Trip Report: Rider Swap info, 4kids 2 adults

Walt Disney World Trip Reports
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Just finished up our week long trip (7/9-7/16). Jut thought I’d share how our rider swaps with FPP went throughout the trip and other kid issues with rides. Kids were DS9, DS6(44"), DD4(40") and DD1.5

Tuesday:
RS - BTMR we had 3 FPP for this one. We got the “Everyone should have a FPP, but I’ll be nice and give it to you this time.” She did give us 4 FPP one for me and 3 so all the kids could go. However the return time was 60 minutes after the first group (standby time). Not a big deal this time because shortly after we had to make the next ride, and the ride shut down. Also note, when I went on it with DD4,DS6 and DS9 they didn’t even question DS6 being with DS9. This becomes a problem later on our trip.

RS - Splash Mountain. Had 2 FPP. No issue. I rode with DD4, then wife and the boys went on right after.

Wednesday -
RS - All had FPP for 7DMT. Wife rode with all 3 kids and they did rider swap with the other 3 kids and me(Each time we got in this situation I would have 2 of the kids play rock paper scissors to see who would get to ride and the CM would say that they all could go again). Return time was right away.

We also did stand by for Barnstormer without rider swap (5 minute wait), but couldn’t have out DS6 go with our DS9.

Thursday -
Soarin - Wife and DD4 had FPP. CM gave FPP to me and DS6 and DS9 with a return time 5 minutes later.

Test Track - Me and DS9 and DS6 had FFP. Rider swap gave my wife DD4, and both sons FPP. Return time was for the standby time 90 minutes later. Problem was, this was our last ride prior to leaving the park.

Picked up a 4th FPP for Dino. It was shut down, so we got an anytime for EE. Wife didn’t want to ride and DD4 was not tall enough. DS6, DS9 and I got to ride it 3 times with FPPs. (did some magic band trading)

Friday - Space Mountain
Wife, DD4, DS6 and DS9. RS- CM gave all 3 kids FPP, plus they gave me an extra FPP. After I tapped it took away my original and left the rider swap. If I had time, I could have rode it again, alone! They also had no issue with DS6 with DS9.

BLSR was not a RS, but they were strict on having our DS6 with a parent and not with our DS9.

Saturday
FoP. Used rider swap and had 1 extra due to DD4 not being tall enough. We all had FPP. When They gave me DS6 and DS9 all rider swap passes for 120 minutes after first check in. I talked to the CM and they said they could override this. After I went through the line, I noticed I still had my original FPP. This time it just took away the rider swap. Since my DD4 couldn’t go, I got to go again with just one of my boys.

Sunday
SDD - All had FPP. Same thing happened as FPP, but we did not have an extra FPP for the kids. Timing was ok this time. However when my wife went with DD4,DS6and DS9 they made my DS6 sit with an adult while DD4 was with my wife and DS9 was with a single. The CM gave all 3 kids rider swap, plus me. I was able to go with 2 of the 3 and then use my extra FPP to go with the 3rd.

Hope this helps!

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Sounds like you had a new experience with Rider Swap every single time you went somewhere! I was lucky last fall and it was done the same way every time. We had FPP, they set the return time based on the FPP time. We did not try to split any FPP because I didn’t feel like dealing with managing that, so we all had them for each ride.

That’s nice to hear that they let you go with all 3 kids for the return ride! It could have been trouble if they decided your 6 y/o didn’t look 7 and couldn’t ride without you, but lucky it didn’t happen! I only had CMs call out my DS6 on 2 rides trying to ride with his 8 y/o sister: Barnstormer and Tea Party.

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Wow, no wonder people report all different things about RS when you had so many different experiences in one trip! We will be trying RS in a few weeks and I split the FPs for several rides (including FOP and 7DMT) so we’ll see what happens.

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Thanks so much for posting! I asked questions about this in chat and this is great info, thanks!

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Thanks for the info! RS is so confusing and we need to use it for our trip next week. It sounds likes it’s a gamble how it will go. We have FPP for most big rides but it would be nice if the kids could ride with both parents.

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Genius! And kind of the CMs.

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Thanks for posting. What a crap shoot! Weird that BTMR is the one that always is the one ride where the CM insists everyone needs FPP.