Rider Switch Planning

[DisIsForMe]

I'm almost on the road for our first WDW trip. March 4-11. Can't wait.

We've got Me, My Brother, and our crew (DD6, DD4, DS4, DS2).

Epcot FPs and plan as follows:
1. FP Test Track (Bro and DD4) - Get Riderswitch
2. RS for Me, DD6, DS4
3. FP Soarin (Me and DD6) - Get Riderswitch
4. RS for Bro, DD4, DS4

Am I missing something or is it really that easy? (Assuming yes, I can "shampoo, rinse, repeat" at other parks - i.e. 7DMT and Exp Everest)

Of course how I make it up to DS2 who's being used for his height (or lack thereof) is a discussion for another thread. We are at Epcot during F&G so I'm banking on the playgrounds as a great diversion.

 

[hiroMYhero]

I'm almost on the road for our first WDW trip. March 4-11. Can't wait.

We've got Me, My Brother, and our crew (DD6, DD4, DS4, DS2).

Epcot FPs and plan as follows:
1. FP Test Track (Bro and DD4) - Get Riderswitch
2. RS for Me, DD6, DS4
3. FP Soarin (Me and DD6) - Get Riderswitch
4. RS for Bro, DD4, DS4

Am I missing something or is it really that easy? (Assuming yes, I can "shampoo, rinse, repeat" at other parks - i.e. 7DMT and Exp Everest)

Of course how I make it up to DS2 who's being used for his height (or lack thereof) is a discussion for another thread. We are at Epcot during F&G so I'm banking on the playgrounds as a great diversion.

Perfect scheduling! Just tell DS2 how special he is!

 

[TellTheHubbyLater]

Haha. Yes, it is that easy to use our short people During test track last year I walked DD2 over to Colortopia. During soarin she did living with the land. During 7DMT we did Pooh, etc. And she never even noticed. Think of it as a reward for navigating with those darn strollers

 

[Dis703]

Yup, that's pretty much it.

 

[Ava]

Yup, that's how it works. My 2yo (at the time) never noticed she was missing anything on our last trip, so I think yours will be fine. She's now almost 4 and over 40" so those days are done for me. Hopefully she likes the "big" rides this summer!

 

[Kerriowl]

I would actually send all the kids with which ever adult is going first. Then use the rider switch pass for the other adult and two of the kids can ride it again. You can rotate through who gets to ride the ride twice.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I would actually send all the kids with which ever adult is going first. Then use the rider switch pass for the other adult and two of the kids can ride it again. You can rotate through who gets to ride the ride twice.

That won't work for this particular party on many rides since none of the kids is old enough to sit in a ride vehicle without an adult. It'll be OK on Soarin since it's just a big row, but I'm not sure they'd allow that on Test Track (and other rides), since at least one kid would be in a different row.

I've heard of them not allowing kids in a separate row on 7DMT, so OP's plan might not even work for that ride since she's planning on taking 2 kids in by herself and the row only seats 2. Same for Everest.

I don't have actual experience with this, but hopefully someone who does can chime in.

 

[DisIsForMe]

Thanks all!!!

hiroMYhero - exactly the poster I was hoping to get the thumbs up from. I was basing my on your posts in other threads.

Kerriowl - Agreed, that's the next evolution, I wanted to ensure I had my base strategy correct first. I've even ranked which kid gets to ride which ride twice based on their preferences. DD6 = ExpEv as she's got her heart set to climb it one day. I've agreed we'll do Macchu Picchu together when she's a teen. DD4 = TT as she's a car freak; DS4 = Soarin' as he's emotional and I expect this will be uplifting.

KrazeeK120 - beauty detail thanks. I was thinking along the same veins and have extra fastpasses as well. Also have a couple of thrill-ride-abstaining wives who will get on where needed in such a case as you mention here. Or we'll use their fastpass

TellTheHubbyLater - Yep got the Pooh fastpass at same time as 7DMT for exactly that

 

[Kerriowl]

That won't work for this particular party on many rides since none of the kids is old enough to sit in a ride vehicle without an adult. It'll be OK on Soarin since it's just a big row, but I'm not sure they'd allow that on Test Track (and other rides), since at least one kid would be in a different row.

I've heard of them not allowing kids in a separate row on 7DMT, so OP's plan might not even work for that ride since she's planning on taking 2 kids in by herself and the row only seats 2. Same for Everest.

I don't have actual experience with this, but hopefully someone who does can chime in.

Good call on the ages. I hadn't considered that. In my experience, the 6 year old should be okay to ride by herself on most rides as most CM won't question her age unless she is particularly short or appears young. This is definitely a YMMV kind of experience, but we were able to allow my then 4 year old and 6 year old ride on Spaceship Earth in their own car. I think mostly since we didn't know it wasn't allowed, and the cm's didn't know what was happening until they would have had to stop the ride to fix it. Luckily, they were well behaved.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Good call on the ages. I hadn't considered that. In my experience, the 6 year old should be okay to ride by herself on most rides as most CM won't question her age unless she is particularly short or appears young. This is definitely a YMMV kind of experience, but we were able to allow my then 4 year old and 6 year old ride on Spaceship Earth in their own car. I think mostly since we didn't know it wasn't allowed, and the cm's didn't know what was happening until they would have had to stop the ride to fix it. Luckily, they were well behaved.

I don't think it's as much of a behavior issue as it is that Disney has determined that 7 is the youngest age at which they're comfortable with a child being alone in case of a ride stoppage, etc.

Personally, I wouldn't try putting a kid under 7 in their own row. Yes, it's possible that nothing will happen, but it's also possible that the child will be questioned on their age, and I'm not one to advocate for teaching kids to lie. I'd rather not set a kid up for disappointment.

 

[Kuzcotopia1]

I'm almost on the road for our first WDW trip. March 4-11. Can't wait.

We've got Me, My Brother, and our crew (DD6, DD4, DS4, DS2).

Epcot FPs and plan as follows:
1. FP Test Track (Bro and DD4) - Get Riderswitch
2. RS for Me, DD6, DS4
3. FP Soarin (Me and DD6) - Get Riderswitch
4. RS for Bro, DD4, DS4

Am I missing something or is it really that easy? (Assuming yes, I can "shampoo, rinse, repeat" at other parks - i.e. 7DMT and Exp Everest)

Of course how I make it up to DS2 who's being used for his height (or lack thereof) is a discussion for another thread. We are at Epcot during F&G so I'm banking on the playgrounds as a great diversion.

Wait, I don't know if I'm understanding this correctly. If my husband and I both wanted to ride Soarin' but needed a rider switch we could use 1 FP, I go and ride, then he rider switches w/o an FP?

 

[hiroMYhero]

Wait, I don't know if I'm understanding this correctly. If my husband and I both wanted to ride Soarin' but needed a rider switch we could use 1 FP, I go and ride, then he rider switches w/o an FP?

Yes. That's it exactly. Double your FPs for adults by scheduling as @DisIsForMe's example shows.

 

[Kuzcotopia1]

OMG. -mindblown- I am totally going to switch my Fastpasses now.
OMGGGG. LOL THANK YOU ALL!!

Edit: Clearly this will be my first time using rider switch and I'm very excited.

 

[elaine amj]

I was excited to figure this out too! Our upcoming August trip is my first with a kid small enough for rider switch. In our case, we are a group of 7, including one short kid. My plan is to get FP+s for 4 of us and then use rider switch for the other 2 (plus one of my teens will get to re-ride).