Guide to Rider Switch at Disney World
Rider Switch is Walt Disney World’s system that allows parents with small children to take turns experiencing thrill rides and other attractions with height requirements. In this post, we’ll cover how the service (also known as child swap, baby switch, or parent swap) works and new changes to Rider Switch at Walt Disney World. (Updated March 20, 2024.)
Let’s start with brief context for those who aren’t familiar with Rider Switch. If a child does not meet the height requirement or does not want to do a particular attraction (because it’s too scary, intense, etc.), one adult can wait with the non-rider (or riders) outside the entrance or exit while the rest of the party enjoys the attraction. When the other adult returns, they supervise the non-riding guests, and the waiting adult can board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again.
To use Rider Switch, your entire party approaches the attraction, where they’ll find a greeter, little sandwich board, or kiosk near the entrance (basically, you’re looking for a Cast Member with an iPad). At least one adult member of your party and the guests who are not riding will be issued a digital Rider Switch entitlement by the Cast Member and asked to wait in a designated area near the exit or entrance of the attraction. This group is “Party 2.”
The other guests (“Party 1”) enter through the standby line as normal and ride the attraction first. After finishing, Party 1 finds Party 2. Then, Party 1 swaps supervision of the non-riding children–hence this being known informally as child swap. Party 2 enters and boards the attraction via the Lightning Lane courtesy of their digital Rider Switch entitlement with minimal wait.
Rider Switch is available on attractions with height requirements that have Lightning Lanes. Here’s a full list of current attractions that are Rider Switch eligible at all four Walt Disney World theme parks:
Magic Kingdom
- The Barnstormer
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Space Mountain
- Splash Mountain
- Tomorrowland Indy Speedway
- TRON Lightcycle Run
Epcot
- Frozen Ever After
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
- Mission: SPACE
- Soarin’ Around the World
- Test Track
Hollywood Studios
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Animal Kingdom
- Avatar Flight of Passage
- DINOSAUR
- Expedition Everest
- Kali River Rapids
- Na’vi River Journey
Note that there are currently two ways to experience Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT and TRON Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom: 1) Join the virtual queue; or 2) Buy an Individual Lightning Lane. There are currently no standby lines for these two attractions.
Rider Swap does not sidestep this requirement. Everyone in your party who plans on riding Cosmic Rewind or TRON needs to either join the VQ or buy an ILL. You cannot simply show up without a ride reservation and wait to ride this attraction, or use Rider Swap.
With the debut of paid Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, which replaced the free FastPass+ service, Walt Disney World has made a number of tweaks to queue procedures for other guests. Notably, this impacts both the Rider Switch service and Disability Access Service (DAS).
See our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ for all of the foundational need-to-know info about this paid FastPass+ replacement. Here’s what you need to know about the changes to Rider Switch…
Previously, Walt Disney World’s official policy allows everyone (Party 1) except the first waiting adult and child (Party 2) to ride the first time. After Party 1 is done, the first waiting adult may bring two guests with them on the attraction–for a total of three guests riding.
For larger families with a total of 3 or more kids–let’s specifically use the example of two older siblings and one younger one–this meant that Rider Switch wasn’t just a convenient way to wait the same amount of time as everyone using the standby queue. It effectively allowed the older siblings to double dip and ride twice, once with each parent.
Walt Disney World has begun adjusting its Rider Switch policy, and will only allow one other guest to accompany the first waiting adult (Party 2) on an attraction via the Lightning Lane queue after Party 1 experiences it. For the example family of two older siblings and a younger one, this means that both will not be able to ride a second time. However, one will still be able to accompany the parent from Party 1 each time for a second ride.
As with other recent changes at Walt Disney World, this is being rolled out gradually.
Walt Disney World has updated the text of its official rider switch policy on DisneyWorld.com. In pertinent part, it now states: “Please note that if the person in party 2 waited alone with the child or non-riding Guest, the number of Guests who may join him or her and ride again is limited.”
While this policy change could be construed as even more stringent than what we reported last month, as it doesn’t mention any guests accompanying the waiting adult, that’s not what we’ve heard. Rather, the ambiguity exists in order to give Cast Members discretion over how many guests to allow on a case-by-case basis and given the seating circumstances of each attraction.
For the average United States family with 1.93 kids (let’s round up to 2 for the sake of simplicity), things are unchanged. That lucky older sibling will be able to ride with both Party 1 and Party 2, if they so desire. The perk still exists, and it’s a sensible one so that the adult doesn’t have to ride solo. Quality family time on vacation and all that.
When it comes to any type of queue or line skipping policy, any change is bound to be controversial among some Walt Disney World fans.
