Rider Swap/Rider Switch/Child Swap: Digital System begins in late June

[jo-jo]

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This is obviously all speculation until it takes effect but I’d assume they don’t have to have FP. However since they aren’t there when the swap is requested they can’t participate in the swap either. If I understand the new info correctly they will load the entitlement for the swap onto the magic bands of those using the swap (up to a max of 3 people). Since the grandparents aren’t there they don’t need a FP but they also can’t go as part of the swap group. Only those present when the swap is requested can go as it is loaded onto their bands (unless people switch bands with those in their group)

On my part, duuhhhhh. You make perfect sense. I was thinking if Group 1 had a FP for space at 10 am, Group 2 not in park yet has a FP for space at noon. I was worried CM would say you have a part of 6, where are they?

 

[pd1138]

I have a question I haven’t seen addressed.

Just as an example: say I have a FoP FP for 2-3 PM and a safari FP for 3-4 PM. My family gets to FoP at 2:15 PM. We get a RS to ensure that both of us will be able to get on the ride since it can take awhile for one person to get through. Now I’ve got a RS pass that runs over my safari FP window. Will the system allow that?

Guess I have this question also!
My FP window opens in just over a week so I won’t have first hand accounts before planning my FOP and EE passes which my three year old will be too small to ride. Also, if it overlaps what if you don’t have time to do RS and the next FP window? Having used RS many times over the last ten years I like most of the anticipated changes....just not this one hour window. I’m so glad my youngest will be 40 inches this trip....so many less RS to worry about and so many more opportunities to finally ride as a family!! Can’t wait to ride TT and fill the car! No more strangers in our photo!

 

[DizneyMommy]

Guess I have this question also!
My FP window opens in just over a week so I won’t have first hand accounts before planning my FOP and EE passes which my three year old will be too small to ride. Also, if it overlaps what if you don’t have time to do RS and the next FP window? Having used RS many times over the last ten years I like most of the anticipated changes....just not this one hour window. I’m so glad my youngest will be 40 inches this trip....so many less RS to worry about and so many more opportunities to finally ride as a family!! Can’t wait to ride TT and fill the car! No more strangers in our photo!

I’m hoping that the CM will be able to schedule your hour later if needed. We may run in to the same problem with FoP and Safari if the FoP FP line moves too slow.

 

[icesk8abc]

So it looks like everyone will have to scan their FP+ to be sure everyone has one. So now my 4 year old will have fastpasses for ToT, RnR, EE, TT, FOP, and the 3 mountains at the very least that she will not use. I only have one ticketed child (other will be almost 2), but some families have more. Multiply that times the number of families with children too short/don't want to ride who used to get them something else. You now have the number of fastpasses no longer available to people actually tall enough to ride. I'm sure Disney will adjust...eventually.

I have a question for getting 4th FP+. Even though she won't ride, can I/will I tap my preschooler's magic band at Rock N Roller coaster or where ever to clear the FP+ so we can book a 4th? 5th? etc.

 

[DizneyMommy]

So it looks like everyone will have to scan their FP+ to be sure everyone has one. So now my 4 year old will have fastpasses for ToT, RnR, EE, TT, FOP, and the 3 mountains at the very least that she will not use. I only have one ticketed child (other will be almost 2), but some families have more. Multiply that times the number of families with children too short/don't want to ride who used to get them something else. You now have the number of fastpasses no longer available to people actually tall enough to ride. I'm sure Disney will adjust...eventually.

I have a question for getting 4th FP+. Even though she won't ride, can I/will I tap my preschooler's magic band at Rock N Roller coaster or where ever to clear the FP+ so we can book a 4th? 5th? etc.

You would only need throw away FP’s for your first 3 of the day. Not for he 4th, 5th, etc. just don’t get those for her, that’s not necessary. If I understand them correctly you can also just let them expire without tapping in. It does suck, but with the way the FP+ system is set up, Disney pretty much forces you to do that or else that child will never get to get 4th FP.

I guess if you wanted that 4th and that’s why you want to tap her band, I would just tap it to clear it so you can get something else? Luckily our too-short is only 2 this trip!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

So it looks like everyone will have to scan their FP+ to be sure everyone has one. So now my 4 year old will have fastpasses for ToT, RnR, EE, TT, FOP, and the 3 mountains at the very least that she will not use. I only have one ticketed child (other will be almost 2), but some families have more. Multiply that times the number of families with children too short/don't want to ride who used to get them something else. You now have the number of fastpasses no longer available to people actually tall enough to ride. I'm sure Disney will adjust...eventually.

I have a question for getting 4th FP+. Even though she won't ride, can I/will I tap my preschooler's magic band at Rock N Roller coaster or where ever to clear the FP+ so we can book a 4th? 5th? etc.

