All about the Rider Switch Pass (aka Rider Swap)

[avab80]

Just another question I have not seen addressed yet about RS. So if you have four kids, for example, you want to ride BTMRR, and three of your kids are tall enough, the fourth child is not. Mom rides with older three, dad hangs with little, you get a rider swap, then dad rides again, can he take all three kids with him, or does he have to choose two kids to take and mom get to sit with the pouty third and the fourth, lol? Anyone know how it works for larger families?

You could use FP+ to allow all 3 kids to re-ride with dad. Get FP+ for everyone in the family. Mom & 3 kids use their FP+ for the first ride while Dad waits with the 4th child. Then Dad still has his FP+ to use. Dad uses his FP+ and 3 kids use the RS Pass to ride again.

We did this last year for almost all the rides we planned to RS since we had a group of 5 riders and 1 toddler. It just means that whoever waits with the youngest child can't take them on another ride using FP+ but we always found something for them to do that didn't require a FP.

[momof2boys]

Dumb question, but is the below FP+ strategy with RS still valid. I remember reading trip reports where this was done recently, but I have not done this before. We booked all the same FP+, but changing strategy moving forward now that we are a traveling party of 4 and not 7. Thanks!

How about an EPCOT example?
Both of the "big" attractions at EPCOT - Soarin' and Test Track - are Tier 1 FP+ attractions, meaning you can't get FP+ for both on the same day. Let's assume our family splits their FP+ reservations - dad and the 10-year-old get FP+ for Soarin', mom and the 7-year-old get FP+ for Test Track. Dad and the 10-year-old ride Soarin' using their FP+, getting a Swap for mom in the process. Mom can then use her Swap later in the day to ride Soarin', taking the two older kids along with her (remember, the Swap is good for three guests). When it's time for Test Track, mom and the 7-year-old ride TT using their FP+. The 10-year-old is comfortable enough to use the Single Rider line, so he goes on at the same time mom and the 7-year-old use their FP+ while dad stays behind with the 3-year-old. Dad gets a Swap. Later in the day, dad uses the Swap to ride TT, taking the older kids with him.

[tlseege]

That's how I have used it in the past, and how I have set up my FastPass+ reservations for our September trip. However, I know going into it that if for some reason they change how it's done, I'm not going to be upset. My 3 year old cannot ride those rides, so being upset by them changing the rules is silly.

The only thing that I would change from the above post, is that I would make a FastPass+ reservation for TT for the 3 year old, and I would hand the band to the 10 year old. There is no need for the 10 year old to do single rider.

[momof2boys]

Thanks for confirming Trisha!

[sebersole]

Can rider swap be used for 2 parents and 1 child regardless of fastpass? I was trying to see if my child could ride the same ride twice with both of her parents. Instead of having the 2nd parent sit behind with another rider. Example: Mom and child ride first together and then dad and child ride together allowing the child to ride with each of her parents.

Thanks in advance!

[Anne]

Can rider swap be used for 2 parents and 1 child regardless of fastpass? I was trying to see if my child could ride the same ride twice with both of her parents. Instead of having the 2nd parent sit behind with another rider. Example: Mom and child ride first together and then dad and child ride together allowing the child to ride with each of her parents.

Thanks in advance!

I've never heard of a swap being granted for that type of situation.

[stevenmilz]

Can rider swap be used for 2 parents and 1 child regardless of fastpass? I was trying to see if my child could ride the same ride twice with both of her parents. Instead of having the 2nd parent sit behind with another rider. Example: Mom and child ride first together and then dad and child ride together allowing the child to ride with each of her parents.

Thanks in advance!

Yeah... I doubt you're going to make that work these days. Back in the day they used to hand out swaps like candy - no questions asked. Today it's more stringent. The Rider Switch is not for what you're describing, so I doubt a CM will give you one if you ask with that reasoning. You might be able to game the system and still get one, but chances are fairly low I think. Either way, your idea is definitely not what the swaps are for and most people would consider that "cheating".

[BDUB32]

Perhaps "marginal" ethically, but we spent a trip recently getting swamps for 7DMT as the then 2 year old could pass for too small. Then, on the last day, we took her in and she measured JUST tall enough, so we ended up doing different combos so she could actually go 4-5 times in a row. We lament that she's too tall for several rides (that's perhaps a bit backwards) and we can't accumulate swaps like we used to. Sure, space mountain and the "big rides" at other parks we can do it, but ... not as much as we could in the past where we'd spend them all on the last night and/or give them away on our last day in the hotel.

