The "I wasn't tall enough to ride but now I am" certificate

Walt Disney World Attractions
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I just have so many questions about this, that I thought I’d start a thread.

First, what is it?: I can answer this one with my story. During my family’s last trip over Labor Day 2014, my DD3 went up to Primeval Whirl and Splash Mountain and wanted to ride. The CM explained that she wasn’t tall enough, and she was sad but resigned. The CM then produced a slick card, about index card size for the ride saying basically that she’d be tall enough one day. Others have said you usually have to be the one to ask CMs about it. The one we got for Splash Mountain looks like this:

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I thought maybe this is just a souvenir, and when she’s tall enough a CM will fill in the date. But on Chat (unforum, whatever) people are saying that this was used like a paper FP for at least the child and two adults, so my real questions start now:

Basically, what are people’s personal experiences using these cards?

Are they to be officially used as paper fast passes? Or just souvenirs in the stand-by line or FP line if you happen to have FPs for the ride? If they’re used as FPs, that seems maybe better than rider swap, although it will be delayed gratification.

If they are to be used as FPs, then how many people do you think they’d let in with the child?

In our personal experience, we’re now going back in September (me, my DW and DD) and she’ll probably be big enough to ride Splash Mountain. Should we not FP it in the hopes that we’d get a “free” FP?

Could someone then have gone around to all the rides and then when the child is big enough gotten into a bunch of FP lines? We wouldn’t have done this as it would have made DD too sad to see all the rides she couldn’t do, but with the right child and/or parents this might work.

If it’s used as a paper FP, I’m guessing the CM would keep it after you give it to them. But I’m guessing they’d let you take a picture of it before they keep it?

What keeps locals or repeat visitors from amassing lots of these cards to use? Or people getting them to give to other families? Maybe just not enough people use them for this to be a problem? What’s to stop a Liner black market of these? I’m definitely not suggesting this. That seems wrong to me.

Again, let me know any personal experiences you may have about this. We hear a fair bit about rider swap I think, but I don’t remember hearing nearly as much about these.

What’s a better name for them than the one I made up? Is there an official name?

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Not sure of the name, but I believe it’s mainly for the child that has already waited in the line and is turned away at the last minute. I know the CMs try to avoid this if at all possible, but it’s a ‘parting gift’ if someone makes it past the first checkpoint, but fails the official one. Acts like a FPP since they technically already waited in line, so they get to bypass it later.

My guess is that they pass them out to any kids that wait and can’t ride OR (like in your case) a kid that is really depressed about not getting to ride. Disney’s all about magic, and never wants to see someone upset.

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I love it. That is such an awesome idea - giving those who aren’t yet tall enough to ride a certificate to come back another time and bypass the line. :smile: Got to give it up to Disney on that one!

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I’ve never seen these before. I wish I had know to ask for them when DS was too short. Even if it is just a souvenir, it’s pretty cool.

I imagine using it as a fastpass is up to the CM working that day. It would take a lot of effort to go around collecting those things and then use them months or years later.

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I can confirm that it acts as a FP for child to ride with family (I used to work at PW). It is a 1 time use - once the date is filled in by the CM you do not get to reuse the card but you can keep it as a souvenir.

Theoretically somebody could amass many of these but it would be a lot of work, they’re not always in stock and as you can tell most people don’t realize they exist!

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My younger sister used a certificate like this many years ago (about 20 at this point). It used to look like a graduation certificate, or something you get in school as an award. We went back the next year when she was tall enough and used it to get our whole family (8 people) to the front of the line at Splash Mountain. Definitely worth asking about!

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this is great! One of the first things we are going to do at MK is go measure DS5 at Space. He knows it’s going to be close and he wants to try the other smaller coasters in the park first, but I don’t want him to look forward to something and then not be able to do it. Glad to know these exist if he shrinks during the trip!

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OMG, we have a diploma certificate type one for Space Mountain that my son received about 15 years ago. I didn’t realize that we could use it and they would give it back to us for a souvenir! I thought we would just keep it forever and ever unused because he was SOOO upset that he couldn’t ride the ride. We are taking a family trip after many years to celebrate my daughter graduating Summa Cum Laude from Berklee and my son from high school. This could be perfect!