Got home yesterday with one complaint.

valleyfan

valleyfan

Member
Original Poster
We had a great time, we were in Orlando for 15 days and did both Universals in one day, MK twice and AK, Hoolywood studios and Epcot each one day. First time seeing Illuminations and we were so happy we finally stuck around for it. The only complaint we have is with the child swap, we had fast passes for Test Track for the time between 7pm and 8pm, we showed up right at 7pm and my daughter and I went in while my wife and son had to stay outside and wait. My daughter and I took 50 minutes to get through the fast pass line and off the ride then in order for my wife to go on she would've had to spend the same amount of time in line with my daughter again. They need to adopt the way Universal does it, the whole party stands in line and the swap is made at the ride itself so no waiting in line twice. This also happened at Space Mountain and a couple other rides.

All in all we had a great time and can't wait to go back for a few days after Daytona Speedweeks concludes.
 
Laura

Laura

22
Premium Member
valleyfan said:
We had a great time, we were in Orlando for 15 days and did both Universals in one day, MK twice and AK, Hoolywood studios and Epcot each one day. First time seeing Illuminations and we were so happy we finally stuck around for it. The only complaint we have is with the child swap, we had fast passes for Test Track for the time between 7pm and 8pm, we showed up right at 7pm and my daughter and I went in while my wife and son had to stay outside and wait. My daughter and I took 50 minutes to get through the fast pass line and off the ride then in order for my wife to go on she would've had to spend the same amount of time in line with my daughter again. They need to adopt the way Universal does it, the whole party stands in line and the swap is made at the ride itself so no waiting in line twice. This also happened at Space Mountain and a couple other rides.

All in all we had a great time and can't wait to go back for a few days after Daytona Speedweeks concludes.
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I totally agree with you. Universal has an AWESOME child swap system. If I remember right, the Mummy even had a WAITING ROOM for the parents and young children with TV, coloring pages, books, etc. I was blown away by their system and even more disappointed with Disney's. My kids have outgrown the need for child swap now, but we LOVED Universal's system while they were younger and hated Disney's.
 
Mad Stitch

Mad Stitch

Well-Known Member
Is this method a recent change? I worked at Star Tours for a period of time and while there we would perform the child swap just before boarding the simulator.
 
Laura

Laura

22
Premium Member
Mad Stitch said:
Is this method a recent change? I worked at Star Tours for a period of time and while there we would perform the child swap just before boarding the simulator.
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Star Tours is just about the ONLY ride that does an actual child swap. All of the others basically just allow the 2nd rider to wait in the fastpass line. It defeats the purpose because the families aren't able to wait in the line together and then switch off at the end. One person always has to sit outside on a bench with the kids and wait.
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
On a future visit, if there's just one person going on the attraction, each person going through the Single Rider Line at Test Track may be faster than each going through the FastPass line, especially if the FP line has gotten backed up for some reason... (Which can often happen if the attraction was down earlier in the day and people whose FPs were for that time come back later on)

-Rob
 
Tom

Tom

Beta Return
I know that in the "old days" they would let the entire family wait in line together, and then just swap at load/unload. I know this for a fact. Maybe it wasn't "policy" but they did it on a routine basis. I'm talking 80s and 90s. I was a child then, and my brother was an infant - we used swap just like that.

It's ridiculous that they make you wait outside for an unknown amount of time to do the swap. In essence, it could take a family twice as long to do a ride than it would normally.

I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't let an entire group stay in line together. Maybe they'll re-think this some day.

Glad you had a nice trip otherwise. We're here now and boy do I wish it were about 10 degrees warmer. Brrrrrrr.
 
GymLeaderPhil

GymLeaderPhil

Well-Known Member
Space constraints in retrofitting a child swap lounge into older attractions would be the biggest issue. It's a good idea, but I'm sure they would end up being over utilized by guests who aren't participating in a child swap too.
 
raven

raven

Well-Known Member
Normally you wouldn't wait 50 minutes in the FP line. But you went during the busiest week of the year on one of the busiest attractions. Try the swap again during another part of the year and you will see what I mean.
 
DizneyPryncess

DizneyPryncess

Well-Known Member
I don't know much about the child swap system, but yikes at you having to wait 50 minutes in a fast pass line! I have never been to WDW during an extremely crowded time like New Years, so I am just not used to that. Doesn't seem very fast-pass-y though. What was the stand by wait?

My brother & his wife did the child swap with my nephew during off season, and it worked out well. But they didn't really have bad waits, so it worked. Maybe during busy seasons they should have an alternate method.
 
Skip

Skip

Well-Known Member
Wow, I guess I never really noticed that WDW didn't have dedicated child swap spaces... waiting outside, crowded or not, really kind of kills the point of a child swap anyway; it's no longer a child swap, just waiting in line twice, separately. And yes, while I've never had to use it personally, a family I was travelling with did - and it was extremely convenient. The attractions I can recall having a child swap room are Mummy, Men in Black, Simpsons, Hulk, Popeye, Dueling Dragons, and (strangely) Cat in the Hat. All but Popeye were indoors and air-conditioned with some form of entertainment (with appropriate theming even - Mummy, Hulk, and Simpsons had their cartoons playing - that's great continuity right there!)

I know it'd be tough given the existing attraction spaces, but I really do wish they could find some way to provide similar accommodation at the busier attractions in WDW.
 
valleyfan

valleyfan

Member
Original Poster
We were at Epcot on Monday December 28th and the longest we noticed was 120 minutes for Soarin, we had Fastpasses and my son went on with us otherwise we would've had a big problem doing that ride along with Test Track and Space Mtn.
 
NewfieFan

NewfieFan

Well-Known Member
The same thing happened to me with Soarin'! I sent the whole group in the FP line and I waited on the benches by the exit... I waited... and waited... and waited. (Not fun with a 2 year old!) It was at least 40 mins if not more. I waited so long that I didn't even bother going on the ride b/c we had to be at an ADR! I'm so glad my daughter is a tall 3 year old now! :animwink:

Yes, Star Tours was the only ride where the Child Swap was painless!
 
Mystic

Mystic

Well-Known Member
I'm confused. You said you had issues with child swap and yet you had fastpasses for Test Track. Could you all not have gone through together and then explained to the CM at the top that you were wanting to do child swap (I believe you need a child swap card). The CM at the fastpass entrance should have been able to explain how Child Swap works with the fastpasses.
 

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