Rider Swap With Fast Pass

With the new RS program where there are no long paper passes, I want to present a simple example to see if anyone has experienced with what the CM does:

Party includes husband, wife, child and infant. First three has FP for attraction that does RS. Wife and child ride with FP, husband goes with infant at same time to CM at touch point with the intention to have RS scanned to husband’s MB. This would give husband a RS pass along with the unused scheduled FP.

As the CM scans Husband’s MB to add the RS does the CM say "You do not need a RS, you have a FP already or do they not look/care and it puts the RS on the MB along with the existing FP?

If you have experience in this situation, thank you for your comments in advance…

This! RS allows Husband not to have to ride alone. Also scan child for RS so child rides twice.

I would love this, however, why would CM put RS on child’s band too since child is riding with wife (in my example) ?

The CS allows 3 people total to ride. This way no parent rides alone and your kiddo gets to ride with both parents.

I thought (like the old ticket), when the CM scans husband band, that allowed a total of three people to ride attraction within the next hour based on the RS on the husband’s band.

Is this not the way the new program works?

It’s my understanding that everyone who will ride on the rider swap must have their band scanned initially to add the rider swap to their MDE account (just like a FP+). Then, when you go back, you and the child will both scan in your bands to ride.

1 Like

Agree with above. In your example you will end up with wife riding once with child, husband riding once with child both using the rider swap placed on your bands, and then husband will still have another FPP to ride again, alone. In your example only wife and child need FPP, and husband can ride with RS with child. Only on 2 rides has it been mentioned that both adults would need their own FPP- Flight of Passage and 7DMT, and this is not consistent. Some people are reporting the CM makes sure both adults have FPP, others reporting it was easy to get the RS without the second adult having a FPP. It is very dependent on who happens to be manning the entrance that day. In your example I would have the husband and wife both get FPP for FOP and 7DMT. All other rides, just one adult and child get a FPP, the other parent can book a FPP for a ride without a height restriction that the baby can go on, that also happens to be close by since RS is limited to an hour now.

1 Like

So, new example. Party of 6; four adults, one child and one infant. All 5 have FP. One adult sits out with infant and other 4 ride. As the one adult gets their band scan that is not riding, can any two more in the party get their band scanned at the same time even though they are about to ride the attraction?

So here’s the question that probably hasn’t been completely answered yet:

When the husband goes back to ride with the child, he will have the rider swap and he will have a FP+. Will he tell the CM prior to scanning his band that he is using a rider swap and then it will use that, leaving the FP+ still active? Or will it automatically choose one or the other? I’m just thinking that to maximize child rides, after using the rider swap, the husband could then go back to the entrance with wife and child, scan in with FP+ and request rider swap for wife and child. Then the wife and child can ride again. This makes full use of everyone’s FP+. In total, each parent rides twice and child rides 3 times.

Or would that be abusing the system? Or is there evidence that this can’t be done?

My understanding is, yes, 2 people from the original group of riders can get the rider swap pass along with the parent who waits with the infant.

Not sure if that can be done, but it does seem like abusing the system a bit. The idea is that both adults can ride once when someone has to sit out with the baby. Everyone riding twice (once with FPP and once with the swap) is a little less fair. BUT, if it works then someone will have done it and will be happy to report it here. I am all for the tricks that make my stay easier- booking fake stays to get early advantage to ADRs and FPP for example. We also might have used extra bands from other MDE accounts many times to get lots of extra FPP until that was shut down. So, go for it.

Yes, any two others can get their band scanned to ride with rider swap. I am kind of surprised that Disney has not limited this to only kids under 18, or even younger. I am surprised they let multiple adults on the swap, since only 1 adult has to sit out the riding with the baby.

I like riding rides with my (all adult) family. We tend to avoid single rider lines for this reason. If we took a trip with a baby that baby would be the only child; it would be a bit unfair if the one adult who sat out with the kid would have to ride alone because they put an age limit on rider swap. It’s not just under 18s who want to ride rollercoaster with their parents you know :joy: (whether their parents want to ride rollercoasters with them is another thing but I haven’t killed my mother off yet)

1 Like

I don’t mind the aspect that others get to ride again with the parent who sat out with the child so they don’t have to go alone. The part that does seem a bit unfair or unequal to me is the situation with a mom and dad and one child who needs rider swap…that party essentially has access to the equivalent of 6 advance fast passes each day when a family that does not need rider swap only gets three.

For example, dad has a fast pass for 7DMT, Splash, and Space. He rides the rides while mom sits out with child. Then mom rides each of those same rides using rider swap (no FP). Then mom has 3 other fast passes which she can then ride while dad sits out with child. He then in turn uses rider swap to ride all those rides with no FP. So both have access to double the number of fast passes that a family not using rider swap have.

I’m not complaining. We have a blast in WDW with just our 3 FP and I’m thankful that my kids are old enough to ride everything, but in that regard I see why some would view it as unfair.

Rider swap takes a LOT of time and that means a non riding child needing to be entertained. Yes it can be abused but overall I think it is too much of a time sucker to really make a huge difference. I would think most parents would not want their non riding child waiting around for so long. Maybe one or two attractions but not the majority of the day.

1 Like

I agree. Despite the perceived “advantage”, I’m confident that my family with teenagers can still accomplish more in the parks in a day than someone with a small child. Not to mention the time involved with parking strollers and diaper changes and on and on. Again, I’m thankful I have enjoyed that stage but am past it! :slight_smile:

1 Like

Absolutely right. Those parents with the baby are not going on nearly as many rides as they would without the baby, and therefore are contributing much less to overall lines in the park, despite the “extra” fastpasses.

They are however taking up more space in the walkways with their giant stroller that they zigzag back and forth with.

Discuss :wink:

2 Likes

Agree, the fact that people with small children get 6 preplanned FPP when everyone else gets 3 is a bit unfair. But then again, they have to Disney with small kids, which honestly is not nearly as fun as Disney with older kids or with adults only :rofl:.

Agree! The strollers seem to be growing in size every year. Also the age of kids in them keeps going up. I love the old footage from Disneyland on opening day, when only babies and toddlers were in small strollers. Boy have times changed!