Rider switch when child is “afraid” to ride

[WantToGoNow]

My ds was afraid of everything when he was younger. Our trip in late November was the first time he ever rode most of the thrill rides and he is 17 now. I have been refused rider swap with him many times over the years. By the time he was 9, I would just have him go through the line and wait at the exit.

 

[DVCdisneyfam]

I am also among those who wasn't able to get a RS for a tall enough child - but as hopper pointed out there is an alternative swap - just not in the form of a "fastpass/riderswap pass".

Since the child can wait in line the switch would be done at boarding/the exit (or as instructed by the CM) instead of adding a RS Pass to the MB. Still eliminates a double wait in line so IMHO they are following the policy.

The CM at the attraction likely has no idea what's on a website and will rely on the training they received, doing otherwise could lead to termination.

Can you explain this as we have odd numbers in our family and no one wants to ride alone so can a adult go twice with 2 different children?

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Can you explain this as we have odd numbers in our family and no one wants to ride alone so can a adult go twice with 2 different children?

What are the ages of the kids and are they all tall enough to ride?

 

[DVCdisneyfam]

What are the ages of the kids and are they all tall enough to ride?

most rides they are tall enough. The youngest is only 5 so it's hit or miss but on rides he can go on I have to have the 10 y.o. ride alone and he usually is upset he doesn't have someone to ride with, but he's so short and age wise can't ride with the 5y.o. Then when my FIL comes he doesn't do rides for health reasons so just walks around with us.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

most rides they are tall enough. The youngest is only 5 so it's hit or miss but on rides he can go on I have to have the 10 y.o. ride alone and he usually is upset he doesn't have someone to ride with, but he's so short and age wise can't ride with the 5y.o. Then when my FIL comes he doesn't do rides for health reasons so just walks around with us.

Well, for anything the five year old is too short for, you'll be able to get a rider swap pass. The swap at boarding is for when there's a child who's tall enough to ride but doesn't want to and can't wait alone. One adult would wait with that kid at the boarding area while the other adult goes on with any kids who do want to ride, then they swap off. They will *sometimes* allow this as well if there are more adults than kids under 7, since under 7's can't ride alone, but it doesn't always work.

If the situation is 1 adult, a 10 year old, and a 5 year old, they are unlikely to allow the adult to ride with each of the kids since the 10 year old can ride alone. You can always ask, but they may not allow it. Another option is to just wait in line separately, once with each child, or schedule FP for all of you including FIL. Take one child with your FPs, then come out, switch bands with FIL and take the second child.

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

Its on their website so I could win that argument in a court of law. Im not the argumentative type so I would not push a CM that said no, but I would definitely politely question them for not following their own companies public facing published guidelines. Its not the guests fault if policies have changed and the website hasn't been updated. If I was told no I would take it to customer relations for a full explanation of why the park isn't following their own public facing written policy (which would probably result in free FPs ).

Here’s where Disney covers it, so it won’t hold up in a court of law. Rules and policies are subject to change without notice. Disney is not required to update their site, or notify anyone when policies change.

You can certainly go to guest services and they may or may not do something about it but at that point you’ve spent a lot of time on it. You *might* snag a few fast passes but you still haven’t necessarily solved the rider swap issue and you’re not likely to get much (if anything) after going up against them in court over the matter.

 

[DVCdisneyfam]

Well, for anything the five year old is too short for, you'll be able to get a rider swap pass. The swap at boarding is for when there's a child who's tall enough to ride but doesn't want to and can't wait alone. One adult would wait with that kid at the boarding area while the other adult goes on with any kids who do want to ride, then they swap off. They will *sometimes* allow this as well if there are more adults than kids under 7, since under 7's can't ride alone, but it doesn't always work.

If the situation is 1 adult, a 10 year old, and a 5 year old, they are unlikely to allow the adult to ride with each of the kids since the 10 year old can ride alone. You can always ask, but they may not allow it. Another option is to just wait in line separately, once with each child, or schedule FP for all of you including FIL. Take one child with your FPs, then come out, switch bands with FIL and take the second child.

Thank you for the info. I never even thought to ask about swap at boarding.

