New Rider Switch Policy is Terrible

[jaklgreen]

I think a lot of people forget that Disney is , first and foremost, a family park. Implimenting a rider switch system that doesn't give families enough time for dealing with emergencies isn't a great decision. A family park shouldn't be asking parents to choose between taking care of their kids or getting on their rides, especially not at this price point. We all make our choices, yes, but this isn't a choice that should have to be made in the first place.

Again, how is your problem everyone else's problem? Everyone wants the perfect life and have the whole world work around their schedule and issues. Why does anyone think that Disney should do things special for them because they had an issue with their kids? I am not unsympathetic to the OP. But I have kids, and my kids are my problem. If they caused me to miss my FP or ride swap or dinner reservations then that is MY problem, not Disney's or anyone else's. I said that it was nice of Disney to give them another FP and I was glad for them. But the level of entitlement by some people(not necessarily the OP) is crazy. To actually think it is normal for everyone to change things to suit your life is the definition of entitlement.

 

[Freshee61]

Ridiculous.... more strategic rules. Everything has to be planned to the tee

 

[Dave B]

I would bet A LOT of money that the people against the new child swap are kid less(or most of them), the responses seem to be from people that just don't have kids and understand, now again, I didn't say everyone,

 

[ninjaprincesst]

i think one hour should be more than enough time, any kid that is going to have an hour long temper tantrum does not need to be at Disney until they learn how to behave. And to those who say all kids have melt downs no they don't . my daughter is 19 and has been coming to Disney every year since she was 1 and never had a temper tantrum at Disney or home or anywhere else for that matter. If you give people all day they are going to abuse the system.

 

[21stamps]

I think a lot of people forget that Disney is , first and foremost, a family park. Implimenting a rider switch system that doesn't give families enough time for dealing with emergencies isn't a great decision. A family park shouldn't be asking parents to choose between taking care of their kids or getting on their rides, especially not at this price point. We all make our choices, yes, but this isn't a choice that should have to be made in the first place.

I’ll just say “exactly” to Larry’s response to your comment. I’ll also add that I travel alone with my child, we’ve missed stuff, I’ve had to pay a cancellation penalty for restaurants.. it is what it is.. my kid is my responsibility, and kids are not 100% perfect at all times, nor are they always successful in following a Disney schedule that we, the parents, decided to set.
This is called- Life as a parent.

 

[Shouldigo12]

Again, how is your problem everyone else's problem? Everyone wants the perfect life and have the whole world work around their schedule and issues. Why does anyone think that Disney should do things special for them because they had an issue with their kids? I am not unsympathetic to the OP. But I have kids, and my kids are my problem. If they caused me to miss my FP or ride swap or dinner reservations then that is MY problem, not Disney's or anyone else's. I said that it was nice of Disney to give them another FP and I was glad for them. But the level of entitlement by some people(not necessarily the OP) is crazy. To actually think it is normal for everyone to change things to suit your life is the definition of entitlement.

How is wanting an extra hour for the rider swap making it everyone else's problem? Its not a huge deal to add it on to deal with unforseen circumstances. I just feel like things are getting blown so out of proportion. OP didn't know about the rider swap. They were willing to go along with it, but life happened and she couldn't make the window. So she got in touch with Disney and was able to get a new pass so she could get on the ride. That's not entitled. That's not "wanting everyone to change things to suit your life". Of course if your kids cause you to miss something that's your issue. But on the other hand I think a place where the main demographic is families should have more flexible systems in place to keep OPs situation from happening. Would it really be that bad if parents were given an extra hour?

 

[Lets Respect]

People should be happy they can still double their Fastpasses with Rider Switch. Back when this rumor first started, the story was that everyone would have to have a Fastpass to go through the Fastpass line

 

[larryz]

So you also don't think it's a good system then? I agree a straight child swap makes more sense but that's not the system Disney has in place.

I would prefer a straight-up swap. Disney has chosen to give recipients an hour to iron out any wrinkles -- like maybe the baby filled a diaper while waiting for the other parent to return, and Dad has to run over to the family restroom to change it out -- but an hour it is, not 6 hours. Not two weeks.

 

[networkpro]

I would bet A LOT of money that the people against the new child swap are kid less(or most of them), the responses seem to be from people that just don't have kids and understand, now again, I didn't say everyone,

Rides have a finite capacity of riders per hour of operation. Rider swap without a FastPass increases the standby time. Refute that.

