Rider Switch changing (Started June 16th)

[piccolopat]

Depends...by the time the first parent is off the ride, the FP window could already be closed or standby line could have gotten a lot longer. So for the second parent to ride may not be feasible. That's the whole point of RS is to allow the person staying behind with the child the guarantee that they can still get on the ride, irregardless of standby wait or fast pass window.

Thanks for responding but that wasn't the question. The OP indicated that the second parent couldn't ride because the toddler got cranky while waiting, not because the FP window closed or the SB line was longer. If my DH rode first and DD got cranky waiting, he would take over her care so I could ride when he was done. Thankfully DD's all grown and married now and this is no longer a concern but I hope to have grandchildren in a few years that will start this all over again.

 

[danikoski]

Thanks for responding but that wasn't the question. The OP indicated that the second parent couldn't ride because the toddler got cranky while waiting, not because the FP window closed or the SB line was longer. If my DH rode first and DD got cranky waiting, he would take over her care so I could ride when he was done. Thankfully DD's all grown and married now and this is no longer a concern but I hope to have grandchildren in a few years that will start this all over again.

It all links together. Yes, the parent getting off the ride could take over, but there's no guarantee the second parent would be able to get on the ride in a timely manner. That's where RS comes in. The OP you quoted was commenting about why having a toddler is different than grandma not wanting to ride, and why that makes RS important.

 

[OSUZorba]

You said "If a toddler gets cranky, the waiting parent no longer gets to ride." Why is that so? Couldn't the parent that just rode now take charge of the cranky toddler (or the one that now needs changing or food or whatever) so the waiting parent gets to ride?

Sure in an ideal world that has no toddlers. It also isn't much fun to be split up as a family for nearly two hours, even though you had FPs, while riding back to back. I travel with my wife and baby to be with them and flexibility in the RS system allows you to balance time together while allowing you to still enjoy the bigger riders.

The idea RS is a gift is ridiculous, every major park offers some version because without it, they would lose a ton of family business. If all of sudden the system became much harder to use, many people will reconsider if Disney is actually an easy family friendly vacation and might do other things. If RS fully went away, they'd lose my two weeks a year, no question.

Edit: To answer your question more. If the toddler is upset about not having both parents, because there isn't much to do on that side of the park and she sees everyone doing something she can't, etc. And like I said, after we've been split up for an hour it is nice to do something as a family and come back later.

 

[piccolopat]

Sure in an ideal world that has no toddlers. It also isn't much fun to be split up as a family for nearly two hours, even though you had FPs, while riding back to back. I travel with my wife and baby to be with them and flexibility in the RS system allows you to balance time together while allowing you to still enjoy the bigger riders.

The idea RS is a gift is ridiculous, every major park offers some version because without it, they would lose a ton of family business. If all of sudden the system became much harder to use, many people will reconsider if Disney is actually an easy family friendly vacation and might do other things. If RS fully went away, they'd lose my two weeks a year, no question.

I wasn't questioning the value of RS, only why you said the second parent couldn't ride if the toddler got cranky. I personally think Disney should consider a version of RS for families where there is an adult who can't ride but also can't be left alone (such as a disabled adult child or a parent with early dementia).

 

[OSUZorba]

I wasn't questioning the value of RS, only why you said the second parent couldn't ride if the toddler got cranky. I personally think Disney should consider a version of RS for families where there is an adult who can't ride but also can't be left alone (such as a disabled adult child or a parent with early dementia).

Yeah, I agree with you on that. I really didn't mean there were no situations like that, I was just comparing to the far more common case of the adult non-rider being able to stay by themselves.

I think Disney should loosen up some for people traveling with those with disabilities and kids that are afraid to ride. I've never had an experience with either, but have seen comments on here about scared kids not getting a RS.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

I wasn't questioning the value of RS, only why you said the second parent couldn't ride if the toddler got cranky. I personally think Disney should consider a version of RS for families where there is an adult who can't ride but also can't be left alone (such as a disabled adult child or a parent with early dementia).

Won't they allow people in those situations to do a swap at the ride boarding area? That's supposed to be the policy for someone who is tall enough to ride but doesn't want to and can't stay alone.