BB

[Smitties]

rider switch epcot family of 4, daughter 39,5 inch ��

Hi there from the Netherlands (apologise for my English). We are going to Disney from 28 february this year. We have a base pass for 5 days. We are staying offsite so our fastpass windows just openend. I have a question about rider switch. We are with four. My husband, my son 5 year, my daugther 3 years (39,5 inch ) and me. It is exciting if my daughter would be tall enough to ride Soarin and Test track so I decided to split up the tier 1 fastpasses after reading this thread. My idea is that I ride Soarin with my son and ask for a rider switch so my husband can ride it also with my son or maybe my daugther? Then my husband will ride Testtrack with my son (fp from my daugthrt) and ask a fastpass for me and my son or maybe my daughter. Is this possible? Can my son ride with my daugthers fastpass? Can you use a rider switch if you don't have a fp? How strict are the height requirements? Thanks a lot for your reply....
ps. I understand that my daugther would probably love fea more but there aren't fastpasses anymore..... We hope we can ride FEA directly at opening in the morning. 

[avab80]

rider switch epcot family of 4, daughter 39,5 inch ��

Hi there from the Netherlands (apologise for my English). We are going to Disney from 28 february this year. We have a base pass for 5 days. We are staying offsite so our fastpass windows just openend. I have a question about rider switch. We are with four. My husband, my son 5 year, my daugther 3 years (39,5 inch ) and me. It is exciting if my daughter would be tall enough to ride Soarin and Test track so I decided to split up the tier 1 fastpasses after reading this thread. My idea is that I ride Soarin with my son and ask for a rider switch so my husband can ride it also with my son or maybe my daugther? Then my husband will ride Testtrack with my son (fp from my daugthrt) and ask a fastpass for me and my son or maybe my daughter. Is this possible? Can my son ride with my daugthers fastpass? Can you use a rider switch if you don't have a fp? How strict are the height requirements? Thanks a lot for your reply....
ps. I understand that my daugther would probably love fea more but there aren't fastpasses anymore..... We hope we can ride FEA directly at opening in the morning. 

The height requirements are strict. If your daughter isn't 40" tall, she won't be allowed to ride either Soarin' or Test Track.

If she is not tall enough, then splitting up your FP+ the way you are describing should work. If she grows 1/2" before your trip and is tall enough, the CM may not give you a Rider Swap pass, since it's commonly only given if you have a child who is too short to ride. In that case, if you only have one day at Epcot I would use FP+ for Test Track and ride Soarin' either at opening or later in the evening. Waits there don't get as long now that they've added a 3rd theater.

[Smitties]

The height requirements are strict. If your daughter isn't 40" tall, she won't be allowed to ride either Soarin' or Test Track.

If she is not tall enough, then splitting up your FP+ the way you are describing should work. If she grows 1/2" before your trip and is tall enough, the CM may not give you a Rider Swap pass, since it's commonly only given if you have a child who is too short to ride. In that case, if you only have one day at Epcot I would use FP+ for Test Track and ride Soarin' either at opening or later in the evening. Waits there don't get as long now that they've added a 3rd theater.

Thanks for your quick answer!
Thats's a difficult choice at this moment because I don't know how much she will grow... I think I split up the fp's and put her in the buggy... Where will the rider switch passes be issued? Does she actually has to go to the person who gives us the passes?

[avab80]

Thanks for your quick answer!
Thats's a difficult choice at this moment because I don't know how much she will grow... I think I split up the fp's and put her in the buggy... Where will the rider switch passes be issued? Does she actually has to go to the person who gives us the passes?

The Rider Switch pass will be issued by the CM when you enter the line, either standby or FP. Your daughter will have to be with you, as you need to show the too-short child in order to get the pass. Also be aware that you will have to leave your buggy outside of The Land pavilion, where Soarin' is located. For Test Track you will be able to approach the line with her in the buggy.

I understand the difficulty in deciding on FP+ choices for little ones. My younger daughter is just over 40" tall but is very hesitant about rides, so I have no idea what she will agree to go on on our trip this summer. I'm just going to get her the same FP+ as the rest of us and hope for the best.

[Smitties]

The Rider Switch pass will be issued by the CM when you enter the line, either standby or FP. Your daughter will have to be with you, as you need to show the too-short child in order to get the pass. Also be aware that you will have to leave your buggy outside of The Land pavilion, where Soarin' is located. For Test Track you will be able to approach the line with her in the buggy.

I understand the difficulty in deciding on FP+ choices for little ones. My younger daughter is just over 40" tall but is very hesitant about rides, so I have no idea what she will agree to go on on our trip this summer. I'm just going to get her the same FP+ as the rest of us and hope for the best.

I just checked the Disney site and it says that you can also get a rider switch pass if the kid don't want to ride. I think i will print this and take it with me....

