Rider Switch pilot program RnRC/ToT

[disneydata]

Disney is trying out a new Rider Switch system which is in a test phase at Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. The new Rider Switch passes will still work the same as they always have. The difference is the passes will now be restricted to the day they're issued only. All Rider Switches will be printed by the Cast Members at the FastPass location with a special key card daily. They will also be printed on the standard FastPass ticket stock for each attraction.

Sorry I don't have pics, but I will try to snag some soon and scan them in.

 

[brkgnews]

Good. Maybe this will stop some of that eBay asininity.

Thanks for the info.

 

[elizs77]

I did notice that the rider switch passes were dated, and about half of the time, the CM had to get them out of a box. It wasn't something in hand. We did switches at every ride with a height requirement b/c we had a baby with us. At Mission:Space, we had to go to the end of the ride to get the pass. It wasn't being handed out at the front like everywhere else. That may be b/c the front CMs have to hand out the green/orange cards and don't want to worry about the other.

We got swich passes everywhere except at Star Tours. Here, they said we both had to go into the ride and do a physical baby switch right at the ride. No passes. Not sure if it's always been like this, but I thought it was 1) cumbersome b/c they didn't allow the stroller in and our daughter was asleep; and 2) why can't they just do a pass here like everywhere else? :shrug:

I don't have any rider switch cards left since we used them, only expired FastPasses.

 

[imamouse]

I agree with Bkrgnews - sounds like a process improvement to me.

 

[daringstoic]

Didn't they do it this way a while ago? I remember getting old rider switches that had been printed on FP paper when I worked there a couple of years ago. Was the FP Distribution CM printing them out individually, or did they have them printed out beforehand so they could just hand them out when the need arose? It seems that during busy times when the FP machines have lines, it would be cumbersome to have the Distribution CM hijack a machine to print the rider switches for people. It was always a pain when I had to stop a line to jump in on a machine when I had to re-print FPs for someone who had problems with their ticket. I'd have to see how this works in practice, but it doesn't seem like it's that great of an idea. The rider switch cards they use at all of the parks except the MK already have dates on them in big black numbers that are actually easier to read than what's printed on FPs.

 

[taholden]

How does rider switch work? We are going in December with our son who will be just turning 1. Do we both go through the line or does only one of us go through and then after waiting we give the rider switch ticket to the other parent and they go in the fastpass entrance? It would seem to make more sense if the waiting parent didn't have to be in line and could keep the baby busy in another area near the exit.

Thanks in advance!

 

[GrowingUpDisney]

I may be the only person to disagree.

I think a rider switch that maybe expired in 1-2 weeks would be a better solution to the problem. What if you get a rider switch pass for say Everest and while your switcher is in line the park closes. THEY WILL NOT honor that rider switch when your switcher gets off.

If the pass expired in a week, then my family may get back over there during my trip so that I can ride.

This same senario can happen with plans to eat in another location, see fireworks, go to shows, etc. You may run out of time on the same day but might could go back before the conclusion of your trip.

Not that I think my opinion really matters to the powers at WDW - I just thought I would throw that out there.

Niki

 

[elizs77]

How does rider switch work? We are going in December with our son who will be just turning 1. Do we both go through the line or does only one of us go through and then after waiting we give the rider switch ticket to the other parent and they go in the fastpass entrance? It would seem to make more sense if the waiting parent didn't have to be in line and could keep the baby busy in another area near the exit.

Thanks in advance!

For most rides, you just go up to the first CM that you see at the ride and tell them you want to do a rider switch. This is usually before you enter the queue. You'll just get a little paper that looks like a FastPass but says it's for a rider switch. Then, your first rider goes through the standby line (or FastPass line if you have a separate FastPass like we did about every time we did this). Baby and parent then go hang out, usually in the gift shop at the end of the ride for the a/c, but it's your choice. Then when the first rider is done, the other rider takes the rider switch pass to the FastPass line and goes on in.

There are some exceptions, but this is how it works about 90% of the time.

