My experience with Rider Swap - 2/23 thru 2/28

I have been trying to wrap my head around this situation for my upcoming trip in January. Using 7DMT as an example: 4 adults, 3 kids that can ride, and 2 kids that can't. The adults want to ride in pairs. We would book 2 FP+ for the adults, and 3FP+ for the 3 kids that can ride, which would allow the remaining 2 adults to ride without needing to book the FP+ for themselves?
 
I actually do agree with you. Even as someone who benefited from the way it works, I recognize that it is an unfair advantage. .

I don't really see it as an unfair advantage. The "headliner" rides are the ones the adults and older children will all want to ride, and are valuable to get FP for. But there are still younger children in the equation. If all the adults get fast passes for FoP, for example, that means the 4-year-old misses out on riding NRJ because there's no one to ride with her.

With the current RS, Mom and the older kids can ride 7DMT, while Dad takes the youngest to PPF, and then Dad gets to ride 7DMT with the older kids while Mom waits with the youngest. I mean, yes, technically Dad is riding both PPF and 7DMT with only one FP, but he's mostly riding PPF as the companion of the child too small to ride alone.
 
We used RS just like the OP stated last week. No issues, but we didn't do RS on Alien Swirling Saucers. We did use it on a number of other attractions. We never all had FPs. I always book something near by for the kid that can't ride. It usually isn't a headliner but that way the too short kid gets to do something too.
 
I don't really see it as an unfair advantage. The "headliner" rides are the ones the adults and older children will all want to ride, and are valuable to get FP for. But there are still younger children in the equation. If all the adults get fast passes for FoP, for example, that means the 4-year-old misses out on riding NRJ because there's no one to ride with her.

With the current RS, Mom and the older kids can ride 7DMT, while Dad takes the youngest to PPF, and then Dad gets to ride 7DMT with the older kids while Mom waits with the youngest. I mean, yes, technically Dad is riding both PPF and 7DMT with only one FP, but he's mostly riding PPF as the companion of the child too small to ride alone.

Yes. This exactly. This is what I always do. I think that is how RS was intended to work at least initially. Both adults get to experience the headliner attraction, the too short kids is also happy because they don't have to wait in line for something they can't ride. Instead, they can do something else.
 
We used RS just like the OP stated last week. No issues, but we didn't do RS on Alien Swirling Saucers. We did use it on a number of other attractions. We never all had FPs. I always book something near by for the kid that can't ride. It usually isn't a headliner but that way the too short kid gets to do something too.
Thanks for the up to date report! Could you let us know which attractions you used it for? I assume there was no indication of an expiration time?
 
Thanks for the up to date report! Could you let us know which attractions you used it for? I assume there was no indication of an expiration time?

We used RS for Tower of Terror, SDD, FoP, 7DMT, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Everest, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. No, there did not seem to be an expiration time. Last year, when the digital riderswap went into effect, there was a specific one hour window to use the RS. This year, it seems there was a specific time that it started but no ending time listed. We used them rather quickly so I'm not sure when it would have disappeared if we didn't use it.
 
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We used RS for Tower of Terror, SDD, FoP, 7DMT, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Everest, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. No, there did not seem to be an expiration time. Last year, when the digital riderswap went into effect, there was a specific one hour window to use the RS. This year, it seems there was a specific time that it started but not ending time listed. We used them rather quickly so I'm not sure when it would have disappeared if we didn't use it.
Great info! It's really encouraging to see you did all those attractions with no incidents, especially the three biggest ones.
When you went last year, did you actually see that hour window for RS on the app?
 


Great info! It's really encouraging to see you did all those attractions with no incidents, especially the three biggest ones.
When you went last year, did you actually see that hour window for RS on the app?

Yes, last year, it said pass 1:00-2:00 (or whatever the return time was). This year, it said pass starts at 1:00 p.m. and no end time was listed. Even so, we just went ahead and used it. I was sort of afraid it would expire within the one hour time frame anyway given that was the requirement last year.
 
Yes, last year, it said pass 1:00-2:00 (or whatever the return time was). This year, it said pass starts at 1:00 p.m. and no end time was listed. Even so, we just went ahead and used it. I was sort of afraid it would expire within the one hour time frame anyway given that was the requirement last year.
It's nice to hear this from someone firsthand. I kept hearing about the one hour thing but never saw anything about it. So apparently they used to use it, but it's been phased out? I'd like to also hear that someone successfully used one after an hour, but if it doesn't give an end time on the app, I don't think there's any way they'd enforce it, or even intend to.
 
I was in Disney from 2/22 thru 3/1. Prior to my trip I monitored these boards quite a bit looking for updates on how the rider swap system was working as there had been several posts saying that it was not working how it always had. Here is how it worked for me, and I’m going to give a lot of detail so that people really understand.

