DIGITAL Rider Swap/Rider Switch/Child Swap: In Effect as of June 16th

I'm lost on this new system. If everyone has to have a Fastpass and the same person can't ride twice, it really is the same thing as a Fastpass, not a 'swap', right? It seems like if that is the case, Rider Swap should only be offered for standby riders, unless I'm missing something?
 
A swap at boarding for those tall enough seems fair. We’ve used rider swap when they were infants and it worked well. But now they are over 38” and I don’t understand not booking a FP+ because I *think* they wouldn’t ride? What if they want to?

Exactly. That's one way in which people try to get rider swap for a tall enough kid (so they can save the FP for something else) and then just let that kid ride later with the rider swap. Doing the swap at boarding prevents people from doing that, although for some families it's just not workable to bring the tall enough child into the line when they won't ride.
 
I'm lost on this new system. If everyone has to have a Fastpass and the same person can't ride twice, it really is the same thing as a Fastpass, not a 'swap', right? It seems like if that is the case, Rider Swap should only be offered for standby riders, unless I'm missing something?

I'm not sure where you're getting the impression that people can't ride twice. A few people have posted that that is allowed.

For instance, a family of 5 with Mom, dad, 2 tall enough kids, and 1 kid who is too short. Mom and the 2 kids tall enough are going to ride first while Dad stays back with the short kid. Dad and 2 tall kids get a rider swap pass added to their bands. Mom and 2 tall kids ride while Dad takes the short kid to get a snack. Then mom stays with the short kid while Dad takes the older 2 back on the ride with the rider swap passes. Mom and dad each ride once and the two older kids get to ride twice, once with each parent.

In regards to everyone needing a FP, there have been several reports of the second group not needing it. Some people have posted that phone/chat/emails with Disney have indicated that everyone needs a FP, but others have said they were told the second group didn't need FP. So far, I don't think anyone has reported being denied a rider swap because the second group didn't have FP.
 
I'm not sure where you're getting the impression that people can't ride twice. A few people have posted that that is allowed.

For instance, a family of 5 with Mom, dad, 2 tall enough kids, and 1 kid who is too short. Mom and the 2 kids tall enough are going to ride first while Dad stays back with the short kid. Dad and 2 tall kids get a rider swap pass added to their bands. Mom and 2 tall kids ride while Dad takes the short kid to get a snack. Then mom stays with the short kid while Dad takes the older 2 back on the ride with the rider swap passes. Mom and dad each ride once and the two older kids get to ride twice, once with each parent.

In regards to everyone needing a FP, there have been several reports of the second group not needing it. Some people have posted that phone/chat/emails with Disney have indicated that everyone needs a FP, but others have said they were told the second group didn't need FP. So far, I don't think anyone has reported being denied a rider swap because the second group didn't have FP.


Some people have said that people are able to ride twice and others are saying this is not allowed; some say not everyone needs a FastPass and some say you do... to me, unless it is a written in stone rule, I am not going to roll the dice and will plan on the "worse case scenario". If Disney reps are saying people are not 'officially' allowed to ride twice, that's what I'll go by... just given my temperament, I like a guarantee to begin with; and add to that the fact that I'm spending thousands of dollars and countless hours on planning four days of my life (and my family / extended family's life,) and I'm just not willing to gamble and say "We'll see what they say when we get there". So for me personally, if there is not clarity on the rule, then the rule is whatever the most restrictive possible version is. I get that other people are probably cool with hoping for the best once they get to the park, though - personally I would just be too nervous doing that.
 
I'm still planing on staggering my FP+ so that too short kid and parent can ride a different attraction while the first group rides. Why should 1 kid have to wait around, or wait in a huge queue just because they are too short? At the end of the day Disney has a "no sad kid" policy and I doubt I will be denied a rider switch because I don't have a FP+.
 
I'm still planing on staggering my FP+ so that too short kid and parent can ride a different attraction while the first group rides. Why should 1 kid have to wait around, or wait in a huge queue just because they are too short? At the end of the day Disney has a "no sad kid" policy and I doubt I will be denied a rider switch because I don't have a FP+.

We're going with this policy as well. My only real concern is FoP, and my husband is on the fence about riding it because of his penchant for motion sickness. I'm making the first FP in my name with the assumption that they'll load him a RS. His FP will be with the kids on NRJ. If they really give us a hard time, then he'll treat it as "fate" that the ride was going to make him sick anyway.
 


I'm still planing on staggering my FP+ so that too short kid and parent can ride a different attraction while the first group rides. Why should 1 kid have to wait around, or wait in a huge queue just because they are too short? At the end of the day Disney has a "no sad kid" policy and I doubt I will be denied a rider switch because I don't have a FP+.

I think what Disney May tell you is that there’s no requirement to ride height restricted rides. You have the option to use all of your FPs for rides everyone can ride.

If I were you, I’d be prepared for the possibility of being turned away if you don’t have a FP, particularly at the most popular rides. You may be given a RS, but the possibility exists that you won’t. It’s up to you whether or not to risk it.
 
Does anyone have experience with RS at rope drop yet? Will they let a ton of people go past you as they mess with your bands?
 
I am also interested to know how RS is working out at rope drop, our next trip will be with a 2 month old and I don't want to deal with the stress of an early arrival/fighting the crowds, if we will just end up losing our place in line due to trying to get rider switch. The only ride I would potentially try to rope drop would be FOP but that is the craziest rope drop. Hoping someone will share their experience!
 