How you react to this will undoubtedly depend upon whether you’re a family with the demographics of the example one above. Those with two or more older kids likely won’t be fans of this change.
Unsurprisingly, we have a dramatically different perspective here. We’ve only used Rider Switch on rare occasion when visiting the parks with friends who have small kids. While it’s not something we’ve regularly used, we’re not anti-Rider Switch. We’re glad it exists as a courtesy for parents with small children.
In our view, this is something you can file under “it was nice while it lasted!” for select guests. With that said, the new policy is eminently fair. In fact, I’d go a step further and say that, when viewing the previous policy v. the new one at arm’s length, I I don’t know how you reach any conclusion other than that this is an equitable and reasonable rule change.
The prior policy was effectively a Walt Disney World-sanctioned ‘legal loophole.’ Sure, the change stinks for those who it benefitted, but it undeniably was a windfall. Nothing entitled the two older siblings (or whomever) to experience every thrill ride twice while waiting once.
Like so many loopholes Walt Disney World has closed over the years, it’s unfortunate (for some) to see it go, but the change is fair. For the overall pool of guests at Walt Disney World, the closing of this loophole is a good thing. It will improve ride capacity and hourly operational efficiency for those in the standby line.
Obviously, it probably will not make attractions more efficient and standby waits shorter by a huge degree–the number of guests previously taking advantage of this ‘legal loophole’ probably was not that high–but it won’t be by a negligible amount, either.
The quick, cynical, and lazy commentary here is that Walt Disney World is tightening up any perceived policy abuses, anticipating more with the paid Lightning Lanes. The company is probably cognizant of the fact that charging for line-skipping will exacerbate utilization and abuse of policies like Rider Swap, and wants to minimize all of that–while maximizing uptake of paid line-skipping privileges.
There’s undoubtedly some truth to that. I suspect that Walt Disney World would not have bothered with this were it not for an overhaul of the queue system being on the horizon.
Potentially unpopular opinion (given the readership demographics here), but Disney should’ve addressed this rule regardless. This Rider Switch change is good news for the majority of guests regardless of its motivations.
It was one thing for this to be the official, unwritten policy a decade ago. During the nascent years of social media and when most Walt Disney World hacks were confined to fan forums and obscure blogs like this one it didn’t really matter. Those communities were generally pretty careful with advice that abused systems, seeing countless loopholes closed over the years as they grew too large.
That ceased to be the case years ago. Today, there are dozens of Facebook groups devoted to Walt Disney World with hundreds of thousands of members. Popular YouTube channels cover how to beat the system and get millions of views. Tips go viral in the mainstream and reach tens of millions of people. The game has changed.
If Walt Disney World has a policy that could be described as a “beneficial courtesy” intended for a small pool of guests, you can bet it won’t be long before social media finds a way to exploit that and ruin it for everyone. (One TikTokers highly questionable “free shirt hack” literally made international headlines!)
Ultimately, we can completely empathize with the example family who used this loophole sparingly and will now have to explain to their kids why they can’t ride with both parents. It’s undoubtedly disappointing, and I can understand that. It’s always nice to have a semi-exclusive perk and it sucks to lose that.
However, this change is fair. There’s no two ways about it. Word had gotten out about Rider Swap and other ways to leverage the Lightning Lane queue without paying for it. Closing some loopholes is going to be more challenging than others, but this is definitely something that’s needed and overdue. I’m still holding out a sliver of hope that the potential Premier Access + Standby Pass system will be a net positive for guests like us who will never buy Premier Access, but that requires some sensible and reasonable reforms to Walt Disney World’s current queue policies (among other things).
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the Rider Switch changes? Are Walt Disney World’s policy tweaks in closing this ‘legal loophole’ fair or excessive? Disappointed by the change, pleased by it, or indifferent to it? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I see how it sucks, I see how it’s fair. My kids are teens so it’s not relevant to us, and that’s another thing. Parents, your kids will grow up and very soon this won’t be an issue for you either.
Family of 5 here. We LOVED the rider swap days where our older 2 could ride the exciting rides twice. That option may have actually been the single most “magical” thing about Disney for our kids!
I understand Disney wanting to eliminate possible abuse of the system. In fact, we may have inadvertently been such abusers. Back when they used to give out paper FastPasses for the swapping parent, we almost always used them for ourselves. However, there was one time that we had a paper Fastpass for Flight of Passage. It was going to expire at the end of that day. We were planning to use it, but for some reason, I remember we HAD to leave the park. We didn’t want a Fastpass for such a great ride to go to waste, so we gave it to a group of 3. We just wanted to spread some magic, but maybe it was the wrong thing to do? Who knows…
Anyways, I’m more sad that my babies are all too old to even use rider swap, than about the change.
