Rider Switch

[BirdyGirl85]

Hello! My husband and I will be taking our toddler to Disneyland in about a week and a half! My husband and I have been to Disneyland many times, but this our first time with a toddler! Never used Rider Switch before, so just had a few questions.

I understand we need to all go to the front of the ride together as a group and inform the Cast Member we want to do Rider Switch.

My question is, after I go through the ride, can my husband come back to ride as the second "group" without me and our daughter? I assume we don't need to show up as the whole group a second time since we would do that the first time before the first "group" rides? The reason I ask is because our daughter still naps in the middle of the day, and we have a motel right across the street on Harbor Blvd. I was thinking before her nap time, we all go to the front of the ride as a group to do Rider Switch, I ride first while my husband takes our daughter back to the motel room for a nap. After I ride, I go back to our motel to watch our daughter while my husband heads back into Disneyland to ride the ride. Is it ok to do this? I hope we can do we can ride a thrill ride while she naps.

Also, rides that offer single rider, do you think it's faster just for each of us to do single rider than do Rider Switch? I know that probably depends on how long the stand by line is.

Thank you! Super excited to be taking our little girl to Disneyland for the first time!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Hello! My husband and I will be taking our toddler to Disneyland in about a week and a half! My husband and I have been to Disneyland many times, but this our first time with a toddler! Never used Rider Switch before, so just had a few questions.

I understand we need to all go to the front of the ride together as a group and inform the Cast Member we want to do Rider Switch.

My question is, after I go through the ride, can my husband come back to ride as the second "group" without me and our daughter? I assume we don't need to show up as the whole group a second time since we would do that the first time before the first "group" rides? The reason I ask is because our daughter still naps in the middle of the day, and we have a motel right across the street on Harbor Blvd. I was thinking before her nap time, we all go to the front of the ride as a group to do Rider Switch, I ride first while my husband takes our daughter back to the motel room for a nap. After I ride, I go back to our motel to watch our daughter while my husband heads back into Disneyland to ride the ride. Is it ok to do this? I hope we can do we can ride a thrill ride while she naps.

Also, rides that offer single rider, do you think it's faster just for each of us to do single rider than do Rider Switch? I know that probably depends on how long the stand by line is.

Thank you! Super excited to be taking our little girl to Disneyland for the first time!

So they will give you a time limit on the return for the second rider, which will expire after a certain time. They usually set it to give enough time for rider one to ride, then rider two is expected to ride immediately after. If you want your daughter to go back to the hotel for a nap, have rider one ride, then rider two will ride while rider one takes your child back for a nap.

I do think in many instances single rider will be faster and more efficient for you than rider switch. Not many ride offer single rider though.

 

[Captain.Eeyore]

The whole group only needs to show up the first time. The cast member will then scan the tickets of the people in the second group. After the first group rides, only the second group needs to come back.

When we did rider switch for space mountain last time, I didn't notice a time limit on the return time. However, since the standby wait time was about an hour, the second group had to wait an hour before returning.

 

[BirdyGirl85]

Ah ok, there is a time limit. If we did what we were thinking, it would probably be at least 20 minutes after the first person finishes the ride and then walks back to the motel and the second person walks to the ride. So maybe that won't work? So the time limit is based on the stand by wait time? I wonder how much time they allow after the stand by time is over for the second group to ride.

 

[Dug720]

That seems like an awful lot of back and forth for both of you. Can your child not nap in a stroller with noise cancelling headphones or something?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Ah ok, there is a time limit. If we did what we were thinking, it would probably be at least 20 minutes after the first person finishes the ride and then walks back to the motel and the second person walks to the ride. So maybe that won't work? So the time limit is based on the stand by wait time? I wonder how much time they allow after the stand by time is over for the second group to ride.

The time limit is based on how long they estimate it will take for the first person to wait in line and then ride.

What I would do if I was trying this hotel nap business, is have the first person ride while the second person waits outside the ride (or nearby) with the child. First person exits ride and takes child to hotel to nap. Second person stays, rides, then meets first person and child at the hotel (or if it was me, stays in the park to have some fun alone ).

That seems like an awful lot of back and forth for both of you. Can your child not nap in a stroller with noise cancelling headphones or something?

