Rider Switch changing (Started June 16th)

[OSUZorba]

That isn’t typical though. I’ve never waited an hour in a FP line at DL, and surveying the historical data on Touring Plans I don’t believe the waits are that long for any ride other than maybe just FoP and even then I couldn’t find a day in our trip that the FP line was estimated over 25 minutes.

I do believe when they do implement this that the FP lines will start moving along quicker because they can better plan who will be in them and when.

And please no. I would hate HATE to see Disney take Universal’s lead on RS. I would not be standing in line where I can’t have a stroller for hours with a 2 year old over and over all day. No. Just no. We went in January and I basically did no rides all day because the lines were all over 90 minutes. No way a toddler will hang in a line without being constantly carried, with no stroller. My kiddos are really well behaved and will wait patiently but you can only ask so much of a 2 year old.

In my experience, Touring Plans time estimates for Fast Pass times on all the rides in Epcot and FoP are complete garbage. Soarin is always at least 25 minutes for the full cycle, TT has never been less than 45 minutes (I've left that FP line more times than I've ridden the ride), even a completely walk on MS took me 25 minutes entrance to exit. FoP was 45 minutes last September, and there is nothing for a toddler to do any where near FoP.

I agree with you about having to hold a toddler in a long line, that is why I keep taking my toddler to Disney and not going to other places that use that system. But almost all of my Rider Swaps for those rides go unused because of how long the swap times are or I come back and do them when DW and DD are at the hotel. I have no idea how it hurts anyone if I ride it at 8pm inside of 2pm.

At least Soarin' has Living with the Land that my DD likes. The other three have nothing near them for a toddler.

 

[MrInfinity]

Six Flags, Universal and Cedar Fair all offer some version of Rider Swap. I personally already think Disney's is probably the worse overall for how long it can take to get the second parent through many of the rides.

The worst? I don't know where you're getting 45 minutes. We've been to WDW many times and have never waited 45 min in a FP line. I'd say 25 min tops when it was first rolled out and these days typically 5-10 min! We've hit up all 3 of the other parks you mention and they're terrible at accommodating parents with small children. Their target demographic is teens tho. Small-kid rides are an afterthought at those parks. At Disney World they're the focus. We used Rider Switch a ton over the past years... We've consistently gone with a baby. It's a wonderful resource for families with small children -- and as such, I'm glad for this change. The RS system was being abused by people using it to get extra rides for adults, accumulating RS tickets for later, etc. By making it digital, we know it will be there (in its intended form) for families of the future. Even now not having kids too short to ride I'm glad to see this will be around and moved to the digital world where they can enforce the rules. Even tho this is a small % of the total FP pool, cutting out the abuse will result in better queues for all. It's good that it's being modernized, and good that they chose to modernize it vs cancel the program altogether.

 

[Keels]

I would like to know which rides have these mythic 5-10 minute FP+ waits, because the rides I go on sure don't. RnRC, ToT, FoP (the WORST offender), TT, Soarin ... I've never been able to get on these rides within 20-30 minutes of when I first scan my MB.

FastPass+ is not "fast", it's just "cut your wait time down".

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

I think this will be a big problem, especially when it comes to the newer rides with 1hr+ wait times. Last August, we were a group of 8 adults and 1 child (yeah, i know ) so we had 5 queue for Flights of Passage whilst the other 3 (the maximum for the fastpass) waited with the child for 2hrs +, in a hot park. I do prefer Universal's method where we all queued together, then you wait in a child swap room (bonus of most being air conditioned), then you swap immediately. Not noly is the swap immediate, you are actually waiting in a designated and cool area, clearing some of the pathways/shops where people are waiting. I think Disney would benefit a lot from adopting Universal's approach ?

I’d be willing to bet no one, including DH and I, would want to wait in the FOP standby line with our THREE boys who are all too small to ride, esp w no stroller

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

In my experience, Touring Plans time estimates for Fast Pass times on all the rides in Epcot and FoP are complete garbage. Soarin is always at least 25 minutes for the full cycle, TT has never been less than 45 minutes (I've left that FP line more times than I've ridden the ride), even a completely walk on MS took me 25 minutes entrance to exit. FoP was 45 minutes last September, and there is nothing for a toddler to do any where near FoP.

