Rider Switch and FastPass+

I emailed Guest Services to inquire about the practice of using the FastPass+ (FPP) queue to obtain a Rider Switch (RS) ticket. What prompted me to do this were several interesting discussions on the Lines Chat about the practice of using RS in the FPP queue.

The discussions seemed to stem from folks wondering if they should book the entire party, or just half of it, for Flights of Passage, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, etc. - and other folks mentioning their experiences in acquiring RS through the FPP line at those two specific attractions has been hit or miss lately. CMs (some, but not all) have been requiring the entire party to tap in for FPP before giving RS to the first party going through for FoP and SDMT.

The discussion was good on both sides. One side said they believed the value of the RS was lost if everybody planning to ride the attraction had to have FPP to use the FPP line when acquiring RS. The other side pointed out that the RS would have been “earned” by only waiting 10-15 minutes through FPP line - whereas folks without FPP would have waited 1-2 hours in the Standby (SB) line to “earn” the same RS privilege. Further, the folks in the party not riding the attraction the first time through could do something else while they waited. Therefore, purposefully pre-booking more than 3 FPP for the entire family in order to use RS to extend the number of pre-booked FPP a party has would be paramount to abusing the system.

Consider the following example about a family of 4 (Mom, Dad, DS14, DD8). Mom and Dad decide to get tricky at Animal Kingdom and - in essence - pre-book FPP for 6 attractions. They book as follows:

  • Mom and DS: Kali River Rapids, Flights of Passage and DINOSAUR
  • Dad and DD: Its Tough to Be A Bug, Primeval Whirl and Expedition Everest

Upon arriving in Dinosaur Land, USA, Mom and DS head towards DINOSAUR. They check-in with the CM and say they need RS - and point to Dad and DD, who (a) have purposefully position themselves a little distance away (as to be out of discussion range with the CM); and (b) “wave” when pointed to. The CM gives the RS lanyard to Mom and DS. While waiting, Dad and DD ride TriceraTop Spin.

The family meets up after their rides. Dad and DD head to Primeval Whirl and check-in with the CM (and request RS). This time, Mom and DS stand a little ways away and wave. While Dad and DD ride Primeval Whirl, Mom and DS ride TriceraTop Spin.

Finally, the family uses their RSs. Dad and DD ride DINOSAUR - while Mom and DS ride Primeval Whirl. This approach allowed the entire family to go through the FPP lines for DINOSAUR and Primeval Whirl, and use SB for TriceraTop Spin.

Clearly, this is not what Rider Switch was intended for. Nobody in the family is scared or unable to ride any of the 5 attractions offering RS in Animal Kingdom (Kali, EE, FoP, DINOSAUR and PW). However, in the “game” of Disney World, everybody is always looking for an edge or a loophole they can exploit. It used to be bringing extra Magic Bands to the park and getting 3 more pre-booked FPP at the kiosks using them - or using a friend’s AP MB. Those loopholes were closed within the last year of writing this thread. The latest rage seems to be booking varied FPP within your party - and using RS to extend the value of those FPP.

After observing and joining the Lines Chat Discussions - and considering the various scenarios, I decided to email Guest Services to ask if RS is supposed to be used through the SB or FPP line - and if it is either - what restrictions are placed on the use of FPP to obtain RS. I received the following email (which I abridged as/where noted):

Dear Brian,

Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World® Resort! Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

What Is Rider Switch and How Does It Work?

If Guests in your party can’t or don’t want to board an attraction, you don’t have to miss out!

[abridged by Brian, because they seriously just copied/pasted the policy directly from their website]

If the person in Party 2 waited alone with the child, he or she may bring one other Guest back to ride the attraction with him or her. Please note that only 2 Guests are allowed per Rider Switch Pass.

[NOTE: This is where the copy/pasted policy ends]

It is very important that when taking advantage of the Rider Switch in the Fast Pass+ line everyone in the party intending to ride the attraction has their Fast Pass+ booked for that specific attraction.

We hope you are enjoying your visit! If you have any more questions do not hesitate to reply this e-mail.

And there you have it. While this last paragraph, which I bolded for emphasis, is not part of the “official” Policy - this is an official response received from WDW Guest Services. This clearly explains why some of the Cast Members, especially at Seven Dwarves Mine Train and Flights of Passage, have recently been requesting all members of the party (who will be riding) to tap in at the FPP entry before handing out the RS lanyard to the first portion of the party going through FPP.

