Swap Room Question

robl45

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Just wondering, for the rider swap rooms, do they have universal employees at the rooms. Like if I was there with my 7 and 9 year old and the 7 year old couldn't ride, can she stay in the rider swap or is no one supervising that area?
 
I found a thread of late 2016 that discussed the child swap room where no parent was waiting in it with the child

Pull that thread up for details
I can’t do that feature on my iPhone or I would


No attendants are in the child swap rooms

If the child is 48 “, that means they could do the ride
So if they don’t want to do the ride, I see no issue for them to wait alone in the child swap room

They are tall enough to wait for you in the swap room

Have the child wait in that room until you get off the ride

Feel it is a lot safer to use the child swap room instead of having the child wait outside in front of the ride entrance

This is just my opinion
I have no info from uo to verify their policies on who uses the child swap rooms
 
I remember on our 2012 trip when my friend didn't want to ride FJ due to motion sickness and she waited with a boy in the child swap room. There were no attendants in the room and his dad was grateful that she was there to help. I think they show HP movies too.
 
So basically unattended and a 7 year old girl probably isn't safe there alone. Heck I wouldn't leave my 9 year old son there alone at a theme park.
 


This is all I have found so far on the UO website about the child swap rooms.
Apparently, one adult or older child must be present to use this set up.



  • If your children are too small or unwilling to go on a particular ride that you want to experience, take advantage of our "child swap" program. Each ride and attraction has a family room where one member of your party can wait with the little ones while the rest of your party rides. Once they are finished, switch places so whoever rode can stay with the kids, and the adult(s) who sat out can enjoy the ride.
 
So basically unattended and a 7 year old girl probably isn't safe there alone. Heck I wouldn't leave my 9 year old son there alone at a theme park.
I wouldn’t leave my 7 yr old DS is the swap room by himself. There is no attendant assigned, and people are constantly coming and going. It is very hectic.
 
So basically unattended and a 7 year old girl probably isn't safe there alone. Heck I wouldn't leave my 9 year old son there alone at a theme park.

I wouldn’t leave my 7 yr old DS is the swap room by himself. There is no attendant assigned, and people are constantly coming and going. It is very hectic.

Read Macravens post above again. The child swap rooms are for you to leave your child with a FAMILY MEMBER while you ride the ride and then you come back to the swap room and you stay with the child while your other family member rides the ride. This allows all the family to enjoy the ride who want to ride. The swap rooms are air conditioned. This benefit also makes it easy as you do not have to leave the ride and re-enter the ride for the other family member to enjoy the ride.


For a single parent with a small child the logistics would be a problem.
 
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When we wanted to have an evening to ride the ‘big’ rides with our older child, we signed our younger one into the Kids’ club at Hard Rock Hotel. In May, it rotated which hotel hosted the kids’ club. He had a great time, and we zipped through sections of the parks we couldn’t do with him. We were staying PBH, so we had EP. that could be a useful alternative for a parent traveling solo with kids.
 
There are definitely no attendants and I wouldn't leave a small child there by themselves. Lots of people coming and going, the doors sometimes just stay open so it would be easy for a kid to wander off.
 
When we wanted to have an evening to ride the ‘big’ rides with our older child, we signed our younger one into the Kids’ club at Hard Rock Hotel. In May, it rotated which hotel hosted the kids’ club. He had a great time, and we zipped through sections of the parks we couldn’t do with him. We were staying PBH, so we had EP. that could be a useful alternative for a parent traveling solo with kids.

That could be a plan, currently the plan is take both of them for 6 days, then drive the younger one home and come back that same day so the older one can do the rides that his sister is too short for. At 15 dollars an hour though for the kids clubs, thats going to get pricey quickly. Not so much of an issue at Universal Studios or IOA, but more of a problem at Volcano bay as I don't believe the clubs open in order to get over there for early entry.
 
