Technical Question about Rider Switch for "Up to 3 Guests?"

Jefferson5436

Member
Original Poster
I think this is a better location for this thread than where I originally posted. I understand how the rider switch system works. One of our three children will be too short to ride many rides so my wife and I were planning on using rider switch pretty frequently. That way my wife and I can each experience the rides with our older two children and share in their excitement (this seems legit for most rides because the rider switch allows up to 3 people). I should preface this by noting that we are also fully aware of the ninjutsu approaches to fastpass+ with rider switch and are not looking to use these headache tactics to get extra fast passes or any of that. We simply want to be able to experience these rides as much together as a family as possible to share in the enjoyment and not spend too much of each day doubling our time waiting in queues (how rider switch seems intended to benefit families with short/young ones who can't ride). I'm grateful this system is in place.

THE TECHNICAL QUESTION:
However, we just got exciting news that we will have a 3rd adult (sister-in-law) who can also come on our upcoming trip to us to help out with our 3 children. To recap, that is now 3 adults and 3 kids (with one of those too short to ride most big attractions). Our plans to use rider switch are still in force to use them the way they are intended although I'm sure some in these forums will have master strategies to increase the number of fast passes we could get by working out some intense design. We're not looking into that but good for you. Without "working the system" we plan to use the rider switch so that we, as parents, can still each see our kid's reactions on the rides and enjoy the rides together as family. Now (with an additional adult) I can stay behind with our daughter who is too short, while my wife and her sister can take the bigger 2 children on a ride. After they all get off I can then use the rider switch pass (up to "3 guests") and my older two daughters can ride it again but this time with me (while my wife and sister stay with our shorter child). Pretty straight forward. This is how Disney pretty much explains how rider switch works on their webpage.

BUT I'm wondering about whether my wife and sister and the bigger two kids get off and one of our daughters really didn't like the ride. Perhaps it was way more intense than she anticipated (or, more likely, maybe she knew it would be too intense but we pushed her onto the ride anyway to give it a shot). Certainly after they all get off the ride I could still use the rider switch and just bring our daughter who enjoyed the attraction. This is what we've always had to do in the past. But now that we have an additional adult to help out (a new detail for us) could the rider switch be used for both my wife and I to go on the ride with our daughter who enjoyed it? Our typical experience with rider switch (with just our fam) is that it has enabled 1 of us adults to experience the ride who sat out at first and 2 of our children to ride it again (so the kids get to ride TWICE and Disney approves of this). In this scenario though it would be the same number of people experiencing the ride (1 adult experiencing the ride who sat out at first and then 1 child and 1 adult riding again). Not sure if this is legit though. In other words, Do the 3 guests using a rider switch pass have to be 1 adult and 2 children or can it be 2 adults and 1 child? The rider switch says "valid for up to 3 guests" and doesn't specify that two of the guests have to be children. But I'm not sure how that's enforced or if it's frowned upon if you had 2 adults and 1 child show up to the queue with a rider switch pass. I know this won't happen often on our trip (i.e., one of the kiddos NOT wanting to go again) but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened at least for a few rides that one of our children wants to try but is borderline chicken to give it a go.

Basically if I'm going to be sitting out a ride while everyone else in the party goes, I'd love to be able to experience it with as much of my family as possible (whether that's me and two of my kids... or my wife and I and our child who is cool with riding it again). I've also thought about this scenario: what if they all get off the ride and it's my turn to use the rider switch but BOTH of our kids felt it was too intense and don't want to go again? What then? I certainly can imagine this happening for them on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which they've never ridden. I really want to ride BTM (one of my favorites) but I'm not a fan of riding attractions alone (I know others are way into being single ride people but that's not me). I want to ride attractions with people I know. Basically the same question (now that we have another adult that can help out with the kiddos) could I use the rider switch pass and have my wife ride a second time (just the two of us if the kids decide they don't want to go again)? To say that we should just get back in the standby line together I think would be pretty unreasonable considering the amount of waiting we'd already have to do splitting up the party but I'm not sure what the norm is. Maybe that's just me.
 

Nala06

Well-Known Member
It can be any combination of three people, child or adult. I used it this past winter with my parents and husband for rides my three year old were too small for. So it was always three adults using the rider switch in our case.
 

RememberWhen

Well-Known Member
It can definitely be all adults, or any combination.

On our next trip we will have 6 adults and 2 kids, the youngest being just 18 months. We will definitely be doing rider switch for some of the rides so the 6 year old can ride twice, but which adults will stay behind and which will ride with him aren’t going to be planned out just yet.
 

Jefferson5436

Member
Original Poster
It can be any combination of three people, child or adult. I used it this past winter with my parents and husband for rides my three year old were too small for. So it was always three adults using the rider switch in our case.
Great! Thank you. That's what I suspected and was hoping. Otherwise, if one or both of our daughters don't want to ride again (maybe they'll try Big Thunder Mountain for the first time with mom and then say there's no way they'll go on it again) it would be nice to at least be able to ride with my wife. I would want to ride these rides but not with people I don't know. For me the best part of Disney is seeing the reactions of family members live on the rides more than the rides themselves.
 

Jefferson5436

Member
Original Poster
It can definitely be all adults, or any combination.

On our next trip we will have 6 adults and 2 kids, the youngest being just 18 months. We will definitely be doing rider switch for some of the rides so the 6 year old can ride twice, but which adults will stay behind and which will ride with him aren’t going to be planned out just yet.
Perfect! Thank you for sharing this! Will make the trip a whole lot more magical for us if we can use the rider switch with different combinations when one or both of the kids don't want to ride again.
 

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
It is such a good thing to use with kids. On our trips with my son and his kids- we use fastpasses for either him and his wife or me and my husband, while the other two wait with the two kids or hit something else. Then the other pair rides with the rider swap. Nobody wants to ride alone, or at least we don’t. I just wish I would have known about it when my kids were little.
 

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