My children have always napped in their stroller, no noise canceling headphones necessary. My child can be sleeping in his stroller and the Disneyland Band can march past him and he won't stir.

Some kids won't nap in a stroller though, and stroller naps are not nearly as restorative as a long nap in a bed or crib in a dark, quiet room, so I can see the value in a hotel nap if you are wanting to come back with a well-rested child later.

 

[BirdyGirl85]

Yeah, she doesn't nap too well in the stroller, and I would like her to be more rested in the evening. Plus I figure she is napping during the hottest part of the day which is good. I don't think we'll do Rider Switch too much. We have ridden the rides at Disneyland many times, so I'm not too bothered if we don't ride all the thrill rides this time. But we might do single rider for Space Mountain while she's napping. Space Mountain is only a 10 minute walk supposedly from our motel. (We are staying at the Park Vue Inn)

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Yeah, she doesn't nap too well in the stroller, and I would like her to be more rested in the evening. Plus I figure she is napping during the hottest part of the day which is good. I don't think we'll do Rider Switch too much. We have ridden the rides at Disneyland many times, so I'm not too bothered if we don't ride all the thrill rides this time. But we might do single rider for Space Mountain while she's napping. Space Mountain is only a 10 minute walk supposedly from our motel. (We are staying at the Park Vue Inn)

Space Mountain sometimes offers single ride which is usually very fast.

 

[chezcurrie]

Another option for maximum flexibility would be to simply purchase genie plus. You can each book a different time and the modify feature is very handy for pushing a return out so you could “stack” your LL for the remaining parent while the other goes back to the hotel.

Rider switch works really well when you have other members of your party as they get to ride twice.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

So they will give you a time limit on the return for the second rider, which will expire after a certain time. They usually set it to give enough time for rider one to ride, then rider two is expected to ride immediately after. If you want your daughter to go back to the hotel for a nap, have rider one ride, then rider two will ride while rider one takes your child back for a nap.

I do think in many instances single rider will be faster and more efficient for you than rider switch. Not many ride offer single rider though.

I’m pretty sure for rider switch you receive a “return at” or “return after time”, not a return window that expires like with Genie+. There have been times when we don’t end up switching because I don’t feel like riding once my husband and daughter are off, or the cast member scans three tickets but we only have two people swapping and then those just continue to sit in our app until the park closes. I believe my husband and daughter have actually gone back and used them before much later in the day, as well.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I’m pretty sure for rider switch you receive a “return at” or “return after time”, not a return window that expires like with Genie+. There have been times when we don’t end up switching because I don’t feel like riding once my husband and daughter are off, or the cast member scans three tickets but we only have two people swapping and then those just continue to sit in our app until the park closes. I believe my husband and daughter have actually gone back and used them before much later in the day, as well.

It’s possible that the process has changed. I haven’t used rider switch in the last year I don’t think. Last time I used it, the CM manually put in a return and it would expire and poof if you didn’t use it. (Really miss those old paper rider switch passes that you can use whenever! )

 

[pineapplepalms]

I’m pretty sure for rider switch you receive a “return at” or “return after time”, not a return window that expires like with Genie+. There have been times when we don’t end up switching because I don’t feel like riding once my husband and daughter are off, or the cast member scans three tickets but we only have two people swapping and then those just continue to sit in our app until the park closes. I believe my husband and daughter have actually gone back and used them before much later in the day, as well.

We use Rider Switch often and this is also our experience. We can use any Rider Switch we have setup until the park closes, but there is a “return after” time and they will need to manually override it if that time hasn’t passed yet. If you buy Genie+, that would be the easiest since you can just book individually whatever times work for you. Single Rider lines, where available, have been pretty fast whenever I’ve used them, including at RSR.

 

[NikkiDP]

I just want to confirm, it is okay to use Rider Switch and not have a child ride? We are traveling to WDW with our toddler for the first time next year and I didn't think we could use Rider Switch. Since I've never looked into it, I always assumed it was for a party of 4 or more so that the child tall enough to go on a ride was able to go with both parents. Since I haven't looked into this yet I was so happy to find this thread!

So, our party of 3 would be able to walk up to BTMR, an adult rides while the other waits with the kiddo and then the other adult would be able to ride? I feel so silly asking!