So let’s revisit our family of 4. This time, however, let’s make DD8 scared of fast rides with drops - and scary monsters (like dinosaurs). As a result, RS makes sense for this family. If they were to follow the letter of the “law” according to the CM who replied to my email, Dad and Mom would book FPP as follows:

  • Mom, Dad and DS: Flights of Passage, Expedition Everest and DINOSAUR
  • DD: TriceraTop Spin

When the family gets to Dinosaur Land USA, they do the following:

  • Mom and DS ride DINOSAUR - requesting RS and pointing to Dad and DD. Meanwhile, Dad and DD ride TriceraTop Spin.

  • Dad and DS ride DINOSAUR next - using Dad’s FPP and the RS for DS to get a second ride with Dad. Meanwhile, Mom and DD ride TriceraTop Spin via SB line.

  • Mom and DS wait in SB for Primeval Whirl - requesting RS and pointing to Dad and DD. Dad rides TriceraTop Sping once with DD via SB. He then takes a break and sends her on another time using her FPP. If Mom and DS aren’t back yet - Dad is tortured one final time riding TriceraTop Spin with DD.

  • Dad and DS ride Primeval Whirl next - using Dad’s FPP and the RS for DS to get a second ride with Dad. Mom gets off easy, only having to repeat TriceraTop Spin one time.

In this example, everybody in the party that planned on riding the first attraction (DINOSAUR) had an FPP booked ahead of time. The “value” of RS through FPP queue was (a) DD didn’t have to wait in line or stand around while the first party rode the attraction; and, instead, got to ride TriceraTop Spin with the supervising parent (Dad); and (b) DS got TWO rides on DINOSAUR via the FPP line - vs. only one. Clearly - there is still value in getting RS through FPP, even though Mom, Dad and DS all had FPP for the attraction.

I’ll wrap up by offering this third and final scenario for our family of 4 … keep DD8 scared of some rides so RS is applicable (vs. an abuse of policy). Family thinks Flights of Passage is REALLY important to them, and they don’t want to take any chance of them running into a CM that requires all members of the party who intend on riding FoP to tap-in when the first portion of the party goes through FPP and requests RS. So, the family decides to use a hybrid approach from our first two scenarios and books FPP as follows:

  • Mom: Kilimanjaro’s Safari, Flights of Passage and DINOSAUR
  • Dad: Kilimanjaro’s Safari, Flights of Passage and Primeval Whirl
  • DS: Kilimanjaro’s Safari, Flights of Passage and Expedition Everest
  • DD: Kilimanjaro’s Safari and TriceraTop Spin

Here’s how their rides shake out:

  • Family rides KS together

  • Mom checks in on DINOSAUR, requests RS for Dad and DS (Mom points, Dad and DS wave). While Mom rides DINOSAUR solo, DS and DD ride TriceraTop Spin together (Dad is spared the agony). When Mom returns, she rides TriceraTop Spin with DD while Dad and DS use RS to ride DINOSAUR

  • Dad checks in on Primeval Whirl, requests RS for Mom and DS (Dad points, Mom and DS wave). While Dad rides PW solo, DS and DD ride TriceraTop Spin together again (Mom is spared this time). When Dad returns, he sends DD on TriceraTop Spin alone using her FPP (smart Dad), while Mom and DS use RS to ride PW.

  • DS checks into Expedition Everest, requests RS for Mom and Dad (DS points, Mom and Dad wave). While DS rides EE solo, Mom and Dad by DD an ice cream - but tells DD not to tell DS (family secrets are the best). When DS returns, Mom and Dad ride EE using the RS. DS buys DD and ice cream - but tells her not to tell Mom and Dad (family secrets are the best). DD is very, very happy.

  • Mom and DS ride FoP together via FPP line, request RS for Dad. If Dad is asked to by the FoP FPP CM - he taps in to FoP to prove he has an FPP for the ride - otherwise - he modifies his FPP for Kali River Rapids. Either way, Dad rides FoP with DS using the RS ticket. DS gets two rides on FoP!!

  • If Dad wasn’t asked to tap into the FPP for FoP when Mom and DS requested RS - Dad tries to modify his FoP FPP to Kali River Rapids. If he’s successful, the family could try to have Dad ride KRR solo and request RS for Mom/DS to use later.

