I think essentially what they’re saying is you have to decide the best use of the FP you are given for your family. So if riding a height restricted ride with minimal wait is the priority, then you sacrifice the younger children’s FP. Or you choose to get your FP for a ride the whole family can go on and use standby + rider switch for the big ride. Or one parent sacrifices not going on the big ride and instead gets FP take younger children on something they can ride.
It’s not an easy decision and I loved being able to take my DD on something while my family got me a RS for a ride she couldn’t go on but looks like things may be changing.
I agree. That makes RS virtually unusable in conjunction with FP. We ALL want our kids to have wonderful times, but as the ones paying the bill, it only seems fair to have our fun too!
I am watching this question quite closely as we will be there next month with 1and 4 year olds. If we can’t use FP and RS it will sure cut back on the desire to come back until they are tall enough to ride, sadly
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Same here, our trip is in May so I’m curious to see how it plays out in the next couple of months. I was planning to do three split FPP’s: SM/Buzz in MK, MSO/Characters in Epcot and EE/Characters in AK. I can’t see what’s wrong with this. The point of RS is that one adult waits while the other does something else with the smaller kids, then the other adult gets to ride without having to wait - why should it matter HOW group 1 waits, whether through SB or FPP?? The spirit of the switching is the same. Is it only FOP and 7DMT that this has been an issue?
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@erinjanekelly, from what I’ve heard, it’s 7DMT, FoP and - at times - SM - that have had some issues. SM CM’s have been “annoyed” when the 2nd Party was a distance away and waiving vs. coming over to tap in to prove they had FP.
Please don’t take this as me picking on you - it’s not meant that way. However, your response is representative of a lot that I’ve heard about how the crackdown is against the “spirit of switching.” I agree with you - but I also note that folks refer to the policy without understanding … the policy hasn’t truly been implemented by Disney to the “letter” for as long as I can remember. Technically, the policy states:
- The entire party must check in with the CM - yet folks here and on Lines Chat seem to be okay standing a distance away and “waiving” to the CM in order to avoid having the CM possibly ask them to tap in - which is not in compliance with the policy
- The waiting adult and the person/people they’re waiting with would wait in a “designated area” - yet folks here and on Lines Chat often think the 2nd Party can go do another attraction while the 1st Party goes through FPP and obtains RS.
- The RS pass is supposed to allow Party 2 to ride or - per the policy - if the adult in Party 2 waited alone - they could bring 1 guest so they don’t have to ride alone on the re-ride (so, 2 total riders) … yet the paper RS tickets Disney has handed out are for the RS holder and 2 guests (so, 3 total riders)
My point in mentioning this is, again, not to pick on anybody or to prove anybody wrong. I’m hopeful that things remain as they have like most of the rest of us. That being said, the policy has pretty clearly never been fully followed by Disney. Therefore, anything they do to start following it - including (but not limited to) requiring the entire party to check in, requiring the waiting party to stay in a specific place and/or reducing the number of folks who can ride with the RS pass would, in my opinion, be completely consistent with the policy as it has always been written.
Further - and finally - if you look at #4 in the policy on Disney’s site - you’ll see it states the 2nd party could ride without having to “wait in the regular queue a second time.” The use of “regular queue” could reasonably be interpreted as the stand-by line … not (a) the FP queue; or (b) even a SR queue, where available - like on EE. Therefore, if Disney was to limit or eliminate RS from FP/SR queues, I don’t see how they’d be changing their policy so much as they’d be enforcing it. That’s my take anyway.
BTW - I like your split FP plan - and may steal it (if it works for you) for our planned trip in November! If you think of it - drop me a line and let me know if you get through everything unscathed.
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I’ll let you know how it goes, I’m ok with checking in, and if by the time I make my FPP reservations it’s clear that both adults need a FPP, ok. I guess the remaining gray area for me (and sorry if this has been discussed already), is whether there is or will be a policy on whether an adult without FPP can accompany little ones with FPP for the “smaller” rides or say, for meet and greets.
There is no such policy regarding accompanying little ones.
If you want to FP the meet and greets, or any other ride, everyone entering must have an FP. That is a definite policy, regardless of rider switch. And yet every day the CMs are faced with people trying to talk their way in without one.
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I researched this on Disney and doing a search linked me through Disney’s page to the Disney Moms Panel where a response about 2 weeks ago noted only Group 1 needed a FastPass not the full group.
If the policy is different they need to remove misleading information and post their policy.
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I had posted a question along this topic last year when I ran across this idea while searching rider switch at other sites online. My DS was 6 at the time and with it being our first trip to the world I couldn’t quite grasp how this would work. When I asked on TP about this type is scenario I was given reasons why this could work but really shouldn’t. Basically my take home ended up being to focus on your kids and not getting an extra FP. If the 8 year old (from the initial post) had to be the one to not “want to ride” but then rode a bit later, what message does that give the child? Whether or not the CM was even aware. If it is a young child who really can’t ride or truly doesn’t want to then I’m definitely not an expert on the FP system in general and will defer to others on that one!
Are your 4 and 1/2 year old twins small enough to pass for 2…or at least 1 of them. Because if you have paid tickets for both of them…you can possibly get more creative with the FP’s. Since Disney does not check age per se as i have read in many posts. YOU can enter the princess queues with a FP wearing your daughters band and just say your daughter doesn’t have a band because she’s 2. I dunno if it will work, haven’t been to Disney in years but planning something similar with my 3 yo so I don’t “waste” his FP’s any other thoughts??
Thanks for the thought, but in my case, no my two little ones woouldn’t pass for 2. They will actually be closer to 5 by then. I think I’ve come to accept how RS was intended (does it actually predate the FP system?), and luckily there aren’t too many rides where we will be affected since they just pass the 40" mark. I’ll play with the touring plans to determine whether we should just plan to do ropedrop, standby/RS for most of the >40"rides.
Just be aware that the Disney Parks Mom’s Panel is not official, the answers aren’t vetted and are sometimes downright wrong. Not uncommon to see totally incorrect and conflicting information there.
Just for general awareness, not specifically this topic.
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Do be aware if they are close they will likely be measured twice - at the beginning of the line and at the end or the line - and sometimes they pass the first but not the second. Practice at home with a ruler and let them know the ruler has to touch their head. I’ve seen a lot of kids ducking because they don’t want it to or are afraid for it to touch their heads. Also, if they’re close on some rides, do those early in the day as we all compress a bit as we walk around during the day.
Fair enough but a direct link from the Disney website to Disney moms panel for help should put some responsibility on Disney to monitor for incorrect information.
I did what you want to do and didn’t have any problem, I was never questioned but if I had been I feel I would have been able to argue the case that my kids shouldn’t miss out just so Daddy can ride SM.
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I feel like parents who do not participate in the meet & greet should be allowed to supervise children with FP in FP line without having FPs themselves. It doesn’t make the line longer. I wonder, is there a minimum age requirement for solo meet & greets? I mean, can you send a mature 5 yo down the FP line by herself? 
I think this is a great question!
So Just to sum up whats going on here. Is it safe to assume that for 7DMT and FOP, at least 2 adults need to tap in to get the rider switch pass. First adult rides alone then 2nd adult can potentially ride with their child or 2 children who meet the height requirement but did not tap in. The other rider switch rides with FP are not scrutinized so much and can continue as before?
Any recent updates to this? Ie. what is being enforced in the park
Not seen anything, other than a few posts saying the FoP rider switch is only valid on the same day now.
If I recall correctly soarin is affected too