Or, the other option is to FP rides that the whole family can enjoy and then you won't "waste" any FPs. There's nothing that says you have to FP those specific rides.

 

[KrazeeK120]

So it looks like everyone will have to scan their FP+ to be sure everyone has one. So now my 4 year old will have fastpasses for ToT, RnR, EE, TT, FOP, and the 3 mountains at the very least that she will not use. I only have one ticketed child (other will be almost 2), but some families have more. Multiply that times the number of families with children too short/don't want to ride who used to get them something else. You now have the number of fastpasses no longer available to people actually tall enough to ride. I'm sure Disney will adjust...eventually.

I have a question for getting 4th FP+. Even though she won't ride, can I/will I tap my preschooler's magic band at Rock N Roller coaster or where ever to clear the FP+ so we can book a 4th? 5th? etc.

The other problem with this is that it ties up FP and makes them unavailable for people who would actually use them.

 

[DizneyMommy]

The other problem with this is that it ties up FP and makes them unavailable for people who would actually use them.

It does, and that is something disney should have figured would happen. But on the other hand it does help account for an extra RS rider going with the adult who sat out, so it kind of organically manages the FP line.

 

[DavidNYC]

Or, the other option is to FP rides that the whole family can enjoy and then you won't "waste" any FPs. There's nothing that says you have to FP those specific rides.

Then you end up standby on rides with hour waits making a child wait that much longer for adults to ride. There are many ways Disney can cut down abuse of paper passes without unnecessarily inconveniencing parents of young kids. My view is you either have to let parties split fastpasses or you have to give return time flexibility. If you offer neither you are basically forcing a party with a child to wait at the ride rather than go off and do something else.

 

[mster425]

Ive got no skin in this game bc all my kids are tall enough- but whats the point of rider swap if everyone has to have a FP? lE, DH and i both want to ride Splash but one of us stays back with DS, if we both have FPs we are going through the FP line anyway when we swap out. rider swap is kinda useless with this update. Except it extends the expiration time of the FP, i guess.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Ive got no skin in this game bc all my kids are tall enough- but whats the point of rider swap if everyone has to have a FP? lE, DH and i both want to ride Splash but one of us stays back with DS, if we both have FPs we are going through the FP line anyway when we swap out. rider swap is kinda useless with this update. Except it extends the expiration time of the FP, i guess.

Not useless at all when you are using it in standby lines, which is how it was originally designed. That's why I suggested earlier that families should FP attractions that everyone can enjoy and save the RS for standby lines.

 

[HopperFan]

Ive got no skin in this game bc all my kids are tall enough- but whats the point of rider swap if everyone has to have a FP? lE, DH and i both want to ride Splash but one of us stays back with DS, if we both have FPs we are going through the FP line anyway when we swap out. rider swap is kinda useless with this update. Except it extends the expiration time of the FP, i guess.

We don't know what is actually going to happen for sure except likely digital - and that is something they are experienced at already so hoping it's fine tuned.

My thoughts to your question -
- Rider Switch began BEFORE there was FastPass so folks didn't have to wait twice in Standby line when they stopped switching at exit
- With FP ... RS really isn't needed
- With SB waits, it is still important
- Where it helps FP+ is (1) as you say makes sure your FP+ window doesn't expire (2) with odd number families allows the one waiting behind to bring someone with them
- Will close the loophole that allows folks to double their FP+
- Will close the new loop of getting TWO Tier 1 rides (Navi and FoP)(soon to be TSL rides)(down the road SWL)(down the road possibly MK issue with Tron)

 

[MrInfinity]

Ive got no skin in this game bc all my kids are tall enough- but whats the point of rider swap if everyone has to have a FP? lE, DH and i both want to ride Splash but one of us stays back with DS, if we both have FPs we are going through the FP line anyway when we swap out. rider swap is kinda useless with this update. Except it extends the expiration time of the FP, i guess.

I think that's part of the confusion. Rider Switch has nothing to do with Fast Pass. If you have Fast Pass, you ride via that. Rider Switch is a tool for if you are walking up to a ride and riding Standby, you can split your party. Half of them wait Standby, then when back, the other half can go thru quickly via the Fast Pass lane. Thus, you are not forced to wait Standby twice because you have a baby. That is all RS is. It's explained on the website. All applications of it with Fast Pass are unintended, against the rules, but not enforced thus many people do it. These changes should hopefully make it work as intended.

 

[icesk8abc]

Ive got no skin in this game bc all my kids are tall enough- but whats the point of rider swap if everyone has to have a FP? lE, DH and i both want to ride Splash but one of us stays back with DS, if we both have FPs we are going through the FP line anyway when we swap out. rider swap is kinda useless with this update. Except it extends the expiration time of the FP, i guess.

