Rider switch for tall enough but scared child?

[iujen94]

I'm helping my sister plan a Disney trip and trying to figure out the ins and outs of rider switch for her. It will be her, her DH, DS15 and twin DS9. Everyone enjoys thrill rides except for one DS9. He's tall enough to ride but doesn't want to. Looking at Disney's rider switch rules, it says:

If a child does not meet the height requirement or a Guest does not wish to board a particular attraction, no problem! With Rider Switch, one adult can wait with the non-rider (or riders) while the rest of the party enjoys the attraction. When the other adult returns, they can supervise the non-riding Guests, and the waiting adult can board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again!


Even though the rule seems pretty clear, I just wanted to see what experiences folks have had with using rider switch with a tall enough but scared child? Also, would it be possible for my sister to ride with her two non-scared kids while DH waits with scared kid, get a rider switch card, and then her DH can ride with those same two kids again while my sister waits with scared kid?

Thanks!!

 

[mesaboy2]

This will come down to the CM. Some will allow it, others won't.

 

[Delirium]

If that's what the rule says, I would have it available to show any cast member that pushes back.

 

[iujen94]

If that's what the rule says, I would have it available to show any cast member that pushes back.

I totally would but my sister is SO non-confrontational I know she won't want to!

 

[HookPan]

From what I have heard the "rules" on this are little bit unknown.

 

[HopperFan]

Been refused and DS is obviously disabled. I agree with Mesaboy2, in that it will come down to the attraction at the moment. The rules online do not even match with the rules on the swap pass, so Disney has truly not been consistent on this.

 

[abinormal]

I've heard more reports of refusal than not.

 

[nat8199]

This is interesting. I have one kid who gets really bad motion sickness. He cannot go on some rides he is tall enough for (splash mountain for one). Being able to use rider switch would really help us.

 

[Cinderella94]

If that's what the rule says, I would have it available to show any cast member that pushes back.

You can try but this is not guaranteed to do anything at all in the moment. A CM is going to do what they're told the protocol is on a particular day, not what the website says.

 

[tjmw2727]

We are among those who have not been able to get a RS pass for a child who meets the requirements but doesn't want to / cant ride. One example is my then 4yo nephew who was over 40" but didn't want to ride TOT (understandable imho). They offered us to wait the line together and switch parties at the exit but he was to scared to even go through the queue. We just split up and rode separately using FP -

 

[Lalalyn]

On our last trip, my twins were a hair taller than 40". Only one CM asked if she was tall enough when we asked for rider swap.

We are going again in October, and I'm anticipating more asking. One twin will not ride any roller coaster but fortunately our oldest is now 7 and can ride alone, allowing me to sit with the other twin who likes to ride them.

I'd ask but be prepared for various answers. As always, being nice goes a long way.

 

[Monykalyn]

We are among those who have not been able to get a RS pass for a child who meets the requirements but doesn't want to / cant ride. One example is my then 4yo nephew who was over 40" but didn't want to ride TOT (understandable imho). They offered us to wait the line together and switch parties at the exit but he was to scared to even go through the queue. We just split up and rode separately using FP -

My son came through queue with us but we did rider swap (he is 11). They were very nice at ToT-only attraction where we asked for it. Managed to get him on Dinosaur twice though, and we did EE as single rider...I must say the CM we encountered last week were all very nice!!

 

[bashuck]

No first hand experience with this but I've read variations of this numerous times. CM discretion with the odds being against it as 9 year olds (even 7 year olds) are allowed to ride things by themselves (not that I would trust my 7 year old to just go find some other ride to kill time).

 

[juxtapose]

We never had a cast member ask when we went last November. We are going again next year and my very tall 2 year old will probably be 40''. I do not plan on him riding any 40'' rides so I hope they will still give us RS.

 

[CAS239]

I would not expect to get one for a child who is just scared to ride vs not being tall enough

 

[robl45]

We just did this. My son won't go on tower of terror. No problem getting a switch pass. We were even able to use tower of terror fast passes for aerosmith instead when I couldn't get him on tower of terror. He is scared of thunder and lightning.

I've also swapped passes when a child wasn't feeling well enough to ride certain rides. We rode Great movie ride with star tours fast passes when my son was feeling queezy. I've never had a cast member give an issue for a swap pass if someone is scared or an issue if we just wanted to swap to a different ride assuming there was a valid reason. I.E. we used space mountain on Splash mountain when my wife wasn't feeling well and there was no one to watch my underheight daughter.

 

[KrazeeK120]

We just did this. My son won't go on tower of terror. No problem getting a switch pass. We were even able to use tower of terror fast passes for aerosmith instead when I couldn't get him on tower of terror. He is scared of thunder and lightning.

I've also swapped passes when a child wasn't feeling well enough to ride certain rides. We rode Great movie ride with star tours fast passes when my son was feeling queezy. I've never had a cast member give an issue for a swap pass if someone is scared or an issue if we just wanted to swap to a different ride assuming there was a valid reason. I.E. we used space mountain on Splash mountain when my wife wasn't feeling well and there was no one to watch my underheight daughter.

They actually let you switch fastpasses? I admit, this is the first time I've heard of that being allowed!!

 

[Shellyb84]

DH and I swap out with DD8 who will not ride SM, ToT or RNRC yet. They go through the "chicken" exit while I ride, then I wait there while he rides. We've never had a problem with this. We took my 13 year old cousin earlier this year and she was able to ride with each of us.

It is highly doubtful they would actually give her a pass but there shouldn't be any issue with swapping out.

 

[robl45]

They will give the pass if you say you prefer that, thats what we did. Bottom line is its easier because swapping takes a lot of time, usually when we go we don't have time to do the full swap right then.

As for switching fast passes. Yes they will let you do it, but as I said, you have to ask nicely and have a valid reason. They still might say no of course. I only realized about it at all because we went up to one ride like a year ago and the fast pass was for something else and they said do you want to switch it for this instead. I didn't but I wouldn't have thought of it otherwise.

To be clear, I know someone on here is going to start thinking about running over to FOP with some excuse as to why they want to swap their passes. I would not recommend that. I've only ever done it with similar rides. I.E. I didn't walk over to space mountain with a winnie the pooh fast pass and try to swap them. Space mountain to Splash Mountain, Space Mountain to Anna/Elsa when she was too small to ride space mountain. TOT to Aerosmith. Star Tours to Great Movie ride.