Rider Switch changing (Started June 16th)

[DopeyDame]

While the GAC/DAS situation was similar, I don’t think we can apply what we knew about GAC here.

RS naturally limits use and slows people down by nature of having to wait in either the stand by or FP line before you’re given the entitlement. GAC didn’t do that. That’s what the whole change to DAS was, wasn’t it?

Plus you need an actual child to use Rider Swap. I don't know of many people willing to rent out their toddlers to strangers looking to game the system.

 

[BrookieM2001]

Why did you need RS if your mother was with you and not riding? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, but this doesn't make sense to me.

No. My mother and ODD and I rode with FP. We planned to RS so DH could ride, hopefully with ODD because the website said he could bring a guest. When we got up there, they said we could have one more person ride, 3 guests per swap. Initially, we planned for everyone to ride once with the exception of ODD, we were hoping she could ride with us both.

 

[DopeyDame]

No. My mother and ODD and I rode with FP. We planned to RS so DH could ride, hopefully with ODD because the website said he could bring a guest. When we got up there, they said we could have one more person ride, 3 guests per swap. Initially, we planned for everyone to ride once with the exception of ODD, we were hoping she could ride with us both.

Don't you know when the CM offered the third swap you should have said
"oh no no! Some people on the internet will think it's not fair!"

 

[CT Disney]

This is still the point of RS. So the toddler's parents don't have to wait in line twice. Extra people are allowed so both parents can experience the ride with their old kids. This is exactly why they allow 3 guests, and not just 1.

But, with 6 adults and 1 toddler...they can accomplish these things just by using FP+. Nobody needs to wait in line twice and nobody needs to ride alone.

 

[Boski]

Comes up often and I always say ..... why is it that not using a FP+ or two impacts anyone's trip. A child that young won't even know they didn't use their FP+. Burn them up or use them in combo with second RS party to allow more taller ones to ride if group big enough. As soon as they are gone you can start using that 4th FP+ and roll it. Have done it at busy times and had no issues. My non-rider gets to go on everything they want by using the 4th FP+ or using standby as a group. And we do standby rides as well while others are using their FP+ on shorter lines so non-rider still does plenty of rides.

It's not like you get 3 rides only and you are done. If that is all people are doing, then they are doing it all wrong. We never do less than double digit number of FP+ each day and sometimes closer to 20 if hopping or at MK.

Agreed. And of course lets not forget there is always the SB option.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Right. Those are the for-sure rules. And nothing there says
3 - not have any other possible adult who can watch the child.
or
4 - only ride if the first group rides via fastpass.

Well Disney has confirmed #4 via email to several people. And some Cm’s have enforced it But since so many people seem not to believe it until it happens to them I left it off lol

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Plus you need an actual child to use Rider Swap. I don't know of many people willing to rent out their toddlers to strangers looking to game the system.

I’ve offered before. Nobody seems to want to take me up on the offer to take a toddler for super fast and efficient touring!

Maybe once they can’t buy swaps on eBay anymore

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Don't you know when the CM offered the third swap you should have said
"oh no no! Some people on the internet will think it's not fair!"

A CM handed myself and tall enough DS a rider swap outside Everest last trip intended to be used immediately so we could fit in a ride before we headed over to Pandora to end the night.

I bet he didn’t know he was breaking the rules

 

[DizneyMommy]

But, with 6 adults and 1 toddler...they can accomplish these things just by using FP+. Nobody needs to wait in line twice and nobody needs to ride alone.

We have 6 people and 1 toddler. 4 adults. We actually do often split 4 and 2 or 3 and 3 and just use our FP, which means under the new system we can probably return faster than RS allows because we don’t have to wait for our hour window. BUT if we come st the end of our window, that RS now comes into play, so that we don’t run out of time to use our FP.

 

[DopeyDame]

Well Disney has confirmed #4 via email to several people. And some Cm’s have enforced it But since so many people seem not to believe it until it happens to them I left it off lol

Can I just clarify that you are saying you can't use RS in combination with Standby? Because that's what it means if everyone has to have FP to use RS. So a family can't rope drop a ride and use rider swap? That seems unlikely.

 

[DizneyMommy]

I’ve offered before. Nobody seems to want to take me up on the offer to take a toddler for super fast and efficient touring!

Maybe once they can’t buy swaps on eBay anymore

A CM handed myself and tall enough DS a rider swap outside Everest last trip intended to be used immediately so we could fit in a ride before we headed over to Pandora to end the night.

I bet he didn’t know he was breaking the rules

That sounds more like a CM spreading some magic for you, it was probably the easiest way to do it since there are no more paper FP. Not the same thing at all.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

That sounds more like a CM spreading some magic for you, it was probably the easiest way to do it since there are no more paper FP. Not the same thing at all.

I know what it was.

I’m just poking fun at the seriousness of the discussion .

 

[CT Disney]

We have 6 people and 1 toddler. 4 adults. We actually do often split 4 and 2 or 3 and 3 and just use our FP, which means under the new system we can probably return faster than RS because allows we don’t have to wait for our hour window. BUT if we come st the end of our window, that RS now comes into play, so that we don’t run out of time to use our FP.