Exactly the last thing you said...and how we mostly ended up using rider swap even with paper tickets. If our FP+ window is 10:00-11:00 and we arrived at 10:40, we could both still ride. The only difference is that it may (depending on how it works out) force you to do the second ride right then. Previously if the FP line + preshow + ride took a while, I would ride during our window and my husband would come back during the time I took the kids to the room for a nap. We are considering just getting 2 FP+ times, but that affects our ability to get a 4th FP. It's a wait and see game right now. Luckily for us it should have a few weeks live before we have to make our FP+ choices. And other than a few rides, they should be easy to change around if we change our minds.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I think it’s important they allow RS with FP (and I know they are, just explaining for those confused) because otherwise families with small children are restricted to the beginning of the FP window for arrival time except for a select few attractions that will move you through faster. Think of how long the entire experience takes even with FP on attractions like FoP, Soarin’, etc. Especially so when you have a backed up FP line.

Even if you arrive at the very beginning of the window, in some circumstances you still might not get that 2nd group in during your window. That’s what RS is for.

 

[icesk8abc]

It does, and that is something disney should have figured would happen. But on the other hand it does help account for an extra RS rider going with the adult who sat out, so it kind of organically manages the FP line.

Right it manages the line, but doesn't open the availability to those who may actually want the FP. So I book my FOP FP+ for 60+7 which happens to be someone's 60+3 (or +2 or +4). When they go to book, there is one fewer because my non-riding 4 year old has one. And not just one because multiplied times the too short riders for all families. When I wrote it, I wasn't referring to the line, just availability.

 

[DizneyMommy]

I think that's part of the confusion. Rider Switch has nothing to do with Fast Pass. If you have Fast Pass, you ride via that. Rider Switch is a tool for if you are walking up to a ride and riding Standby, you can split your party. Half of them wait Standby, then when back, the other half can go thru quickly via the Fast Pass lane. Thus, you are not forced to wait Standby twice because you have a baby. That is all RS is. It's explained on the website. All applications of it with Fast Pass are unintended, against the rules, but not enforced thus many people do it. These changes should hopefully make it work as intended.

I am not sure where you are getting that from. The intent of rider switch is so that the second party riding does not have to wait in the standby line. Regardless of where the first party wait it. That is in line with Disney his own policy that they will email you if you asked. If we have fast passes and we come near the end of our window or the fast pass line is moving particularly slow, and our fast pass expires before the second party can get in line, without a rider switch now they are waiting in the standby line which makes no sense

It is absolutely not against the rules to get a RS with a FP, email Disney and ask.

 

[WillowRain]

What happens if it takes longer than one hour for the first rider to ride? It has taken me longer than one hour to do an attraction before with a FP when you count the wait and the attraction. I have waited in a FP line longer than an hour before. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. It doesn't bother me that it is going digital and it doesn't really bother me that you can only have one. The one hour window does, however, annoy me. It can take longer than one hour to ride the ride, get back with your party, switch off kids and get back. To me that adds another layer of added stress. Further, if you use RS the way Disney claims it is supposed to work (you can take you little one on another attraction while the one parent and older kids ride) what if they aren't done with their attraction. This just sounds stressful.

Explain your situation, they can see what time your RS expired on their handheld devices. I am sure if it's within a reasonable time, they will still let you ride. Not like 2 hours or something.

Again, I disagree.

UNLESS MY UNDERSTANDING HAS BEEN INCORRECT AND EVERYONE NEEDS A FAST PASS TO GET RIDER SWAP (WHICH I REALLY DIDNT THINK WAS THE CASE)- AND IF IT IS, THEN THAT WILL CHANGE MY OPINION:

Childswap family of 4
Mom and DS1 Book fast pass for Space (gets swap)
Mom and DS1 book fast pass for SDMT (gets swap)
Mom and DS1 book fast pass for Splash (gets swap)
Dad and DS2 Book fast pass for BTMR (gets swap)
Dad and DS2 Book Fast pass for Space (different time) (gets swap)
Dad and DS2 Book Fast pass for SDMT (different time) (gets swap)

12 experiences on rides total

Non Childswap family of 4:
Whole Family book fast pass for Space
Whole book fast pass for SDMT
Whole family book fast pass for Splash

3 experiences on rides total


So yes, they have to go through the ride cycle twice, but they also get 12 total experiences as a family, while the nonswap family gets 3. 12 total experiences/2cycles = 6. Effectively getting 6 fast passes. On top of that, the other half of the swapping family can ride something else WHILE they are waiting, upping the number of ride experiences the family gets.

No. If you want a RS when you scan in a FP, you ALL need the FP. You will not be able to book multiple tier passes and get RS. That's why they are switching.

