Riderswap issue today at SDMT

[tbre1982]

I'm at WDW right now. This am we went to SDMT. Me and DD (5) had FP. My son (2) is too short to ride. We went up to FP entrance and asked for rider swap for grandma and grandpa who did not have FP.

Cast member said they also were supposed to have
FP. he ended up giving us the rider swap to use anyways. But he said next time we should all make the FP.

This is not what I have read anywhere else about using rider swap and all the strategies to maximize your FP by mixing and matching FP with rider swap.

Did I screw something up? Or Was this cast member just wrong?

 

[MIndy S]

Following... I'm using that strategy for FOP, now I'm worried!

 

[jo-jo]

I have heard a few times, people having that happen, but mostly it's as you expected.

 

[TheRealDrDisney]

No one can fault you for using a loophole when it is available.

However, eventually Disney does find and close those loopholes.

 

[HopperFan]

No one can fault you for using a loophole when it is available.

However, eventually Disney does find and close those loopholes.

This.^ Rider/Baby Swap has been around a lot longer than FastPass. The point of it was so guests didn't wait in that long line while others sat out with a wee one, then have to stand in the long line again. FastPass negates the need for the swap pass. As Disney has closed other loops to gather extra FP, I would not be surprised to see this happen as well, particularly since it impacts the "E ticket" rides.

 

[jo-jo]

Just a thought, if everyone in the party needs a FP, how would that work? Mom , Dad goes on, Grandma and Grandpa stays with baby. Then what do you do with kidswap? Unless Mom stays with baby and Dad uses kidswap to go on with Grandma and Grandpa using there own FP.

Perhaps kidswap will only be available with guests using the standby line.

 

[dlavender]

I always just ask for the rider switch pass from the person in the regular line, then go through FP if I have one. Wouldn't even occur to me that others needed a FP to use baby swap.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Just a thought, if everyone in the party needs a FP, how would that work? Mom , Dad goes on, Grandma and Grandpa stays with baby. Then what do you do with kidswap? Unless Mom stays with baby and Dad uses kidswap to go on with Grandma and Grandpa using there own FP.

Perhaps kidswap will only be available with guests using the standby line.

Say you have Mom, Dad, tall kid, and short kid (2 years old). Everyone has a FP (except short kid). So Mom and tall kid go on the ride, but then Dad is stuck riding by himself. Rider swap would allow tall kid to go on the ride with Dad so he doesn’t have to ride alone.

 

[whiporee]

If you're using the FP line, everyone should have FPs. I know that's not the way WDW has been doing it, but I'm pretty sure if they haven't started this policy yet, it's coming.

If you do standby and RS, then the standby parent gets FPs. But I think the days of using RS to pick up additional FPs are either over or ending.

 

[dlavender]

If you're using the FP line, everyone should have FPs. I know that's not the way WDW has been doing it, but I'm pretty sure if they haven't started this policy yet, it's coming.

If you do standby and RS, then the standby parent gets FPs. But I think the days of using RS to pick up additional FPs are either over or ending.

So, the way we use it is this way:

There are 5 of us. Myself, DW, and 2 tall enough kids will have FP's for Space Mountain. I don't book one for the smallest child as it would be pointless. We will get a rider switch pass so DW can stay with the 1 child who is not tall enough, while I ride with the tallest kids, then we switch, so she can ride with the kids, while I sit with the smallest child. Are you saying that they wouldn't let the kids ride FP with her if they didn't have another FP? I don't see how they could even police that. Or because DW has a FP, they would use that in conjunction with the switch pass so they could all go FP?

 

[RescueRanger]

If you're using the FP line, everyone should have FPs. I know that's not the way WDW has been doing it, but I'm pretty sure if they haven't started this policy yet, it's coming.

If you do standby and RS, then the standby parent gets FPs. But I think the days of using RS to pick up additional FPs are either over or ending.

I hope your right. We had a thread not to long ago where a person was bragging about using rider swap to get around the tiering at Pandora. I emailed Disney and included a link to the thread. Hopefully now they will eliminate people gaming the system.

 

[whiporee]

So, the way we use it is this way:

There are 5 of us. Myself, DW, and 2 tall enough kids will have FP's for Space Mountain. I don't book one for the smallest child as it would be pointless. We will get a rider switch pass so DW can stay with the 1 child who is not tall enough, while I ride with the tallest kids, then we switch, so she can ride with the kids, while I sit with the smallest child. Are you saying that they wouldn't let the kids ride FP with her if they didn't have another FP? I don't see how they could even police that. Or because DW has a FP, they would use that in conjunction with the switch pass so they could all go FP?

No, I think the issue is that if you got a FP and your wife didn't, then she couldn't get a FP for the ride for rider switch because she's not "missing" anything. She never had a FP for the ride she's missing to take care of the youngest kid. If you all have FPs, then the kids get an additional ride, but if you're using the FP line, then both the parent riding and the one using RS to ride later have to have FPs.

