Here Now! Rider Switch Update!

I think there's no one way to appease everyone every time. This change is obviously to stop people from gaming the system. Like how one poster picked up a rider swap and then merrily went about riding several other rides in other lands with plans to come back later in the evening.. There was no child emergency, they were just using RS as a tool to schedule evening rides & keep picking up FPs. Might be better for parents to just FastPass the big rides and "switch" on their own. It's the same thing! Think Disney has made it this way on purpose so there isn't a real benefit to it. Perhaps they'll do away with it altogether, is my guess.
Our kiddo is taller now so I have no skin in this currently, but I'm bothered by people acting like using Rider Swap passes later was doing something wrong or trying to "cheat" somehow.

That wasn't "gaming the system." The swap passes were good anytime on that date, and we were actually specifically advised by a CM to use a RSR one from midday at night one time. There was never any kind of indication or expectation that swaps were happening immediately. If you were re-riding with an older child twice, it would make sense in some situations to space out the two rides, and sometimes you had another FP, dining reservation, etc. coming up...

Like I said, the current change doesn't really affect me, but it's certainly a bummer for people who were accustomed to the way it was, and I don't think those people were "misusing" the system previously. They are changing the system; not enforcing previous rules that weren't being followed.
 
Our kiddo is taller now so I have no skin in this currently, but I'm bothered by people acting like using Rider Swap passes later was doing something wrong or trying to "cheat" somehow.

That wasn't "gaming the system." The swap passes were good anytime on that date, and we were actually specifically advised by a CM to use a RSR one from midday at night one time. There was never any kind of indication or expectation that swaps were happening immediately. If you were re-riding with an older child twice, it would make sense in some situations to space out the two rides, and sometimes you had another FP, dining reservation, etc. coming up...

Like I said, the current change doesn't really affect me, but it's certainly a bummer for people who were accustomed to the way it was, and I don't think those people were "misusing" the system previously. They are changing the system; not enforcing previous rules that weren't being followed.

agree. It's not always feasible to wait twice as long as everyone else in line, and the kids who can't ride certainly don't want to sit there - so it wasn't "gaming the system." It was "using the system as directed by Disneyland in order to be slightly more convenient for parents of small children who are still paying $100/day to be there."
 
That wasn't "gaming the system." The swap passes were good anytime on that date, and we were actually specifically advised by a CM to use a RSR one from midday at night one time. There was never any kind of indication or expectation that swaps were happening immediately. If you were re-riding with an older child twice, it would make sense in some situations to space out the two rides, and sometimes you had another FP, dining reservation, etc. coming up...

Like I said, the current change doesn't really affect me, but it's certainly a bummer for people who were accustomed to the way it was, and I don't think those people were "misusing" the system previously. They are changing the system; not enforcing previous rules that weren't being followed.

I assume that those "gaming" people the previous poster was talking about were people who didn't even have little kids, but were using rider swap. I know this happened, but honestly, if the cms were checking for the children at the ride entrance, then those abuses wouldn't have happened in the first place!

They should have just gotten stricter about following the rules that were already in place to prevent abuse.

Instead they created a new, very confusing system for rider swap that makes no sense for parents with small children that actually use it. So frustrating!

On another note, I was told by Disney relations that you could have a fastpass and a rider swap at the same time. The systems were completely independent of one another. But beings that people's fastpasses are disappearing after they get a rider swap, it makes me wonder if they are actually connected and getting a rider swap will make a fast pass disappear.:teleport:
 
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...On another note, I was told by Disney relations that you could have a fastpass and a rider swap at the same time. The systems were completely independent of one another. But beings that people's fastpasses are disappearing after they get a rider swap, it makes me wonder if they are actually connected and getting a rider swap will make a fast pass disappear.:teleport:

I agree that this is confusing and frustrating. But someone in another thread asked about this exact issue when it happened to them in DCA. They were told at Chamber of Commerce that this is a glitch, that IT is working on it, and that it should be fixed soon. Let's hope so.
 