I agree with you about having to hold a toddler in a long line, that is why I keep taking my toddler to Disney and not going to other places that use that system. But almost all of my Rider Swaps for those rides go unused because of how long the swap times are or I come back and do them when DW and DD are at the hotel. I have no idea how it hurts anyone if I ride it at 8pm inside of 2pm.

At least Soarin' has Living with the Land that my DD likes. The other three have nothing near them for a toddler.

I think people are talking two different things here. When I think of FP wait times I'm thinking of the time spent in line until I get to the first preshow but it sounds like you're talking full experience time in your post (unless I'm reading it wrong). That can be significantly longer for rides with a significant preshow like Soarin.

But I'm with you that experience time is really what matters in the discussion of RS waiting.

 

[OSUZorba]

The worst? I don't know where you're getting 45 minutes. We've been to WDW many times and have never waited 45 min in a FP line. I'd say 25 min tops when it was first rolled out and these days typically 5-10 min! We've hit up all 3 of the other parks you mention and they're terrible at accommodating parents with small children. Their target demographic is teens tho. Small-kid rides are an afterthought at those parks. At Disney World they're the focus. We used Rider Switch a ton over the past years... We've consistently gone with a baby. It's a wonderful resource for families with small children -- and as such, I'm glad for this change. The RS system was being abused by people using it to get extra rides for adults, accumulating RS tickets for later, etc. By making it digital, we know it will be there (in its intended form) for families of the future. Even now not having kids too short to ride I'm glad to see this will be around and moved to the digital world where they can enforce the rules. Even tho this is a small % of the total FP pool, cutting out the abuse will result in better queues for all. It's good that it's being modernized, and good that they chose to modernize it vs cancel the program altogether.

There is no way anyone goes through TT or FoP in 10 minutes, just all the pre-ride junk on those takes 15+. I go in September with some of lowest crowds of the year, and FoP and TT always 45 minutes in the FP door to door, maybe I've always had bad luck, but I doubt it is that unusual. The MK rides aren't too bad.

BTW: I have no problem with cutting the loopholes and making it digital. But I think the 1 pass for 1 hour restriction will basically make it worthless for me on many rides.

I think people are talking two different things here. When I think of FP wait times I'm thinking of the time spent in line until I get to the first preshow but it sounds like you're talking full experience time in your post (unless I'm reading it wrong). That can be significantly longer for rides with a significant preshow like Soarin.

But I'm with that that time is really what matters in the discussion of RS waiting.

Yeah, I'm talking full cycle time, because that is what my 2 year old feels. It sucks dedicating nearly 2 hours to TT or FoP when you both have FPs, while having to keep a toddler happy with nothing to do and little shade, which is why a lot of times the second parent never actually rides or does so much latter.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

In my experience, Touring Plans time estimates for Fast Pass times on all the rides in Epcot and FoP are complete garbage. Soarin is always at least 25 minutes for the full cycle, TT has never been less than 45 minutes (I've left that FP line more times than I've ridden the ride), even a completely walk on MS took me 25 minutes entrance to exit. FoP was 45 minutes last September, and there is nothing for a toddler to do any where near FoP.

I agree with you about having to hold a toddler in a long line, that is why I keep taking my toddler to Disney and not going to other places that use that system. But almost all of my Rider Swaps for those rides go unused because of how long the swap times are or I come back and do them when DW and DD are at the hotel. I have no idea how it hurts anyone if I ride it at 8pm inside of 2pm.

At least Soarin' has Living with the Land that my DD likes. The other three have nothing near them for a toddler.

I’ll tell you what’s near FoP for a toddler, the gift shop. Ask me why we have a couple of cute little Avatar horse stuffies I swore we would never buy.

But really, I totally agree with you on those times. Except we haven’t seen anything as bad as 45 minutes at TT although it can get quite long. Often times our first group would go through the line, and we’d move on to something else with the 2nd group riding much later that day or even on another day depending on the ride.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

The full cycle time is the only thing that matters for this topic, IMO. It’s why I’ve never believed RS was a major advantage, provided you’re using it within the rules and not lying about having a child or something.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

There is no way anyone goes through TT or FoP in 10 minutes, just all the pre-ride junk on those takes 15+. I go in September with some of lowest crowds of the year, and FoP and TT always 45 minutes in the FP door to door, maybe I've always had bad luck, but I doubt it is that unusual. The MK rides aren't too bad.

