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

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Has there been confirmation from Disney when this will go into effect? Our dates are 13-23...wondering if we need to change things around.

I haven't seen ANY confirmation of anything from Disney directly so all this information is still "unconfirmed".

BUT the articles report June 19th and also reported they will also refuse to honor any rider switch passes folks are holding.

We shall see ...
 
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.t y

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.
We did something similar on trip with daughter and her family which includes two toddlers.
We got RS on applicable rides. Parents rode while we kept kids. Each night they would go back early to put kids to bed and we then used our rider swaps. It allowed more time together while they were in park and they did not have to wait while we got our turn to ride.
 
We did something similar on trip with daughter and her family which includes two toddlers.
We got RS on applicable rides. Parents rode while we kept kids. Each night they would go back early to put kids to bed and we then used our rider swaps. It allowed more time together while they were in park and they did not have to wait while we got our turn to ride.

This can still work for you, just slit the party and get your FP+ for the height restricted ride for the evening?

We have used rider swap/baby switch in all its forms over the years from switching at the exit to paper passes and there have always been pros and cons IMHO. At first glance I like this new program, it still allows extra time for families who can't ride together to avoid waiting standby twice (the original intent) but cuts down on abuse.
 
This can still work for you, just slit the party and get your FP+ for the height restricted ride for the evening?

We have used rider swap/baby switch in all its forms over the years from switching at the exit to paper passes and there have always been pros and cons IMHO. At first glance I like this new program, it still allows extra time for families who can't ride together to avoid waiting standby twice (the original intent) but cuts down on abuse.

Exactly! I cannot believe people were selling and buying them. And I will also say, without naming names, that one night on a ride that my husband and I were riding over and over again at closing, a very nice CM gave us a wad of rider swaps, like 10 of them. And we went and used a few the next day and gave away a few, since it was our last night there. So stuff like that cannot happen anymore.
 
That would be me! :crazy2: I’m anticipating a rash of really irritated people throwing fits and holding up lines because their loophole got closed. I feel for the CM’s
This was actually pretty interesting... We were there last June when the "extra bands loophole" was closed. We were at the MK that morning hanging out near the Philharmagic kiosks. It was fun watching the guests "splaining" to the CM's how it's supposed to work, how they were right, how it always worked, etc. The CMs did not seem put out, the guests were annoyed that they were standing around at rope drop at kiosks trying to cheat the system and justify it as a legit thing. :) #NoShameInLying
 
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I would lay down my life for my kids, but they'd be pulling my Mine Train FP's from my cold dead hands before I'd trade them for those terrible carpets they love. Trust me, a toddler getting an extra turn on Tomorrowland Speedway with me is not taking anything away from a childless adult's disney experience.

Side note- Disney is totally turning us against each other right now because of a problem they created. Standby lines are crazy long even for the least popular attractions bc of what they've done with the FP system. When you only had one paper fastpass at a time, you just went to Space M with your party, showed them a little kid, and got rider swap passes, and then adult 1 got in line however your little heart desired, FP or not. the littles could go standby on another attraction with little to no wait, but often those don't exist anymore. Now with tiers and times and paid FP we're all posting hundreds of replies and getting up in arms (myself included, I'm legit annoyed at the policy and it will have 0 effect on my life) because someone's child might get an extra ride on It's Small World. So crazy.

Bottom line is, riding standby on anything doesn't make a lot of sense to me anymore and I definitely would not tour that way, especially with little kids. No one on these boards is riding SB on the major rides.

While it doesn't make sense to you, it's also how most people do rides. We do use mostly FP+ as well ... because we ROLL ROLL ROLL #4. But it's up to us to decide if the destination structure is for us.

It's my belief that this is happening because of the new lands opening up. Toy Story Land is coming up soon, and they have two rides opening with height restrictions. SWL is a whole other animal. Getting FPs for that is going to be insane.

It's easy to get into an us-against-them mentality as customer, but Disney doesn't do things to enforce fairness between guests. They didn't build FP+ for that reason, along with a whole bunch of other changes since then. They do change things when it's in their best business interest to do so.

AND the fact that Pandora, TSL, SWL are offering up two new, high demand attractions in one FP+ tier. They have set the scene for guests to work every angle they can to get both. Disney knows that, it's publicly discussed as a work around. While "fairness" isn't their focus, overall guest experience is .... and all you have to do is look around and see these days the parks are packed and they are packed with older families and adults. All who generate more income. It comes down to $ and which guests generate the most.

