DryerLintFan
Premium Member
.. and do a replay of Illuminations when we missed that.
Come to think of it, we left the park before we could enjoy our ADR for BOG because our toddler was melty.....
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New Rider Switch Policy is Terrible
- Thread starter maria_wdw2012
- Start date
Come to think of it, we left the park before we could enjoy our ADR for BOG because our toddler was melty.....
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Empathy for what though? Being a parent? Things happen, kids ruin stuff..sometimes our fault, sometimes their fault. It is what it is.
I currently have a ‘luxury cabin” sitting empty somewhere in Kentucky.. that I’ve already paid for. Why? Because my kid got hurt on day 1, so we left early AM on day 2.. non refundable rates.
Things happen when you have kids.
DryerLintFan
Premium Member
This. I can empathize with OP being sad she missed the ride. I missed a bunch of rides I wanted to go on because my daughter decided she was afraid of dark queues. And then of rides that took you into the air. And then decided she only wanted to meet princesses. It sucked, so I get it. BUT, small kids ruin things through no fault of their own. Just by the nature of small kids.
An hour is plenty of time to child swap.
RememberWhen
Well-Known Member
As long as it’s true that you have an hour after the standby time if you go standby, I see no problem. I was worried that the hour would get eaten up by the original group waiting, but if that’s not the case an hour seems pretty reasonable.
jaklgreen
Well-Known Member
Disney as a private company has decided that an hour time limit is what they want to give for rider swap, as is their right. One person rides, gets off, then the next adult rides. It is really not that complicated. Again, if something comes up and you can not make it back in that hour, well then tough on you. That is life. Expecting Disney to accommodate all of your personal issues is a bit self centered. It is funny how so many people with kids are able to make this time frame but the few that don't expect special treatment as if their lives and kids are more important then the rest of us. Yes it would be an amazing benefit to stack up your child swap return times and use them whenever you want. Then the first person can re ride or it can be given to someone else, etc. They started the swap as a courtesy to those who have small kids, they don't have to do that. Those rides are for bigger people. They can take the stance that you should stick to the kiddie rides if you have small kids, there are plenty of those. What part of nobody owes you anything are some people having a hard time understanding?
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That's why we have travel insurance.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I have been kicking myself/in a bad mood for almost 48 hours now. Had I used my CC, I would have been covered, I think even a portion of the ER visit. I’ve been looking for a specific cabin opening for a month now.. randomly checked Saturday evening and suddenly saw availability. My debit card was closest to me, so I booked it with that. Huge mistake.
This is accurate. The idea is that return time is adjusted so that when the first part of the party is getting off the ride, the hour window should be starting (or very close to starting - it may be slightly off by a couple of minutes just based on delays, etc.). So if Tower of Terror is posting a (standby) 45 minute wait, and your family gets in line at 12:00 p.m., your one hour rider switch window should be from about 12:45-1:45 p.m. Keep in mind, this will be lowered if the family is going through FastPass - so if the FastPass line is only supposed to be a 10-15 minute wait, the return window will be lowered so that the second part of the party's 1-hour window starts when their family members are getting off the ride.
Joebradley62
Active Member
So, the policy is fine you chose not to take advantage of it as allowed.
Joebradley62
Active Member
That is our society.
Joebradley62
Active Member
I still don't understand this difficulty. The returning parent takes the kids you go ride. They left you with the kids seemingly with issues. Now time to return the favor and let you ride. These difficulties seem to be self inflicted.
Joebradley62
Active Member
Hey you chose to have them you have to live with them! LOL.That was quite honestly one of the best parts of Universal. I hate ride swap at Disney because it means my family has to be split up longer. At Universal everyone goes through the line together. You then take the little one off to the side and swap right there at the ride. So much easier IMO. However, when we were at Disney we did use the Ride Swap multiple times. Every time I rode immediately after. And there were a few times my then newly turned 4 year old lost her smit, and I was more than happy to dump her screaming butt on her father for 15 minutes lol. Normally when I came back he had managed to calm her down again.
Only bad part about Ride Swap in general is my 8 year old who would ride both times. I always went second and his enthusiasm couldn't keep him from spoiling every aspect of every ride.Try being fully immersed in FOP while you have an over eager beaver sitting next to you telling you about every scene coming up, then asking you every minute how you like it.
Joebradley62
Active Member
Then don't bring the kids if they can't ride everything with you. it is not Disney's responsibility to make sure you can handle your children etc etc
I would find it to be impossible to enjoy riding a ride while I knew my kids were melting down. My kids are nearly grown, but I have a young niece and nephew who I travel with to WDW frequently, and I know I would have a difficult time having fun on a ride if I knew one of them, or both of them, was hysterical. Not a good way to have fun, IMHO. I personally think one hour is ridiculous. Would require even more planning having the kids sit there while one parent rides, then figure out what to do with them while the other one is riding, after the switch. Are the kids just supposed to sit there waiting for an hour or more for parents to ride a ride? Sounds miserable to me.
Ricky Spanish
Well-Known Member
Amen.
nickys
Premium Member
No ride, apart perhaps for FoP, takes an hour to ride if using a fastpass. And if riding stand-by, there will be plenty of time to go off and do something else - ride something more suitable with them. In MK that could include just running around on TSI or riding the carousel or magic carpets.
I think the biggest problem with this is that people got used to being able to use those RS whenever they wanted. Now they can no longer do that, so the planning which they got used to no longer works.
It just calls for some re-adjustment, both in terms of planning and (perhaps) expectations. That will take time for those used to the old system. However at least this system appears to have some consistency built into it; previously there were vastly different ways that CMs were interpreting and implementing the "policy".
Joebradley62
Active Member
Presumably the first parent is left alone with said child or children. Why is it so hard or wrong to expect the riding parent to return take over and let the other go? That is a 5 minute conversation at most. Empathy has nothing to do with it. It is a rule. Follow the rule. If you don't like the rule don't go. Wait until children are old enough, leave them with grandparents aunts or uncles.
belle & ariel
New Member
We usually travel alone as empty nesters and child swap is not something I would think about. We took a trip with our married daughter and their preschoolers under the old child swap and it was a lot more family friendly than the new one.
My husband and I kept the three littles while their parents rode. It was very hot (early June) and we usually did not use our rider swap because the kids had already waited close to a half hour many times. It was easier to go on to something we all could do. Our plan was to come back in the evening when they had went back to the resort to go to bed, but often we did not use.
We were there a little over a week but there is so much we did not do. It really opened my eyes to how difficult it can be to visit with little children. I feel bad for the families dealing with the new policy. It is so much easier to spread out the rides requiring rider swap than make kids wait forever going back to back. One can ride while a child naps, or during a parade.
A little empathy for others would be nice.
My husband and I kept the three littles while their parents rode. It was very hot (early June) and we usually did not use our rider swap because the kids had already waited close to a half hour many times. It was easier to go on to something we all could do. Our plan was to come back in the evening when they had went back to the resort to go to bed, but often we did not use.
We were there a little over a week but there is so much we did not do. It really opened my eyes to how difficult it can be to visit with little children. I feel bad for the families dealing with the new policy. It is so much easier to spread out the rides requiring rider swap than make kids wait forever going back to back. One can ride while a child naps, or during a parade.
A little empathy for others would be nice.