 

[jenmae56]

There have been times when we have utilized our fastpasses with rider swap, because everyone in our party gets the fastpass and we then ride swap, and the first group doesn't get out in enough time for an hour time limit on the swap (FoP, Soarin, Test Track). I think many of you are being incredibly judgmental about the OP which is completely uncalled for. Everyone at Disney is there for a vacation and should be able to enjoy it as such.

 

[jaklgreen]

How is wanting an extra hour for the rider swap making it everyone else's problem? Its not a huge deal to add it on to deal with unforseen circumstances. I just feel like things are getting blown so out of proportion. OP didn't know about the rider swap. They were willing to go along with it, but life happened and she couldn't make the window. So she got in touch with Disney and was able to get a new pass so she could get on the ride. That's not entitled. That's not "wanting everyone to change things to suit your life". Of course if your kids cause you to miss something that's your issue. But on the other hand I think a place where the main demographic is families should have more flexible systems in place to keep OPs situation from happening. Would it really be that bad if parents were given an extra hour?

Because you are asking for special treatment. How do you not see that? To make it clear, I don't care if she asked for more time and it is well in Disney's discretion to do that as part of customer service. I am saying that the mindset now from a lot of people is that just because something in life happens and you might miss out but you have to have it anyway. Why isn't your thinking, "this was what they gave me and through no fault of Disney's it did not work out. That is life". Instead of "I did not get what I want so Disney needs to make and exception for me". Do you not see the difference in thinking here? The definition of entitled:
en·ti·tled
inˈtīdld,enˈtīdld/
adjective

1. believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.
   "his pompous, entitled attitude"

Do you disagree that expecting Disney to make and exception to their rules is special treatment? And I (and obviously Disney too) think that an hour is flexible. They could have kept it that you ride immediately after the other adult gets off like it used to be. They have decided probably after a few years of having an open ended rider swap that it was not working and changed it to an hour, just like FP time. And this is not about would it be bad to give parents an extra hour as you say. This is about they have decided that an hour is the service they want to provide. Just because it would be nice if they still had it open ended does not mean that people should complain or feel like the rules need to be bent for them. It would be nice if they gave everyone Mickey bars as we walked into the gates, after all kids love ice cream and it is a family place. You and I obviously have different ideas on how to live. I am probably what you would call old school. Where the world does not owe you anything and I work for everything I have. I think my job as a parent is to raise productive members of society and I always told my kids that life is not fair. This situation is really not a big deal. If the OP came here and said, "look at the nice thing that Disney did for me when my kids were acting up" Instead of complaining how horrible the policy is, this would have been a different discussion. It just comes off as ungrateful.

 

[Sonconato]

Are you going to Disney for you or your kids?
Maybe hold off on the disney vacation until the family can happily do everything together.

We did just that when our child was young, and it turned out to be the smartest thing we ever did. We used to travel from New England and we decided that, as much as we loved Disney (we lived in Orlando and had APs for 6 years while there before moving North), we were going to wait until he was at least five before we made our first trip to WDW with him. In doing so, we avoided the diaper bags, strollers, snacks and everything else you would need with a very young child as well as the meltdowns and chaos. Not that long ago, it was required that you fold up your stroller to ride the monorail, buses and such so it was much more of hassle to have all those things anyway. But I will say, Disney could certainly move more people more efficiently and faster since they could get about twice the number of people in the monorail. We’ve asked our son if he remembered much about his first trip and he said no. He felt he remembered that trip mostly from watching our trip videos over and over. That alone says a lot. We’re back in Orlando now and visit the Parks weekly. After seeing the nightmares we do when at the Parks, we’re so grateful we made that wise decision and that we avoided impacting others vacation.

 

[drizgirl]

Everyone at Disney is there for a vacation and should be able to enjoy it as such.

It's much easier to enjoy when you can double up on fastpasses and not be limited by tiers though.

That said, I'd be fine with allowing 2 hours. But I think every rider (except the bonus riders in the second group) needs to redeem a FP for it. I wonder if everyone would go for that deal.

 

[Hockey89]

I would bet A LOT of money that the people against the new child swap are kid less(or most of them), the responses seem to be from people that just don't have kids and understand, now again, I didn't say everyone,

I would say you are 100% wrong...

