Traveling with a little kid and a big kid. Ride swap or no?

[Yusani]

My oldest is 10 and very adventurous. She loves the "big rides". My youngest is 3 and is very interested in the "big rides" but obviously cannot ride. He is 36 inches. Last time we went to Disneyland, he was an infant, so we did the rider swap where my husband and I just stood in line with him and took turns riding the big rides with my oldest. This year, however, I am afraid if my 3 year old waits in the line for Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. he is going to be old enough realize exactly what is up and that he is missing out, but he won't be old enough to understand he is too short to ride for safety reasons. I am afraid this will result in a lot of crying. Does anyone have any experience with this? I am thinking of breaking up our family instead and taking him over to a bugs land or somewhere else during the big rides.

Thoughts?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

My oldest is 10 and very adventurous. She loves the "big rides". My youngest is 3 and is very interested in the "big rides" but obviously cannot ride. He is 36 inches. Last time we went to Disneyland, he was an infant, so we did the rider swap where my husband and I just stood in line with him and took turns riding the big rides with my oldest. This year, however, I am afraid if my 3 year old waits in the line for Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. he is going to be old enough realize exactly what is up and that he is missing out, but he won't be old enough to understand he is too short to ride for safety reasons. I am afraid this will result in a lot of crying. Does anyone have any experience with this? I am thinking of breaking up our family instead and taking him over to a bugs land or somewhere else during the big rides.

Thoughts?

I would definitely do rider switch. For some rides kids are not even allowed to enter the line if they don't don't meet the height requirement/won't be riding.

Also, rider switch is VERY different now so I would read one of the recent threads about it to get up to speed.

 

[tnzzz]

When you rider swap now your 3yo would not wait in line. Instead you will arrange the swap at the entrance. The CM will give you a return time for the ride swap and you would come back through during that time frame (usually around 30min later, but sometimes even longer). The best thing about this is that your older child can double up and ride twice. Once with your spouse and again with you.

We have a 4yo who rides most rides and a 1yo, we always utilize rider swap. We do sometimes split up, if my spouse rides first and the 1yo isn’t napping, we will go into bugs land, for instance, or maybe just go get a churro to share, or into one of the shops. We always make sure we agree on a meet up spot, but we usually aren’t separate for more than 30min (we always use FP along with rider swap).

 

[Yusani]

That would actually be better if we never make it into the line. He would be less aware of what is going on. I'll read up. Thanks.

 

[Yusani]

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

Looks like Gaurdians doesn't have ride swap?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

Looks like Gaurdians doesn't have ride swap?

Guardians is on the list.

 

[faith1118]

I've used the rider switch before for guardians, so unless they've changed it in the past 2 weeks, they should have it

 

[Geemo]

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

Looks like Gaurdians doesn't have ride swap?

Lists aren't always up-to-date.....
Sometimes different CM's allow different things....

To Use Rider Switch:

1. First check with a Cast Member to see if Rider Switch is offered at the attraction you’d like to experience.

If it's a ride you're interested in, check with the entrance CM for a SW time.
Couldn't hurt.

Geemo

 

[bumbershoot]

There was never a time, in the last 10 years at least, where a top-small person would wait IN the line for a ride. At Disney those who aren’t tall enough do not go through the line.

So this isn’t an issue.

Always a good idea to take the little ones elsewhere rather than just waiting around. Learned that one with Indy when my 13 year old was 1.