Is this approach still “abuse” of the intention of the system? According to the CM that emailed me back … the answer is most definitely YES. However, The family has booked a family experience FPP (KS) and all members intending to ride FoP have booked that “RS hit or miss” attraction just to be safe. Therefore, the family is only trying to use the loophole in the system for their third FPP choices and, even then, the first rider always has to ride solo. Every family is different - and for some families this approach may work.

Last thought: what if the family was 5 people and only 1 didn’t want to ride the rides? Now you could have the first party of 2 riders go through with pre-booked FPP and request RS for the other party of 2 riders go through using RS - and nobody rides alone. I’d still personally pre-book FPP for the entire family for Kilimanjaro’s Safari; and, pre-book FPP for the four that would ride Flights of Passage. However, I may try and split the 3rd FPP for those 4 people across only 2 attractions - and if we were able to get RS for FoP without having all four folks tap in, then I’d try to modify those other two FPP for something else.

Happy planning…

-Brian

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It’s a little bit too early on my “Monday” morning for me to digest all of your scenarios here, but if Disney is going to require FP+ for even the second party, then they should just get rid of Riderswap through the FP+ line. If everyone has a FP+ then there is no need for a Riderswap. The only benefit in that scenario is that the extraneous kids get to ride more than once which doesn’t seem to be the intention.

My understanding was that Riderswap was more designed for folks with younger kids, not necessarily scared 8 year olds. For example, my husband and I utilized it heavily with our DS1. We didn’t bring any extra kids with us but we NEVER had 2 Fastpasses for the same thing. I would get 7DMT and my husband would get WTP, etc. It worked fine, no questions asked. If our son was older, say 3 or 4, and we BOTH needed to have FP+, then our son would basically have a useless FP+ because he can’t do anything alone!

I agree with what you’re saying - except that RS is intended not just for littles but also those “unable to ride.” Per the policy:

What Is Rider Switch and How Does It Work?

If 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!

Per the policy, it’s not just for 1-2 year olds. You could have a 40 year old that has some other medical condition that prevents them from riding - but also makes it so that they shouldn’t be left alone. Or an 8 year old who is scared to ride the ride. All of this fits the policy and is allowed.

It’s interesting to me that the policy actually states "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! This makes me believe that the intent of RS was - all along - to be used to avoid having both portions of a single party wait in the longer standby, or regular, line. That would seem unfair that an adult - waiting with somebody who can’t or doesn’t want to ride a specific ride - would be required to go through SB when the first portion of their party is done riding the ride. Hence, RS makes sense in that case.

This is such an interesting topic to me because I 100% get your points, @melcourt10! If you’re a family of 3 with a 1 year old, then RS gives you ZERO value if both Mom and Dad needed FPP in order to get the RS ticket through the FPP line. Mom rides alone with FPP, gets RS. Then Mom watches 1YO while Dad rides alone using FPP … or did he use RS? ZERO value.

I’m also confused because I’ve seen reports of folks using an RS ticket to grab “2 people from the SB line” and sprinkle pixie dust on them. Therefore, policy says RS is for 1 extra adult, while - per reports - it looks like it’s for 2 extra adults. Which is it?

Here is my take, though, on the FPP/RS use. My opinion has taken about 2 weeks to fully formulate as I’ve soaked in all the arguments from both sides. The fundamental point I keep falling back to, though, is that FPP are pre-booked “by person.” When you book your 3 pre-booked FPP for each member of your party, you could book everybody for the same experience - or you could book individuals for varying experiences that they each want to do. However, FPP is an “individual” thing. An ADR, by contrast, is for a “Party of 5.”

Therefore, it would make sense to me that anybody requesting RS through the FPP line would need to prove that the waiting adult has FPP, too. In the case of the Mom, Dad and 1YO - while this would stink a bit - each should have FPP, and RS would be useless. Then again, maybe Mom wants to use her FPP for rides that spin (her favorite) but Dad can’t do those. Maybe Dad likes coasters so he books those - but Mom can’t do those. For that family, RS is useless, too! So it doesn’t seem unfair (to me, anyway) to require the family that has Mom/Dad willing and able to do all rides to also book FPP for the 3 rides they want the fastest entries through - even if they overlap - when other families of 3 with a 1YO may not be using RS in such a way as to make 6 different FPP reservations (3 for Mom, 3 for Dad) and then use RS to have Mom/Dad speed through all 6. Instead, they could FPP 3 of them (one at a time) and then SB/RS the other 3 (so the second rider goes through FPP line).