 

[HopperFan]

So, the way we use it is this way:

There are 5 of us. Myself, DW, and 2 tall enough kids will have FP's for Space Mountain. I don't book one for the smallest child as it would be pointless. We will get a rider switch pass so DW can stay with the 1 child who is not tall enough, while I ride with the tallest kids, then we switch, so she can ride with the kids, while I sit with the smallest child. Are you saying that they wouldn't let the kids ride FP with her if they didn't have another FP? I don't see how they could even police that. Or because DW has a FP, they would use that in conjunction with the switch pass so they could all go FP?

How it works for you is ....
You and 1 child ride
then
She and 1 child ride.

Easy to police. They are doing it now sometimes at 7DMT. They hand you a special colored lanyard as you enter the line. You exchange that lanyard at loading for another color which is what you use to return.

With FP+ line there is no need for lanyard, this would only be implemented/offered in Standby.

If you have even numbers riding, then split evenly.

They could look at odd groups just like they do now when you have no wee one, someone rides alone. Having a ride partner is not part of the equation because if it were I should get one at every ride so that I don't (as the odd one) have to ride alone.

 

[Dakota731]

I’m curious why you would think people can ride in the fast pass line without a fast pass? I must be planning my trip all wrong because I don’t know about all these loopholes!

 

[disneycountrygirl]

If you're using the FP line, everyone should have FPs. I know that's not the way WDW has been doing it, but I'm pretty sure if they haven't started this policy yet, it's coming.

That is really surprising that Disney didn't make it policy as part of rolling out FP+ that to be in the FP line you need a FP period...regardless of your rider swap plans. CM discretion to allow the loophole or not on an individual basis makes it hard on all parties. The sooner that loophole is closed, the better it will be for everyone (except perhaps the current loophole users....sounds like to many moving parts and too much gambling for me to want to use that option.)

 

[disneycountrygirl]

I always just ask for the rider switch pass from the person in the regular line....

Does the FP line NOT have a person handing out rider swap too? Parties who all have FPs with one who is too short will need rider swap too! (This will be us next month!) Did Disney REALLY not account for that possibility and only offer RS in the stand by line???

 

[disney minnie]

I have always been under the impression that rider swap was for the regular line. Otherwise instead of three rides per family (person, but all ride the same thing) it would be abused and end up being that one set of fast passes could be used for the whole family so a family of 4 would end up with 12 different rides. That would be seriously abused.

 

[bladiator]

Well crap. Now I need to rethink using the RS strategy since this was going to be the first time.

 

[sweetmama17]

I utilize rider swap a lot as I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old. People forget how long it takes to go through some of these rides and even going through twice with FP take A LOT of time. So much so that the second set of people would miss there FP slot. Also going through rider swap on multiple rides can take MORE time than having a mix of FP and standby. This example was given awhile ago but I'll repeat it.

Family 1: Split FP between Soarin and TT, takes 45 min each to switch for Soarin and 30 min each to switch for TT (and YES it really takes that long for those rides with FP!) Total time for 2 rides: 2.5 hours

Family 2: No rider swap: Stand by TT and FP Soarin: 45 min for TT and 45 for Soarin= 1.5 hours.

The person that benefits most: my 5 year old (as it should be at DISNEY). And you know what I do with that extra FP....take my 2 year old on a ride (Nemo when they are riding Soarin or Pooh for SMDT) so he isn't missing out. This makes going to Disney as a family manageable. Disney is great for toddlers as long as they don't have to have to wait too long. And Disney height restrictions are pretty short, so this isn't something families can utilize forever.

 

[SPAM]

I utilize rider swap a lot as I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old. People forget how long it takes to go through some of these rides and even going through twice with FP take A LOT of time. So much so that the second set of people would miss there FP slot. Also going through rider swap on multiple rides can take MORE time than having a mix of FP and standby. This example was given awhile ago but I'll repeat it.

Family 1: Split FP between Soarin and TT, takes 45 min each to switch for Soarin and 30 min each to switch for TT (and YES it really takes that long for those rides with FP!) Total time for 2 rides: 2.5 hours

Family 2: No rider swap: Stand by TT and FP Soarin: 45 min for TT and 45 for Soarin= 1.5 hours.

The person that benefits most: my 5 year old (as it should be at DISNEY). And you know what I do with that extra FP....take my 2 year old on a ride (Nemo when they are riding Soarin or Pooh for SMDT) so he isn't missing out. This makes going to Disney as a family manageable. Disney is great for toddlers as long as they don't have to have to wait too long. And Disney height restrictions are pretty short, so this isn't something families can utilize forever.

This is what I was going to say. I always thought it would be great to use rider swap but now that my family has started utilizing it with a small child I would say I wish we didn’t have to. Last trip some of the fp lines were so long we had to leave after the first adult rode because it took so long and we either had another fp or a reservation or something. It took me like 45 min to get through space mountain on the rider swap, that’s a lot of waiting around for both the adult in line and the adult with the child. It really did take twice as long.