 

[coltow]

For most rides, you just go up to the first CM that you see at the ride and tell them you want to do a rider switch. This is usually before you enter the queue. You'll just get a little paper that looks like a FastPass but says it's for a rider switch. Then, your first rider goes through the standby line (or FastPass line if you have a separate FastPass like we did about every time we did this). Baby and parent then go hang out, usually in the gift shop at the end of the ride for the a/c, but it's your choice. Then when the first rider is done, the other rider takes the rider switch pass to the FastPass line and goes on in.

There are some exceptions, but this is how it works about 90% of the time.

There were times when CMs just gave us a FP that they were already holding. I know for sure this happened at ToT last time we were there. I walked up to CM said I needed a rider switch pass and pointed to DH and DS who were sitting at a bench. He just gave me 2 FPs that the people in front of me had just handed in.

 

[elizs77]

There were times when CMs just gave us a FP that they were already holding. I know for sure this happened at ToT last time we were there. I walked up to CM said I needed a rider switch pass and pointed to DH and DS who were sitting at a bench. He just gave me 2 FPs that the people in front of me had just handed in.

Sure. That does the same thing, I can see where they would do that. We had FastPasses for ToT, but there wasn't a line all day this past Sunday, so we always walked on anyway. I asked for a Rider Switch, and the CM said there wasn't any line even though it said 20 minutes, go on in.

I also did a thing at ToT in 2006 with the Rider Switch that was a bit different. Our son was tall enough to ride, but I didn't want him to do that since he was only 3. We didn't really know what we were supposed to do, so we took him into the attraction. When we got to the elevator, the CM took me and our son through the CM staircase downstairs to the ride exit. Then he brought our son a child's size version of their costume. He donned the hat and coat, and the tag on the coat said Jr. Bellhop. The CM showed us where my husband would come off the ride. When the doors opened, the CM had our son say "Welcome Back." Everyone on the ride started cracking up. It was magical for us as well as it left us with such a good memory! This time around, he's 5, and he rode about 6 times. We had to do rider switch, though, since we were down there with an infant.

 

[MousDad]

Somewhat related question: If only 1 in a party of 4 wants to ride an attraction, but the other 3 want to enjoy the queue, is it possible for them to wait in line up until load and just skip to the exit instead of riding? Or is this frowned upon.

 

[elizs77]

Somewhat related question: If only 1 in a party of 4 wants to ride an attraction, but the other 3 want to enjoy the queue, is it possible for them to wait in line up until load and just skip to the exit instead of riding? Or is this frowned upon.

I've not seen that done other than people chickening out at the end. Easier on some rides like Haunted Mansioin where most of the queue is outside, or at some place like ToT if the queue isn't long and they bail before the movie. But I can see where this could really annoy a CM. Or other guests in certain circumstances. I just wouldn't recommend doing this.

 

[yankeevttch]

Somewhat related question: If only 1 in a party of 4 wants to ride an attraction, but the other 3 want to enjoy the queue, is it possible for them to wait in line up until load and just skip to the exit instead of riding? Or is this frowned upon.

I've done this on a few rides. they just showed me where to go when DH was getting ready to go on the ride.

 

[cooleo]

I have guests travelling with us many times that did not want to ride but wanted to check out the detail of the attraction. No CM has ever given us any hassle about doing this. They have actually been very nice about it & told the person not wanting to ride that they would be able to exit just before getting on the ride & then wait for us to get off.

My son also got to be Jr. Bellhop once. Then they let us ride again while he wore the Jr. Bellhop costume.

 

[TP2000]

At Disneyland the rider switch passes are color coded, and each day the color changes for the passes used. That way they know that the pass was issued that day. I was getting a switch pass at the Matterhorn and the hostess had to call into the chalet to get someone to bring out more passes and she said "We're using red today, bring more red".

Have they ever tried the color coded thing at WDW?

