Did Disney retract their Rider Switch/Fastpass+ rule?

I remember Disney specifying on their website that when using Rider Switch w/ FastPass+, everyone in the party was required to have a Fastpass+ for the ride. I no longer see this stated on their website. Does that mean that, officially, only the people who are riding first are required to have Fastpass+? Does it also mean that the people in the second group will be able to go through the FP line when its their turn?

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This is how it has always been. Otherwise there would be no point to rider switch.

As far as whether everyone needed FPP, i don’t know about the old system but I’m sure that since the digital Rider switch was implemented only the first party needed FPP. There were a few instances of people saying they all needed it, but i haven’t heard of any of those in quite a while.

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Disney’s rider switch page has never referred to using it with FP at all. It explains how to use it with standby, which was the original purpose.

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Two fastpasses is what makes it fair. Only one fastpass is technically gaming the system - getting RS as effectively an extra FP. CMs letting it slip has been a lucky turn of events.

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A little off topic, but at Disneyland with MaxPass, on my most recent trip when we checked in for rider switch, they first asked if we were using stand-by or FP. If FP, they asked us to scan into FP for everyone who was riding. Then they scanned up to three tickets for rider swap. You could fudge this because the cast member won’t know who scanned into their FP vs. who came back with the rider swap. For example, if you had six people in your party, you could scan in 4 FPs, have three people ride first, then have the other three ride with the swapped passes.

Also of note, it seems Disneyland has given up on trying to match specific riders to specific FPs. When they assigned the rider switch passes, they clearly said it could be any three (this helped keep things moving since we didn’t have to think about / find the correct passes as we had to do the last time we were at DL). And when you go through the scanner, as long as you scan a valid FP, they will let you through and don’t seem to be checking photos.

Curious how this compares to WDW (I’ve mixed and matched FP+ with riders before, but not sure if it there is a blanket permission or if it varies by cast member and how close they are paying attention).

I disagree. If they required everyone to have a FP, they wouldn’t need to use rider swap.

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That’s not always true - the reason you need a rider swap is so that up to two people can ride twice, once with their FP and once with the person who stayed behind (who also presumably has a FP).

Yes but that’s a side benefit. Rider swap was originally meant so that people didn’t have to go through the standby line twice, because it would take forever. They decided to let more than one person ride the second time because it’s a family park and fits with their image and values.

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Maybe I’m just going insane but I’m almost 100% sure it mentioned it on their site under the “Rider Switch” section. Nonetheless, recent conflicting reports on this forum and other forums/groups state that only the first group needs a Fastpass, while others are saying that the second group needs Fastpasses as well. I’m also hearing only the first group needs Fastpasses on most of the rides but the bigger attraction rides like FOP and SDD require everyone in Group 1 and 2 to have a Fastpass…I guess we’re at the mercy of the castmember on duty?

My experience: February 2019 - 2 adults, 8 year old, 1 year old…For FOP the CM for Rider Switch asked if we had fastpasses for the ride. We said yes. Me and older kid rode first while dad stayed with the baby. The CM would only scan the 8 year old’s band to add the rider switch FP and told dad, “just use your fastpass”. I said “what if we all didn’t have fastpasses” and he said “well it doesn’t work that way, someone would have to wait in the standby line”.

tl/dr: everyone needs a fastpass in case the CM is strict

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Oh I think I get what you mean. You can use Rider Swap either Standby or with FP+. I thought you just meant if you were using it with FP+ then not everyone needs a FP (which is only true if you work the system a little).

personally my older kid would not want to wait for me to ride FOP, all by myself, after he already got to go with dad while I waited with the baby…so even with all of us having fastpasses we need to use rider swap…

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The point is that if you have FPs, the usefulness of Rider swap goes away. You can take turns using your Fast Passes. But you’re right in that with Rider Swap they let you take along a couple people that you wouldn’t otherwise get to do. That is just a “for free” benefit, though.

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clearly my point was specifically that I would not be able to do that because of my older child. I would have to forego rides for my family’s happiness. Or dad would.

I mean, do people typically make their kids wait while they ride things alone? Sorry kiddo, but mommy wants to ride FOP but don’t worry, you can wait here with dad and the baby for 45 minutes. :roll_eyes:

I guess I’m confused. But I was addressing the use of the word “need”. With Fast Passes, there is no NEED for Rider Swap. That is different than still wanting to take advantage of the ability to send additional family members a second time. But in your situation, your husband and 8-year-old ride while you wait with the baby, each of them using their FPs, and then after they get off, your husband stays with the 8-year-old and baby while you ride using your FP.

Granted, most of us prefer to ride with someone, which is why Disney allows extra guests. But it isn’t a “need”.

Yes.

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The CM was wrong to do that. You can use your rider swap at any time that day, the FP will expire. You should have been given the rider swap. That’s exactly how it works.

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I do mean that as well, and it’s not working the system imho. If you have a FP, it’s over ridden anyway by the rider swap. You can’t use both. So there’s no point having it. That’s how their system works, so I don’t see how it can be viewed as gaming anything. It’s how Disney have set it up.

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I’m with Ryan. And there’s no reason that your husband can’t take the kids and do something fun with them, which is what people do. They don’t generally stand outside the ride waiting, no. Because that’s obviously nobody’s idea of a good time.

You don’t have to do that, because you are using the rider swap. But if you just used the FPs you had, you don’t need to be able to take your son with you. There are plenty of other things to do.

Anyway, that’s all irrelevant I suppose, because you can get a rider swap and only the first group needs a FP.

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This is why I am a firm believer that all parties having FP+ defeats the purpose of Rider Swap. While Party A uses a FOP FP+, the whole party B can use a Navi FP+ and then the non-rider can also go ride FOP afterwards. Then everyone gets all of the FP+ that they are entitled to.

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Exactly.