Rider Switch: Window for use?

Walt Disney World
1

Can anyone comment on what the current policy is with Rider Switch, specifically the “window” during which it is good?

I built my plans, including all my FPPs, not realizing RS didn’t require everyone to wait in line the first time – and I was (and still am) unwilling to have my 5yo wait 90+ minutes for us to ride FOP. Knowing now that we can request RS before we wait in line and come back later changes things quite a bit.

That said - if I bake RS for FOP into my TP, it pushes my entire day and my plan no longer works. I’m sure I can sneak in using the RS “FPP” later in the day – but I can’t tell whether the current policy is essentially that it’s good for the entire day, or if I should expect to have to use it within a specific window of time.

(I’m not worried about additional RS - we have FPP for EE so don’t really need it for anything else – will be happy to get to ride FOP without having to wait until closing and waiting for 90+ minutes).

Thanks in advance!

2

Follow-up question: can you “rider switch” without doing a formal RS? The way I thought it worked was that you all waited, and they would let a parent wait with a small child for the other parent rode; once done, the child was handed off and the other parent could ride. Is this an option? I ask b/c we have FPP for EE and that is what I assumed we would be doing. I could obviously wait while the others ride (don’t get in line) and ride when the others are done as an alternative, but that increases the total time.

3

It’s good for the whole day. This is the only way to rider swap - a kid who is too small wont be allowed to enter the line.

3 Likes
4

Awesome, thank you!

5

PS - TP’s site suggests the RS window is not full day, so perhaps that should be updated.

6

Officially it’s not, it’s supposed to be an hour. But we all know how well Dis IT is.

1 Like
7

Thanks again. Just so I understand – the “official” policy is that the RS entitlement is good for about an hour after the original rider finishes, but in practice the only restriction is that you can only have one RS entitlement per Magic Band at a time? I would hate to get the entitlement and lose it, but as I said the only time I see me using it is FOP.

1 Like
8

Yes that’s all correct.

1 Like
9

Thanks again! One more question: will the entitlement show up in the MDE app?

1 Like
10

Yep! You’ll see it in your account shortly after they tap your band with their iPad thing. I also found it often left my non-riding kiddo’s FastPass hanging out in the account so you could potentially use that, too, by swapping bands. Also, it may be because all the rides we swapped on we had FPP for but the window for the RS always started a bit after the first party went in and it lasted the whole day. We never were given an end time.

1 Like