Yup, that makes total sense It just means that people would have to manage their time so they arrive at the ride early in the FP window. Or, stagger the FP times a bit.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It seems to be a pretty popular idea around here that Disney wants to allow families with little kids to ride twice because they want to make Disney an appealing place to vacation. In that same vein, I would like to take this opportunity to propose a RS for families with teenagers. Disney should want to be an appealing vacation destination for these families too, right??

Listen, I know that traveling with babies and toddlers isn't easy. They slow you down, they need to nap, they get cranky. But, let me tell you, traveling with teenagers has its stuff too. They sleep late, they get cranky, they like to nap, they eat frequently, and sometimes they roll their eyes at you and talk back. This is how it would work: For the teenager to pull a "Teenage RS" you would first need to approach a hokey and nostalgic ride and you would need to show your teenager to the CM. The teenager would then have to ride that ride with you (without their face in their phone). They would need to listen to your childhood memories of that ride and not roll their eyes. They would need to smile and thank you for taking them on vacation. Having fulfilled all of these requirements, the teenager would then get a Teenage RS to ride whatever they wanted.

In all seriousness...I have two teenagers...both of whom LOVE Disney and the family time we share there every year. My point is, Disney should want to be an appealing vacation destination for all families.

The difference is Disney chose to create rides with height restrictions that prevents some members of some families from riding - it's not that my child doesn't want to or whatever, Disney won't let them (and for good reason, but they could have chosen to only have rides with no height restrictions) - so having something to improve experiencing these attractions for families with children that Disney won't let ride I don't think is a crazy concept

 

[OSUZorba]

But, with 6 adults and 1 toddler...they can accomplish these things just by using FP+. Nobody needs to wait in line twice and nobody needs to ride alone.

Same could be said for 2 adults and 3 toddlers. But what if the window expires? Sounds like you are against using RS with FP, but that isn't changing.

 

[HopperFan]

Isn't letting someone else use the LO's MB against the TOS? So this is basically saying "Don't do the thing that isn't against the rules and is allowed, but do this other thing that is against the rules?"

We can only discuss so much here but Disney closed the loop that they had a problem with on FP+/MB/Ticket issues. I will only say that doing this will not result in gaining extra FP+ for your party. But we usually just tap out and burn it if it becomes an obstacle. The only time we did this was so DS could do a few of the "seminars" at SW Weekends.

The real problem with Soarin' is that it's in a park with almost nothing anywhere for little kids to do.

Yes, this is true to a degree; Disney is working on adding more but you will still have the same issue of proximity because of the size of the park. Personally we just walked to Living Seas, enjoyed the fish and activities and rode Nemo OR went to Imagination playground OR went to meet at Character Spot ... sometimes Chip and Dale would be outside. I would be hard pressed to not find something to do not far off.

Agreed. And of course lets not forget there is always the SB option.

YUP. If we see a manageable wait time we jump in line and while in line we (1) change our FP+ for that attraction to something else OR (2) use our time to book our rolling 4th FP+. Between the original 3, the rolling 4th and SB we manage quite well.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Yup, that makes total sense It just means that people would have to manage their time so they arrive at the ride early in the FP window. Or, stagger the FP times a bit.

Or continue doing as Disney allows, and get a RS pass to make their day smoother.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Can I just clarify that you are saying you can't use RS in combination with Standby? Because that's what it means if everyone has to have FP to use RS. So a family can't rope drop a ride and use rider swap? That seems unlikely.

No, no. If party 1 has FP, then the rest of the party returning should have it. According to emails Disney has sent and some CM’s occasionally enforcing it. You can still get Rs in standby.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Yup, that makes total sense It just means that people would have to manage their time so they arrive at the ride early in the FP window. Or, stagger the FP times a bit.

Or use the RS that was designed to help families with too-short kids. Why would I not use it in this case? You can’t control the line and how long it takes to ride. Things happen.

 

[danikoski]

Im sorry, but this is the kind of situation where RS isn't even "needed". You have 6 adults and 1 toddler. There is no reason that anyone should ever have to ride alone because they are watching the toddler...Unless I am missing something. I'm guessing that the real reason that RS is appealing in this instance is that the two first timers will get to ride Soarin' twice.

We often travel to Disney with grandparents and our two teenagers. I just don't believe that Disney wants these teenagers to ride twice, while mine would only ride once because we don't have a toddler accompanying us.

I just feel like a lot of people use RS when they don't "need" to...they "want" to. (Not to pick on you @danikoski...lots of people use RS this way...you're not alone )

Well, actually, no, there aren't six adults. The two teenagers have disabilities. One is on the autism spectrum and one is cognitively delayed (and is actually 20, but not, and I still mentally think of her as a teenager). So no, not six adults. Could I break up the party more... possibly. But at some point I'm going to have a teenager who has ASD waiting for a group. That could be fine, if it's a good day. Or it could lead to a meltdown. I'd prefer to avoid the later. And this is probably the only e-ticket ride we'd have this issue with. So I'm going to use the tools Disney provides for their guests to give all of us a good experience, and that includes RS.
It is clear you don't agree with that kind of use, and that's okay. At the end of the day, though, it's up to Disney to state what the use should be. Until they do, I'm going to plan with the information I have. If they change it, they change it, and I will sort that out.