That’s my take after, honestly, WAY too many hours thinking about this and researching it. I’m sure not everybody will agree with my opinion … but it’s based in policy and the fact that FPP is very much an “individual” reservation.

-Brian

I understand the theory and I have booked us all for FP, and received a RS and what that gives me is two rides on FoP or 7 DMT.

My example: there are three adults and a 2 year old. The 2 year old is allowed in on my ticket and my FPs. If the 3 adults get FPs for RnR, we all go to the FP line. Two adults scan in the FP line and get the lanyard. I wait with the 2 year old. When they are done with RnR I go through the FP line and we have a RS for another ride.

If two adults have FPs, I make another FP and take the two year old on an attraction while the adults ride RnR. Afterwards, I get to take one of those adults with me on a ride with the RS ( one ride instead of two).

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Official policy has always been that everyone needs an FP if you intend to use rider switch with FP (you can use it with stand-by too, and I think there, the second group actually get to use the FP line when they return to ride).

The fact that 99 times out of 100, CMs allow it to be used differently doesn’t change the official policy. It’s probably just another work-around that Disney chooses to turn a blind eye to at the moment. Most CMs do just that. A few do not. If Disney wants to clamp down, they will. And we may not know about it until large numbers of people report it. Just like the recent clamp-down on tickets needing to be used to enter a park.

But at any time they could decide they will start enforcing it and then a lot of people will get upset. Just as if they suddenly change the current “3 people can return” policy,which is printed on them at the moment, to the one stated in it’s official policy of 2.

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Very interesting! Thanks for the response on this - that helps me understand why the policy specifically references the second party skipping the “regular line.” And it also helps me understand the variant between RS + 1 or RS + 2.

FYI, I never use RS because my son has ADHD and Anxiety - the combination of which makes it very, very tough on him to wait in longer queues in tight quarters, especially when those queues wind through darker pathways (think 7DMT, POC, etc.) So we always get DAS for him to be able to wait elsewhere and skip the longer SB lines. It’s a blessing and a curse - as I always miss all the cool theming in the SB lines! Hoping for a solo trip one day (or an attempt at WDW49) so I can hit some of those queues for once.

In any event, I’m more just fascinated with the FPP/RS approach and the strong arguments being made by folks on both sides. I agree - if Disney ever clamped down on this (as they have other loopholes) - there would be a lot of upset folks. Take care.

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The only “issue” I can see with a policy of requiring everyone with a RS ticket to have a FP+ for the attraction is that the RS ticket is valid for up to a whole month, depending on when it’s issued.

You know what - that’s true, @lecras - and I never even thought of that part in its entirety.

I get the idea that the FP+ window could be extended as a result - say you check in at 12:58pm for a 12-1pm FP+ window. Half the party goes into the attraction queue, the other half taps in (to prove they had FP+) so the RS can be given. That RS is now good for - not just the rest of the day - but the rest of the month. In essence, you just extended the FP+ window for half the party.

Then consider a family of 5 (Dad, Mom, 2 older DDs, 1 young DS) all had FP+ for FoP. Mom, DD1 and DD2 go through FP+ queue and request RS. CM says “where is the reset of your party?” Dad and DS come over - and the family explains DS won’t ride, so Dad needs RS. CM says “Dad needs FP+, too - to prove you all would have been able to wait together if not for DS.” Dad taps in. CM gives lanyard to Mom. Mom and DDs ride. Dad could ride that day with the two DDs - or they could choose to ride another day later in their trip.

I’m not sure I’d classify that as an issue - though - other than for FP+ planning on WDW’s part (to accurately forecast how many people may be in the FP+ queue at a given time). My feeling is - yet another benefit of RS even when used in the FP+ queue with all members of the party intending to ride the attraction being required to have FP+ in order to get RS through the FP+ queue.

I didn’t get enough sleep last night to fully absorb all three scenarios, but here’s my thought. If my daughter can’t do, say, FOP, then maybe I’ll get a FPP for her for Navi River and the rest of us will get a FPP for FOP. We’ll do the child swap so that I can take her to Navi while the first group does FOP. Then we’ll switch and I’ll do FOP.

In this scenario, I need to get a FPP for Navi so I can take her on, since she’s 3 and can’t go herself. If I can’t get a RS without a FPP, then I won’t be able to ride FOP. That rubs me the wrong way. Though maybe it shouldn’t, maybe the intent is for the child who can’t ride to have a wasted FPP if you want to do RS.

