a Fast Pass and the older children can ride a second time if they want with another adult (who has a fast pass).

So as a family of four - one toddler and one elementary aged child, if we want to ride SDMT and have a fast pass - we go to the FP queue .. scan our Fast Passes. CM checks that Mom/Dad/son have valid Fast Passes. They let the CM know that Dad/son are going on the ride .. while Mom/daughter wait. Mom/son are given a digital rider swap. They both ride SDMT shortly after Dad/son get off the ride.

Simple .. rider swaps should not be used to allow Mom to use the FP queue unless she had a FP to being with or Dad/son waited in standby to begin with.

Rider Swap sorta breaks down the Fast Pass system if some families can double up on their fast passes simply because they have a small child in tow.

yup, fully agree - and I think this should stop this, or at the very least make it harder ... though people get creative and I am sure they will find another loophole

We never did that (the double dip on different rides) but I'll admit we would use the rider switch to let us ride more on the ride we had FP for (so 2 rides on 7DMT instead of 1)

 

[OSUZorba]

That was original intent but over time it became something else to guests.

Disney is the only park that I'm aware of that makes the second parent wait through a significant number of ride cycles before getting on the ride. That is why riding back to back at Disney world isn't always practical. It's nice not having to make the kid wait in line, but most places the second parent rides the next ride cycles or at most a couple later, WDW can be 30+ minutes for the second.

 

[JimmyBean42]

I suspect it was the eBay selling that woudld get noticed by Disney and want them to shut it down

One eBay seller is currently selling two packages of RS tickets for $395 and $299. Unbelievable.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disne...424907?hash=item285c6e4f0b:g:eEsAAOSws-tbFJri

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disne...421231?hash=item285c6e40af:g:fOUAAOSwxphbFJZ~

 

[TheMaxRebo]

One eBay seller is currently selling two packages of RS tickets for $395 and $299. Unbelievable.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disne...424907?hash=item285c6e4f0b:g:eEsAAOSws-tbFJri

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disne...421231?hash=item285c6e40af:g:fOUAAOSwxphbFJZ~

Definitely can see Disney wanting to shut that down - and I don't blame them