How does rider swap work for standby? We will be 4 plus 1 too short to ride. If 2 wait in the standby line while the other 2 wait with the toddler does the 2ed group of 2 then get to go through the fp line when the first 2 return?

Also, how does the swap work during EMH?

Thanks
 
Okay... just confirming that this should be fine? Four of us: me, husband, daughter (over 44") and son (under 44").

- Husband & daughter use FP+ for Flight of Passage
- We get rider swap issued onto MB because son is too short for FOP
- Son & I use FP+ for Navi while husband & daughter are on FOP
- Daughter & I go on FOP within the allotted timeframe with rider swap
(even though she already rode and I did not have a FP+ since I had one for Navi instead)

...right?
 
Okay... just confirming that this should be fine? Four of us: me, husband, daughter (over 44") and son (under 44").

- Husband & daughter use FP+ for Flight of Passage
- We get rider swap issued onto MB because son is too short for FOP
- Son & I use FP+ for Navi while husband & daughter are on FOP
- Daughter & I go on FOP within the allotted timeframe with rider swap
(even though she already rode and I did not have a FP+ since I had one for Navi instead)

...right?

Sorry, wish I could give you a clear answer on this because I had wanted to do the same thing and was told by one person on these boards that the CM did not allow it for them, but then heard from others that they did it without a problem. The bottom line is that this strategy seems to work more often than not, but sometimes the CM will not give you a rider swap unless all of you have a fastpass for FOP (also heard of this happening for 7DMT). So you can try this, and it will probably work, but there are no guarantees.
 
Here now and want to let everyone what know what we experienced in MK yesterday. DS 7 is tall enough but will not ride Splash or Big Thunder. I made a FP for DH only and he asked about getting a Rider Swap for me but at both rides the CMs said that I would have to have a FP as well in order to do a RS. They would not give him one.
I was curious how it would work for us and I wasn’t upset about not being able to ride (I’m not a fan of going by myself) but I did want to see how the CMs would handle this and report back for others bc we know Disney isn’t always consistent.
 
Does anyone know if Disney will still include Frozen and Buzzlightyear in Rider Swap? Even though these rides do not have height restrictions, we were given paper rider swap passes for both Multiple times in the past. Will this go away?
 
Does anyone know if Disney will still include Frozen and Buzzlightyear in Rider Swap? Even though these rides do not have height restrictions, we were given paper rider swap passes for both Multiple times in the past. Will this go away?

We were denied rider swap with a sleeping toddler on FEA last year. They offered to let us do a swap at boarding, but we would have had to wake him up/take him out of the stroller for that, same as if we just woke him up and took him on the ride so that's what we did.

Personally, I wouldn't count on receiving RS for those rides since there's no height requirement. A CM here and there may allow it, but they also may not. Is there a particular reason you foresee needing a rider swap for those rides?
 
We were denied rider swap with a sleeping toddler on FEA last year. They offered to let us do a swap at boarding, but we would have had to wake him up/take him out of the stroller for that, same as if we just woke him up and took him on the ride so that's what we did.

Personally, I wouldn't count on receiving RS for those rides since there's no height requirement. A CM here and there may allow it, but they also may not. Is there a particular reason you foresee needing a rider swap for those rides?


I think we may not need it for Buzz this year unless my younger child is napping and we don't want to wake her. Frozen may be an issue because one of mine doesn't like getting splashed. But, I suppose I could always just do staggered FP and let the one who likes it go twice-she is still young enough to not have a ticket, so she can hop on with both adult passes.

I can't believe that they didn't give you rider swap. I have had such vastly different experiences! We were there earlier this year, and they gave FEA to us on multiple days and didn't even ask to see the child or the second adult (though we'd have happily complied). As a matter of fact the only rides we ever had to have our child and waiting adult present with us were FOP and 7DMT (which was awesome for diaper changes, etc.)

In 2017, when one of ours was really small and asleep in the stroller, they let us swap out at the FP entrance of Peter Pan so we wouldn't have to wake her. We asked at Pooh, and the CM said we didn't even have to wait and told US to come back whenever we wanted and she'd honor the swap. I just assumed this was the norm.

Thank you for the response. I will just be prepared to be told no, I suppose.
 
Okay... just confirming that this should be fine? Four of us: me, husband, daughter (over 44") and son (under 44").

- Husband & daughter use FP+ for Flight of Passage
- We get rider swap issued onto MB because son is too short for FOP
- Son & I use FP+ for Navi while husband & daughter are on FOP
- Daughter & I go on FOP within the allotted timeframe with rider swap
(even though she already rode and I did not have a FP+ since I had one for Navi instead)

...right?

At FoP on June 23rd they were absolutely requiring everyone to have a FP who wanted to rider swap via the FP line. I saw it happen to a family right in front of us. No FP - no rider swap.
 
I am also interested to know how RS is working out at rope drop, our next trip will be with a 2 month old and I don't want to deal with the stress of an early arrival/fighting the crowds, if we will just end up losing our place in line due to trying to get rider switch. The only ride I would potentially try to rope drop would be FOP but that is the craziest rope drop. Hoping someone will share their experience!

There was a family near us at AK rope drop last month that wanted a RS pass. Yes, I’m sure it took a few moments to scan everyone’s bands and set it up, but I can’t imagine more than one preshow worth of people went ahead of them as they were scanning. I wouldn’t let it deter you. Now if you happened to be in a line behind multiple large families doing the same thing, that could be a problem, but honestly there weren’t many families with small children at the front of the EMH AK rope drop pack.
 
Are paper swaps being given out an any of the "lesser" rides still, or is it all fully digital now?
 

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