 

[Shouldigo12]

Because you are asking for special treatment. How do you not see that? To make it clear, I don't care if she asked for more time and it is well in Disney's discretion to do that as part of customer service. I am saying that the mindset now from a lot of people is that just because something in life happens and you might miss out but you have to have it anyway. Why isn't your thinking, "this was what they gave me and through no fault of Disney's it did not work out. That is life". Instead of "I did not get what I want so Disney needs to make and exception for me". Do you not see the difference in thinking here? The definition of entitled:
en·ti·tled
inˈtīdld,enˈtīdld/
adjective

1. believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.
   "his pompous, entitled attitude"

Do you disagree that expecting Disney to make and exception to their rules is special treatment? And I (and obviously Disney too) think that an hour is flexible. They could have kept it that you ride immediately after the other adult gets off like it used to be. They have decided probably after a few years of having an open ended rider swap that it was not working and changed it to an hour, just like FP time. And this is not about would it be bad to give parents an extra hour as you say. This is about they have decided that an hour is the service they want to provide. Just because it would be nice if they still had it open ended does not mean that people should complain or feel like the rules need to be bent for them. It would be nice if they gave everyone Mickey bars as we walked into the gates, after all kids love ice cream and it is a family place. You and I obviously have different ideas on how to live. I am probably what you would call old school. Where the world does not owe you anything and I work for everything I have. I think my job as a parent is to raise productive members of society and I always told my kids that life is not fair. This situation is really not a big deal. If the OP came here and said, "look at the nice thing that Disney did for me when my kids were acting up" Instead of complaining how horrible the policy is, this would have been a different discussion. It just comes off as ungrateful.

Dude, I never said OP or anyone should get an extra hour on the current policy while everyone else has to make due with the time they give now. I was just saying it would nice if Disney added in extra hour in to their policy, for all ride swapping guests, to prevent situations like this from happening in the first place. I agree; this situation isn't a big deal, which is why everyone getting so heated is really confusing me. Maybe I didn't explain myself well enough. To clarify,
1. I agree a straight ride swap would be best.
2. Disney didn't owe OP a fastpass, but it was nice she got one.
3. Adding an extra hour on to the window for the rider swap, as in changing the policy not just giving someone who misses the window more time to get there for no reason other than special treatment, would not be a terrible thing.
4. I do not condone people wanting the rules bent for them; as I said, I don't want Disney to keep the one hour window but then let people on the ride anyway. Rather I think it would be nice for the window to be lengthened to two hours for all ride swaps, NOT just people who miss the hour window and want on anyway.
Seriously, I just don't get why everyone is bringing asking for special treatment into this. I was never endorsing that! If you miss the one hour window that's your problem, just like if I missed my fastpass I would be expected to deal with it. The only point I was trying to make is adding an extra hour onto the ride swap would probably be a good idea to keep OP's situation from happening.
Edit- I'm also going to add on I'm not a parent myself. I think some people might be getting the idea that I'm making these arguments because I want special treatment for me and my (nonexistent) kids.

 

[Shouldigo12]

It's much easier to enjoy when you can double up on fastpasses and not be limited by tiers though.

That said, I'd be fine with allowing 2 hours. But I think every rider (except the bonus riders in the second group) needs to redeem a FP for it. I wonder if everyone would go for that deal.

I think that's totally fair. I'm not a parent, so probably affects my perception haha.

 

[donnylambb]

I'm sorry but a 1 hour window is more than enough time for both parents to ride. Ride switch isn't meant to be a anytime fastpass.

It should not take more than a hour for both parents to finish a ride. If it does your at one ride location way to long!

 

[RememberWhen]

It should not take more than a hour for both parents to finish a ride. If it does your at one ride location way to long!

Well. We’re going Christmas week with a 6 year old and an 18 month old. We know it will be busy and are prepared for long lines. We will use FP to minimize that, but if DS6 decides he’s willing to wait an hour to ride BTMR, we will probably go for it. It would be nice if both of us (parents) could ride. I’d be totally happy to wait in the line together, but that’s not how Disney has chosen to do their baby swap. Given that, and the hour long limit to return, if the line is really long it’s just not possible. So we’ll make do, though a slightly longer return option (or one that’s dependent on the current wait time) would be great. If we can’t both ride, we won’t. No worries. The old system (having a month to return) was crazy.

 

[Dave B]

Rides have a finite capacity of riders per hour of operation. Rider swap without a FastPass increases the standby time. Refute that.

Do you have kids?

 

[Lets Respect]

I don’t think two hours is a big deal either

I’ll be interested to see what they do when TSL opens this weekend. Going to be a lot of rider switches handed out due to the fact it’s a kiddie land