BTW: I have no problem with cutting the loopholes and making it digital. But I think the 1 pass for 1 hour restriction will basically make it worthless for me on many rides.



Yeah, I'm talking full cycle time, because that is what my 2 year old feels. It sucks dedicating nearly 2 hours to TT or FoP when you both have FPs, which is why a lot of times the second parent never actually rides or does so much latter, while having to keep an toddler happy with nothing to do and little shade.

We *never* split FP - everyone in our party who’s going to ride (either w the actual FP or w RS) always has a FP for that ride.

But it was very helpful to be able to return for the RS later in the day or even a few days later, especially with 2 to 3 kids who are too short for most height-restricted rides. (That also won’t change very soon, since neither DH or I are very tall (5’6” and 5’7”), and our 5 yo is just hit 40” last summer (they still check him on every ride as of April). When a total ride experience with FP takes 30+ mins, it can be very hit-or-miss whether the youngest two (ages 1 and 2) will sit through a second group going right away. And I can guarantee the 5 yo (and possible 10 yo) will need potty breaks get the first and second group riding (and maybe drinks/food). We’ll definitely have to space out our FP to allow more time, and therefore we’ll be losing out on 4th+ FP.

 

[rteetz]

I would like to know which rides have these mythic 5-10 minute FP+ waits, because the rides I go on sure don't. RnRC, ToT, FoP (the WORST offender), TT, Soarin ... I've never been able to get on these rides within 20-30 minutes of when I first scan my MB.

FastPass+ is not "fast", it's just "cut your wait time down".

Its the rides you don't need a FP for in the first place.

 

[MrInfinity]

There is no way anyone goes through TT or FoP in 10 minutes, just all the pre-ride junk on those takes 15+.
Yeah, I'm talking full cycle time, because that is what my 2 year old feels.

If you're going into a ride that you know has 15 min of "pre-ride junk"... and you do so knowing your 2-year old can't wait that long... Isn't that something you could plan for? Why not take your 2-year old to something s/he would enjoy? Like Turtle Talk or Nemo? What do you do with your 2-year old at WDW that isn't pushing around in the stroller, getting ice cream or riding a baby-ride? You can do any/all of these things while you wait. Some of my best memories at WDW are simply hanging around w our baby eating ice cream or playing in a fountain or something else simple while enjoying being there. You're making it sound like you're being put out to have older people in your family go on Test Track while you hang out w your baby. The FastPass wait time is not the issue -- at TT it's pretty darn fast. From the point you enter the doors by the showroom it's around one little corner and you're to the design room.

Are you advocating for shorter ride lengths? Would you prefer FOP not have the debriefing rooms with the videos and the avatar pairings? Do you feel these detract from the ride because they make the total experience too long for people waiting? I like the total experience being longer. We waited for our kids to go on it once w/o us. Between the shop, the coffee shop right there, and walking around Pandora it wasn't hard to pass the time.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

If you're going into a ride that you know has 15 min of "pre-ride junk"... and you do so knowing your 2-year old can't wait that long... Isn't that something you could plan for? Why not take your 2-year old to something s/he would enjoy? Like Turtle Talk or Nemo? What do you do with your 2-year old at WDW that isn't pushing around in the stroller, getting ice cream or riding a baby-ride? You can do any/all of these things while you wait. Some of my best memories at WDW are simply hanging around w our baby eating ice cream or playing in a fountain or something else simple while enjoying being there. You're making it sound like you're being put out to have older people in your family go on Test Track while you hang out w your baby. The FastPass wait time is not the issue -- at TT it's pretty darn fast. From the point you enter the doors by the showroom it's around one little corner and you're to the design room.

Are you advocating for shorter ride lengths? Would you prefer FOP not have the debriefing rooms with the videos and the avatar pairings? Do you feel these detract from the ride because they make the total experience too long for people waiting? I like the total experience being longer. We waited for our kids to go on it once w/o us. Between the shop, the coffee shop right there, and walking around Pandora it wasn't hard to pass the time.

