Someone on another board is telling me that my son won’t qualify for ‘digital rider switch’ because he is tall enough to ride some of the rides we’d want to use it on. He’s only four, so we wouldn’t want to potentially traumatize him on something like Tower of Terror, for instance. There are only three of us: him, my wife, myself. He obviously cannot wait outside the queue on his own.
What is the difference between ‘digital’ and ‘physical’ rider switch and how do they work in our situation? I guess I thought all rider switch was digital now?
We have DAS for him. I know you can’t ride DAS without the DAS applicant, but is there any provision for what might happen if we get into a line and he does decide that he wants to opt out? Do we have to start the entire process over and lose the time in line we’ve already spent?
I have never heard of this! The last time I was at WDW with my kids was in June 2024.
With the physical rider switch, I never had anyone question whether my child was tall enough to ride–I was always given a rider switch pass. Usually they looked to make sure we actually had a non-riding child, but as long as the child was not super tall, they didn’t raise any suspicion. Sometimes I have even gotten a rider swap pass without the rest of my family nearby at all–I have just approached by myself and asked for one and scanned the appropriate bands for the re-rider.
I am very curious to hear more about this “digital” rider switch.
This is what I was thinking. I have never had anyone measure my child to see if they were technically tall enough to ride. I also don’t recall seeing that happen to anyone else.
Rider Switch is appropriate in the following situations:
A Guest in the party either does not meet the boarding requirements or does not plan to ride but cannot wait outside the queue alone.
A Guest has a service animal that cannot board the attraction, or they do not wish to use a provided kennel.
A Guest is unable to experience the queue based on the nature or condition of the queue at a particular attraction in light of the circumstances and the Guest’s specific needs.
Yes, I had seen that already, and said that my child qualified based on bullet point one - cannot wait outside the queue alone, but the board mod (the person who was talking about all this) said that ‘digital’ rider swap was for kids who didn’t meet the requirements, and ‘physical’ rider swap was for basically kids like mine. But I don’t understand the distinction.
I am thinking that the digital rider switch is the one we are all familiar with because you get the “digital” (ancient term) pass in your MDE. I assume the physical one is the more Universal-style one where you literally wait and switch at loading. I was actually offered the physical option for the very first time in October but I had other plans with DS6. I think it would be nice in a couple situations but DEFINITELY not for ToT!!
I feel like some people trot around the rumor that tall enough kids can’t use RS but I have never encountered that and people think my 6 and 9 year olds are twins. I got RS for Slinky, Big Thunder, 7DMT, Space, Guardians, all things the 6yo is plenty tall enough for.
Functionally, though, what’s the difference? If the parent not riding wanted to take the kid for a snack while waiting for the other parent to ride, couldn’t they do that with either version, as long as the parent riding could drop them a message/text when they were done? Is a ‘digital’ version better in some way than a physical one?
Basically, we’re trying to see if it’s worth the effort of trying for DAS for my spouse again, who has had it before. The only place we are kind of stymied without it are for attractions where my son wouldn’t ride. In those cases, we were hoping to use RS, but trying to get a feel for what’s possible with it/how it works in practice.
For the “physical” one, everyone would go together in the line and Parent 1 would ride and Parent 2 and the kid would just wait at the loading area. Then when Parent 1 comes back, Parent 2 would just hop on. Honestly if I had a baby, I would do this in a heartbeat. It would save a lot of time and doubling back to rides. And even with certain rides and an older kid who doesn’t want to ride I think it would be a nice option. But I don’t think it would work in all situations so that is why I like the “digital” one.
OHHHH. I see now. The digital one seems like it allows you to NOT have the kid waiting in line with you, then. But our child is autistic and one of the reasons he got DAS is because he cannot reliably wait in long lines without getting into some sensory seeking behavior that sometimes can involve other guests. For that reason, either my wife needs DAS herself or we need to be able to get the ‘digital’ version.
Yes! Honestly, we have only once been offered the “physical” option. I do not think you will have trouble getting a digital RS for an autistic 4 year old no matter how tall he is. Some people just like to be know it alls.
The language on the rider switch page has definitely changed. I found a post where I quoted the language as "a Guest does not wish to board a particular attraction” and it’s a lot more strict sounding now.
Hmm it’s still on the website now … I wonder if they’re in the process of a global update that hasn’t pushed through everywhere yet? Or maybe they’re just trying different processes at different locations / days.
I have been unable to find anything online about what this is distinct from the RS pass I have used multiple times over the last several years.
The article below uses the term “digital Rider Switch entitlement” to essentially mean a FP or LL that is loaded onto your MDE and can be used by scanning your MB or admission. This is what I’m familiar with.
I’m not convinced this is what the person on the other forum was talking about with OP, but maybe? I’ve never been offered a physical RS pass at WDW (at least not recently) and have not been told to report through the line for swap at the loading platform. On the contrary, Disney is very careful not to allow people who are too short to ride from getting in line as an added precaution. Not to say it doesn’t exist, I just can’t find any mention of this online to verify one way or another.
We definitely got offered the “physical” rider swap at 7DMT. For which we had paid LLs for but not for DS6. I was surprised as that was the first time I’d really heard about it at WDW. I was also worried that they might make us do it and then DS6 might panic that we were making him ride, but they were fine with giving us the digital one.
In your case DS was tall enough to ride, right? Maybe that’s what they meant? If they’re tall enough to ride but don’t want to maybe they try to coax you to wait in line with your group and swap at the platform? Still kinda weird to me but that could make sense for certain rides.
I had this same issue with a CM a couple years ago. Next visit I came armed with a screenshot of Disney’s policy.
From my experience, some CMs think the same way as this “board mod” and enforce the rule that way, but my understanding of Disney’s RS rules is that those CMs (and the board mod) are wrong and if I child doesn’t want to ride (and can’t wait alone outside the queue), then RS is applicable (in the form that people are calling “digital”).
Yes, he was definitely tall enough to ride so I understood why the offered. If I had been prepared ahead of time I actually think that I would have done it! It would be SO much faster in a lot of instances but I would need to promise him that I wasn’t trying to make him ride and in this specific instance we were heading to Small World. But for Guardians or something like at Epcot where it’s a pain to circle back later, I would definitely rather swap at the loading.
I agree that this seems to be what the issue was on that other board. So many people seem to take issue with the digital rider swap for some reason. I promise it isn’t a scam!