How much time is our family supposed to dedicate to one ride or one particular area of the park just so our son can "switch" to ride with both parents...so a child or parent doesn't miss out. That was the point, right? The "rider" was the CHILD. Switching to build incredible Disney memories with both parents. No one left out.

No. That's not the point of it. At all.

The point of RS is so that the tall enough riders in a party can all ride without a long wait when you have a too short child.

Letting other kids in the party reride is a bonus.

Here. Consider our situation and it will show you that the talk enough kid rerides are an extra. We are a family of three. So when we went to the park with our 17 month old and everyone wanted to ride Indy, we used RS. The rest of them all went while I waited with ds. They came back, handed me the switch pass, and I went. No son. Because the switch is for ME, the adult, so all the tall-enoughs can ride without having to wait through the entire line time twice.

Now I was able to take my sis in law with me so I wasn't alone. But the point wasn't for her to reride. The point was for me to *ride* and the pass allowed for me to not be alone.


From the first two posts I'm still unclear on the issues and needs for letters. Since the parent waiting with the little one is passing them off to the other adult, I don't know what naps, diapers, etc have to do with it. Hand the child over to the parent that just rode and go on the ride.
 
We just returned from Disneyland Paris where my 3 year old is now tall enough to ride quite a few big rides and didn't use RS at all. However, our previous Disneyland trips we would get the RS so DH could take our two older boys, then I would go with one or both of them either right after they got off or would return later in the evening, whichever suited our families needs at the time. I don't think that was "cheating the game" since we were following the exact directions on the RS of having up to 3 people return with the pass by end of day. I don't think it matters that the RS was intended for the one adult to be able to ride and the other 1-2 people were bonuses. The fact is that people who did not use RS right away, for whatever reason, were following the rules set forth by Disney at the time. Following the rules is not cheating.

Disney seems to be making a lot of changes lately to their queue management, I suppose because of the ever increasing attendance? Whatever the reason, it is a bit overwhelming. The ease of just the paper FP and old RS system was one of the many things I loved about Disneyland. I feel a bit of relief that we will most likely not have to deal with this new RS system since DS is getting taller.
 


No. That's not the point of it. At all.

The point of RS is so that the tall enough riders in a party can all ride without a long wait when you have a too short child.

Letting other kids in the party reride is a bonus.

Here. Consider our situation and it will show you that the talk enough kid rerides are an extra. We are a family of three. So when we went to the park with our 17 month old and everyone wanted to ride Indy, we used RS. The rest of them all went while I waited with ds. They came back, handed me the switch pass, and I went. No son. Because the switch is for ME, the adult, so all the tall-enoughs can ride without having to wait through the entire line time twice.

Now I was able to take my sis in law with me so I wasn't alone. But the point wasn't for her to reride. The point was for me to *ride* and the pass allowed for me to not be alone.


From the first two posts I'm still unclear on the issues and needs for letters. Since the parent waiting with the little one is passing them off to the other adult, I don't know what naps, diapers, etc have to do with it. Hand the child over to the parent that just rode and go on the ride.
The problem is, that you can't even do the example you just stated anymore. The problem is that the start time to use you swap is not immediate. If party one finishes the ride in 20 minutes, then you should be able to swap in 20 min, right? Nope.

Your child swap now has a start time and many riders are noticing it is an 1/2 hour, 45 min or even later from when party one has already finished the ride.

So party one has finished the ride and now party two is still waiting ANOTHER half hour before their start time that they can even get on the ride.

There is no immediate swap.

And if you decide to just leave for say 1 1/2 hours for toddler's nap while party one rides GOTG because the line is long, then watch out because your rider swap expires in one hour from start time.
 
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It sounds like the swap time is based on the time of the standby queue. So you can swap near immediately if you're using the standby queue. If using FP the parent who waited can ride with the FP, they just can't bring someone with them.
 