I see both side of this argument, which is why I typically don't get too involved in the discussions. I agree that once I had kids I realized that I wasn't able to do many of the things I used to take for granted. In fact, we haven't gone back to Hershey Park, Cedar Point, or Kennywood since we had kids because i don't want to see all of those big fun coasters and not be able to ride them since the kids can't, and I won't make them just sit around all day waiting while we ride the big rides. However, for some reason at Disney I don't want to have to miss all of the headliners since I have kids under 44 (or 40 or 48)". I'm not sure why the distinction - maybe because Disney is such a big trip - tons of planning, huge expense, long trip, etc and those other parks are one day with maybe an overnight stay or 2 to make it a weekend. Maybe because Disney is considered more of a family park. I don't know why, but it seems like in every other aspect of life I will "sacrifice" my own fun, dessert, seat, etc for my kids (mostly) gladly, but when we go to Disney I want to hit both the fun rides even lap babies can ride as well as the headliners - and IMO those headliners require FPs. We aren't willing to wait more than say 30 min for any ride, and haven't done RD since our second child. I do, however, know it's a choice and I could make all FPs for rides even the babies could ride. Since our upcoming trip is long we have some days we do have 3 FPs for rides we can all ride, and other days we either have a sitter for the babies or will utilize RS. It felt weird making FPs for IASW, Dumbo, and LM during this trip, like I should be trying for harder to get ones (we do have those on other days...). I guess what I'm saying is that for some reason I feel that at Disney, it doesn't seem right for one parent to have to sacrifice the big rides when they have a kid under 40". I'm not saying Disney has to care, it just feels that way to me, and I'm glad there is (or maybe was) a way for them to avoid this.

My kids have a nine year span and with 3 that meant MANY years of someone can't ride some things ... and now with a disabled adult ... I've never left that mode. You make it work by carefully choosing your FP+ and clearing those first three asap and then roll that 4th FP+. My DS doesn't miss a ride except for those he can't ride, I don't have to miss a ride because how we do FP+ or I roll my 4th on one of those.

They won’t require it to get the RS, but if it is one of their first 3 if the day they need to “burn” it so they can get to their 4th and so on. If that makes sense! Otherwise that child won’t be eligible for the 4th FP if they try to get a Tier 1 or get it in a different park.

Burn that thing even if you just walk up and scan the band. We often do this so we can get on with the 4th and roll it. DS doesn't know he didn't use a FP+? I think folks put too much emphasis on using every single of the first 3 ns a perfect way for each. The 4th is the golden ticket, virtually no rules on usage.

I HOPE that is not the case, then my girls won't ever get to ride together unless my husband or I decide not to ride, or we ride alone. I like the 3 people added back on thing for many reasons. But if they make it that way, so be it.

Same exact scenario for us, except it’s my boys :-). My DH and I don’t particularly want to ride alone, and the taller kids tolerate how long the whole process takes because they at least get 2 rides out of the deal. But as long as they have a consistent policy I’ll deal with whatever change they make. I just want it to be consistent, and not that some times they let them ride twice and other times they are told no.

Well, while the passes they have been handing out say 3 can return, the website says only 2 can return, and Disneyland's reads even more restrictive so .... we have to wait and see.
 
This was actually pretty interesting... We were there last June when the "extra bands loophole" was closed. We were at the MK that morning hanging out near the Philharmagic kiosks. It was fun watching the guests "splaining" to the CM's how it's supposed to work, how they were right, how it always worked, etc. The CMs did not seem put out, the guests were annoyed that they were standing around at rope drop at kiosks trying to cheat the system and justify it as a legit thing. :)
Beautiful thing when CMs stand their ground and don't let whiny entitled guests have their way when their way is against the rules. Love it.
 


I may have missed this...with Disneyland’s current RS system, how many return guests do they allow on the RS? Not saying it will eventually be the same at WDW but I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept it consistent.
 
