We have 9 people in our party, one only being a year old, so we will be doing rider switch on some rides. How many people are allowed to stay behind in “group 2” and how many people are allowed on the ride with a rider switch pass? I see on a lot of websites that the person with a switch pass can take 2 other people with them, but the official disney website says only one other person is allowed to join.
You can only bring 1 person with you for the swap ride.
“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.”
Source: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/
We used Rider Switch alot last week and it was always 3 people total. All of the passes said Valid for up to 3 guests.
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Ok, wdwprepschool.com says “you can bring 2 additional even though the official website says 1”…so just curious on who has actually used rider switch and what they were told in the park.
Also how many people can stay behind in group 2. For instance, can 4 of us be in group 1 and 4 people in group 2?
Awesome! Thank you!
I would say that you should count on following officially policy as stated on the WDW site. If you find that you are able to get away with more while you’re there, consider it a bonus. I would bet it will depend on the ride and the CM that is charge at the time. The list of Attractions Offering Rider Switch is also on the page I linked above.
I don’t understand your question. The number in group 2 is the number riding on the rider switch pass. So 3 (probably) in total can go back with the rider switch pass later on.
Only 3 of you can ride using the rider swap pass. You can leave as many people behind as you like, but whether it’s 1 or 5 still only 3 people can use it.
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Oh ok, so you can only get ONE rider switch pass per group per ride…so if four people stayed behind you could not get a switch pass for each rider. I thought each person in group 2 got a switch pass.
No, 1 pass per group. If there are 8 who are able to ride, 5 will have to go first and the remaining 3 will ride with the pass.
Thank you! When I talked to a cast member on the phone, they said I could get as many switch passes as I needed for my group and that really confused me.
Phone CMs have notoriously bad info.
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I think maybe you were talking at cross purposes. You can get rider switch as many times as you want, you don’t need to have fps for a ride to do a rider switch. Anywhere where there’s a height restriction will probably give you one.
Or re-ride using the stand-by line with a rider switch.
With this many people it would likely make the most sense to just book FP+ for what people are actually want to ride and then consider the RS a bonus. I wouldn’t go trying to do the “maximize” FP+ route. Book the majority of the party a FP+ for one ride and then whoever is going to stay with the baby another FP+. So for instance book 6 people FP+ for 7DMT and then the other 2 for Winnie the Pooh and they take the baby. Then those 2 can ride 7DMT later and one of the original people can have a bonus ride.
You can get ONE RS pass (valid for a total of 3 people) every time the group (doesn’t matter how many) gets in line even without FP+ for any rides that offer it.
IF there is another small child who doesn’t meet the height requirements for something, you could separate the larger group and get two swap passes that way. This would require you to not approach the CM as a large clump. Instead, two smaller groups would go up to the CM, one group at a time, each with a small child, and each with an extra family member who would stay behind with the child. It would be best to let a couple groups go between you and also to already be separated upon reaching the ride area so CMs don’t get suspicious. I know most of them are happy to help but you don’t want Grumpy the CM spoiling your plan.
Example: Mom, Dad, Big Sis, Big Bro, Lil Sis, Lil Bro, G-ma, G-pa and Baby.
Group 1 (the girls): Mom, Big Sis, Lil Sis, G-ma and Baby go to the CM and ask for a RS pass. G-ma and baby stay behind.
Group 2 (the boys): Dad, Big Bro, G-pa and Lil Bro (who is too short) go to the CM and ask for a RS pass. G-pa and Lil bro stay behind.
Once all the original riders have finished, they come back to G-ma, G-pa and the small people. You have now collected two RS passes letting 4 (or 6) people into the line again.
Well that’s an idea I never thought about, thank you! That would work I’m sure but I wasn’t really trying to maximize the amount of FPPs we were able to book, I was just hoping that the children in the group would benefit from the RS pass. Unfortunately we have 4 small children so all of them won’t be able to benefit from each ride. I was hoping to reduce sibling rivalry and arguing over who was going to be able to be the “additional” person, lol. We’re just going to have to set some rules about it beforehand.
Our experience with rider swap is that it depends on the ride and the cast member how many they will allow you to bring with you in your second group. We make sure everyone except one person goes on the ride with the first group just in case the ride goes down, or we don’t have time to fit in the second group. Then we attempt to take 3-4 people in the second group, and see if they let us through. We never make a big deal about it, because we don’t want to force them to have to be more strict everywhere. 
Rockin Roller Coaster is one that seems to always stick to the limit of two additional riders with the person with the pass. I have never had a case where we were only allowed to bring one additional person. We take turns with who gets to be the ones who get to ride twice. Hope that helps!
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I have an unused Rider Switch pass hanging next to my desk here, and it says “Valid for one (1) use. Valid for up to three (3) guests.”
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