Rider swap confusion

[CaptainAmerica]

Can someone help me understand the rider swap program...how it's SUPPOSED to work and how it works in practice? The official WDW site and The Unofficial Guide say that the entire party waits in the queue at the same time and the swapping happens down by the loading platform. It also says that the swap is limited to two people. However, I'm reading other sites and posts on this site that say the second party never has to enter the normal queue and that the swap pass can be used for three people. Can anyone clarify? I'm not looking to game the system or anything, I just want to know what I can and can't do.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

 

[Tom]

Watching this thread because I've been wondering the same thing. Going in November and January with our 1-year-old and will need to use it.

My understanding is definitely that one or more go through the Standby queue first, and ride it, after going to the FP kiosk (?) to get the swap setup. When the first group comes out, the balance of the group scans their bands at the FP entrance and they get to ride via FP.

I could be wrong, and hopefully someone explains it very clearly.

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

When my kids were younger we often did the child swap. I can tell you we had to do it both ways. It seemed the procedure for it was different depending on the ride or at least the queue CM. We all had to wait in line and would swap at loading on some and others my wife would be with me and we would tell the CM at the FP entrance or regular queue entrance that we were doing the child swap and they would give us one FP for the ride... I would then wait in reg line and when I came out, my wife would have the FP to use.
Again, this was about 8 years ago when I last used it. At the time we just resorted to always asking the CM at the FP entrance the procedure to that ride because it did get confusing. I am sure it probably has changed since and I don't know if Magicbands can somehow be involved now, but that was my experience with it.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

When my kids were younger we often did the child swap. I can tell you we had to do it both ways. It seemed the procedure for it was different depending on the ride or at least the queue CM. We all had to wait in line and would swap at loading on some and others my wife would be with me and we would tell the CM at the FP entrance or regular queue entrance that we were doing the child swap and they would give us one FP for the ride... I would then wait in reg line and when I came out, my wife would have the FP to use.
Again, this was about 8 years ago when I last used it. At the time we just resorted to always asking the CM at the FP entrance the procedure to that ride because it did get confusing. I am sure it probably has changed since and I don't know if Magicbands can somehow be involved now, but that was my experience with it.

Yeah it's a "brave new world" with FP+ so I'm trying to develop my strategy for FP+ selection alongside my rider swap strategy. If it was just my wife and I with the baby as it was the last time we went, we'd be happy to just skip the rides she can't go on, but we're going in January with my parents and two adult sisters.

 

[Tom]

When my kids were younger we often did the child swap. I can tell you we had to do it both ways. It seemed the procedure for it was different depending on the ride or at least the queue CM. We all had to wait in line and would swap at loading on some and others my wife would be with me and we would tell the CM at the FP entrance or regular queue entrance that we were doing the child swap and they would give us one FP for the ride... I would then wait in reg line and when I came out, my wife would have the FP to use.
Again, this was about 8 years ago when I last used it. At the time we just resorted to always asking the CM at the FP entrance the procedure to that ride because it did get confusing. I am sure it probably has changed since and I don't know if Magicbands can somehow be involved now, but that was my experience with it.

I think part of the issue with the old system is that those too short to ride would still be admitted to the queue.....and parents with kids just barely too short would take their kids on after the CMs assumed they were swapping and passed them through.

 

[delyrium]

The website lists two people as being able to use the return pass, however the paper pass lists three. When we were there last year, only the riders entered the queue, and my understanding is that's how it's meant to work. This makes it possible to split your fastpasses among your party- say two members of the party have a FP for Soarin', and the other two have a FP for Test Track. The two Soarin' riders will use their FP, and point to the small child and accompanying adult, and get handed the rider swap pass for up to three people (which is good for up to one month). Once they're finished, the party can then go to Test Track and the other two people can use their FP and get a rider swap pass. Up to three people can return to both of those rides and go through the FP line for up to one month.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Yeah it's a "brave new world" with FP+ so I'm trying to develop my strategy for FP+ selection alongside my rider swap strategy. If it was just my wife and I with the baby as it was the last time we went, we'd be happy to just skip the rides she can't go on, but we're going in January with my parents and two adult sisters.

Hint. Your preselected FP need to be low capacity attractions/really popular attractions. Then get your additional FP for those attractions that have high capacity. Don't waste prescheduled FP on IASW or Little Mermaid. Those types are usually available throughout the day.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Hint. Your preselected FP need to be low capacity attractions/really popular attractions. Then get your additional FP for those attractions that have high capacity. Don't waste prescheduled FP on IASW or Little Mermaid. Those types are usually available throughout the day.

Yeah I know how best to use FP+. It's managing the itinerary of six adults and a baby that's going to be the challenge.

 

[Tricia732]

Can the "baby swap" be used when you have a handicapped adult in your party? Next Oct. our extended family, all adults, will be coming to WDW. My S-I-L has cerebral palsey and is confined to a wheel chair. While there are many attractions she will be able to do, she will not be able to do things like the the ToT or EE. When the rest of the family rides these attractions, we don't want her sitting alone.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

I've seen two things happen. On BTM, both my wife and I waited in the stand by line and when we went to load the train, she went on and I stood there with the baby. Once she came back into the station, I stepped into the train, handed the baby to her and then I rode. The second scenario happend at the Dino ride at AK. We walked up to the CM and said we needed a rider swap; they did the FP thing for me so my wife could go ride and then when she was done, she came out, we swapped and I went into the FP line.

 

[Rinx]

Say a family of four (mom, dad, two children), for example, want to go on something but baby Joey is too small to ride. They all go to the greeter and the greeter should hand out the rider switch. This is where you must be careful of the wording. I forget which but it definitely says either good for three guests or something like rider plus three guests. Either way, let's say mom sits out with Joey. She will hold the rider switch pass while dad and the other child go through the stand-by queue. When they come out dad will sit with Joey and mom and the other child will go through the FP queue. Now I am sure there are exceptions with how certain area managers like to carry out using the rider switch.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

Say a family of four (mom, dad, two children), for example, want to go on something but baby Joey is too small to ride. They all go to the greeter and the greeter should hand out the rider switch. This is where you must be careful of the wording. I forget which but it definitely says either good for three guests or something like rider plus three guests. Either way, let's say mom sits out with Joey. She will hold the rider switch pass while dad and the other child go through the stand-by queue. When they come out dad will sit with Joey and mom and the other child will go through the FP queue. Now I am sure there are exceptions with how certain area managers like to carry out using the rider switch.

With this example, you're saying the other child gets to ride twice? I think that sounds correct.

 

[WDWDreamer4]

We were just there in September and used ride swap extensively as we have 2 that were under 40".
1. We took the whole party up to the fast pass line and requested a rider swap. The cast member needs to see the baby (or person under 40") before they will hand out the legacy fastpass that says rider swap. The ride swap was good for 3 total people.
2. Once we received the ride swap I would usually go sit down with the girls (both under 40") while my DH and DS rode the ride first.
3. Then my DS and I would ride with the rider swap.
The nice thing is that the rider swap has an expiration date as the last day of the month you are in. So it does not have to be used immediately.
You can also combine the FP+ with rider swap. Say you have a FP+ for Soarin', you complete the steps above but the first group goes through with their fastpasses. Then the second group goes through with the rider swap. Using this method I was able to schedule FP+ for Soarin and Test Track on the same day (DH and DS on one and me and DD on the other) My DD is 4 so she had a ticket but she isn't 40" yet so she could not ride. For those FP+ we just had her band on my DS. However the OP sounded like they would be traveling with all adults so you won't need to swap MB.