As a parent of 3 ( now grown !) kids I think the change fair and certainly the system has been open to abuse.
Yes you can’t ride again with both kids – but you are probably going on other attractions and will have to take turns on who rides again on what. The seats for 2 is an excellent point and anything which speeds up the standby line is a good thing in my book.
In the almost fifty years we’ve been going to Disney World, we used the rider exchange once. I don’t think the rule change will present a problem for most families, and as one person mentioned, cast members may be lenient with enforcing this issue.
The DAS went through a similar transition when it was discovered that some guests were abusing the privilege. The changes in the DAS made a day at the parks a little more complicated for guests, but one adapts.
On another note, while trying to obtain a disability pass at Universal, the guest relations employee grilled me as if I were a criminal, almost reducing me to tears. I reported her behavior to the manager, as did another guest who was waiting in line behind me. After a few months of follow-up, I now have limitless daily disability passes, and without being interrogated. This is what happens when guests abuse the system. They make it more difficult for those of us who follow the rules.
You really can’t blame Disney for changing the rules prior to introducing paid fast pass (if that’s what they’re doing). No one needs the headache of angry guests, least of all the cast member who has to try to placate them.
I agree with mom of twins in that this favors parties with 2 kids and the rule ultimately will affect a child. (And parents of a potentially upset child) I am pretty easy going so I’ll just arrange for my kids to decide who will ride what a second time beforehand but don’t really get why they can’t just both go, especially when so many cheat the system…focus on them! It’s a temporary time in our life while we have a toddler, but definitely less magical.
Also, remember when you see ride swappers utilizing the fast pass line, their party already waited in the standby line, probably while one parent changed a diaper and fed a baby. Traveling with a small child is not easy and is pretty time consuming!
I actually wonder if this is more a space issue ~ certainly paid fast passes will lead to more abuses BUT Most rides are 2 seaters that have this option. PrePandemic a 3rd person in a party would end up sitting with a single rider from another party, but post pandemic this is obviously not really a desirable option for many people. The alternative is to leave a seat vacant, which is undesirable from Disney’s POV. I’m not saying this is the reason, I’m just saying it makes sense… and we are a family that regularly used (probably over used) the full capacity of the rider swap option in the past
We are exactly the family this applies to: two older adventure-ride loving twins and one younger sibling who finds the drop on Pirates of the Caribbean intimidating. Was nice for the older kids to get to ride twice rather than being stuck going on a kiddie ride with their younger sibling while the second parent rides. I would understand this better if they said the second rider doesn’t get any guests. But favoring families of 4 over families of 5 seems like a weird choice. Not too bothered by it though. We will still ask if they will let both twins go as I wonder if this “official” change might just be used in practice when a CM suspects someone is abusing the system, rather than forcing twin 9-year old to squabble over who gets to go twice.
“We will still ask if they will let both twins go as I wonder if this “official” change might just be used in practice when a CM suspects someone is abusing the system…”
Good thinking. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s exactly what this is, and it’s enforced on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of Cast Members.
I would rather see them crack down on the chaining of riderswaps. Parent A and kid A have a fastpass, parent B and kid B get childswap when they approach the podium. When it’s B turn, they go to the podium again to get childswap for group A.
This isn’t an efficient way to ride all the rides, but we’ve certainly leveraged that especially when handed extra use anytime fastpasses. I would argue that’s more unfair then letting 2-3 kids ride with parent B for a second ride.
Maybe they have cracked down on that too?
This recent change would not have affected us for the most part, other than a few changes, and while the changes make sense in the way of closing a “loophole,” I don’t see how this is much of a loophole that people would take advantage of as opposed to just making life easier for a bigger family or for a group – perhaps I’m naive. The only times we used it with 3 people were the times we’d go and my cousin would visit the park with us for a day. This allowed my wife and I to take turns but both be able to ride with our son and my cousin (makes better ride photos too).
The bigger change that I didn’t realize had taken place since we haven’t used this the last two trips, was the fact that they’re making “Party 2” wait in a certain area and ride again right away. I realize this has been part of the change away from the paper ticket rider switch passes, which were a godsend for us when we used to use this (they first switched to it being loaded onto MagicBands/ticket cards, which was already a change that took away some of the convenience). We rarely rode again right away, and usually would ride the second time hours later. The biggest reason for this and why this change hurts parents is the reality that it’s really difficult to make the younger child sit there and wait while the other parent/adult and child go through the line and attraction. One, it can be a lot of time to try to keep a child entertained or sitting still. Two, they can really start to get upset because the added time emphasizes that they are missing out on something. For this reason, we learned to split up after “checking in with the Cast Member for the rider switch.” Then we’d take our daughter to do something else or look at something (go in a shop, go to a smaller ride, e.g., Tea Cups while the other party would do 7 Dwarfs). This wasn’t done so we could “maximize” anything or take advantage of the system, it was what made it easier for us during our times in the park. It reduced our stress a little, and just made the overall feeling of the experience a little better.
