PDA

View Full Version : Rider swap



gobears97
03-28-2007, 08:25 PM
I am going to DL on April 4 for my stepson's spring break. We are bringing our four month old daughter with us on her first trip to DL (she already has a my first trip to disneyland shirt). I am wondering how the ride swap works so I can go on some of the rides.

1. Where do we go to get ride swap passes?

2. Can you ride swap on all of the major rides?

3. If my husband and stepson ride a ride can he ride with me when we swap?

4. Do you all wait in line and then swap after the first riders go?

Thanks,
Meredith

AlbertaMinnie
03-29-2007, 06:57 AM
I am going to DL on April 4 for my stepson's spring break. We are bringing our four month old daughter with us on her first trip to DL (she already has a my first trip to disneyland shirt). I am wondering how the ride swap works so I can go on some of the rides.

1. Where do we go to get ride swap passes?

2. Can you ride swap on all of the major rides?

3. If my husband and stepson ride a ride can he ride with me when we swap?

4. Do you all wait in line and then swap after the first riders go?

Thanks,
Meredith

Hi! We used it a few years ago, on Space and Thunder and Indy. We ALL stand in line until you reach the First CM for that ride - they need to see the baby. Let them know you want to do the baby swap and they will give you a slip of paper (ride pass or something). Then the person looking after the baby can leave, while the other people in your party continue through the line. After they have ridden the ride, they find you, and you then take your pass and (at that time) we went back through the exit, or the handicap entrance, and gave our pass to the CM working there who then put us on the next available ride. Yes, the (ride pass) allows for 2 people to ride the ride. It worked great for my family. My older daughter rode first with my husband, while I stayed with the baby, and then she rode again wth me, while hubby had baby duty! Have fun!

hlbtimes2
03-29-2007, 08:03 AM
The exact process varies from ride to ride. Some rides will have you go in thru the exit, others thru the fast pass line. When they give you the swap pass ask them how it works for that ride. Swap passes are only good the day you get them, but you dont have to use it right when the first party returns (although we usually did use it then since we were right there anyway).

tonytone
03-29-2007, 09:52 AM
Hi! We used it a few years ago, on Space and Thunder and Indy. We ALL stand in line until you reach the First CM for that ride - they need to see the baby...
Either we've been "violating" protocol, or perhaps the CM either didn't know or care, but...on some of the rides we've never had to wait in the standby queue prior to reaching the first CM in order to ask for the rider swap pass. I've been able to walk right up to the first CM (typically standing at the FP return entrance) on Indy/BTMM/Space Mountain/Soarin'/TOT/CS (w/ my child, of course!) and request a rider swap pass w/o having first waited in the standby queue; Splash Mountain is an (the only?) exception to this--I know this from firsthand experience. Dunno why such riders are required to wait in the standby line for Splash before being allowed to ask for a rider swap pass, but not have to do so for many of the other rides...any ideas why? :confused:

adriennek
03-29-2007, 10:52 AM
Hi! We used it a few years ago, on Space and Thunder and Indy. We ALL stand in line until you reach the First CM for that ride - they need to see the baby.

Just FYI, you don't all have to stand in line. Tonytone - you're not violating anything.

Like Tonytone said, just walk up to the Cast Members that are standing at the "height check point" - which is usually at the beginning of the queue for the ride (sometimes the line extends beyond the queue, such as at Thunder Mountain or Matterhorn.) Ask that CM for the pass. Then the rest of your group can get in the end of the line.

They DO need to see the entire group but you don't have to stand in line with them at all. And you won't be "allowed" to stand in line with them beyond the height checkpoint.

Adrienne

adriennek
03-29-2007, 10:57 AM
To make sure all the questions got/get answered-- (I can't tell if we've hit them all) -



1. Where do we go to get ride swap passes?

Like others have said - at the beginning of the queue - the official line ride - there will be a Cast Member standing next to a sign that shows how tall people have to be to ride the attraction.


2. Can you ride swap on all of the major rides?

All the rides with height restrictions have official rider switch protocols and passes.

