If you are headed to the parks with young children, you should Use Rider Switch To Manage Walt Disney World With Small Children. You are probably wondering how you will manage to ride those rides they aren’t allowed to ride, well Disney actually has a program in place for just that. It’s called Rider Switch and it’s easy to use but can be difficult to explain.
Rider Switch is available at rides that have a height restriction such as Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Soarin’. Essentially you will be allowed to ride with your older children while your partner waits with the younger child and then you swap places and your partner rides again with the younger kids.
For rides with FastPass+
- Book a FastPass+ experience for all members who wish to ride
- When it is time to redeem your FastPass+ experience, everyone in your party including your partner and the child who is not riding will go to the Cast Member stationed at the FastPass entrance.
- Let the Cast Member know that you want to do Rider Switch.
- The Cast Member will remove the FastPass+ experience from the riders entering the queue.
- The Cast Member will scan the MagicBands of your partner and up to two additional riders. This means some members who rode the first time may ride again!
- The Cast Member will give you a return window, usually one hour from the time you checked in.
- While your party rides, your partner and younger child are welcome to do anything they want in the parks. Some rides require you to wait in a special holding area.
- When your partner is ready to ride, they will return to the FastPass line with the additional riders. They will scan their Magic Bands and head onto the ride.
For rides where you are not utilizing FastPass
- Everyone in your party including your partner and the child who is not riding will go to the Cast Member stationed at the Stand-by entrance to the ride.
- Let the Cast Member know that you want to do Rider Switch.
- The Cast Member will scan the MagicBands of your partner and up to two additional riders.
- The Cast Member will take the queue wait time into account when programming the return time. If there is a long wait, the return window will reflect that, and be over the usual hour.
- While your party rides, your partner and younger child are welcome to do anything they want in the parks. Some rides will now require you to wait.
- When your partner is ready to ride, they will return to the FastPass line with the additional riders. They will scan their Magic Bands and head onto the ride.
Here are some important things to remember:
- Rider Switch  is for those with kids who are either too short to ride or who are still very young and afraid to ride. It is not intended for parents with older children (such as teenagers) who just aren’t interested in riding.
- Rider Switch is available at attractions that feature FastPass.
- You do need a FastPass for your partner, even if they are riding second. This is a new update to the system that went into effect June 18th, 2018.
- Your return window is programmed by the Cast Member at the ride. If using FastPass, it will be around an hour. If using stand-by, the return window will reflect the queue wait time in addition to the standard hour.
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And Ferdinand believes he can slot in nicely at his old side, much like Frenchman Pogba did when he returned from Juventus in the summer.
Just a heads up this doesn’t seem to work later – we got in line for mission space around 8:30 and they said it was too late to do the rider swap even though the wait for the green line was only posted at 5 minutes – kind of messed up!
Does anyone know if the rider switch works with the new fast pass+ program? Could we arrange for one person in our party to get a fast pass then have the other wait? Or do both parties need a fast pass?
There is a very clear explanation on the Disney site here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/
If Guests in your party don’t want to board an attraction, you don’t have to miss out. One adult can wait with the non-rider while the rest of the party experiences the attraction. The waiting adult can then board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again when another adult in the party returns to supervise the child or children who do not ride—either because they do not meet the height requirement or simply do not wish to ride.
It also says only 2 guests are allowed using the Rider Switch pass, not 4.
Thanks for the info though! I had never heard of this before.
Does this work if you only have 1 child? We are currently expecting and looking forward to our upcoming trip in a few month. We are meeting both sets of grandparents there but not everyone can ride at once since someone will have to stay with the newborn. Can you ask for a rider swap without a child riding?
Yes I think you could. Can’t hurt to ask. :)
It will definitely work. You will just have to take the newborn up to the Cast Member when you get your rider swap. They have to see the child to make sure they’re not tall enough to ride. They have changed the number of people who can use the rider switch (I’m not sure what that number is now) so check first.
We were just there in December and they only let 3 people back in the line with the rider swap card. Definitely not 6. We did 4 for a few rides because we read the card wrong, but then on the Tower of Terror the CM showed us how it was written and that it only meant 3 total.
Thanks, I missed this when you first posted it, and I never knew what a great program the rider swap was- I had heard of it, but I thought everyone had to wait in a long line to use it. Now I’m excited, especially since my older kids will get to ride twice!
One more thing about using the rider swap. There is a playground by Mission Space at Epcot and one by Splash Mountain at MK that are great to wait with little ones. The one by Mission Space is at the end of the ride. Just go through the store at the exit and it’s just past there. My oldest son prefers the playground to the ride itself. The playground near Splash Mountain is just past the entrance and Fastpass machines on the right. It’s really just for little ones probably under 5 years old.