That’s just my two cents.

3 Likes

I agree. I don’t think the real intent of RS has anything to do with 8 year olds. If my PAYING 3 year old can’t use FPP because everyone needs a FPP to get a ride swap, then we are getting significantly less value. If they are going to interpret the policy in this way, they should also make the age when a ticket must be purchased higher.

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Hey @Beth33 - I’m not sure I understand your post - but I want to.

FoP is a ride listed under those eligible for RS (by Park) in AK, whereas NRJ is not RS-eligible. Are you then saying you’d like to make an FP+ for you and DS3 to ride NRJ, and make FP+ for the rest of your clan to ride FoP at the same time? That can definitely be done.

However, if you’re also saying you want the rest of your clan to be able to get an RS for FoP, via the FP+ line, so that you can ride FoP after taking your daughter on Na’Vi … that’s the part that it sounds like - even today - you may run into issues. Some CM’s are requiring all members of the party who will ride FoP to tap into the FP+ line before anybody is given RS. So you’d need to have FoP and NRJ FP+ to pull this off - and since they are both Tier 1 in AK, that wouldn’t be possible. If you planned the split FP+ approach, you’d basically be hoping for a CM that doesn’t ask - or cuts you a break if they do ask.

I also want to better understand your point about the DD3 FP+ being a waste. When my wife and I took our DS (then 4) to WDW for his first trip, we made FP+ reservations for him that we thought he’d enjoy. Since he couldn’t ride these alone, we made sure at least one of us also had the same FP+. That was just the way it was! Otherwise, DS’s FP+ were useless - or so we thought. What I didn’t realize (then) were two things I now much better understand:

  • I can “change the party” for an FP+ - which means I could actually “bank” 3 good FP reservations in my DS4’s name and then assign them to us later. While 1 parent goes and rides something with a 25 minutes FP+ queue, the other could take DS4 on 1 or 2 other attractions with shorter SB lines
  • After the first 3 FP+ are used - you can book a 4th - and after that is used - you can book a 5th. Many of the attractions that are great for younger kids (Dumbo - for instance) constantly have FP+ availability throughout the day. Last trip, when DS was 7, we rode Dumbo 5x in a row using FP+. Each time we got in line by tapping FP, we looked and found another FP+ available for Dumbo 5-10 minutes later. Same was true for us for IASW - we rode that 3x in a row.

I suppose what I’m trying to better understand is why you’d feel FP+ reservations for DD3 would be a waste. But - worrying about which FP+ to make for a young one like that may be… depending on how you look at it. When my DS was 7 and we took him back, he didn’t remember anything at all from his trip at age 4. He just turned 9 - and he hardly remembers much of what happened at age 7. If I had to do it over again, I’d be using the young ones as an FP+ bank … and while Mom or Dad rides DINOSAUUR, the other parent would be lounging in the shade at the Boneyard with a Rum Dole Whip…

I do look forward to hearing back from you, though. I do enjoy trying to gain other’s perspectives on things. Personally - I’ve never used RS. I started exploring it a bit and read a bunch of threads on Chat and then all you-know-what started breaking loose, so I decided to make this my pet project for a couple weeks - researching, contacting WDW to ask questions, etc. The more I can understand pros/cons and views from both camps, the better for me.

Thanks for the reply!

Beth is saying the same thing that I stated. If you require both parents to have a FP+ for FOP, then you essentially “strand” a FP+ for a small child. They can’t ride anything alone!

2 Likes

I think the issue here is just as you’ve said, you haven’t used RS. You do have children though, so I know you understand how cumbersome that can be, time wise. I think the “abuse” of RS is grossly overstated. I think most people only have time to ride once for mom and once for dad. If you are trying to overuse the system it will take HOURS, and that is going to be miserable with a child that can’t ride.

It seems to me that there are some new parameters being put around 7DMT and on FOP. I don’t disagree, exactly, with the change for 7DMT because that FPP line is fast. However, it took our family a full 2 hours on FOP for DH to go through with FPP and me to get through with RS. Because Pandora is located away from other things, and the uncertainty of how long it would take, DD3 had to wait that whole time. If you look at it on a value per hour, her ticket has FAR less value because of this change. Certainly these are the sorts of choices that must be made, but Disney doesn’t want people to start looking at it that way.

I get that you want this to be black and white, but I believe Disney has left it gray on purpose.

