Three more sleeps! I’m so excited! So is my kiddo of course.
We’ve been several times and never had to use Rider Swap as there was always a non riding adult in our group for kiddo to wait with. Back again this year and there are a few rides he will NOT do, but the rest of us would like to. Is Rider Swap an option there? It’s not that he’s too small for the attraction, he just wants nothing to do with these specific attractions (Tower of Terror and Haunted Mansion… he did not get my love of horror movies obviously). Would we all have to go thru the queue together? If that’s the case we won’t do this as he’s not going to do those spooky queues.
Our last trip i didn’t get to do either of those as i waited with kiddo while the others rode, and TT is my favorite ride in the parks so i’d really like to do it this time if i can!
First check with a Cast member to see if Rider Switch is offered at the attraction in question.
Once at the attraction, approach the greeting Cast Member with your entire party. At least one adult member of your party and the Guests who are not riding will be issued a Ride Switch entitlement by the Cast Member and asked to wait in a designated area ***(usually outside of the attraction)***. This group is “Party 2.”
The other party members (“Party 1”) ride the attraction.
After riding the attraction, Party 1 locates Party 2. Then, Party 1 takes over supervision of the non-riding children or Guests.
Party 2 enters and boards the attraction without having to wait in the regular queue a second time. The Rider Switch entitlement must be validated by a Cast Member at this time.
If the person in Party 2 waited alone with the child, he or she may bring up to 2 other Guests - who originally checked in during step 2 - back to ride the attraction with him or her. Please note that only 3 Guests are allowed per Rider Switch Pass.
Previously guests had anywhere from until the end of the day to, in some cases, the end of the month to redeem their Rider Switch pass.
This new digital method, however, utilizes a return window that is 1 hour long (with a 10 minute grace period).
I was concerned about this during our recent trip, so I confirmed. You can absolutely use rider swap in instances where a child is tall enough to ride, but just doesn’t want to.
Haunted mansion was mentioned. Is rider swap available for this? I didn’t think it was. There’s no height requirement for it. This could present a problem.
Edit: just checked the disney site and it’s not listed
We did this numerous times last December with our DD who was too scared, but tall enough. Just a word of caution: the instructions seem to suggest that the Rider Switch party 2 can just impromptu pick 2 extra people to bring. All 3 people need to have been issued an RS at the time of party 1’s entering the line.
Thanks for all the input! I hadn’t realized rider switch is only available for certain rides (makes sense, but had never used it before myself!) I think for HM i’ll speak to a cast member. The last time we tried to ride it he was little and had a terrible experience in the stretching room and a kind cast member snuck us out the side door. They were all super nice and offered to let me go back in and ride when the rest of our party was finished but kiddo wasn’t letting mama go back in the scary place LOL Disney tends to be quite awesome so if they can help, great… and if not, totally won’t put a damper on the magic anyway.
When we used RS, we never had to pick the extra people for the second party until it was time for the second party to go. Of course, this was before RS went digital. But usually I’d ride first with my kids, and my wife was given the rider swap ticket. Then, after I got off, my wife would use the RS ticket to ride, at which point the CM would ask which two additional people did she want to bring along.
That’s kind of a bummer, although I get why they do it. But often we didn’t necessarily make the decision who is riding for the second time until after they got off because it would depend on how much the others liked it, and who might want to RS on the next ride, etc. Not that it matters now. We are beyond the RS years (well, until we have grandchildren I suppose that we might go with).
As rules go, I think it’s fine to break it, as long as you get the rider swap honestly and don’t put the ‘too scared’ person on the second ride. CMs don’t really care.