We tried this recently. It took a long time. By the time my husband went through the fast pass line with my older daughter and rode the ride, it was at least 20-30 minutes, then he would have to wait with our younger daughter while I went on the ride with our older daughter. That is a long time for little ones who can’t ride to wait- it is nice, but was not as convenient as I had hoped it would be.
Some rides just take longer to ride than others. You don’t realize how long it’s taking when you’re the one riding but when you’re the one waiting it sometimes seems to take forever. I don’t usually wait for my husband and son…I just take my younger son on another ride or two nearby and we meet up afterward. You can always use the rider swap later in the day so you don’t have to ride one after the other.
Thanks for this information, I had never heard of this before! We will be going to WDW next spring with our young children (4&7), so this may come in handy. If I’m understanding it correctly, I can’t imagine using it a lot because my children would lose patience waiting in lines for rides that they couldn’t ride. We’ll probably just take turns taking the kids on different rides or just stick to the kiddie rides this time. Or better yet, bring some grandparents along so we can have some adult ride time! ;)
I have NEVER had to wait in the line with my younger kids. We always just told the Cast Member at the entrance and Emily and Jason went in the line and Jacob and I went off to walk around and meet characters. :)
If your youngest is 4, he or she can probably ride most rides anyway. The only rides my 4 year old is still too short for are Space Mountain, Expedition Everest, Rock and Rollercoaster, and Mission Space. That’s just one ride at each park so you can easily use the rider swap. I always take him on another nearby ride while my husband rides those rides with my 7 year old.
We used this so many times last year at Disney World! My two older children loved the fact that they got to ride everything twice when we did this. (Which I think is a very nice feature!) Plus it was a nice break for me and the youngest to just relax or get a drink (sometimes she would nap while we waited!). They really try to accomodate you too. When my husband and two older kids rode soarin late one night I thought for sure I would not be able to ride after they finished. (The line was closed etc. while I was waiting for them to come out.) But a cast member called down and then escorted me and the two older ones down the exit hall and got us in on the very last run of the ride! It is so nice to get such special treatment from Disney!!
It works the same on every ride where they offer it (ones with height restrictions). They are pretty strict about the adults showing up to the front of the line with the child who is too short to ride. Apparently a lot of people were taking advantage of the system and were getting rider swaps when they shouldn’t have.
You are SO on my list for making me laugh out loud (coulnd’t you have made it a tad more funny and hlpeed me laugh my ass–and post-baby abdomen—off?) and wake the baby.Really too funny.I STP Disney is like my worst nightmare.I’m the only person who was HAPPY, overjoyed I tell you, when Astroworld closed. TP, no hot, stinky, crowded amusement (and I use that term loosely) parks in my immediate, and local, future.But Disney, Potentate forfend.I’m vaguely tempted by the safari deal, but only if we STAY THERE and never go anywhere else.I’m glad you had fun (?). But our joint vacation will have to be somewhere less MAGICAL! Maybe Tuscany. Or Pittsburgh. :)Hey, did anyone nominate this for a Blog award? Is there a ROFLOLPIP category?
This is great!!! Just one question the directions state the same thing for w/ Fastpass & without Fastpass..? We are going to be using this in a few weeks & I want to be sure before we try it! Thanks for sharing!
is there a similar service for Disneyland?
Yes, they offer it there as well. :)
I just wanted to add something about the rider swap because we use it every time we’re at WDW. They don’t have it only on Fastpass rides. There are a few rides with height restrictions that you can get one for (Stitch’s Great Escape, Primeval Whirl). They have Fastpass machines for those rides but they’ve never been operational while we’re there, but we have gotten rider swaps for the rides.
Thanks for posting this, cause we were just wondering about it. I am still a little confused about what happens when you’re riding a ride without a Fastpass. It says “Let the Cast Member know that you want to do Rider Swap
The Cast Member will take the Fastpass Tickets from the riders entering the queue”.
Two things: Is there a Cast Member at the beginning of every line? and If you don’t have Fastpasses, what happens? Do you go to the Fastpass lane anyway and tell them you’re wanting to do Rider Swap?
Yes, there’s a cast member at the beginning of every line. We usually go to the CM at the entrance to the Fastpass line because they’re not as busy as the stand by line CM and they usually have rider swap tickets in their pockets. If you don’t have Fastpasses, the first parent just goes through the stand-by line. When parent #1 is finished (or whenever you want), the second parent takes the rider swap to the Fastpass line and enters there. It’s used just like a Fastpass but it doesn’t have a return time and it’s good for up to 6 people. It is possible for the same parent to ride again…there’s no way the CM would know. We love using the rider swap because our son gets to ride everything twice. We almost always use it with Fastpasses because we hate waiting in line. :) Hope that helps.
I fixed the post. I had written it wrong. Reread it and let me know if it makes more sense?
Yep! Much more! Thanks!