Rider Switch changing (Started June 16th)

[nkosiek]

I'm in the "gimme a little more notice" camp. Trip is in less than two weeks. This falls right in the middle of the trip. It's like them putting out their hours and then readjusting them, readjusting, readjusting. Come on, you want us to plan but then you go screwing around.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

All the main bloggers were flown over by Disney to FanDaze at DLP. That’s why there may be the delay in this info being reported by other blogs.

Sounds like a good strategy on Disney's part. "Quick, fly the big time bloggers to Paris, give them lots of free wine and release all the controversial changes while they're gone! It's the perfect time to start our new bag check fee!"

 

[Boski]

Sounds like a good strategy on Disney's part. "Quick, fly the big time bloggers to Paris, give them lots of free wine (so they'll write a excellent review) and release all the controversial changes while they're gone! It's the perfect time to start our new bag check fee!"

FYP

 

[DisneyOma]

Oh man, we have certainly benefited from the old paper FP rider swap with our kids so i will definitely be interested to learn more details, to some the old system seemed unfair but factor in the time it takes to wrangle a small child and the unpredictability of a meltdown it was nice knowing we could use the paper swap later in the day or another day of the trip...we also liked giving our unused swaps to families before we left to “pass along some magic” i wld be ok with an electronic system that let you return within the day but an hour is pretty tough when u are managing toddlers and infants

This just made me laugh - oh, the horrors of taking little ones to Disney, it's so unfair, etc. Honestly? I think people should be grateful WDW does ride swap. They don't have to.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This just made me laugh - oh, the horrors of taking little ones to Disney, it's so unfair, etc. Honestly? I think people should be grateful WDW does ride swap. They don't have to.

Seriously - I don’t know what people are thinking. It’s not like Disney markets itself as a great place to take the entire family and thus might want to have some conveniences for those with kids


I don’t think anyone is calling the new rule unfair (I actually thought the old rule was a bit too advantageous to those with kids) - it’s just a change and wanting to understand it to adapt .... and in typical Disney fashion they (potentially) are coming out with something with next to no notice and I suspect the front line CMs won’t all be on the same page

 

[maxiesmom]

Seriously - I don’t know what people are thinking. It’s not like Disney markets itself as a great place to take the entire family and thus might want to have some conveniences for those with kids


I don’t think anyone is calling the new rule unfair (I actually thought the old rule was a bit too advantageous to those with kids) - it’s just a change and wanting to understand it to adapt .... and in typical Disney fashion they (potentially) are coming out with something with next to no notice and I suspect the front line CMs won’t all be on the same page

Disney markets itself to the whole family, which for many of us include the young and old. No matter the age, you have to do a bit of planning on how to fit everything in, and how best to tour. Why should those with small kids get extra over those with older kids, or even with older adults?

It is a nice perk, don't get me wrong, but I find it odd to be upset over it being changed. It is still a nice perk!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Disney markets itself to the whole family, which for many of us include the young and old. No matter the age, you have to do a bit of planning on how to fit everything in, and how best to tour. Why should those with small kids get extra over those with older kids, or even with older adults?

It is a nice perk, don't get me wrong, but I find it odd to be upset over it being changed. It is still a nice perk!

I didn’t say extra - I said provide some conveniences. If everyone in the party needs to have a FP for a ride witht a height restriction then you have to waste FP for the small kids because it isn’t like you can let them go on another ride by themselves with their own fast pass - so without some rule you are starting off in a lesser position

And again, I don’t think people are upset by the new rule - just want to understand it so we can plan accordingly

 

[BuzzyBelle]

I didn’t say extra - I said provide some conveniences. If everyone in the party needs to have a FP for a ride witht a height restriction then you have to waste FP for the small kids because it isn’t like you can let them go on another ride by themselves with their own fast pass - so without some rule you are starting off in a lesser position

And again, I don’t think people are upset by the new rule - just want to understand it so we can plan accordingly

This is my issue with the argument for everyone needing a FP in order to receive a rider swap. My youngest then no longer gets a FP for anything. If we all have a FP for a ride what benefit is a rider swap?

Also, the current system gives a paper pass to come back later so I don’t have to worry about everyone making it through the FP line in the hour FP return window. Some rides like FOP can take quite a while to get through and now the second group missed their FP return time.

I think another option would be to provide a companion pass for any child that is under height. The older children and adults book their FP for whatever they want, then the younger child gets a FP for a ride they can do. One person can accompany that child on their ride without needing a FP.