In theory, all of the rides should have it but in practice, not every ride will "let" you because it would depend on the CMs being able to effectively communicate with each other 'outside the box.' I recently heard here that a family successfully rider swapped at Haunted Mansion. Based on my experience (I've been denied rider swap when I wanted to use it for Haunted Mansion Holiday,) this is entirely because they had effective and experienced CMs at the Mansion that day.


3. If my husband and stepson ride a ride can he ride with me when we swap?

Yep.


4. Do you all wait in line and then swap after the first riders go?

No. And, in fact, they will not allow you and the baby in the line after the checkpoint. In the case of the line going outside of the regular queue, you could. But once you pass a CM, they won't let you and the baby stay in line.

Adrienne

cillydznygirl
03-31-2007, 03:10 PM
Is there an age limit for the child you are "swapping"?

AlbertaMinnie
04-01-2007, 06:43 AM
Thanks for correcting my info! That's the way we did it bit it's good to know that it is actually better than we thought!

Good question! We are going this year with a couple of other families and one of the 13 year olds is deathly terrified of Space and Screamin....of course no one wants to leave her behind, but no one is willing to give up on those rides either. Will they give us a pass if 1 person stays behind with her?

Malcon10t
04-01-2007, 08:38 AM
Thanks for correcting my info! That's the way we did it bit it's good to know that it is actually better than we thought!

Good question! We are going this year with a couple of other families and one of the 13 year olds is deathly terrified of Space and Screamin....of course no one wants to leave her behind, but no one is willing to give up on those rides either. Will they give us a pass if 1 person stays behind with her?I don't think so, but she can go with you to the front then step out the exit from there. At Space, where they say "How many", and you step up, she would turn left and walk out the HA entrance. Would she be comfortable waiting alone for 3 minutes?

AlbertaMinnie
04-01-2007, 02:32 PM
I don't think so, but she can go with you to the front then step out the exit from there. At Space, where they say "How many", and you step up, she would turn left and walk out the HA entrance. Would she be comfortable waiting alone for 3 minutes?


Ok, I'll talk to her mom and let them decide once we are actually there. Perhaps she'll give in to peer pressure??????? Guess we'll have to wait and see. Thanks!

adriennek
04-01-2007, 05:17 PM
Is there an age limit for the child you are "swapping"?

I don't think so either because it's actually called "Rider" switch, not just "child" swap. The restrictions are not just for height but for health concerns as well. Also, most of the rides with rider switch would require people using wheelchairs to transfer out to ride. Someone who would not be able to transfer might not just be a child.

Although for someone who's 'scared' - or pregnant or has a heart condition, etc, may just rather stand in line and exit at the front of the line, like Malcon10t suggested. If nothing else, it would be faster for the entire group to just wait together once. I used to do this when I was pregnant and our friends wanted to ride faster rides.

Adrienne

tonytone
04-02-2007, 08:47 AM
adriennek--thanks for the reassurance/confirmation! Would you know why Splash Mountain is the (only?) exception to this rule...assuming that it hasn't changed since last summer? I mean, it's one thing to have to wait in the standby queue until you reach the height checkpoint/FP return before (in order to?) asking for a rider swap pass...but on a hot summer day when the line is an hour long just to reach the height checkpoint (w/ another 20 minutes or so to go after reaching that point)--either w/ child(ren) in tow, or hope that your spouse/SO/partner/etc. will be at the checkpoint at the same time you reach it (so that your child doesn't have to "suffer" in line w/ you)--that's another thing entirely. Like I said, I don't/can't quite understand why one is not allowed to walk right up to the CM and ask for the pass w/o first having waited in line up until that point?

FWIW--when it happened to us, we got a CM who had this "if you don't like the rule--too bad" attitude, even after we politely asked as to why we had to wait in line when it wasn't required to do so on other rides. In the end, we decided to go back 30 minutes later when there was a different CM--this one was clearly more sympathetic and gave us the pass no problem!

tonytone
04-02-2007, 08:52 AM
Oh yeah, and another thing--not that I've personally done this myself, or claim to have been the first one to come up with such an "idea": I can see how people w/ at least two small kids (or two persons who for whatever reason can't/don't want to board the attraction) can manipulate the rider swap pass to their advantage. I won't go into details but I think folks can figure out exactly how to pull this off...