 

[smallsy]

Would the swap at boarding work for 2 adults and 3 under 7yo? This would require two swaps though not just one. I don’t know what to do when they won’t let them ride alone but we also can’t leave them alone at boarding.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

My 2 year old loves frozen but is recently terrified of the snow monster. She remembers it from the ride when we did it last summer and does not ever want to see the ride on YouTube (she loves watching small world and the Ariel ride on YouTube but panics if the “snow monster ride” starts to come on). I’m worried she won’t get on the ride when we go to board next summer. Our 5 year old son will definitely want to ride. Any experience rider swapping this one? It has no height requirement.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

My 2 year old loves frozen but is recently terrified of the snow monster. She remembers it from the ride when we did it last summer and does not ever want to see the ride on YouTube (she loves watching small world and the Ariel ride on YouTube but panics if the “snow monster ride” starts to come on). I’m worried she won’t get on the ride when we go to board next summer. Our 5 year old son will definitely want to ride. Any experience rider swapping this one? It has no height requirement.

We were were told no to a swap when my toddler son was sleeping in his stroller. I *think* they might have allowed a swap at boarding, but since we would have had to wake him up anyway to wait in line, we just all rode.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Here’s where Disney covers it, so it won’t hold up in a court of law. Rules and policies are subject to change without notice. Disney is not required to update their site, or notify anyone when policies change.

I don't have a dog in this fight and I know the comment is a bit old.

That statement about policies subject to change isn't really applicable to what the other person was talking about. WDW isn't implementing a new policy or changing an existing policy.

You'll have some CMs say ok and others not. Likely the CMs are interpreting what they've been told, what they've read and/or they are less or more lenient than the next CM (which could very well depend on the day they are working, their mood and the mood of the guest).

Regardless of who is right---the CMs who say no or the CMs who say yes--Disney isn't in fact changing an existing policy unless all CMs denied people every single time at every single ride with a height restriction but WDW's website was not updated to that information.

As is it's just a toss up and everyone recognizes it's up to the CM. That's not a change in policy--that's just inconsistency (which we already know Disney is fairly good at that).

 

[DisneyOma]

Would the swap at boarding work for 2 adults and 3 under 7yo? This would require two swaps though not just one. I don’t know what to do when they won’t let them ride alone but we also can’t leave them alone at boarding.

Bring another adult with you?

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Would the swap at boarding work for 2 adults and 3 under 7yo? This would require two swaps though not just one. I don’t know what to do when they won’t let them ride alone but we also can’t leave them alone at boarding.

Very likely you need to set up the Adult FP+ with times that are staggered about an hour apart. Divide your group according to how you can split up - some ride vehicles can fit Adult + 2 kids and some are 1 adult + 1 kid, so alternate who gets the second ride from the Rider Swap.

 

[smallsy]

Bring another adult with you?

Not an option for us as we have no one we could take. Even if we did, we’d have to book an additional hotel room and park tickets so it would be unaffordable.

 

[smallsy]

Very likely you need to set up the Adult FP+ with times that are staggered about an hour apart. Divide your group according to how you can split up - some ride vehicles can fit Adult + 2 kids and some are 1 adult + 1 kid, so alternate who gets the second ride from the Rider Swap.

Thanks! Yes SDMT and SDD were the two I was worried about, but if they’ll issue a RS for one of us to ride again with the third kid that would work.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Bring another adult with you?

That’s really not a feasible option for a lot of people.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Thanks! Yes SDMT and SDD were the two I was worried about, but if they’ll issue a RS for one of us to ride again with the third kid that would work.

that's how it works! just figure out which times Mom or Dad is going to be the one to switch off and watch vs. stand in line and ride, it won't be a problem for 2 adults to use RS since the CM's can clearly see you've got all these kids to wrangle...

 

[DisneyOma]

Not an option for us as we have no one we could take. Even if we did, we’d have to book an additional hotel room and park tickets so it would be unaffordable.

Thanks! Yes SDMT and SDD were the two I was worried about, but if they’ll issue a RS for one of us to ride again with the third kid that would work.

Well, then I'm thinking its not the optimum time to go to WDW then - wait until the kids are old enough to ride alone?

 

[hammie59]

As you’ve read, there are many different answers to your question. I’m just chiming in as one of the unlucky. We were refused a RS at 7DMT for my dd who hates all rollercoasters. She was probably 8 at the time and the CM was really rude about it. Not a magical moment...