One question regarding Rider Switch that came to my mind while waiting for FOP.
So you enter in stand-by line and then your party gets the FP+ for the current time + expected waiting (let’s say… 90min). But if you simply leave the line a couple of minutes later… the FP+ will still be valid. So the party enters using FP+ and you didn’t really wait in line (didn’t ride it either).
But then, after riding, the party goes in stand-by and you get the FP+. He/She leaves the line… you enjoy the park and then you come back for your FP+.
I figured with long waiting lines it might work, because with a 90min wait for Pandora… you go for a walk, enjoy a Safari, some Kali River… or maybe go for Lion King nearby and then come back.
The first party enters the standby line, and the second party get a child swap. When the second party come back, they can’t get another child swap. They don’t have a FP. If the first party didn’t wait in line, they don’t ride - unless they want to wait in the standby line later instead of when they first entered it.
I think I’m answering your question. When you child swap, it isn’t a FP you’re getting.
So they used to address this “scam” by not giving out the RS until the first party was just about to ride. So they did actually have to go through the entire line in order to get the RS. However, now they are adding the RS to MDE right at the entrance, so I do think that theoretically it could work. You would have to do it twice in order for everyone to ride though, and it still would be a lot of time.
for Universal it is not a ‘fastpass’ but then again child swap experience at Universal is way more child friendly. You can use the single rider line, you don’t have to wait under the florida sun, plus lines are lower anyway…
but for WDW they add a FP+ to your MDE and voilá. The time window starts at T+‘posted wait’.
So I’ve waited over 50minutes to ride FOP for a second time (first time was RD)… but I kept thinking: my wife already has the FP+ for 5PM… why am I waiting here?
It made me think I could leave the line be together with my family. Take my daughter to ride Kali River, a Safari… maybe the Triceratops one that she likes so much (she’s 4)… and my wife would still be able to ride with a FP+. Then once she did it, it would be her to time to retribute the ‘favor’.
exactly. you get the point.
Would have to do it twice… just like RS anyway.
Last year my daughter was 3 and we went to WDW with grandmas so we didn’t really use RS. But this time it was just the 3 of us and I couldn’t help but notice how RS experience is not child oriented.
At one ride (EE) the CM told me I couldn’t use the single line if I was gonna RS, only stand by. But the whole point is switching… why keep me in a longer line if I’m single riding anyway? However for RnR we didn’t have that problem.
And then you go to Universal and they put you in themed a room with a tv playing Harry Potter!
Disney could do so much to improve the RS experience.
They don’t add a FP, they add a rider swap. If they added a FP, you could go back to the FP line and request a child swap for the other group who first entered the standby line. You can’t do that with a child swap. You’d need the group who used the child swap to also go into the standby line and request a child swap. It would take loads of time.
ok, they give you a RS which allows you to enjoy the FP line.
but that’s the question… not waiting in the stand by line. plus they give you the RS at the beginning not the end of the line. you secure the RS, you enter in line, you leave the line, be with your family, RS is used when time comes… rinse, repeat.
It wouldn’t take loads of time because it’s not like you’re in line anyway. You’re doing something else. Going on other ride, having lunch, the parade…
I think I only reached this conclusion because the last time I rode FOP I didn’t want to! but my wife was so desperate to do it again, the line was 60min, and she wanted to wait closer to park closing… so I thought: “ok, I’ll do it so you can use RS this way you don’t have to wait”. So tduring the 50min line I kept thinking… 'what if I leave… i should just leave"
(btw, I loved FOP. Best WDW ride! And when you RD you don’t enjoy the full line experience which is great! so I definitely recommend people to go through the entire stand by line at lease once. But my obsession with no line is because only on rare ocasions wasted more than 20-30min in line for a ride so this stand by FOP was really something that made me think)
I think that’s a brilliant idea. So you enter SB line and get RS for wife (and tall child, let’s say) as you enter the SB line, then you bolt (perhaps not within view of CM). Wife and child return at appointed time and go through the FP line with their RS pass and do the ride. Then they come back, get in the SB line, get you (and child) a RS pass, and they bolt. You return at appointed time and go through the FP line. Is that how it would work?
I was thinking about possible abuse of this as well, except I thought of an even worse abuse:
Example family: DH, DW, DD12, DS10, DD8, DS6, DS2. DS2 is not tall enough to ride.
Approach CM at entrance to line. Tell CM you would like Rider Switch and you are riding standby. Standby wait is 60 minutes, so let’s say the return time is 90 minutes later. DW, DD12, and DD8 say they are riding second and get their magic bands scanned. Instead of waiting through standby line, you bolt and go ride Navi, get a snack, whatever.
At the schedule return time for the Rider Switch, you go to the CM at the entrance and tell them you would like a rider switch and tell them you will be riding with FPP. DH, DS10, DS6 say they are riding second and get their magic bands scanned, with a return time of probably 30 minutes to account for pre-show and ride duration. DW, DD12 and DD8 go to the FPP line, tap in and go ride. Then, 30 minutes later DH, DS10 and DS6 ride using the FPP line.
Everyone in the family rides using 2 times through the FPP line. Tell me why it won’t work. I know it should not be done, because it is blatant abuse of rider switch, and I hesitate to even write it here, but if I thought of it, somebody else did too.
It won’t work because you haven’t got FPs. When group 2 go back, they’ve got child swap on their band so the CM knows the other party already rode and they can’t get another child swap. If you could use child swap to get another child swap people would already be doing it.
Although it’s true that RS is not a FP, when we where there last week we got to use RD a ton of times given that we have a baby and a 3-year-old. Not a single time did the CM asked to see what kind of ‘line skipping’ pass we had (or even if we had one), I approached the CM while holding the baby, told her we needed RS and that someone in my party had a FP…then they asked who was riding second and scanned our bands (second group) and we got on our merry way.
Again I’m not saying it’s ok to game the system, but I think we could have if we wanted to…
That second group then had a RS on their bands. So when they returned, the CM would see it as that, not as an FP. Therefore they would not issue another RS on the back of it.
I think I may put this theory to test and report back. Only my husband has a FP for FOP on our upcoming trip in 2 weeks. We have 3 non-riding children ages 3, 9, 11. If for some reason the CM does not give me a RS since I don’t carry a FP (as has been reported before). Then I will take one for the team and put this theory to test. After my husband is done with his FP, he will get a RS for me while posing to go in the standby line…then bolt…or better yet he can prob just go in standby line get my RS then bolt and go into the FP line…
You shouldn’t have a problem getting a RS in the first place.
Not saying you 100% will, because it does seem that there are a few CMs who have a different view on it. But we haven’t had reports here of being refused one, and I don’t remember reading multiple instances of it happening since the electronic process came in.
but my wife was so desperate to do it again, the line was 60min, and she wanted to wait closer to park closing… so I thought: “ok, I’ll do it so you can use RS this way you don’t have to wait”. So tduring the 50min line I kept thinking… 'what if I leave… i should just leave"