Except this is not waiting in a room for one parent to ride. The second group has to go through the fastpass line again. Those of you who haven’t done this may say that’s not a big deal, but this means that for all my family to ride one ride, it takes at least an hour for many (I’d say most) rides. With fastpasses! It would be much faster for all my party to enter the line and then swap in a little room.

Also, I’ve seen this mentioned before - the complaint about having a stack of rider swaps. It was not unusual for my family, over the course of a week’s vacation, to amass 5 - 10 rider swaps at a time. We like to go to the parks early and take advantage of short lines in the first few hours of park opening. We would do the headliners once each, grabbing rider swaps at each one, and return later to use them. I fail to see how simply having more than one rider swap at one time is abuse of the system.

I remember as a child, my mom and dad and I would all wait in a line, say for Matterhorn. Then dad and I would cross through and wait at the exit, Then when mom came back, they let dad ride. This was in the 80's. It's an idea, one that should be expressed to Disney perhaps. But the way we did it, it was I ride with the 2 girls, then Dad ride with 2 girls. Yes, dad and I could have split 1 kid each, but this way our girls got to ride twice the rides. And Disneyland was totally fine with that, at each station they made it a point to tell the girls they could ride again with dad. Either way we run it, it still takes twice the time, but luckily they were on point it it took no longer than 20 mins on any ride. Doing it digitally with the 1 hour window, honestly makes it more fair and gives them much more control over the ride times if you think about it. Because they KNOW how many people they should expect in the FP line now, unlike paper collectives where they have no clue how many should be returning at any given time. This is a good thing, trust me!!!

I have a question I haven’t seen addressed.

Just as an example: say I have a FoP FP for 2-3 PM and a safari FP for 3-4 PM. My family gets to FoP at 2:15 PM. We get a RS to ensure that both of us will be able to get on the ride since it can take awhile for one person to get through. Now I’ve got a RS pass that runs over my safari FP window. Will the system allow that?

As far as I could tell, we were allowed to hold multiple FP but not RS, like I had a RS for Indy and a FP for Thunder that started in 40 mins, and that was fine. So you should be able to hold a RS and FP during the same time window for two different rides, just never two RS and never two FP during the same time window.

 

[HopperFan]

I think that's part of the confusion. Rider Switch has nothing to do with Fast Pass. If you have Fast Pass, you ride via that. Rider Switch is a tool for if you are walking up to a ride and riding Standby, you can split your party. Half of them wait Standby, then when back, the other half can go thru quickly via the Fast Pass lane. Thus, you are not forced to wait Standby twice because you have a baby. That is all RS is. It's explained on the website. All applications of it with Fast Pass are unintended, against the rules, but not enforced thus many people do it. These changes should hopefully make it work as intended.

WOW, I have never picked up on the terminology. You are right. Which it is how it was set up before FP+, it should have continued how they set it up once FastPass came - guests just now have two options.




What Is Rider Switch and How Does It Work?
If Guests in your party can’t or don’t want to board an attraction, you don’t have to miss out!

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!

Rider Switch is available at select attractions at all 4 Walt Disney World Resort theme parks.

To Use Rider Switch:

1. First check with a Cast member to see if Rider Switch is offered at the attraction in question.

2. Once at the attraction, approach the greeting Cast Member with your entire party. At least one adult member of your party and the Guests who are not riding will be given a Ride Switch pass and asked to wait in a designated area (usually outside of the attraction). This group is “Party 2.”

3. The other party members (“Party 1”) ride the attraction.

4. After riding the attraction, Party 1 locates Party 2 and gives the Rider Switch pass to the adult member who will be riding. Party 1 takes over supervision of the non-riding children or Guests.

5. Party 2 enters and boards the attraction without having to wait in the regular queue a second time. The Rider Switch Pass must be presented to a Cast Member at this time.

If the person in Party 2 waited alone with the child, he or she may bring one other Guest back to ride the attraction with him or her. Please note that only 2 Guests are allowed per Rider Switch Pass.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Right it manages the line, but doesn't open the availability to those who may actually want the FP. So I book my FOP FP+ for 60+7 which happens to be someone's 60+3 (or +2 or +4). When they go to book, there is one fewer because my non-riding 4 year old has one. And not just one because multiplied times the too short riders for all families. When I wrote it, I wasn't referring to the line, just availability.

I know. And it is something that makes no sense to me either. Being a Disneyland family, we never book fast passes ahead of time, so we have never run into this issue until our Disney World trip. I actually sent an email to guest relations explaining this exact scenario and how this will start to affect fast pass availability. Somehow I think someone didn’t think this one through. I doubt they care, but it made me feel better LOL