This really sounds awful! My DD has been really young on all of our family trips and RS was a necessity! Otherwise DH and I could never do the rides with DS. He or I would switch taking care of DD to experience the ride with DS. Obviously she could get upset about being left, usually when I would go with DS, and poor DH had to distract her. This weird time constraint will make this really hard. We never even tried to do rides that our oldest couldn't do. I don't understand why there is an outcry about RS. The families had to wait in order to get the RS in the first place so there is no cutting in front of someone, it's more like an earned FP. Obviously families would prefer to ride together in the first place. With this weird time constraint it will take so long for the family to do the ride which is an unnecessary penalty instead of a help. Given the price of tickets I'm really disappointed at such a big change that disadvantages families. With MaxPass and FP people should be even more accepting of RS.
 
What does the price of admission have to do with it? If you feel that you won't be able to do enough rides and attractions to make the cost of the ticket worth it to you, don't go. There are people who enter the parks every day who for whatever don't do a single ride. There are people who spend the exact same or more on tickets that you do who will never go on certain rides for a variety of reasons. Disney doesn't owe them FP because they missed other rides. Going to the parks was still a choice that they made based on their own circumstances.

This is comparable to when Disney started enforcing return times on FP and people couldn't collect all day and go around line hopping at night. There was an operational reason that they couldn't maintain that system, and now there is one that they can't maintain this one.
 
Yeah we experienced the change while going on Guardians, thought it was weird that it had a return time...
 
What does the price of admission have to do with it? If you feel that you won't be able to do enough rides and attractions to make the cost of the ticket worth it to you, don't go. There are people who enter the parks every day who for whatever don't do a single ride. There are people who spend the exact same or more on tickets that you do who will never go on certain rides for a variety of reasons. Disney doesn't owe them FP because they missed other rides. Going to the parks was still a choice that they made based on their own circumstances.

This is comparable to when Disney started enforcing return times on FP and people couldn't collect all day and go around line hopping at night. There was an operational reason that they couldn't maintain that system, and now there is one that they can't maintain this one.

It is my hope that Disney's answer to a guest asking about a change to a previously family friendly policy would not be "well just don't come then."
 
It is my hope that Disney's answer to a guest asking about a change to a previously family friendly policy would not be "well just don't come then."
I would hope that would be the answer to anyone saying they deserve more because they're paying the same as everyone else.
 
I'm all for tightening the system up. I really wish they would do the same at WDW.

However, not being able to do the immediate swap is dumb. They need to fix that.

I totally agree with the whole baby at the front with CM's to check and make sure there's actually a non-rider involved! I'm sure people were abusing it before and that makes sense. Honestly, even immediate return times would be preferable to wasting 30 mins, an hour, whatever in between the two parents riding.
 
You have commented a lot on these rider switch posts despite (I believe) not having any skin in the game, and I'm still not sure what you think people are saying they deserve.
The price of admission is to walk through the gate. People in this thread are saying there shouldn't be changes to rider swap because of the cost of admission. The price is the same if you go on every ride or zero rides. What you paid is going to have no impact on how many rides and how many memories your kid makes. There are changes, what is constructive is figuring out what they are and how to work with them.
 
The price of admission is to walk through the gate. People in this thread are saying there shouldn't be changes to rider swap because of the cost of admission. The price is the same if you go on every ride or zero rides. What you paid is going to have no impact on how many rides and how many memories your kid makes. There are changes, what is constructive is figuring out what they are and how to work with them.
I see people saying they are upset at the change and that it devalues their experience based on admission price. Expressing displeasure and being unhappy with these changes doesn't mean they feel entitled to more than other guests, or that they should just deal or don't go. Obviously we will adapt to whatever changes Disney makes, but I dont think anyone needs a reminder that they better suck it up or just stop going.
 
I'd love to hear more from those using RS in the park, specifically on how adding another person is. I liked the perk (no I don't feel entitled to it) of being able to bring along my daughter and not ride alone, but it sounds like this may be more difficult or not possible any longer. Also, any experience with how adding RS when you have an upcoming FP goes. Seems to be conflicting accounts on this.
I've got a friend with young kids in the park Monday, I'll report back what I hear from her as well!

With all these new changes I really hope we can keep this thread going to get updates and share experiences :)
 

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