Like I’ve said before, a little notice would be great. I’m at 30 days out now. It’s a little late to go changing around FP and ADRs. I have some FP booked back to back or an ADR right after a FP that if we only have an hour return on swap I’ll just have to miss out.

Are there ways to abuse the current system? Of course. Closing some loopholes or whatever was probably a long time coming. But I don’t think trying to accommodate one of the largest demographics that visit Disney is a bad thing.

 

[ArwenMarie]

FP is not the only way to ride a ride

 

[rteetz]

FP is not the only way to ride a ride?

Rider Swap is sort of like FP but not quite. This is for people with young children. So say one parent sits out and waits with a young child and one rides. Then the other sits with the child after parent one is done and goes through the FP line.

 

[DizneyMommy]

We have had the digital RS at DL for a while. It does not have a one hour limit (or I somehow didn’t notice? We always use it right away) but you do have to decide who will use the return pass right then so they can scan those people’s tickets. The RS is only added to the 1-3 people going back the second time.

I’m all for the change. I have always gotten everyone a FP for the same ride anyways. I don’t feel my too-short child is missing out, she gets to do plenty.

It is a choice you make. You choose to book all headliners that your too-short child can’t ride? You are making that choice, not Disney. We alternate headliners and rides the toddler can ride, everyone gets to do what they want and we have a great time as a family. If your child is missing out on all of their FP, it is because of your choices, sorry. We teach our big kids that it’s not all about them, everyone deserves to enjoy their trip, they have no problem with balancing out the rides.

 

[MamaBelle4]

This is my issue with the argument for everyone needing a FP in order to receive a rider swap. My youngest then no longer gets a FP for anything. If we all have a FP for a ride what benefit is a rider swap?

The benefit is if you check in to your FP window near the end of the hour, you can still use your FP.

There are plenty of kiddie rides that you don't need FP for. You could take them to a show (like voyage of the little mermaid, PhilharMagic, etc) or a ride with very little wait (living with the land, dumbo) or an interactive play area (boneyard, Casey's) or to meet characters. Or you could take them for a snack or to look for a trinket.

 

[Wubar]

I'm glad they are tightening the loophole. 1 hour expiration seems bad, make it a few hours or by the end of the day.

 

[MamaBelle4]

We teach our big kids that it’s not all about them, everyone deserves to enjoy their trip, they have no problem with balancing out the rides.

Yep!! Completely agree with all of your post, especially this. My oldest DD was very vocal about what ride she wanted to do next and I had to remind her, several times, that her sisters had things they wanted to do too.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We have had the digital RS at DL for a while. It does not have a one hour limit (or I somehow didn’t notice? We always use it right away) but you do have to decide who will use the return pass right then so they can scan those people’s tickets. The RS is only added to the 1-3 people going back the second time.

I’m all for the change. I have always gotten everyone a FP for the same ride anyways. I don’t feel my too-short child is missing out, she gets to do plenty.

It is a choice you make. You choose to book all headliners that your too-short child can’t ride? You are making that choice, not Disney. We alternate headliners and rides the toddler can ride, everyone gets to do what they want and we have a great time as a family. If your child is missing out on all of their FP, it is because of your choices, sorry. We teach our big kids that it’s not all about them, everyone deserves to enjoy their trip, they have no problem with balancing out the rides.

I think it is the hour return window aspect that I have the concern about. I get it that you have to plan your trip to ideally make as many people in your group happy and not just cater to one set - but what we would do is one parent would ride with the kids tall enough for a given ride and get the rider switch while the other parent would take the children too small and do something else. With the 1 hour limit that becomes much more challenging and seems not the best to basically require the small children to just wait by an attraction for an hour or however long it takes for the two cycles. You are right it shouldn’t just be about the bigger kids but t also should prohibit them from doing any big rides either

Especially given both new rides in Toy Story Land and not new rides in galaxy’s Edge will have height requirements - so all new rides (and thus the ones most in demand) the little ones can’t go on

The rest of it seems fine to and makes sense - I stated before I am happy if they close the loop letting people double up of E-Ticket FP (I know we have never taken advantage of that)

 

[TheMaxRebo]

The benefit is if you check in to your FP window near the end of the hour, you can still use your FP.

There are plenty of kiddie rides that you don't need FP for. You could take them to a show (like voyage of the little mermaid, PhilharMagic, etc) or a ride with very little wait (living with the land, dumbo) or an interactive play area (boneyard, Casey's) or to meet characters. Or you could take them for a snack or to look for a trinket.

