Which rides for 9mo old

[94bruin]

We are taking dd1 for her first trip this September. She is 4 yo. Before I try to figure out which rides she can go on, I was wondering which rides the whole family can go on together (vs doing the parent switch thing.)

Also, for rides that our dd2 can go on, will I be able to stroll her through the queue or will I have to wear her in my ergo? I know that I have to hold her for the actual ride, but are there any rides that I can take the stroller all the way up to the ride? Or does it depend on the ride?

Thanks!

 

[Mugglemama]

there are no lines through which you can take a stroller. you will always be required to park them outside the queue before getting into line.

to answer your question about rides you can take your 9 month old on....i'm not sure what your baby's temperament is, but we've always taken our babies on the following rides, from the age of about 5 months:

POTC
IASW
Peter Pan
Mr. Toads
Snow White
Alice
Pooh
Pinocchio
Haunted Mansion
Jungle Cruise
DL railroad
Casey Jr. Circus Train
StorybookLand Canal Boats

at DCA:

Flik's Flyers
Heimlich's Chew Chew Train
Monsters, Inc. (although our kids were not babies anymore when this came out)

 

[94bruin]

Thanks for the quick reply.

About the parent switch, do the waiting parent and baby wait right by the loading area? Is there a place to sit usually? I guess if baby is sleeping in a carrier, switching off isn't going to be very practical.

 

[mechurchlady]

Baby slings are best for lines.

Baby swapping is where the whole group shows up and talks with the CM greeter for that ride. Everyone riding gets in line and the line can be single rider, fast pass, disabled/GAC, or stand by. The babysitter takes the kids and goes and does whatever she likes. The babysitter can go to the bathroom, get the kids lunch, or watch Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. When the group gets off the ride they take the kids while the babysitter then takes one or rarely two people with her. For Autopia the babysitter would go through the exit and immediately board once the CM has assigned them a car.

Each ride is different and the child swapping pass only works on rides with age or height limits so no you cannot get a pass for Snow White for example. Since one person is not using their FP then they could do the child swap and use an FP then the other parent goes to another FP ride and gets an FP. For a family with a short 4 year old that would double the family's FPs.

 

[94bruin]

So let me get this straight: the babysitter and non-riding child don't actually stand in line while parent1 is riding. They just wait outside of the queue for parent1 & child1.

When the first riding parent and child exit, then babysitter can ride with child1, correct?

How does the babysitter get to bypass the wait? Or is this different for each ride? What if the CM greeter changes while the first parent is on?

 

[94bruin]

Ooops - I just read your post a little more carefully. Babysitter enters through the exit. However, what happens if the CM greeter changes?

 

[mechurchlady]

You have a piece of cardstock to hand the person at the designated area such as an exit or fastpass line. The CM greeter is at the entrance to the ride and once you got that pass you can come back hours later if you want. So in theory Dad and Junior ride then the family goes to Ariel's Grotto for lunch then back to let Mom and Junior ride. As far as I know the pass is good all day for that one ride.

 

[94bruin]

As far as I know the pass is good all day for that one ride.

Well that is certainly a very helpful piece of information. Good to know that we're given something that identifies us and that it can be used all day. Even better now that I won't have to worry about potentially waking up baby from a nap. Thanks!

 

[youmyflower]

I just wanted to pop in and add that the only "real" guideline they have for the kids riding the ride is height restrictions. So obviously the 9 mo would be too short for anything with a height restriction, but anything else is fare game. It took a while for that to sink in for me when I went with my 2 mo. old - but I did carry her on pirates, haunted mansion, etc...

 

[Psymonds]

We were just there this past weekend with DS (6mo).

We have a Bjorn (fortunately with the extra back support) and he was actually able to ride many rides in that, generally anything where there isn't a lap bar (like the carousel, teacups, (on which he was indifferent, and almost fell asleep) pirates, IASW Casey jr and the subs)

his favorite rides were Casey jr and Nemo.

After about 2 hours of rides with him, he crashed in the stroller and we did grownup rides. there were three of us.

Rideswap varies by ride, but generally you go to the ride entrance or FP return and present the whole party. They give you a pass and then all but one or two adults get in line and ride. The stroller watcher is free to meander while the rest are on the ride, and I took a lot of pictures while I waited for rides. We switched of who watched and who rode first throughout the trip. the rideswap pass is good for two adults and is specific to each ride.

It will tell you on the pass where to go to board. On many attractions it is the FP return, but on Space it's through the exit, on TSMM it is through the disabled rider entrance, and on the matterhorn it's at the entrance to the line switchbacks at the control tower. In general, if you're not sure, ask the CM where to go.

It's worth noting that TSMM is an exception to the rule about only having stroller passes on height restricted ride. They made a point of telling us he could ride, but he was sleeping in the stroller, so they gave us a pass and I sat with 10-15 other full strollers watching Mr. Potatohead.

The pass is good all day and we even went back the next day when we had to run off for a feeding right after half our party rode one ride.

Also, since we had three adults, one lucky person rode twice on each attraction.