So I’ve tried to figure this out via multiple other channels, but I don’t understand how FPP and Childswap interact. We are a group of 5 traveling in the fall. Three generations including a 5 year old and an almost 2 year old. We have many FPP scheduled for a variety of things, some of which the 2 year old is too short for, some of which the 5 year old may be too scared of, etc etc etc. In addition to a general “how does this work” question my specific questions are:
If we have FPP for a ride the 5 year old wants to ride but the 2 year old can’t, is there any way for the 5 year old to ride twice?
If neither kid is riding, how does it work? Do we just split up and go through FPP line at separate times, or is their an advantage to asking for child swap?
Is there a way for an adult who loves a particular ride to ride twice?
I’m sorry if this has been discussed; I’ve looked and haven’t found the answers to these questions.
with a rider swap pass, everyone approaches the fpp line, the people riding head into the line, while the adult waiting with the child gets the pass. When everyone else is done, the waiting adult can now ride with the pass and two others–including the 5 yo. Don’t forget that the waiting adult still has a fast pass, so the party can go to the line again with the short one, the previous wait-er rides while everyone else gets another rider swap pass.
always get a child swap pass. If anything it is a fast pass to be used late in the trip (they’re good through the end of the month). Too short isn’t the only qualifying reason to get a pass. They work for children that are scared, too
each pass is good for 3 people, so if one adult really likes a ride, this is a great way for adults to get multiple rides.
Thank you so much for all the information; it was exactly what I was looking for. I found an older blog entry about using this system on TP, but it was in relation to legacy fast pass and I wasn’t so sure it whether the new FPP system could be “optimized” the same way. It’s going to take a fair bit of planning and coordination, but I think we are going to be able to use this to our advantage!! Thanks again.
Another thank you for the detailed explanation. This is exactly the info I was looking for about fp+ and child swap. Now I can plan my ride times without worry.
Just as an FYI, on my August trip at least one ride (Space Mountain) was not giving out the FP return if your child was tall enough for the ride. They told us that we all had to get in line, and that they would handle the switch at the end, presumably by having her wait in the lounge area with an adult while the others rode. The next day at AK, we rode EE and assumed that it would be the same, so we all went through the line. Turned out that they do NOT do it that way and would have given us the FP return card. Those are the only two we tried it with where she was tall enough. Primeval Whirl was a FP return card, but she was not tall enough for that.
Wow thank you for all the info. I’m new to this site and the new fpp system. We can book ours on Saturday so I am trying to figure this all out ASAP. I have another question that maybe one of you know. Our group is all linked together but we are arriving in waves. 3 different flights. All scheduled to arrive the same day according to WDW but one is arriving later. Are we able to use the fast passes that someone won’t be using because they aren’t there yet? Or do they scan their magic band? I guess my main question is do each magic bands have to be scanned for each fast pass? Same with dining. We get x number of counter service meals and table service. Are they interchangeable?
I’ve seen reports of people taking bands to the parks linked to the accounts of others and using their fpps. So, without the band being scanned for Park entry, it was still used for a fpp.
We also saw at splash and big thunder that they would give a different pass on a lanyard at the entrance to be exchanged closer to the ride for the actual pass… I’d assume to prevent people from grabbing a rider swap and running to the other without jumping in line.
When we went to EE, they weren’t giving out swap passes if the queue was less than 15 min
I had that experience as well, I think it also has to do with the fact that in those rides it would be very easy to jump out of the queue once you grab your child swap pass (since they have long areas of open air queue), then come back and use it as a fast pass without waiting in line.
We used the child swap/fastpass combo a ton this fall, and it worked really well. For whatever reason, it took significantly longer than our Touring Plan estimated it would, but overall it was a really really great system. We never got super tricky with it (you could potentially essentially double your fast passes for your group if you worked it right) but it worked really really well.