-If a child does not meet the height requirement or a Guest does not wish to board a particular attraction, no problem! With Rider Switch, one adult can wait with the non-rider (or riders) while the rest of the party enjoys the attraction. When the other adult returns, they can supervise the non-riding Guests, and the waiting adult can board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again -

[Anne]

I just checked the Disney site and it says that you can also get a rider switch pass if the kid don't want to ride. I think i will print this and take it with me....

-If a child does not meet the height requirement or a Guest does not wish to board a particular attraction, no problem! With Rider Switch, one adult can wait with the non-rider (or riders) while the rest of the party enjoys the attraction. When the other adult returns, they can supervise the non-riding Guests, and the waiting adult can board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again -

If you look through this thread you'll see a lot of discussion about this exact point. What is posted on the web site and what a CM does at the line can be very different. People have printed the "rules" or pulled up the web site description with varrying degrees of sucess in getting a swap for a non-riding child who is tall enough.

[avab80]

CMs also sometimes refuse to issue a Rider Swap pass if the standby wait is less than 15 minutes, which is not written anywhere on the website. Every policy at Disney is always "subject to change" and CMs will follow their supervisor's instructions, regardless of what is posted on Disney's website.

[marco ben]

Good job. Thanks for writing this up

[deirdre]

Are Rider Swaps only for children? On the WDW website post about Ride Switch it says "If a child does not meet the height requirement or a Guest does not wish to board a particular attraction, no problem!". My kids are all tall enough to ride but my husband will not ride RnR coaster or Tower of Terror. Can we get a Rider Swap so someone can keep him company while we go on these rides?

[bnoble]

There's been a lot of discussion on this thread about that very question. Generally, Cast Members are hesitant to hand out rider switch passes for adults, so I would not count on it.

[Tebo]

Just got back and used rider swap with FP in Epcot and Magic Kingdom. The only problem we had was for Frozen ever after ride. Me and My son had fastpasses for it while my wife and daughter ( age 2) did not. We all went up to the fastpass entrance and I requested a rider swap saying my daughter did not want to ride as she did not like dark rides. They did not give us one ( it does say on the Disney website that Frozen ever after does offer it.) They said that if we all had fast pass then me and my son could ride then my wife could ride while I was waiting with my kids. That kind of goes against the point of the rider swap. So I don't know if it these attendants where told to do this or if this was their decision to treat it like this, or that they just did not know. We were very disappointed on how this was handled. Every other ride gave us riderswaps. Some ask to see the child who was not riding.

[Bec]

Did this policy change or is the following wording from Disney just not enforced? (This is taken directly from the link in the original post).

Sorry, apparently my snapshot didn't work. Here's the cut and paste:

5. Party 2 enters and boards the attraction without having to wait in the regular queue a second time. The Rider Switch Pass must be presented to a Cast Member at this time. If the person in Party 2 waited alone with the child, he or she may bring one other Guest back to ride the attraction with him or her. Please note that only 2 Guests are allowed per Rider Switch Pass.



We have a party of 10 total with 2 kids under 44" and I'm trying to figure out how many FP+ i have to make for FOP for everyone to be able ride once. It specifically notes that only 2 Guests are allowed per Rider Switch Pass but I remember it being 3 the last trip (April 2016).

[ptlohmysoul]

It has been worded like that for years, but in reality...it's just like you remember it.

[Bec]

Thank you so much! Great to hear.

[nflguy]

We had 4 adults and two kids. Several of the adults would ask for a child swap pass and were never questioned most of the time. Sometimes the CM would ask where the child was. If one of our kids were nearby we would point to them. If they were not nearby we would tell CM they are on a ride and would get the SWAP pass anyway.

I have a feeling they are instructed to give the swap pass and not argue with guests. Doesn’t stop them from asking you though. Many people would give up and walk away when told the child needs to be there to get a swap pass. Be persistent and you get the swap pass even if kid on other side of park.

[hizouse]

2 greedy questions to which I expect negative answers:

1. Think I could get 2 or more Rider Switch passes for Tomorrowland Speedway if I have 2 kids tall enough to ride but not alone (and a 3d kid too little to ride at all)? Mom could ride with Kid 1 and then Dad could ride with Kid 2. Everybody gets to ride once. But in other rider switch attractions, Kid 1 and Kid 2 would not have to wait for the other, and Mom and Dad each get to ride with both. Kid 1 loves this ride, Kid 2 has never been on it; Dad would very much like to ride with both. (also, Mom will probably be happy not to ride at all--but we do like to get a bunch of rider switch passes on our first day in the park to give us more options for later in the week)

2. Any luck in getting 7DMT Rider Switch passes during Early Morning Magic? On the one hand, both parents should have time to ride multiple times with the 2 kids. On the other hand, I can imagine a light-hearted conversation with a CM in which we agree our family is getting substantially less value out of the expensive EMM if 1 of the parents is waiting with the baby outside.