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In Dec 2016 we got RS’s for most rides without all of us having a FP, only one it didn’t work at was Haunted House. In MK we did slightly abuse the system, but in most cases it was so DD5 & DD7 wouldn’t miss out, and at the end of the week we gave a fellow liner 4 RS’s. We never got a RS that wasn’t needed but we did maximise it’s potential. It’s definitely a grey area.

I fully agree with you. We have a 5 year old that cannot ride TOT or RRC in HS so our plan was to both use one FP for each then do RS. That is the only way we can ride them time wise with the other sitting with a 2 and 5 year old. If we both have to get FP for these then my 5 year old will have 2 FP that he cannot use! I feel like that is what RS was intended for. Now I am scared to plan that way for our up comming trip. I may email Disney with that exact scenario and see what they say.

@VFLnSFD - you make a great point in that it’s quite possible Disney has left this gray on purpose - and only chooses to apply the “intent” of the policy for specific rides (and even then, at specific times). I can see that for sure!

@Tate - I appreciate your honesty! Hopefully nobody jumps down your throat as a result of it. It’s refreshing to read. Thanks.

@rbutler0920 - I’m a bit confused still - I’m still not getting this “stranded” FP+ argument. I 100% get the “I don’t want to leave my spouse with the kids for too long” argument - but not the “stranded FP+” argument. I have many friends who go to WDW with young ones (2 or 3 of them, depending on the family). They always pre-book FP+ based on attractions the family can enjoy together, including the little ones (think Dumbo or Die TP plan). However, they couple that with use of at least one of the following three strategies:

1 - They completely skip the headliners that are a bit more thrilling and interesting for them (the parents) - saving them for the next trip when the littles are a little older; or

2 - They take turns touring a park solo at night during their trip. My DW and I did this our first trip when DS was 4 - and to an extent again our last trip when DS was 7. We went for 8 days, 7 nights. We each got 2 nights out of the 6 to solo-Tour the parks while the other parent took DS to the resort and put him to bed. This is really no different than using the RS approach - where each parent rides solo anyway - except they’ll need to use the SR lines (where available) or SB lines - or by booking 1 FP+ at a time (since their first 3 were used) pending same-day availability; or

3 - After using the 3 family-oriented FP+ pre-books, the parents find an in-park toddler play area and/or short SB line attractions one parent could handle with 2-3 other littles. MK examples: the toddler play area under Splash, WtP SB queue with the honey wall (yum), Tom Sawyer Island/Savage Fort, Dumbo (3 can ride in an elephant if you fit - and the queue is fun), Liberty Square Riverboat ride, etc. There are similar areas/attractions at EP (exit to Mission: Space, Toddler area inside Seas with Nemo, LwtL, SE, Turtle Talk) and AKL (Boneyard, TriceraTop Spin, trails everywhere, Tam Tam drummers, etc.). HS is the pits, though - so I 100% get your point about RnRC and ToT. At 2 and 5 - I can’t see the kids even really being really into any of the shows so much that one parent might not have a screaming 2YO they need to deal with.

I mentioned I haven’t used RS. For my DW and I - the WDW trips with our DS are all about him - and our enjoyment of family time. Well - to a point - clearly, with our night-time solo-Touring approach. However, when he’s awake and at the parks, we both want to be with him to enjoy the park through his eyes.

He’s getting older now, though - and this next trip my Dad and Mom are coming with us. That’s why I started looking into the RS concept. DS has anxiety so any attraction that sounds intimidating is a no-go, like Tower of Terror, DINOSAUR, Haunted Mansion, etc. Also, I’m not sure how long my parents will be around (that’s a tough thing to admit) so I got to thinking about the use of RS, and splitting FP+ reservations, so that we could (a) get DS more rides on the attractions he likes but that my parents won’t be able to stomach; (b) get me some time on some rides with my folks - rides DS may not be willing to do; and (c - lastly) give my folks a chance to ride something alone as a couple while DW and I watch DS or take him on a shorter-wait ride - and then we swap so DW and I ride as a couple while the grandparents watch DS/ride something else with him. However, via FP+/RS, minimize the amount of time we’re away from DS as a group.

Point being … @rbutler0920, please let us know if you hear back from Disney like I have. I’d love to hear their response to your specific scenario/question.

Thanks again! I love the discussions on this place. I’m usually a Lines Chat guy - but maybe I’m starting to get used to the Forum a bit more!

Part of me: "This is why we can’t have nice things."
Other part of me: “You don’t want to touch this one.”