I think the point is that in order to do a kiddie friendly ride with toddler while the taller people ride like you suggested, it’s very helpful to have the current flexible form of rider switch. That allows you to not have to hang out in the area for the 2nd adult/group to ride, and it also allows you to do FP splits as at many times of the year there isn’t much you can hop on quickly without a FP (ask me how well our plan to ride living with the land without a FP during the Soarin’ wait went).

Making the pass expire in an hour, and/or requiring everyone in the party hold a FP makes it harder to plan for the downtime, like you suggested.

 

[OSUZorba]

If you're going into a ride that you know has 15 min of "pre-ride junk"... and you do so knowing your 2-year old can't wait that long... Isn't that something you could plan for? Why not take your 2-year old to something s/he would enjoy? Like Turtle Talk or Nemo? What do you do with your 2-year old at WDW that isn't pushing around in the stroller, getting ice cream or riding a baby-ride? You can do any/all of these things while you wait. Some of my best memories at WDW are simply hanging around w our baby eating ice cream or playing in a fountain or something else simple while enjoying being there. You're making it sound like you're being put out to have older people in your family go on Test Track while you hang out w your baby. The FastPass wait time is not the issue -- at TT it's pretty darn fast. From the point you enter the doors by the showroom it's around one little corner and you're to the design room.

Are you advocating for shorter ride lengths? Would you prefer FOP not have the debriefing rooms with the videos and the avatar pairings? Do you feel these detract from the ride because they make the total experience too long for people waiting? I like the total experience being longer. We waited for our kids to go on it once w/o us. Between the shop, the coffee shop right there, and walking around Pandora it wasn't hard to pass the time.

I'm arguing against the 1 hour window limitation and only being able to hold one pass at a time, because that hurts your options a lot. My toddler isn't that interested in Coffee Shops and I am not interesting in spending an hour in a gift shop with her. The current system lets me take her over to the Bone Yard or go do a show while DW rides. The rumored system would require I sit there and wait. Maybe at 2.5 yo she'll think Pandora is cool, but at 1.5 yo she wasn't very entertained by it.

I do wish they would allow RSes to skip all the pre-show stuff if they wanted to, it adds a ton of time to FoP and TT, which really lengthens the RS time. Soarin' can be bad because they let 2-3 full sets of people go down each concourse with a ~5-7 minute cycle time, but it also has kid friendly stuff nearby (except to get a RS, you have to pull your sleeping baby out of their stroller to present them to the host, but that is another story).

But we do feel even with the current system TT is not worth RS and we just skip it, not worth 90 minutes of our time or a FP.

BTW: Comparing two married adults waiting together, to one adult and a toddler waiting isn't even apples and oranges, it apples and cows. I go to WDW because I believe it gives me good quality time with DD, better than most other vacations at this age. Rider swap is a big part of letting us do some more adult activities while spending quality time with her, these changes would change that balance.

To me a lot of the Anti-Ride Swap stuff seems like bitterness because people think parents with toddlers are getting some unfair benefit. Yet, I've never had a set of adults ask to babysit DD at Disney for the day so they could take advantage of all of these amazing loopholes. People sure didn't mind buying tons of extra magicbands or paying for unused hotel rooms to game loopholes, but I've yet to see any thread about borrowing people's kids to game the system. I love taking my toddler to WDW, but it is still much harder and slower than having only full size kids or adults.

 

[icesk8abc]

This is disappointing for us because if the FP line was slow moving or the attraction was long, we sometimes were "collectors". Not more than the 3 for the day, but enough that my husband would save one or two for when I took the kids back to the hotel for nap. When the line plus the ride takes 20+ minutes, there is not always something nearby that will keep the kids happy that is easy to switch parents. My kids can hang with a snack for 20 minutes, but 40 is really pushing it. Or sometimes my husband rode first, but now the baby needs to nurse earlier than planned so I go back later during QS dinner. There are just so many variables with tiny kids, having until the end of the day to use a rider swap was nice.

I do find it irritating to get my 3 year old a fastpass for a ride she can't ride. Like we will want FP+ for FOP. So do 50 other families with at least 1 child too short to ride. Now there are 51 less FP+ available for people tall enough to ride. Except the number will be more like at least a few hundred. That's a fun side "benefit".

