Help understanding rider swap with FastPass+

[blobula]

Hello,

My family (wife and kids 7, 4, infant) will be going to Disney World in June with my parents this year. Could someone help me understand how we could do rider swap for Rides likes Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Seven Dwarfs, etc... basically the roller coaster type rides.

Do I schedule Fast Passes for my wife and I plus the older child, then all of us go through the line to allow the grandparents to ride swap? I'm unclear how this all works.

Thank you!

 

[nickys]

Hello,

My family (wife and kids 7, 4, infant) will be going to Disney World in June with my parents this year. Could someone help me understand how we could do rider swap for Rides likes Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Seven Dwarfs, etc... basically the roller coaster type rides.

Do I schedule Fast Passes for my wife and I plus the older child, then all of us go through the line to allow the grandparents to ride swap? I'm unclear how this all works.

Thank you!

Rider Swap is done outside of the ride. It can be used with or without a fastpass for the ride. Essentially it allows part of your party to wait with the wee one whilst the others ride, and then be able to ride without having to wait in a long line. It applies where ther is a height restriction for a ride, as everyone entering the line must be tall enough to ride.

I’ll explain it for use with FPs.

You split your party into two groups of riders; the second group should be 3 or fewer people.
Book FPs for everyone in Group 1.
Everyone approaches the CM usually at the FP entrance and asks for a rider swap. Those that are staying behind to watch the wee one (Group 2) get the rider swap added to their magic band /RFID card. It usually has a return window of the expected time that Group 1 will take to ride.
Group 1 enter either the FP or stand-by line as appropriate.
When they come out, Group 2 can enter the FP line and ride.

That’s the gist of it.

If not using FPs for that ride, it works the same. The rider switch is effectively a bonus FP for Group 2, who have to wait for Group 1 to ride stand-by.

If Group 2 is less than three people, then someone in Group 1 can get a bonus extra ride.

 

[blobula]

Rider Swap is done outside of the ride. It can be used with or without a fastpass for the ride. Essentially it allows part of your party to wait with the wee one whilst the others ride, and then be able to ride without having to wait in a long line. It applies where ther is a height restriction for a ride, as everyone entering the line must be tall enough to ride.

I’ll explain it for use with FPs.

You split your party into two groups of riders; the second group should be 3 or fewer people.
Book FPs for everyone in Group 1.
Everyone approaches the CM usually at the FP entrance and asks for a rider swap. Those that are staying behind to watch the wee one (Group 2) get the rider swap added to their magic band /RFID card. It usually has a return window of the expected time that Group 1 will take to ride.
Group 1 enter either the FP or stand-by line as appropriate.
When they come out, Group 2 can enter the FP line and ride.

That’s the gist of it.

If not using FPs for that ride, it works the same. The rider switch is effectively a bonus FP for Group 2, who have to wait for Group 1 to ride stand-by.

If Group 2 is less than three people, then someone in Group 1 can get a bonus extra ride.

Thank you for the advice. I'm just going to resummarize with example.

So lets take Big Thunder Mountain for example. Our infant can't go, and my two kids may decide not to. Should they be part of the Fastpass group?

1st group: Myself, wife and two kids
2nd group: Grandpa/Grandma

1st group books fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain and approach CM. Lets say one kid wants to ride and the other doesn't. So that leaves one child and infant not riding. So 1st group of 3 rides. When we are done 2nd group can ride and bring one extra person.

Then 2nd group could book another Fastpass for 7DMT and repeat process above? What happens to Fastpasses of the kids if they decide not to go, just reuse on something else I assume?

 

[nickys]

Thank you for the advice. I'm just going to resummarize with example.

So lets take Big Thunder Mountain for example. Our infant can't go, and my two kids may decide not to. Should they be part of the Fastpass group?

1st group: Myself, wife and two kids
2nd group: Grandpa/Grandma

1st group books fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain and approach CM. Lets say one kid wants to ride and the other doesn't. So that leaves one child and infant not riding. So 1st group of 3 rides. When we are done 2nd group can ride and bring one extra person.

Then 2nd group could book another Fastpass for 7DMT and repeat process above? What happens to Fastpasses of the kids if they decide not to go, just reuse on something else I assume?

Yes, that would work. The CM will add the rider swap to grandparents plus one child.

As for FPs, you can swap bands and use those FPs, or just modify them to something else. That would leave you maybe with some still using their 3rd FP and some needing a 4th, but that’s OK.

 

[RememberWhen]

Honestly I found the trouble of gaming the system to get extra fast passes to be not worth the hassle. We just got FP for everyone for the same things. We did child swap so our DS would get a bonus ride.

 

[nickys]

Honestly I found the trouble of gaming the system to get extra fast passes to be not worth the hassle. We just got FP for everyone for the same things. We did child swap so our DS would get a bonus ride.

