I’m assuming one cannot do rider swap when there are no actual children involved, correct?
I’m planning a birthday trip with my usual Disney travel companion (who’s basically my surrogate dad) AND this time my mom is coming too! She hasn’t been to DW since… 2003, I think, so I want to take her on all the new rides — but for rides like TSM, I don’t want to leave out DF.
How do I finagle my fastpasses to be able to ride once with my mom and once with DF? I guess we’ll have to rope drop? (Too bad child swap doesn’t apply to me, the child of my mother…)
I often travel in a group of three. When I travel with my son and his girlfriend they always ride together and I end up with a single rider sitting next to me. On Toy Story and Buzz I have always been alone.
My upcoming trip will be with my sister and niece. We will switch off 2/1 throughout the trip.
Is either of them at least a little competitive? It is easier to get a really high score on TSM going alone, so maybe someone in your group is into it. It is also fun to try using both guns at the same time on Buzz.
When I went completely alone on TSM I found it depressing, but I had no problems being the odd person out on a group, I still got to see, hear, and interact with my group during the ride and compare scores (which were terrible).
If you read the language it doesn’t necessarily say that you have to swap out for a child which makes the system easy to abuse…It’s one of those areas where people have different lines they are willing or unwilling to cross.
f Guests in your party can’t or don’t want to board an attraction, you don’t have to miss out!
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!
Rider Switch is available at select attractions at all 4 Walt Disney World Resort theme parks.
I’m, sincerely, not trying to be obtuse or trolling - but why can’t DF ride with you. For TSMM, the vehicles seat everyone and you can compare scores at the end. At most of the coasters there are only two seats. (BTMRR, 7DMT, RnRC, SDD, and so on…) Is someone going to wait outside at each attraction just for you to specifically sit next to them?
I really hope that doesn’t sound mean. I’m just confused as to way you’ve asked. Does someone have special needs? If so you may qualify for a Disability Access Service (DAS) pass.
My family is a trio - some one is usually sitting by themselves. We take turns with who is going solo.
I intentionally included my mother in our trip last fall so that we would end up with 6 instead of 5 for our first trip in a long time. We went again in May and I really just wanted it to be our family so we dealt with the odd number. Our two teens rode together most of the time and then DH and I swapped back and forth riding solo vs riding with our 8 yr old. It really wasn’t a big deal to ride alone…it was kind of enjoyable honestly to have a second “alone”. The only time it seemed a little off was when we ate at Sci-Fi in a car and there wasn’t room for 3 in a chair so husband ended up sitting alone, I felt bad, but he was fine with it. He’s a super-introvert so he probably relished the space and quiet.
Oh – he can ride with me. What I’m trying to figure out is how to make my fastpass selection work out so that I can ride once with DF and once with my mom. Basically – I want to ride twice, but I know that the tiering restrictions will make getting a second SDFP for TSM difficult, and since I’m a liner, I like knowing how to optimize my plan so that I’m minimizing waiting times, you know?
Two-seat coasters I’m not as worried about; someone will sit alone and that will be no issue at all. But for the interactive rides, I want to make sure the singleton doesn’t feel left out.
Rider switch is not available for either TSM or Buzz. But TSM was the easiest SDFP to get (as in, get one for immediate in use while on the FP line 3 times in a row), so if TSM is your 3rd pre booked FP of the day you have a high chance of being able to do it 2 times on a row (FP two people for 1pm, FP the third for 1:15, you will probably get an overlapping one without much work). If your friend and mother do prefer to wait outside and later ride with you than ride alone that could work.
Buzz is a super pleasant ride to RD. Lines take a while to form and it is the first ride on your path if you are cycling counter-clockwise. You could ride it twice on a row without lines.
I think that in your effort to not make the odd person feel like a Singleton, it will make both people feel singled out. If the three of you ride at the same time there will be just a few minutes during the actual ride where one person will be separated. If you try to ride with both people (one at a time), what will the other person do while you are in line? So if you are riding with DF first, your DM will be separated for all the line-time as well as the ride time, and the same thing for DF when they swap. If you ride all “together” you will have more together time, and you will get off the ride at the same time, and be able to talk about how much fun it was, and about each person’s experiences.
We just took a trip a few weeks ago and tried to utilize rider swap (my first time with RS). It was much bumpier than I expected and it took FOREVER. I never really considered the time issue, but it literally took twice as long to do anything. (Makes sense, right?) I would much prefer to be a “single rider”, and ride at the same time as my group even if I’m not in the same car.
We are usually a family of 3 at WDW as my DH prefers to stay home. I also go to both coasts frequently with 2 friends. We always just switch out who rides alone, it really isn’t a big deal at all. When we go to Sci fi the kids sit in front of me, and I quite like it. It isn’t the kind of restaurant where talking is encouraged, it is dark and cool and everyone is quietly watching the campy movie clips. Anyway, I wouldn’t try to ride everything with both people, that seems like it will take a long time and 1 person will always be alone. Just enjoy switching off who rides with whom.
If you want to ride twice, then you’ll need to pick up SDFP or wait standby for the second ride. I don’t think there is any way to use Rider Swap in this situation.