Rider Switch question

[Scooterbritches]

It is my understanding through researching rider switch that you approach the cast member at the beginning of the ride line and it is decided there who will ride first and second. The first group enters the line. Here's a scenario that I think might happen and I'm wondering how to manage it.

I'm going with my daughter and her family to disneyland. There are three children 8, 5 and 2. Obviously we'd be using rider switch for the 2 year old, but I think the older grandchildren will be all gung ho to ride at this decision time with the cast member, but then when they get to the loading portion, I think they may change their mind. How is that going to work if the person sitting out with the 2 year old is no where near? Didn't they used to do this at the ride loading? The way I understand it is the second group now waits out in the park and not in the line with the first group.

 

[SteveMouse]

If someone elects not to ride at the loading area, they can simply ask a CM for instructions to the ride exit. There is always a way out.

 

[Scooterbritches]

But, the 2nd party that’s watching the 2 year old isn’t going to necessarily be at the ride exit waiting. The first party can text, but the 2nd party might be involved in an attraction with the two year old and not readily available to come be with the 5 or 8 year old. They would be scared to be alone. Am I making sense?

 

[SteveMouse]

Then another person in the party exits as well.

 

[juxtapose]

This has happened to us many times with my son who always wants to ride then changes his mind at loading. We always have to send an adult with the kid who doesn’t want to ride and that adult doesn’t get to ride. It sucks but it is what it is. They will not allow people in the ride line who don’t meet the ride height.

 

[CarolynFH]

It is my understanding through researching rider switch that you approach the cast member at the beginning of the ride line and it is decided there who will ride first and second. The first group enters the line. Here's a scenario that I think might happen and I'm wondering how to manage it.

I'm going with my daughter and her family to disneyland. There are three children 8, 5 and 2. Obviously we'd be using rider switch for the 2 year old, but I think the older grandchildren will be all gung ho to ride at this decision time with the cast member, but then when they get to the loading portion, I think they may change their mind. How is that going to work if the person sitting out with the 2 year old is no where near? Didn't they used to do this at the ride loading? The way I understand it is the second group now waits out in the park and not in the line with the first group.

This was several years ago, but our then-11 year old DGS got to the loading area at RnR and decided not to ride. He and my son were shown through a door, and the rest of us rode. When we got off, they were waiting for us in a designated area near the unloading dock. We took the DGS, and our DS boarded the RnR limo there on the unloading dock and rode by himself. Obviously, this works only if there are enough older members of the party to split up like that.

 

[nherbert]

Our last couple of trips our son would pull the plug as we got to front, and the cast members won’t let a kid go on a ride if they are crying. He was around 8 one trip and 12 the next. On the second trip he got more courage as the trip went on, and rides he refused to do at the start he loved by the end - eg space mountain and RnRC he loved by end of second trip.

One thing to understand is that every ride exit is different. Some they just cross over or go through a door and wait at ride exit, some exits are shops, you are separated for the ride duration, if you are lucky a cast member will watch them while you ride (no guarantee but there are cast members everywhere). For tower of terror they go down a normal elevator and wait at the bottom. At age 8 our son was happy to wait by himself (he actually enjoyed the independence and sometimes we thought he did it on purpose), and we were ok with it at 8, but we wouldn’t do it at age 5 too unpredictable.

 

[lanejudy]

Hopefully you have enough adults in the party to split if one of the older kids suddenly changes their mind before boarding. If you are lucky, the CM may allow you to stand aside and wait for the 1st part of your party to ride and then the adult who stepped aside with the non-rider gets to ride (probably alone). This is how Rider-Swap works when the non-rider is tall enough to enter the queue, even if you know from the get-go that he won't ride. This is different from Rider Swap with a child too short to enter the queue.

At age 8, by WDW rules a child can exit a queue/attraction alone. I'm not saying you need to allow that, but it does fit within WDW rules that an 8-yr-old can be left unattended while you ride. If an adult opts to exit with the 8-yr-old, that adult may be out of luck for riding; it really depends on the CM at the attraction boarding. Honestly, there isn't any ride that I feel I (as an adult) need to do if my child is too distressed to ride it.

 

[LordVader]

So we went two weeks ago, it was me, my wife and two daughters age 5 and 2. Anytime we had a lightning lane (we bought Genie+) we'd go to a CM and inform them we wanted to do a rider swap, this includes rides that my oldest couldn't get on.

For example for Guardians and Tron, we let the CM know and they would scan the Magic Band of the person who was going to get on 2nd. They let the first person getting on go through the line and the 2nd would wait for the 1st person to come back. Once that happened, I would just go through the lightning lane.

Now for rides my oldest could get on, it was a similar process and they asked if my daughter would be getting on a 2nd time (awesome for her!) And they would scan her magic band and either mine or my wife's, whoever was getting on 2nd.

Super easy to do and very fast!