Rider swap is not gaming the system. You said yourself you used it.

The OP has an infant who cannot ride, and a youngster who may not be tall enough I believe., and were simply asking how it works. You do not need a fastpass for everyone to use rider swap, that is how it works.

Otherwise you don’t need to rider swap at all, you could have ridden in two groups. But then the little ones miss out completely. Rider swap allows them to have FPs for something else.

 

[RememberWhen]

Rider swap is not gaming the system. You said yourself you used it.

The OP has an infant who cannot ride, and a youngster who may not be tall enough I believe., and were simply asking how it works. You do not need a fastpass for everyone to use rider swap, that is how it works.

Otherwise you don’t need to rider swap at all, you could have ridden in two groups. But then the little ones miss out completely. Rider swap allows them to have FPs for something else.

I didn’t mean to suggest OP was planning to game the system, just that I looked at lots of posts discussing how to do that and I personally thought it seemed over the top.
You’re correct that we did end up not using all of our FPs because we used rider swap. I think it’s a little bit gaming the system to have group A get FP for splash and group B get FP for thunder and then everyone gets to ride both with FP. If you can make it work without lots of complications, go for it. It’s not against the rules afaik. For me personally, it seemed like far more effort than it was worth.
Also, there was a point when some people were reporting that you did need a FP for all members of the party (A &B) to do rider swap on the E ticket rides. But that was rumor, so I don’t know if it was for sure.
regardless, enjoy!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Also, there was a point when some people were reporting that you did need a FP for all members of the party (A &B) to do rider swap on the E ticket rides. But that was rumor, so I don’t know if it was for sure.
regardless, enjoy!

I had my first experience with RS in December and we booked FPs for everyone (I had no interest in trying to game the system either). A CM told me that the RS actually overrode my FP in the system anyway, so I guess I didn’t need to book it. Once I was scanned into the RS, my FP for that attraction disappeared. This was confirmed on Mine Train and Tower, so that may confirm that the “required” FP was a rumor.

 

[nickys]

I had my first experience with RS in December and we booked FPs for everyone (I had no interest in trying to game the system either). A CM told me that the RS actually overrode my FP in the system anyway, so I guess I didn’t need to book it. Once I was scanned into the RS, my FP for that attraction disappeared. This was confirmed on Mine Train and Tower, so that may confirm that the “required” FP was a rumor.

It did happen briefly when the electronic version of rider swap came in. But only for FoP and a few people reported it for 7DMT. It didn’t last long though, maybe a couple of weeks. Seems like an opening glitch.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

Is not having a fast pass wrong? i thought they did not have to have one? I thought the infant is all you needed.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

I don't think people using RS are trying to game the system, the only ones I see trying to use RS to game the system is when they are trying to use it for their half grown 10 year old who is being a baby and does not want to ride.

 

[RememberWhen]

I don't think people using RS are trying to game the system, the only ones I see trying to use RS to game the system is when they are trying to use it for their half grown 10 year old who is being a baby and does not want to ride.

Actually it’s totally legit to use it for anyone who can’t or won’t ride. That 10 year old may have sensory issues that make some rides not possible. The parents can use rider switch to ride the ride while making sure the kid has supervision and company.
The Disney website is pretty particular about not saying “baby” or “kid.”

Rider Switch

Be our guest! Your wish is our command, as you enjoy this Walt Disney World service.

disneyworld.disney.go.com

 

[jaklgreen]

Is not having a fast pass wrong? i thought they did not have to have one? I thought the infant is all you needed.

You don't need a FP for the ride, but those without it, go through the regular line. No way would they let everyone with a small child just have access to unlimited FP lines because they are doing the rider swap. The contention here is that some say that only the first group of people should get the FP, because the rest of the group will get the rider swap "ticket" and then they second group get a FP for something else. Basically giving a group with small children double the FPs. Which I hope they eliminate this loophole.

 

[Chi84]

I don't think of it as a loophole giving people with small children double FPs. Our family is taking our infant grandson in May. It would be nice if we could all ride FOP with rider switch while my daughter and son-in-law could also get FPs for Navi River and enjoy it with their baby. Children too young to enjoy the bigger rides still could get FPs for rides like Peter Pan's Flight, Small World, etc. Adults go on those rides because the young children need them to accompany them - I don't think there's anything wrong with allowing them to use rider switch to get on rides like FOP or BTMR. In fact, that's the way Disney currently has it set up, so it sure looks like Disney agrees.