Right but the point is they never get to use the FPs allowed to them at all which seems unfair compared to other guests (and I get it, you have to make choices) but just seems silly to make a FP for a ride they can’t go on or just burn a FP elsewhere since the rest of the family won’t have one for that ... plus takes a FP away from the pool from someone who could use it

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I wonder if they will update the website to reflect these changes to decrease confusion around how it works in the park, although what would be the sport in that...

We never used it when our kids were little - I'm not sure why, we just toured together and made it work, although parks didn't seem quite as busy in those years and our kids became "tall enough" around the same time so we didn't have a lot of conflicting interests. I can see where it would be helpful but I do hope Disney provides some clarity in the rules/enforcement. It makes sense to me that it might follow the current DAS model, although I'm not completely familiar with all the ins and outs of that... I agree with other posters that they may not need both restrictions of only having one at a time and a 1 hour time limit, but I guess we'll see how it shakes out...

 

[DizneyMommy]

Right but the point is they never get to use the FPs allowed to them at all which seems unfair compared to other guests (and I get it, you have to make choices) but just seems silly to make a FP for a ride they can’t go on or just burn a FP elsewhere since the rest of the family won’t have one for that ... plus takes a FP away from the pool from someone who could use it

I think it is the hour return window aspect that I have the concern about. I get it that you have to plan your trip to ideally make as many people in your group happy and not just cater to one set - but what we would do is one parent would ride with the kids tall enough for a given ride and get the rider switch while the other parent would take the children too small and do something else. With the 1 hour limit that becomes much more challenging and seems not the best to basically require the small children to just wait by an attraction for an hour or however long it takes for the two cycles. You are right it shouldn’t just be about the bigger kids but t also should prohibit them from doing any big rides either

Especially given both new rides in Toy Story Land and not new rides in galaxy’s Edge will have height requirements - so all new rides (and thus the ones most in demand) the little ones can’t go on

The rest of it seems fine to and makes sense - I stated before I am happy if they close the loop letting people double up of E-Ticket FP (I know we have never taken advantage of that)

The hour seems tight, but I can’t say I ever remember not getting our second ride done within that hour. Usually we do it right away, because we don’t want to walk back to that ride after we’ve moved on, or else we just skip it. Maybe once or twice we ended up having to go get a meal because of the time, before we went on again. I would hope the CM’s have some discretion to modify that hour if the circumstances require (such as the FP line moved really slow but we are trying to get to an ADR and don’t want to miss it)

In my touring plans for WDW, I budgeted that RS time right in the plan, it counted the ride twice. So I’ve planned ahead to avoid that problem. It really isn’t that hard ;-)

 

[TheMaxRebo]

The hour seems tight, but I can’t say I ever remember not getting our second ride done within that hour. Usually we do it right away, because we don’t want to walk back to that ride after we’ve moved on, or else we just skip it. Maybe once or twice we ended up having to go get a meal because of the time, before we went on again. I would hope the CM’s have some discretion to modify that hour if the circumstances require (such as the FP line moved really slow but we are trying to get to an ADR and don’t want to miss it)

In my touring plans for WDW, I budgeted that RS time right in the plan, it counted the ride twice. So I’ve planned ahead to avoid that problem. It really isn’t that hard ;-)

Well I don’t do touring plans so don’t plan to the minute so maybe that is my issue

It has take well over an hour for us to cycle through rides via FP (but you often don’t know how long it will takes) and that can get tough to keep a two-year old entertained - just having the flexibility to take them elsewhere and do the “switch” ride later makes things a lot easier and reduces stress for us

 

[sndral]

The whole point of FP+ was to better regulate the flow of the line. It’s not much of a Fast pass line if twice the predicted FP users show up at a given time. RS as it currently exists adds an element of unpredictability to the equation. First, if you don’t require all riders to have a FP for the ride you are potentially doubling the number of FPS that are out there for that ride. Obviously not all groups qualify, but apparently enough did to cause WDW to see a need to ‘fix’ the problem. Second, if you aren’t regulating return times you lose your ability to control the # of users allowed into the line at any given time. Limiting the return time to 1 hr. and requiring the returning rider/parent to have a FP for the ride takes away that unpredictability. I’m sure WDW’s metrics showed FP lines were bottlenecking at especially popular times because of too many RS returns, thus they needed to tighten things up by closely controlling the number of FPS they gave out for a ride and by limiting the return time to better control line flow.