Hi all,
I do need some held regarding the use of FP+ and Rider Switch. Is it still possible that only the group going on the attraction first is having FP+ and the other group uses only Rider Switch? We will be a family of five, our kids will be 5yrs, 3yrs and 8month. So the idea is to have my wife and one of the older ones having a FPP and I go with the other older one via rider switch. Or does everbody need now a FPP to use this strategie?
I do not find a consistent answer to that and don’t want to mess up a day by having our FP+ reservations not working out, which would definetly cause a meltdown for which ever kid can not ride.
[EDIT: Will open a new topic for that so we have one threat with this specific information] Moreover which of the rider switch rides can be done with two kids under 7? Even if we need all a FPP we could at least have the kids ride twice.
For the first part of your question, I also read conflicting things. I think the idea is that if the first group does stand by line, the second group gets FP+. One report from a TP member said, a CM stated if first group goes FP, the whole group needs FP+. Some on here argues that’s not true but once I told my wife, she put it like this:
Upside: we manipulate the FP system by getting more rides with FP’s
Downside: we’re holding up the line arguing with a CM only to have to stand in a line with screaming kids.
After that, I just made sure to have FP for everyone. We go early Feb and have 5 and just under 3 yr olds. She’s 46”. He’s 38.5”. For rides she can do and he can’t, we have a backup option for him, me + DW will ride with DD while DGP’s and DS do something else. Then, DD can decide if she wants to ride FP ride again with DGP’s while me and DW take DS to do same thing again or just walk around.
I’ve heard every variation of this has both worked and not worked for people. I think RS is actually designed to be used when the first person goes standby. Because when everybody has fp, you can just take turns going during your window (if you’re not too close to the end). This is what DH and I did when I got sdfp for fop. I completely forgot about rider switch, because we hadnt used it all trip.
So my bff has worked this well. She said most cast members dont bat an eye but she has had to play dumb with some. For us, we made sure the big hitters we had enough for everyone… 7dmt, fop. But we split them up for things like Everest, dinosaur, bmtr
The reason reports are inconsistent is because the policy is! As @Cgerres said, rider swap is supposed to be for standby. Their own published information doesn’t mention Fastpasses. But the non riding child has a right to use 3 FPs, and they can’t ride alone unless they are 7, so personally I think at least one adult must be able to have a different FP to ride with the child, and then use the rider swap for the other ride. Not that Disney care what I think!
99% of the time you will have no problem. I’ve only seen issues reported at FOP and 7DMT, and those seem to be hit and miss.
This is what I’ve always wondered about too - none of my kids are tall enough to go on FOP. So if I get FPPs for both my husband and myself, then my kids have an extra FPP each that they can’t use because they aren’t allowed to ride without us. It doesn’t make sense.
We almost always did NOT have FP+ for everyone for an important reason, we had DS4 who (if he could not ride) would have a stranded FP+. We’d either need to waste/scan his FP+ or he’d be the only one with a FP+ for something else and he can’t go alone… We had a large party so we generally had half the group get a headliner FP+ like 7DMT and then the other half would get a close by FP+ to ride while the first group was going.
The only place that this was an issue was where the CM at 7DMT kind of mumbled that we were all supposed to have FP+ and that he would do this just this once. But he wasn’t convincing at all and certainly didn’t stop us. If they really want to stop this, they’ll have to update their policy.
My recommendation is to just go up to the CM with the whole group and provide them with the bands of the 2nd group ONLY. (Those are the only people who they actually need to scan anyway.) And just say we would like to do a rider swap. 99% of the time they’ll verify that there is a baby involved and just scan those second people. Sometimes they will ask if you are riding FP or standby, but that really is just so they know when to start the return time. Theoretically you could just say that you are all riding standby but then your return time will be far out.
I think being confident about it is key. If you go to the CM and say “some of us have a FP, some don’t, we’d like to rider swap, is that allowed?“ you are making them question it. Just march up and ask politely for a RS for these people.
We had 5 go this october. We had fast passes for 3 of is at a big ride, say FOP and then made seperate fast pass reservation for myself and my little at a smaller ride, say Navi. We did have some luck getting a rider swap for me at the bigger ride so i could ride the smaller ride with my toddler and then use the rider swap to ride the bigger ride with my other kids. Most of the CMs didnt care and happily gave me and my bigger kids a rider swap when I didnt have a fast pass like the rest of the group. There was one cast member that did said we should all have fast passes. She ultimatley gave in but said “just this once”. So yea it can work but not guaranteed. It seemed to work in our favor more when the CMs that were doing the rider swap were stationed further away from the entrance of the ride. That was thier only job. They asked who would be riding second, theu scanned our bands and we were on our way. Most CMs didnt even ask if we were using fast passes to begin with. I knew it wasnt guaranteed hearing conflicting information but figured if it worked great and if not at least the kids got to ride what they wanted. I would just have to make a seperate trip for myself later! LoL
This. If none of you were using a FP, you’d be able to get a RS pass with no problem. The only issue is they won’t give you the FP return time (~30 min) but will give you the SB return time (however long the line is - say 90 min). So for those few rides where the CM actually cares, just tell them you are riding SB, get the RS pass, maybe do the do-si-do so they don’t see you enter the FP line, and scan into your FP.
The only problem with this strategy is that the RS part of your party will have to double back later instead of being able to ride immediately. Pick a ride nearby with a short SB wait and ride while you’re waiting, or time to coincide with a meal at a nearby restaurant.
In my experience, all of the tier 1/ headliners have a dedicated Rider Swap CM, usually just to the side of the tap point. We approach with the group and tell who is riding now (group 1) and who is riding later (group 2). Then they give the FP to group 2. I don’t recall them ever checking if group 1 actually has FP. In fact after group 2 gets the Rider Swap FP we (group 1+2) almost always walk away together to move/ park the stroller. No CM has ever questioned this. In theory group 1 could never go on the ride and group 2 will still have the FP to use.
I’m not sure I understand everything here but I wanted to say that they were really nice about letting me go on a ride with my DD7 two months ago when she had a FPP and I didn’t. The person who was supposed to go on the ride with her, who had the same FPP, decided to sleep in so she was the only one with a FPP. They told me that since she was under 8 yrs old I could go with her. This leads me to think that they will work with you to get everyone on the ride who qualifies to ride (heightwise etc).