 

[WillowRain]

You guys are making this crazier than it needs to be! It's a simple process. Cranky kid? Have dad go buy them a churro or ride Dumbo. Elderly dementia adults that cannot be left alone? This should be a non issue if your party has a FP!!! One adult goes then the other. I will be travelling with my 93 year old Grandmother, similar situation and would never leave her alone, but my mom is there too. If she wanted to ride a coaster, we would just all get a FP and take turns staying with Grandma. At this point we still have the toddler, but if she's still around when he's tall enough for all rides, we would just divide up the party on anything my mom wants to go on. Plus, has RS ever worked for the elderly? Why not get a DAS then?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

You guys are making this crazier than it needs to be! It's a simple process. Cranky kid? Have dad go buy them a churro or ride Dumbo. Elderly dementia adults that cannot be left alone? This should be a non issue if your party has a FP!!! One adult goes then the other. I will be travelling with my 93 year old Grandmother, similar situation and would never leave her alone, but my mom is there too. If she wanted to ride a coaster, we would just all get a FP and take turns staying with Grandma. At this point we still have the toddler, but if she's still around when he's tall enough for all rides, we would just divide up the party on anything my mom wants to go on. Plus, has RS ever worked for the elderly? Why not get a DAS then?

It's just a random question but are you making your FPs for all the same time then?

 

[WillowRain]

It's just a random question but are you making your FPs for all the same time then?

What do you mean?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

What do you mean?

Your previous comment was "I will be travelling with my 93 year old Grandmother, similar situation and would never leave her alone, but my mom is there too. If she wanted to ride a coaster, we would just all get a FP and take turns staying with Grandma."

It was the "we would just all get a FP and take turns" part I was wondering about in relation to making your FP times that's why I wondering if you would be making the FP times for all the same time. Hopefully that makes more sense-apologies if it doesn't.

 

[WillowRain]

Your previous comment was "I will be travelling with my 93 year old Grandmother, similar situation and would never leave her alone, but my mom is there too. If she wanted to ride a coaster, we would just all get a FP and take turns staying with Grandma."

It was the "we would just all get a FP and take turns" part I was wondering about in relation to making your FP times that's why I wondering if you would be making the FP times for all the same time. Hopefully that makes more sense-apologies if it doesn't.

Yah I mean normally FP doesn't take more than 30 mins, so we would all book the same window.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yah I mean normally FP doesn't take more than 30 mins, so we would all book the same window.

Ah ok. I could see that working out the best if you entered at the beginning of the hr time slot to give some cushion. I gotcha now.

 

[WillowRain]

Ah ok. I could see that working out the best if you entered at the beginning of the hr time slot to give some cushion. I gotcha now.

There would only be a handful of things, like Soarin, and maybe Slinky Dog that she would ride. She gets motion sickness pretty bad but she's wanted to ride Soarin for a while

 

[doconeill]

Because every person who enters the FP line makes the wait longer. Disney scheduled a set number of FPs and when 10 times that many show up w/ ‘off the grid’ FPs then the FP line slows way down. If I enter the FP line in my scheduled afternoon hour and just before me 500 RS people who grabbed FPs that a.m., or yesterday or a week ago, or from eBay, enter the line too, I’m going to be stuck waiting longer.
Disney can’t increase ride capacity so they have to limit FP access at high demand times unless they are ok w/ FP waits of an hour, which they aren’t, so therefore they can’t allow too many unscheduled entries into the FP line during peak demand. They want to even out demand, RS returning and increasing demand during peak demand frustrates the goal of controlling demand through restricting access.

If you consider that a Rider Switch pass is a Fastpass, then the same argument we used to have over accepting late Fastpass arrivals applies here. I wrote up a whole analysis of this a long time ago and ended up making a web page for it. I don't link to it since it is moot for Fastpass+ and the concept of pre-scheduling, but as Rider Switch is not pre-scheduled but on-demand, the concept applies:

https://wdwuntangled.com/fastpass-and-rider-switch/why-using-a-late-fastpass-doesnt-matter/

TL;DR version - assuming a constant supply of guests such that you never end up running empty, using it later just means that everyone else gets to ride that much sooner. It ends up a zero-sum game in the end. Sure, if a LOT of people show up at once, you end up with a longer than advertised wait, but if the RS people rode back when they were "supposed" to, you'd still ride at the same time. Sure, advertised waits would be different, but they are ballpark anyways and get just as affected when everyone enters the line after fireworks, etc.