Does this still allow for Magic Band swapping? Like if I get a FP+ for my daughter (3- can't ride), my husband, and myself, can my FIL use my daughters? Before you ask why I don't just get him the FP+, our 60+5 is their 60+1 on 2 separate packages. I'm much more likely to be able to get FOP for us than for them. The hope is to eventually get them for us all, but that may not work. Of course this pretty much becomes useless as well because there isn't really anything else to get them a FP+ for that we aren't already doing together.

It's not the worst thing, and we can adapt. I'm glad we have some time to do so. I would be upset if it was changing 2 weeks before our trip.

 

[icesk8abc]

To me a lot of the Anti-Ride Swap stuff seems like bitterness because people think parents with toddlers are getting some unfair benefit. Yet, I've never had a set of adults ask to babysit DD at Disney for the day so they could take advantage of all of these amazing loopholes. People sure didn't mind buying tons of extra magicbands or paying for unused hotel rooms to game loopholes, but I've yet to see any thread about borrowing people's kids to game the system. I love taking my toddler to WDW, but it is still much harder and slower than having only full size kids or adults.

There is so much truth here. Yes, rider swaps helps us, but while I will not wish away my daughters' childhood, I do know it will be easier when we don't have to take turns riding and take a 4 hour break from the parks for naps. I know because we took my niece and nephew at 5 & 7 and it was so much easier.

 

[elsbit]

I was at Disney last week when a Splash Mountain cast member mentioned to me in passing that the rider swap will be switching on June 14th to electronic. He started to mention that you only get one, but I couldn't understand what he was saying because the line started moving forward quickly. I wasn't sure if he meant only one person gets to use the rider swap or what. I will say that we used Rider Swap on this trip for the first time as we have an infant. The one-hour window will be very tight because we found it took a lot of time to swap out for the whole party to go through. The waits never felt terrible, it was just that the whole thing was very time consuming. We actually ended up skipping a couple of Rider swap immediate fast passes and only one set rode once in an effort to make a more important scheduled Fastpass or reservation, or due to bad weather. We were okay with that decision. I am thankful for Rider Swap. If we did not have that we probably honestly would not go to Disney with an infant or someone younger like that due to the crazy wait times especially in the summer heat.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Now there are 51 less FP+ available for people tall enough to ride. Except the number will be more like at least a few hundred. That's a fun side "benefit".

That's an interesting point. I wonder if Disney plans to up the number of FPs available based on the ones that will be unused now. They probably currently take into account the average number of RS returns in determining how many FPs to make available. My guess is that it doesn't change much from the guest point of view but probably changes things in their algorithms and models for FP distribution.

Edit: Actually, thinking about it further, it's not really an unused FP so much as a transferred FP - the child's FP goes to whoever gets to re-ride with the adult who didn't ride first. But currently those RS returns are outside the FP system like freebie FPs given out for the various reasons (both probably accounted for in some way in the distribution numbers).

Before you ask why I don't just get him the FP+, our 60+5 is their 60+1 on 2 separate packages.

Do a search on umbrella or check out the FP stickies (I don't remember if it's in the regular one or the addendum sticky). You can make their FPs at the same time as you make yours if you follow the FP umbrella process.

 

[Gentry2004]

I’m wondering if they are going to eliminate double rides?

Like mom, dad, kid 1, kid 2, and baby all have FP and all get scanned for RS. Mom waits with baby. Can kid 1 and kid 2 still ride with mom on the RS, or no because they already rode once and the system knows because they were scanned?

 

[Doug M]

Are they giving RS for people going through the FP line? This seems silly because the waiting part of the party can also go through the FP line on their FP when the first group returns. The RS does not skip the FP line. If it was FOTL I could get that but it isn't.

I thought the RS was for those going through standby on rides that had a height restriction so the waiting parent would not have to do standby but instead did FP.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Are they giving RS for people going through the FP line? This seems silly because the waiting part of the party can also go through the FP line on their FP when the first group returns. The RS does not skip the FP line. If it was FOTL I could get that but it isn't.

I thought the RS was for those going through standby on rides that had a height restriction so the waiting parent would not have to do standby but instead did FP.

It’s for the FP line too, I’m assuming because it allows the flexibility to not have to fit both groups in in the hour window, allowing the first group to go in anytime in the window like anybody else who holds FP.