This was actually pretty interesting... We were there last June when the "extra bands loophole" was closed. We were at the MK that morning hanging out near the Philharmagic kiosks. It was fun watching the guests "splaining" to the CM's how it's supposed to work, how they were right, how it always worked, etc. The CMs did not seem put out, the guests were annoyed that they were standing around at rope drop at kiosks trying to cheat a closed loophole and justify it as a legit thing. :)

I'll admit I don't really understand the extra band loophole, I knew something like that existed but just never bothered to learn the details. But I knew the gist, and I don't feel like this is quite the same thing, and really the RS wasn't using a loophole per say. For RS, you have to have a child under the height requirement, and up until more recently people would ask disney and they would be told that both adults didn't need FPs for the ride, only the first one did. So even if it wasn't the original intent, Disney perpetuated the ability to have one adult take the taller kids on a ride with a FP while a second adult took the shorter child on a second ride with a FP, and could still ride the first FP ride with the RS pass while the taller kids got to ride twice. It sounds as if Disney has been backing off on saying that more recently, but they definitely used to. I just can't figure out why "people" get so upset when someone else gets to do something in a different way that isn't necessarily against a rule, but is open for interpretation - not always better, but often perceived as better. If something doesn't affect you, what's the difference? Trust me, it's so much better when your kids are all tall enough to ride and you don't have to mess with RS and entertaining the shorter child while someone else rides the bigger rides. Getting to ride an extra ride, if you feel that's what happens, is in no way worth the hassle of it all. Otherwise, people would be looking for kids to take to the park with them to be able to use RS and I've never heard of that one out there yet :D! I do agree, IF this happens like we've been speculating for the past couple of days, there are going to be some upset people but again I feel that is Disney's fault. When you do something for years, even if it isn't an ironclad rule, and then you change it, I do expect people who aren't reading disney message boards like crazy to be taken by surprise. And that never goes well. even super nice people can get defensive and angry when that happens, particularly during a vacation when they might have booked their room a year ahead, their meals 180 days ahead, and what ride they will ride when 60 days ahead. To then find something you have done a certain way for possibly dozens of trips is completely different and you actually planned entire trips around a certain way of touring that won't work now - I can see why that would be frustrating and make someone upset at that moment. Not saying Disney can't do it, just saying I see the guests POV. Not everyone reads disboards and gets so into the minutiae of the trip. I know I have been caught by the issue that a CM may have "bent" a rule for me once and I didn't realize they were doing me a favor, and then the second time I would get a little huffy when I wasn't allowed to do the same thing until I realized what had happened and then calmed down and felt bad. That's happened to me in other aspect of life than Disney as well. If someone saw me at the wrong moment and didn't understand, then I would look bad!! Then I always feel really bad about it after the fact and end up bending over backwards to make up for it and not come across badly! So I try to see both sides or realize I don't know the whole story most of the time when I see a family doing something I perceive as acting poorly or getting something unfair. Occasionally i can't help myself and judge away, though! Sometimes it sure looks bad on the outside.
 
This was actually pretty interesting... We were there last June when the "extra bands loophole" was closed. We were at the MK that morning hanging out near the Philharmagic kiosks. It was fun watching the guests "splaining" to the CM's how it's supposed to work, how they were right, how it always worked, etc. The CMs did not seem put out, the guests were annoyed that they were standing around at rope drop at kiosks trying to cheat a closed loophole and justify it as a legit thing. :)

I hate having to always point this out, but if the rules allow something, then it isn't a cheat. That's why all the "extra bands loophole" discussion was allowed on the boards here, but then was completely removed after the rules changed. (Personally, I would have preferred the threads to have been archived as closed threads, so the historical information isn't completely lost, and the mods should then allow nostalgic threads about prior experiences, but I digress.) The CM's would have best handled the situation you observed by explaining upfront, "Yes, you are right, that was allowed yesterday, but today we have new rules in place that you must follow."

In any case, I really do not like the idea of not honoring previously issued swap passes. Any swap passes in circulation should be honored until the printed expiration date. Most of them are probably used same day anyway, so it is likely a small impact. It is terribly unfair to those who obtained them legitimately.

The only fair way to implement this IMHO would be to coordinate the implementation date of a new system that no longer accepts paper RS passes with the expiration of swap passes that have been issued. Presumably swap passes being issued today have an expiration date of 6/15/18. If the next batch of swap passes that are issued after 6/15/18 all expire on 6/18/18, and the new paperless RS system goes online on 6/19/18, that would be fair.
 
Because this change to Rider Swap is still not confirmed and discussion of loopholes past and present is taking place, closing and referring to the current thread over on Rumors:

Rider Switch changing
 
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