I've been on these boards long enough to know that some people go totally bonkers if they think someone is getting something more than them. That's fine with me, as long as they're not the ones making the rules at Disney - and they're not.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

I don't think of it as a loophole giving people with small children double FPs. Our family is taking our infant grandson in May. It would be nice if we could all ride FOP with rider switch while my daughter and son-in-law could also get FPs for Navi River and enjoy it with their baby. Children too young to enjoy the bigger rides still could get FPs for rides like Peter Pan's Flight, Small World, etc. Adults go on those rides because the young children need them to accompany them - I don't think there's anything wrong with allowing them to use rider switch to get on rides like FOP or BTMR. In fact, that's the way Disney currently has it set up, so it sure looks like Disney agrees.

I've been on these boards long enough to know that some people go totally bonkers if they think someone is getting something more than them. That's fine with me, as long as they're not the ones making the rules at Disney - and they're not.

I also don't see anything wrong with older siblings getting to ride with both parents since they would get to ride with oth if baby was old enough to ride.

 

[jaklgreen]

I don't think of it as a loophole giving people with small children double FPs. Our family is taking our infant grandson in May. It would be nice if we could all ride FOP with rider switch while my daughter and son-in-law could also get FPs for Navi River and enjoy it with their baby. Children too young to enjoy the bigger rides still could get FPs for rides like Peter Pan's Flight, Small World, etc. Adults go on those rides because the young children need them to accompany them - I don't think there's anything wrong with allowing them to use rider switch to get on rides like FOP or BTMR. In fact, that's the way Disney currently has it set up, so it sure looks like Disney agrees.

I've been on these boards long enough to know that some people go totally bonkers if they think someone is getting something more than them. That's fine with me, as long as they're not the ones making the rules at Disney - and they're not.

If you don't see how they are getting double the FPs, then you are not understanding how it is working now. Now, only half of the party needs to get a FP for a certain ride, the other half will just piggy back off of them with the RS. Then they can do the opposite with the other half, having them get a FP for another ride that the group can then benefit from. So a family that will be using RS, can make 6 FP for the "family group" ahead of time. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using RS, it should be that the whole family either has a FP for it, if they want to use the FP line, or get the RS and wait in the standby line. When our kids were young, we did not use it because we decided to just do the rides that they can go on since we had been several times before and knew that we would be going back. But, back then the way it worked was the whole family waited in line, when you got to the part where they loaded you, the adult staying back with the child would be held off to the side and then they would "swap" the baby right after the first adult was done riding.

 

[Chi84]

No I understand that rider switch is designed to give families with young children the ability to do exactly what you describe. What I'm saying is that it isn't a loophole - it's a benefit Disney has chosen to give to people with children that Disney itself prohibits from riding certain rides because they are not old enough or tall enough. Rider switch and FastPass are two entirely separate systems - rider switch is much older than the FastPass system - and Disney sets the rules for each. It has decided to give something extra to people with very young children so they don't have to be at such a disadvantage when riding the bigger rides that the young ones are unable to ride.

I suspect that Disney wants to make things better for families with young children so they don't have to skip the rides the kids are too young to go on, and the families can still get quick access to the rides the young ones enjoy. Is it really the end of the world if people get "extra FastPasses" to some of the attractions with no height requirements? Disney has to think of all families, including the ones who don't go every year. If they err on the side of being too generous, that's fine.

 

[Chi84]

Seriously, I do understand that there are people who will use any system in ways other than intended in order to benefit them. That doesn't mean Disney's policies have to become small enough or mean enough to revolve around them.

 

[jaklgreen]

No I understand that rider switch is designed to give families with young children the ability to do exactly what you describe. What I'm saying is that it isn't a loophole - it's a benefit Disney has chosen to give to people with children that Disney itself prohibits from riding certain rides because they are not old enough or tall enough. Rider switch and FastPass are two entirely separate systems - rider switch is much older than the FastPass system - and Disney sets the rules for each. It has decided to give something extra to people with very young children so they don't have to be at such a disadvantage when riding the bigger rides that the young ones are unable to ride.

I suspect that Disney wants to make things better for families with young children so they don't have to skip the rides the kids are too young to go on, and the families can still get quick access to the rides the young ones enjoy. Is it really the end of the world if people get "extra FastPasses" to some of the attractions with no height requirements? Disney has to think of all families, including the ones who don't go every year. If they err on the side of being too generous, that's fine.

I don't think that they intentionally made it to give people with small children a benefit. I think that it is a programming glitch. That is why you hear some people report that they were not allowed to do that and that everyone in the party needed a FP for that ride.

 

[Chi84]

I don't think that they intentionally made it to give people with small children a benefit. I think that it is a programming glitch. That is why you hear some people report that they were not allowed to do that and that everyone in the party needed a FP for that ride.

Maybe, but I've been following this subject on a couple of sites and almost everyone who actually used rider switch is reporting that they did not need FastPasses for Group 2. People who have contacted Disney by phone or in an online chat are also reporting being told that Group 2 does not need FastPasses. I guess I'll find out in May. Whatever happens, I'm sure we'll be able to work around it just fine.