Weird child swap experience

[100AcreMom]

Just got back from a wonderful visit to the world. We had a strange encounter with a CM at Splash on Tuesday. We have done child swap several times over the past few years, so I thought I knew the drill. We walked up to the CM and asked for a child swap pass. Here is our conversation -

Me: May we have a child swap pass?

CM: NO. Your child has to want to ride and be rejected.

Me: What???

CM: Your child has to want to ride and go through the line. When she is rejected to ride, you can get a pass.

Me: What??? (my daughter is 22 months, in a stroller) You want me to take her through the line, get rejected, and then come back to you?

CM: Those are the rules and we have to follow them. But since it's not busy, I'll give you one now.

Actual conversation. Have you ever had an experience like this? It sure would make for an easier visit if training was consistant for things like child swap.

Otherwise, we had a great trip!

 

[BethR]

Very strange.

I recall reading a post recently about someone wanting to use the Chicken's Exit at the Haunted Mansion because their child was upset and the CM told them that they had to go on the ride. Maybe it was the same CM?

 

[ukcatfan]

I had a bad experience with child swap at RNR at MGM. I was waiting for my wife and oldest daughter at the exit. I had the two youngest that could not ride. When I saw my wife and daughter come off, I brought my middle daughter over to her and her sister to see their picture. I went back into the store with my youngest to wait. A supervisor CM walked up started yelling from a distance at my two daughters standing with my wife. She was demanding that they wait for their family behind the lines. At first my daughters and I did not know who she was yelling at. They were with their mom, so they paid no attention to her and neither did I. She then huffed her way over to them and grabbed them by the shoulder trying to force them behind the line. As soon as she touched my kids, I lost it and gave her a piece of my mind. I told her that they were with their mom and my oldeest daughter was even a rider. I then told her that she had made a mistake and needed to apoligize to my kids. She stumbled on what to say back and finally said, "Well if you were not such a bad parent..." I cut her off and demanded that she remove herself. She said some other comment and was gone behind the scenes before I even thought about getting her name to report her.

 

[girlfriend]

Sorry for my confusion, but what is a "child swap"?

 

[100AcreMom]

If you have young children too small or unwilling to ride, the CM (usually) gives you a pass. This way, one parent can ride, and then the second parent gets to ride without waiting in line. Most of the rides use the fast pass line for child swap, but some have their own quirky rules, that may change from day to day.

 

[welovemickey]

"Child Swap" is when a child is either not big enough or does not want to ride can wait at the ride exit with one parent while another parent rides the ride. When that parent exits, the one waiting can enter the ride without waiting and go on.

 

[momof2sons]

Hi girlfriend.

A child swap is for parents ( gaurdian) of a child who either cann't or doesn't want to ride particular ride. The first person or persons ride then the second person can then swap the child with the first and ride that particular ride without having to stand in line to wait all over again. Each ride has a slightly different policy some you wait in line together other you wait at the end of a ride in designated area.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

The child swap instance at the beginning of this thread is beyond weird. We never had any experiences like that.... making us take our youngest out of the stroller, go in line, get rejected (obviously....) and then go to do the parent swap. That would be ridiculous!

Then the next instance of physically touching your children then telling them they are a bad parent.... WAY over the line. Way way way over the line.... that someone doesn't need to be working at WDW in my opinion!

 

[Mike]

Originally posted by girlfriend
Sorry for my confusion, but what is a "child swap"?

A child swap is useful when your child is having a meltdown. You find the closest behaving child and quickly swap them with yours. It works great

 

[momof2sons]

Mike LOL

 

[4greatboys]

Originally posted by Mike
A child swap is useful when your child is having a meltdown. You find the closest behaving child and quickly swap them with yours. It works great

Does that work when you get back home too or only at Disney?

 

[jcemom]

How Useful!

 

[tjmw2727]

To the OP -wow that was just weird and I am glad they finally gave you the pass! The CM IMHO was just plain wrong :-(

To the RnRc issue - while its never ok for a CM to be rude, I have been waiting for my DH when people are trying to wait in that area and it gets really mobbed. People are trying to see if their family is on the ride, check the pictures and then other people trying to exit at the same time. I have also seen a toddler, RUN toward the arriving car putting himself in danger. So - in the CM's defense this is a congested potentially dangerous area but again no excuse to be rude. IMHO they should move the picture screens so as not to bottle neck the exit.

 

[PammyK]

To the OP - some rides give out special "front of the line" passes when kids miss the height minimum. This allows them to go to the front of the queue the next time they come to the parks and are tall enough to ride the attraction.

Maybe the CM thought this is what you wanted?

 

[MelissathePooh]

Just wanted some clarification - Don't the parents first have to wait in line to get to the front and then request the child swap? In other words - go thru the line and the one rides and then swaps? I think I must be misunderstanding the posts in that it looks like its saying that you don't have to wait in line at all - just walk up and get you pass. That would seem kind of unfair. Just looking for clarification - thanks.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

I'm confused.........we child swapped on several rides last year and never had a tangible "pass." Have the babyswapping rules changed?

 

[100AcreMom]

For the past year, our experience with child pass has been that the CM gives you a "fastpass" type pass at the entrance to the ride. The first parent rides (only using the fastpass line if he or she obtained one) and the the second adult enters using the fast pass line with the swap ticket. Children are no longer allowed to go through the line and swap at the loading area. This is a real pain and causes a much longer separation of families. Also, small children cannot enjoy the que areas of attractions.

I suppose that it can be abused, but I don't think enough people utilize it to become a problem. I always have my child with me when I request a pass, and this is the FIRST time I have had any trouble.

 

[WDWAurora]

MellissathePooh...I see what you're saying. The second parent is given the pass (I think) but the first parent waits in line, while the second parent waits elsewhere with the child. After the first parent is done, then the second parent doesn't have to wait in line. That way, they don't have to double their wait time for both parents to ride. That make more sense?

 

[ukcatfan]

tjmw2727

I agree that the RNR exit area is designed bad. The strange thing about my situation was that in the twenty or so minutes I was waiting around in the store, I never even saw this woman. Then all of a sudden she appears out of nowhere to do this. All I can figure is she must have been on a break and came back to think that her employees were slacking off and not enforcing the rules.

I did go on the ride after this experience. While I was riding, my wife was waiting for me to get off the ride and she saw the woman come back out from the back just to scold the girl working the picture area about not controlling it correctly. Then as soon as she saw me get off the ride she disappeared again. I did not even notice. My wife told me that she saw me and bolted. I am sure she knew that she had done something bad and was afraid that I would report her. The really bad thing is that she was managing people.