My family is myself, my wife, 6 year old son, 4 year old son, 1 1/2 year old daughter. I booked my fast passes under the premise that the people riding second did not need a fast pass. To make things easier for me to keep track of, I always kept myself and my 6 year old son together and my wife and 4 year old son together. So every time I approached a ride, there were two possible scenarios.

Scenario 1: Dad and 6 yr old son have a FP and will ride in Group 1. Mom and 4 yr old son do not have a pre-booked FP and will try to get rider swap.

Scenario 2: Mom and 4 yr old son have a FP and will ride in Group 1. Dad and 6 yr old son do not have a pre-booked FP and will try to get rider swap.

At almost every single ride where we attempted to obtain a rider swap, Group 2 was given a rider swap despite not having a Pre-booked FP.

Here is exactly how the conversation happened each time:

Me: My daughter is too small to ride so we would like to get a rider swap.
CM: Who will be riding in the 2nd group?

Depending on who had the FPs, I would identify the non FP holding people as those who would be riding in Group 2. Depending on the ride and if it was possible for one parent to ride with 2 kids I would also inform the CM that one of my kids would be riding twice. First time on a FP, second time on a rider swap.

Now continuing the conversation...

CM: Are the first riders going through the standby line or FastPass line?
Me: FastPass line
CM: OK

About 5 minutes later the rider swap would show up in the My Disney Experience app. It would show a start time usually no more than 10 minutes later than when the rider swap was requested. It would also show all the riders in group 2. It would not show an expiration time. Group 2 usually rode right after Group 1 finished so I cannot really comment on how long the swaps are good for, but since there was no end time shown I assume it was good the rest of the day.

What I described above is how the process worked on the following rides:

Soarin
Test Track
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Slinky Dog Dash
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

My kids are not tall enough for some rides like Flight of Passage or Space Mountain so I cannot comment on those.

Now there was one ride where I had an issue and that was on Alien Swirling Saucers. Here is how that conversation went:

For this ride, my wife and 4 year old son had the FP and me and my 6 year old son were trying to get Rider Swap. We also wanted to get my 4 year old on a second time with rider swap.

Me: My daughter is too short to ride so we will need a rider swap.
CM: Who is riding in Group 2?
Me: Myself, my 6 year old son, and my 4 year old son.
CM: OK I will scan your boys so they can ride again, but I’m not going to scan you since it will just take your FP when you ride.
Me: I do not have a FP, only my wife and 4 year old son do.
CM: Why would you only make a FP for half your party?
Me: Since I was planning on getting a rider swap, I did not think we all needed a FP.
CM: Well you should all have FPs. I will put the rider swap on your band as well but from now on you should make FPs for your whole group.
Me: Ok thank you

So out of 7 attempts, 6 had no issues and the 1 that did have an issue still ended up working out.

One other thing worth mentioning. With Seven Dwarfs Mine Train I got a little greedy and tried something hoping to get everyone in my family on the ride twice. I made a morning FP for me and my 6 year old son. I also made an afternoon FP for my wife and 4 year old son. I was going to try to rider swap both of those times and get everyone two rides. Well this does not work. As soon an the CM went to give my wife her rider swap he saw that she had a FP for later in the day and said you cannot have both. So he removed the FP for later and she rode on the rider swap. No big deal, but just wanted to throw that out there that you cannot hold a rider swap and a FP for the same ride. Yes I know that was really taking advantage. What can I say, this may be our only trip for a long time so it was worth a shot.

And one more thing. If you get a multiple experience FP, be careful with your rider swap. We had a FP for Thunder Mountain but the ride was shut down during our time so we were given a multiple experience FP. We then got the Splash Mountain rider swaps. When Group 2 rode Splash, the system took their multi experience FP instead of the rider swap. Luckily we realized this soon after it happened and the CM outside of Splash was able to fix it and put the multi experience FP back on which was then used on Thunder Mountain later on when it opened.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to make everything as clear as possible for those who are planning to do this.

It’s funny that the aliens Cm said you all need the FP but 7 Dwarves CM said you can’t have a FP for the second group.
We were there in December and I have the same family set up (just a little older/bigger) but booked the same FP for everyone. I found that the adult who rode on the swap always had their FP remaining. It never went away on its own just because there was a swap.
 
We were there in December and I have the same family set up (just a little older/bigger) but booked the same FP for everyone. I found that the adult who rode on the swap always had their FP remaining. It never went away on its own just because there was a swap.
This brings up an interesting point. If the RS is taken and the FP is left behind, this could leave useless trailing FPs. Did this ever cause a problem for you in getting additional FP later in the day? I wonder if it's something you can and should ask the CM to take off your band? I had thought this might not be an issue, if they were taking the FP first. A trailing RS won't cause any problems. Are you sure it was the FP that was left?
 