 

[007mickey]

For most rides, you just go up to the first CM that you see at the ride and tell them you want to do a rider switch. This is usually before you enter the queue. You'll just get a little paper that looks like a FastPass but says it's for a rider switch. Then, your first rider goes through the standby line (or FastPass line if you have a separate FastPass like we did about every time we did this). Baby and parent then go hang out, usually in the gift shop at the end of the ride for the a/c, but it's your choice. Then when the first rider is done, the other rider takes the rider switch pass to the FastPass line and goes on in.

There are some exceptions, but this is how it works about 90% of the time.

Question, does the "soon to be riding" parent with the non riding child/baby have to show a fast pass or only the parent riding first? Because the rider switch "ticket" allows the "soon to be riding" parent to enter the attraction through the fast pass queue, correct?

The reason I ask this is our family of 4 has a non-adventureous 6 year old. If my wife, oldest son and myself all plan on riding ToT and RnR but the 6 year old is not...could we simply get two fastpass tickets for ToT and use the other two to get fastpass tickets for RnR? Do they not require all three of us who are planning on riding to have a fastpass for an attraction? Just seems like a "loophole" by using our non riding son's ticket to obtain a second set of fastpass's for another attraction. We just always used the rider switch pass as a means for our oldest son to ride a attraction twice (once with each parent).

I have no idea if any of that made any sense. I sometimes type before I think.

 

[donniedisney]

Ive used fatspasses that were 3 years old......

They never paid attention to the date until recently

 

[daringstoic]

At Disneyland the rider switch passes are color coded, and each day the color changes for the passes used. That way they know that the pass was issued that day. I was getting a switch pass at the Matterhorn and the hostess had to call into the chalet to get someone to bring out more passes and she said "We're using red today, bring more red".

Have they ever tried the color coded thing at WDW?

Once when I was at Soarin', they were handing out rider switches that they had marked with a certain colored marker. I'm not sure if that was an experiment they were trying there or if they did it regularly. They were a lot more uptight about Rider Switches there than we ever were at Splash.

Question, does the "soon to be riding" parent with the non riding child/baby have to show a fast pass or only the parent riding first? Because the rider switch "ticket" allows the "soon to be riding" parent to enter the attraction through the fast pass queue, correct?

The reason I ask this is our family of 4 has a non-adventureous 6 year old. If my wife, oldest son and myself all plan on riding ToT and RnR but the 6 year old is not...could we simply get two fastpass tickets for ToT and use the other two to get fastpass tickets for RnR? Do they not require all three of us who are planning on riding to have a fastpass for an attraction? Just seems like a "loophole" by using our non riding son's ticket to obtain a second set of fastpass's for another attraction. We just always used the rider switch pass as a means for our oldest son to ride a attraction twice (once with each parent).

I have no idea if any of that made any sense. I sometimes type before I think.

That's the smart way to go about doing it. Some people here will probably flame you for having the audacity to work Disney's system, but I'm of the opinion that if you can figure it out, you should use it to your advantage. For a party of your size, that would work out quite nicely for you. I'd do it without a second thought. When I worked at Splash, I would even recommend that strategy to families who went out of their way to be nice to me or other guests. The bottom line is, you're not breaking any rules, and you shouldn't feel bad for being smarter than the average tourist.

 

[Chape19714]

I may be the only person to disagree.

I think a rider switch that maybe expired in 1-2 weeks would be a better solution to the problem. What if you get a rider switch pass for say Everest and while your switcher is in line the park closes. THEY WILL NOT honor that rider switch when your switcher gets off.

In the last few minutes of the day, when this becomes an issue, a physical baby swap is done, where both parents and the baby enter, and one waits somewhere around unload, and a CM goes to get the 2nd parent for the 2nd ride.

 

[daringstoic]

In the last few minutes of the day, when this becomes an issue, a physical baby swap is done, where both parents and the baby enter, and one waits somewhere around unload, and a CM goes to get the 2nd parent for the 2nd ride.

Not at Splash Mountain. Kids under the height requirement were never allowed in the queue at any time of day or for any reason.