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Even if The mouse himself came out to personally play with my 2 year old he would only be interested for about 15 minutes. :joy:So that makes anything more than a 30 minute standby line miserable for the person with the kids. I agree that we usually plan our tours more geared towards the kids and we sometimes get a sitter, but some families plan and save for years and it might be there one trip for themselves and their kids. I feel like that is what rider swap was originally designed for. Letting parents have experience some things without putting strain on the children. I am ok even if they restrict it to only one person, I mean my kid should have a fastpass if he is going to ride the ride in the fastpass line and he doesn’t really need to go again. It just make it so much faster for us as adults to go in the FP line to start. We might end up being ok at HS anyway bc there isn’t really anything for my 5 year old to get a fastpass for except Toy Story!:joy:

Here is where the wasted fastpass comes in. May experience is If you have a member of your party that is under the age to ride alone they can not book a Fastpass on their own. The system won’t let you search for a party of one (on a young child) so you are stuck with one adult booking a Fastpass with your younger, short kid. So at AK, if my whole party has to book a Fastpass for FOP in order to ride FOP and get a RS ticket my short 4 year old will have just wasted her Fastpass because she must be booked with one of the adults.

If the system has changes since I last tried to book fast passes for a young child and you can book one separately then who will be able to ride the child’s Fastpass ride with them if it is Navi? One person can’t precook both Navi and FOP. All the adults have FOP Fastpass and will have to use all of their Fastpass first in order to try to pick up a 4th to ride with that child. This gives the short child a big disadvantage. They already can’t ride most rides that have rider switch (what I have always used rider switch for) but if they are old enough to have park admission they are entitled to Fastpass that they can use.

I guess the adult who is with the kid just will skip FOP or stand in line for 2 hours. Then there is no value in getting a rider switch ticket.

Now I think this situation may be different for people who are tall enough but are just choosing not to ride out of fear or whatever or if they are old enough to ride solo.

@brtaylor73 In response to your initial question to me, I want the rest of my group to get an RS for FOP so that I can do FOP too. I don’t want to have to choose between (1) not letting my daughter use one of her FPP, and (2) not getting to ride FOP myself.

It sounds like your solution to the stranded FP problem is to only book FP for attractions everyone can enjoy. (Or reassign the young kid’s FP to someone else.) There’s something interesting about your first two strategies for families who only do FP on rides that the whole party can do. They seem to be at odds with the spirit of RS.

By implementing RS, it’s like WDW is saying “we don’t want you to have to skip intense/scary/height restricted rides that you’d otherwise enjoy. We want you to enjoy that ride without excessively delaying your whole group.” In scenario one, the parents skip the ride. In scenario two, both parents separately wait in the SB line (unless they get lucky with a day of FP, which often doesn’t happen in the evening for the kinds of rides parents have to skip). That is what RS is designed to prevent. In fact, I’d even argue that restricting FP selections to family friendly rides is contrary to the spirit of RS. If we eliminate the possibility of FP for “non-family-friendly” rides, some of which are the most popular rides with the longest wait times, then groups with young children (or people otherwise unable or unwilling to do those rides) will have to choose between looooong waits and skipping the ride, the very kind of thing RS was designed to alleviate. I hope that makes sense.

I don’t think FP+ reservations for DD3 would be a waste in general. I just don’t think that our party should be limited to FP+ reservations for things the whole family can do together, and I don’t think DD3 should have to give up one of her FP+ reservations if the rest of us want to do FP+ on a ride she’s not allowed on.

I agree with melcort10

@Nicky_S, I find this very interesting.

Can I ask you what your source is? I’m not saying you are wrong, I’m just curious.

@ All
I wonder if part of the problem is that the whole premise of RS can be seen as unfair and subject to abuse. I don’t think that anyone would complain about this, but even a RS where the original party waited in the SB line, they’re kind of getting an extra FPP for part of their party. I am not saying I personally think it’s unfair, but I could understand someone making that argument. One could also abuse the system using the SB lines. For example, a family could do a bunch of RS for popular rides on a low attendance day using the SB lines and then come back on a busy day and use those RS tickets to get into the FPP lines.

I recognize that there are people out there abusing the RS system. I just wish WDW could prevent those abuses in a way that allowed RS to retain value when used in conjunction with FPP. Because I really want to do FOP :slight_smile: (Watch, now I won’t even be able to get a FPP for FOP and the issue will be somewhat moot for me.)