It’s funny that the aliens Cm said you all need the FP but 7 Dwarves CM said you can’t have a FP for the second group.
We were there in December and I have the same family set up (just a little older/bigger) but booked the same FP for everyone. I found that the adult who rode on the swap always had their FP remaining. It never went away on its own just because there was a swap.

I think the difference with 7DMT is that my wife had a FP for 2pm-3pm, but we were trying to get the RS with Group 1 who had their FPs between 10am-11am. Had my wife's FP been with Group 1 between 10am-11am there would not have been a problem. So I think the rule is, you cannot have a RS for a ride which you already have FP for later on that same day.
 
I think the difference with 7DMT is that my wife had a FP for 2pm-3pm, but we were trying to get the RS with Group 1 who had their FPs between 10am-11am. Had my wife's FP been with Group 1 between 10am-11am there would not have been a problem. So I think the rule is, you cannot have a RS for a ride which you already have FP for later on that same day.
Ah, that’s probably why. It’s so confusing! We are going back over the summer so hopefully it doesn’t change again before then! Thanks!
 
This brings up an interesting point. If the RS is taken and the FP is left behind, this could leave useless trailing FPs. Did this ever cause a problem for you in getting additional FP later in the day? I wonder if it's something you can and should ask the CM to take off your band? I had thought this might not be an issue, if they were taking the FP first. A trailing RS won't cause any problems. Are you sure it was the FP that was left?
It was definitely a fast pass left over. I just modified it to something else once the rider switch showed up in the MDE. I would try to do it while the other 3 rode their ride, if there was something close by, I’d change mine to something I could take my daughter on. I didn’t have any issues in the tiered parks but it was a quick trip so we didn’t do it all!
One other thing to note is you can do rider switch on rides in standby too. So then you may still have your 3 fast passes and a rider switch. But, I didn’t try doing that on any rides we had a fast pass for later in the day. Not sure that would work based on the other comments here.
 
It was definitely a fast pass left over. I just modified it to something else once the rider switch showed up in the MDE. I would try to do it while the other 3 rode their ride, if there was something close by, I’d change mine to something I could take my daughter on. I didn’t have any issues in the tiered parks but it was a quick trip so we didn’t do it all!
One other thing to note is you can do rider switch on rides in standby too. So then you may still have your 3 fast passes and a rider switch. But, I didn’t try doing that on any rides we had a fast pass for later in the day. Not sure that would work based on the other comments here.
Interesting point. I believe the original poster said they wouldn't let him have a RS for 7D when he tried to get it with a FP. Would it work differently with standby? Seems like it should if you are putting in the effort to ride standby. You shouldn't be prevented just because you have a FP for it later. I think I can see why they say that if you're trying to get a RS with FP. It's tricky to parse this all out. It would be nice to know if anyone's gotten a standby RS for anything they had a later FP for.
 
I’m very excited to read this since I’ve seen so many confusing posts or confusing explanations. HS and AK are both at the end of our trip to hopefully snag SD and FOP.
I would just say, it did not work out that way for us. SDD FPs were gone at 60+2 days out, which per Touring Plans is not uncommon. Most rides were still available in most parks, at least at some times...
 
I would just say, it did not work out that way for us. SDD FPs were gone at 60+2 days out, which per Touring Plans is not uncommon. Most rides were still available in most parks, at least at some times...
I booked Slinky right away for day 5 of our trip (60+5, or would it be 60+4, since day 1 is 60+0?) and the earliest was 6:50pm. I haven't necessarily seen that trend (I saw a lot of day 5's with 12pm or 2pm and later left) but I'd say day 5 is the barrier. Day 4 you will be lucky to get one. Day 3, forget it. Day 6 and higher you should be fine.
 
To anyone who happens to wonder, we used rider swap for Soarin, Splash Mountain, Star Tours, and Flight of Passage. They never required that the non-rider have a fastpass. There was also no time limit for using it - it was good for the rest of the day. I got one for FoP at around 11:30am and didn't use it until 6:30pm. No problems at all - certainly nothing about an hour time limit to use it.
 
To anyone who happens to wonder, we used rider swap for Soarin, Splash Mountain, Star Tours, and Flight of Passage. They never required that the non-rider have a fastpass. There was also no time limit for using it - it was good for the rest of the day. I got one for FoP at around 11:30am and didn't use it until 6:30pm. No problems at all - certainly nothing about an hour time limit to use it.

Thanks for that update. It's been 4 months since I first posted about how things went on my trip in February. I'm heading back in November so will be reserving fastpasses in September. It's good to know things still appear to be working the same as always.
 

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