 

[HopperFan]

I haven't read all the responses on this thread, so I might be repeating what someone has already stated. For those using the standby and rider swap, I would think the CM would take into account the posted wait time when assigning the one hour return time. So, if you request a rider swap when entering the standby line at 11:00 am, your RS return time should begin at the earliest 12:00 pm. This is how I see it working.

Going digital means the CM will only scan the tickets/MB and the computer does the rest.

As I've said before, the DAS system is similar and the computers do calculate the time using the Standby times.

 

[Boski]

If you consider that a Rider Switch pass is a Fastpass, then the same argument we used to have over accepting late Fastpass arrivals applies here. I wrote up a whole analysis of this a long time ago and ended up making a web page for it. I don't link to it since it is moot for Fastpass+ and the concept of pre-scheduling, but as Rider Switch is not pre-scheduled but on-demand, the concept applies:

https://wdwuntangled.com/fastpass-and-rider-switch/why-using-a-late-fastpass-doesnt-matter/

TL;DR version - assuming a constant supply of guests such that you never end up running empty, using it later just means that everyone else gets to ride that much sooner. It ends up a zero-sum game in the end. Sure, if a LOT of people show up at once, you end up with a longer than advertised wait, but if the RS people rode back when they were "supposed" to, you'd still ride at the same time. Sure, advertised waits would be different, but they are ballpark anyways and get just as affected when everyone enters the line after fireworks, etc.

But I think the point sndral is making is even though they act as a FP, they are not one. To me you can't use that theory for RS. FPs are distributed at a set number established by Disney. RS is completely random dependent on how many people on any given day want to get one. You can almost get away with "assuming a constant supply of guest" when discussing FPs (I've got some qualms with that assumption but we don't need to discuss it) but you can't on any given day know how many people will request a RS.

 

[North of Mouse]

But comparing rider swap with toddlers to Grandma not liking rollercoasters is not a fair comparison.

I 'didn't', so why did you put this after my quote??

 

[Nathan.tan]

I read the Doctor Disney and WDWNT article. Where does it say that everyone in the party must have a fastpass to get the rider switch, including the waiting parent?
Also, doesn't rider switch also work for standby? The person receiving the rider switch doesn't have to have a fastpass, so why different if you have a fastpass?

 

[sndral]

But I think the point sndral is making is even though they act as a FP, they are not one. To me you can't use that theory for RS. FPs are distributed at a set number established by Disney. RS is completely random dependent on how many people on any given day want to get one. You can almost get away with "assuming a constant supply of guest" when discussing FPs (I've got some qualms with that assumption but we don't need to discuss it) but you can't on any given day know how many people will request a RS.

And since RS FPs were apparently good for several days you can't know how many people from previous days will use their RS on any given day. There's no knowing how many people took the DVC tour and got FPs for their time and when they'll use those FPs, how many people pitched a fit to guest services or at their resort or elsewhere and scored FPs to placate them, etc..

 

[ArwenMarie]

If you consider that a Rider Switch pass is a Fastpass, then the same argument we used to have over accepting late Fastpass arrivals applies here. I wrote up a whole analysis of this a long time ago and ended up making a web page for it. I don't link to it since it is moot for Fastpass+ and the concept of pre-scheduling, but as Rider Switch is not pre-scheduled but on-demand, the concept applies:

https://wdwuntangled.com/fastpass-and-rider-switch/why-using-a-late-fastpass-doesnt-matter/

TL;DR version - assuming a constant supply of guests such that you never end up running empty, using it later just means that everyone else gets to ride that much sooner. It ends up a zero-sum game in the end. Sure, if a LOT of people show up at once, you end up with a longer than advertised wait, but if the RS people rode back when they were "supposed" to, you'd still ride at the same time. Sure, advertised waits would be different, but they are ballpark anyways and get just as affected when everyone enters the line after fireworks, etc.

So then it’s just adding another speed bump to slow down the usage and overall FP access. Someone doesn’t make it back in an hour, poof