I think it really comes down to your child and what you are comfortable with. When my son was 7 I felt that he was okay in the single rider line and felt he was okay in the child swap room when he wanted to skip one of the rides. He was a kid that I could put in a room, say don’t leave until I come, and he wouldn’t budge unless carried kicking and screaming....my daughter is probably going to be a different story.

Your 7 year old is allowed to wait alone if you are comfortable with it.
 
I think it really comes down to your child and what you are comfortable with. When my son was 7 I felt that he was okay in the single rider line and felt he was okay in the child swap room when he wanted to skip one of the rides. He was a kid that I could put in a room, say don’t leave until I come, and he wouldn’t budge unless carried kicking and screaming....my daughter is probably going to be a different story.

Your 7 year old is allowed to wait alone if you are comfortable with it.

Honestly I was afraid someone would call the police or something. If it means my daughter gets to stay a couple of extra days with us, she might actually behave and wait. Do they have the swap at Volcano bay too?
 
Another question about this. It appears at least on some rides, maybe all that the swap rooms are right before you get on the ride? If that is the case, how long would the child typically be left alone if they waited there? There really are only 3 rides my daughter can't go on that my son can go on. Rip ride rocket, Forbidden Journey and The Mummy. I've budgeted in cost to have her stay in child care so my son can ride those rides, but I really feel bad not bringing her with us. It seems the forbidden journey is right as you get to the ride from reading about it. Are they the same on RRR and the Mummy?
 
I don’t remember Mummy but the others it’s just the length of the ride plus maybe one or two ride loads (and FJ loads really quickly so 2 ride loads is like 30 seconds). In RRR the child swap has a window that looks at the load area so my son could watch everyone load and then see when they came back.
 
The swap rooms I see are right near the loading area for the ride

If your daughter does not want to stay alone, have your son stay with her while you ride and then switch with him

Let the TM be aware of this so they will allow you to take turns in the swap room

Usually an adult is with the kids on the ride so if you go alone, they will help you change places w/son for watching your girl
 
FWIW, the line for the Mummy was scary to my youngest. He bailed before even getting to the ride. I think you'll be doing her a favor by letting her play in childcare vs dragging her to sit while you ride.
 
The swap rooms I see are right near the loading area for the ride

If your daughter does not want to stay alone, have your son stay with her while you ride and then switch with him

Let the TM be aware of this so they will allow you to take turns in the swap room

Usually an adult is with the kids on the ride so if you go alone, they will help you change places w/son for watching your girl

The only thing I'm really concerned with her is that she will still be there when we return, but if the swap room is right as we get on the ride, she couldn't go too far. To the other poster, I hesitate to leave her at child care as she will want to do the spells and stuff and the combined time we will do the 3 rides she can't go on is probably an hour tops or probably much less. Really depends on how much I can stand before not feeling well.
 
The only thing I'm really concerned with her is that she will still be there when we return, but if the swap room is right as we get on the ride, she couldn't go too far. To the other poster, I hesitate to leave her at child care as she will want to do the spells and stuff and the combined time we will do the 3 rides she can't go on is probably an hour tops or probably much less. Really depends on how much I can stand before not feeling well.
I understand what you are saying
Maybe she will be fine to be left in the swap room for five minutes or the time it takes to do the ride with your son

If you use the swap room, have her wear a whistle on a chain around her neck

Tell her if anyone takes her hand and tries to move her out of the swap room, she should blow on the whistle until a Tm or employee comes to see what is happening

I did that with one of my sons once but it backfired
My kid started blowing on the whistle just because he wanted to...

But I’m told girls listen to moms instructions better

To use the child care for an hour could be a plan if you decide you are not comfortable leaving her alone while you and son do the 3 rides

 
Well I'm dad and she would probably listen to mom better. I like the idea of the whistle but as you said she would just blow it all the time. No one taking her if she don't want to go though. She would scream like crazy. I'll test it once I guess and see. She already has to go to childcare one night when we do volcano bay because they don't have swap
 

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