Hey friends, back here after about 4 years now, starting to plan WDW trip #3 for the 1st week of march 2024
There have been 2 additions to the family since our last trip and so this time we will be going with a 4.5 yo and a 2 yo as well as our āāveteranāā group of 2 adults and a now 12 yo. So, this is going to be our first time using rider switch / baby swap. Itās also going to be our 1st time without FP+.
My questions: does rider switch always mean waiting the lightning lane twice ? How long are those ? Does the necessity of using rider switch increase or decrease the value of paying for Genie+ and/or ILL ?
Yes (and this assumes you have LLs for each rider in your group).
It can vary, but usually my LL line waits have been about 5-15 mins, but Iāve walked right on and Iāve also waited as long as 20 mins in an IL line on occasion.
OK so this brings another question then: Iāve been told older kids can ride twice when the parents baby swap the younger kids. Is that true ? Does this not work since the older kid cannot have double G+ or double ILL ?
I havenāt thought about this before, but my initial thoughts are ā¦
If you use RS without LL, then the first group waits in stand-by and the second group goes into the LL line. If you use LL/ILLwith RS then both groups get to use the LL line. So it seems overall for an individual attraction the value of having an LL isnāt changed by whether you use RS or not.
But, using RS means you are spending more time at each attraction than if everyone rode at the same time so I can see the argument that LL/ILL is more important to your overall day if using RS.
Important Note: From my experience, some of the CMs donāt understand the RS rules so you should have WDWās RS rules webpage bookmarked during your trip.
Here was my experience at 7DMT last year ā¦
DW, DD8 and I all had ILL for 7DMTL. DS4 did not have ILL and did not want to ride. I told the CM we wanted to use RS where first DW would ride with DD8 and then I would ride RS with DD8.
The CM said ānoā because DS4 was tall enough to ride and RS could only be used if DS4 was not tall enough to ride (ie it didnāt matter than he was afraid to ride as long as he was tall enough). I spoke to a second CM at the ride who āconfirmedā this. I ended up not using my ILL because I didnāt want to ride without DD8 (for me, so much of the fun is riding with my kids).
Back at our room I pulled up the RS rules from WDWās website. I was correct and both CMs were wrong. I spoke to the front desk of our resort (Bay Lake) about this. They called guest relations who confirmed that I was correct and the CMs didnāt understand the rules. Fortunately we had 1 more day at MK and DD8 and I were each given an ILL at no charge for 7DMT.
Your TP gives the option to select āusing rider swapā for rides with height requirements, so it will factor in the extra wait and ride time. Of course, the reality is always that the process will take a bit longer than thatā¦
Another wrinkle that I encountered a few times last year was that they would not actually issue me (the waiting rider) a separate Rider Swap āpassā if I had a LL for the ride. They just told me to use that LL instead. Which screwed up so many things that I often just didnāt get to ride. This happened at 7DMT, Space Mountain and I feel like at least once elsewhere.