 

[woodys_girl]

I just want to confirm, it is okay to use Rider Switch and not have a child ride? We are traveling to WDW with our toddler for the first time next year and I didn't think we could use Rider Switch. Since I've never looked into it, I always assumed it was for a party of 4 or more so that the child tall enough to go on a ride was able to go with both parents. Since I haven't looked into this yet I was so happy to find this thread!

So, our party of 3 would be able to walk up to BTMR, an adult rides while the other waits with the kiddo and then the other adult would be able to ride? I feel so silly asking!

You do not need to have multiple children. If you are using the standby line, one of you will wait in the regular line and the person waiting with the toddler will receive a pass to go through the LL once the 1st person gets back. If you use G+, Rider Switch won't be terribly beneficial since they will just swap your LL for the Switch.

 

[NikkiDP]

You do not need to have multiple children. If you are using the standby line, one of you will wait in the regular line and the person waiting with the toddler will receive a pass to go through the LL once the 1st person gets back. If you use G+, Rider Switch won't be terribly beneficial since they will just swap your LL for the Switch.

Thank you! That G+ info is really helpful. This will be our first trip using it so we have a lot of moving parts that we are trying to re-learn before we go!

 

[chezcurrie]

Thank you! That G+ info is really helpful. This will be our first trip using it so we have a lot of moving parts that we are trying to re-learn before we go!

As woodys_girl said, if you have G+ and no other riders Ruder Swap is kinda moot. most of the non G+ rides are toddler appropriate so for the sake of ease if you already have G+ I would simply stick to that.

Edit: bad advice - see below. Ignore!

 

[kristensideaoffun]

As woodys_girl said, if you have G+ and no other riders Ruder Swap is kinda moot. most of the non G+ rides are toddler appropriate so for the sake of ease if you already have G+ I would simply stick to that.

This isn’t necessarily true. If you have a return time for Genie and arrive 15 minutes before the window ends, you will risk whomever is waiting losing their Lightening Lane spot if it takes more than 15 minutes for you to get through the Lightening Lane and ride the ride. It’s a good idea to go to the entrance of the LL, redeem both Lightening Lane passes and have the CM give you a Rider Switch return time. It only takes a couple of seconds to do and will save a lot of frustration and stress if your partner cannot get back out to you fast enough. This is especially true for rides like Guardians and Soarin where it could take you 30-45 minutes to get through the ride even with LL if one side or lift is down.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

This isn’t necessarily true. If you have a return time for Genie and arrive 15 minutes before the window ends, you will risk whomever is waiting losing their Lightening Lane spot if it takes more than 15 minutes for you to get through the Lightening Lane and ride the ride. It’s a good idea to go to the entrance of the LL, redeem both Lightening Lane passes and have the CM give you a Rider Switch return time. It only takes a couple of seconds to do and will save a lot of frustration and stress if your partner cannot get back out to you fast enough. This is especially true for rides like Guardians and Soarin where it could take you 30-45 minutes to get through the ride even with LL if one side or lift is down.

Totally agree with this! Additionally scanning both at the same times frees you up to book your next LL faster. You can also double up on rides this way (so you can ride a favorite attraction twice rather than once) if you so desire!

 

[chezcurrie]

This isn’t necessarily true. If you have a return time for Genie and arrive 15 minutes before the window ends, you will risk whomever is waiting losing their Lightening Lane spot if it takes more than 15 minutes for you to get through the Lightening Lane and ride the ride. It’s a good idea to go to the entrance of the LL, redeem both Lightening Lane passes and have the CM give you a Rider Switch return time. It only takes a couple of seconds to do and will save a lot of frustration and stress if your partner cannot get back out to you fast enough. This is especially true for rides like Guardians and Soarin where it could take you 30-45 minutes to get through the ride even with LL if one side or lift is down.

Excellent point. Guardians has messed up our plans before because of the long queue time, even with a LL. Ignore my post!!

 

[NikkiDP]

You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for all the information! Between our kiddo being fairly tall and me and my husband not being huge big ride people there are only a handful of ride swap rides we would use it for. That being said, most of those rides are ones we hope to do multiple times, so figuring out how to best optimize using G+ and/or Rider Switch is so helpful! This will be such a different trip for us and I'm chomping at the bit to actually be in the park to work out all the information that is compiling in my head haha