That – the Disney Magic – is where I’d be a little concerned long term. When we started going with our kids, and the first time in many years, our children were 4 and 2-1/2. Our plan was to go every 2-3 years after that. Well, we’ve been 6 times with the kids in the 4-1/2 years since then, have bought 2 DVC contracts, and have become acolytes of the Mouse. While it’s not because of Rider Switch, or Magical Express, reloadable FastPass+ that lets you get those small rides easily later in the day, or any other small thing like that, a big part of what sucked us in at the beginning was just how easy we found it with kids compared to other things, and, basically, we felt like Disney put a lot of thought and effort into making it an easier, smoother, and more Magical experience for parents and families. Being able to just get off the plane and go to the Magical Express, not worry about checking bags at the airport, having a simple way to manage rides in the park with two different-aged (and very different height) children, are examples of ways we found it easier and things we talked about with other parents. It was just different – “extra” – and that is a large part of the magic that sucked us in at the beginning. While we’re part of the bubble now, and although some of these changes or expected changes (Magical Express, paid FastPass, etc.) have us pondering spreading out or focus to other things (Universal, cruises, etc.), they’re not likely to have us claim that we’re done with Disney or anything silly like that. I can’t help but wonder, however, whether we would have felt such a strong pull back to WDW in those first couple of years without those added touches and conveniences. The reality is that traveling with kids is difficult and stressful, it meant something to us that it felt like Disney put a lot of thought into making it easier. As things continue to change (and some of it out of necessity), will families similarly situated to us at that time feel the same way? Perhaps they will and the changes won’t affect that, and even if it does, it’s not going to be a clear cause and effect from any such changes, but it’s a valid, even if unanswerable, question.
We have 5 kids and I sort of hate this change but don’t have a problem with it in terms of fairness. Usually 3-4 of my kids have been big enough/brave enough for the rides and one parent waited with the baby. Most cast members would let 3-4 kids ride again with the parent swap. So then it would be HUGE issues with my kids when we’d be told to pick only 2 kids to ride again. You try picking 2 kids! And telling the other 1-2 sorry, not you. Horrible horrible meltdowns! ESP after other cast members set the tone that they could all go again, so it was expected. I have a biased point of view that I would like all the kids to ride the second time, but I would MUCH prefer just one consistent rule across the board.
We are a DVC family of 6. 4 of us are children . Ages are 2, , 6, 10 and 14. We have always used rider swap and during our trip (June 27-July 4th) they were already having us wait in line to do the rider swap . Which is fine , until it starts to pour with a toddler in tow. We lived in ponchos . The only place we had to wait in standby line was in Pandora. Other parks , like Epcot we went on living with the land . It would be nice if they had a waiting room for rider swaps! I usually just go sit in the gift shop with my two little ones until the big ones get off . Honestly , anymore we skip rider swaps unless it’s one of our favorite rides . We have been on all the rides more than enough , it’s about time off from working , being with my family and enjoying my favorite place on earth . But, for families who haven’t gone as frequent I think this stinks , only the part where they have to wait in standby line because they could go on other rides that are height appropriate for the little ones instead of standing around with them in a stroller , or carrying them through a 120 minute line (since you have to park strollers at a certain point) my Tula toddler carrier came in very handy for us this trip ) I miss how empty the part was last summer . Was a whole different atmosphere.
We are a family of three with an 11yr old who won’t ride much. They actually let us go thru the line together and then had our child, Since he was old enough, to go off to the ride exit and wait for us. The one time he didn’t do that I was able to wait at the exit with him, then go back up the exit ramp back to the line and got immediately on myself. I think it will depend on what cast members you get at each ride. Most are pretty flexible and make sure you have a good experience.
Holly- when we went this spring you could only have one rider swap active at a time. If you activated another one before using the first then the first would disappear. People couldn’t rack them up to use later in the day unless they had a different system than I had. I see a lot of responses of people thinking this is reasonable and fair and I can respect that opinion but when you have 3 young kids and 2 parents at Disney it was a huge help to us to be able to take 2 kids with us on the second ride and see their smiles like the other parent got to.
I have 1 comment , aside from this story .. preferred access for people with medical needs . I did not know , until I finally asked why sooo many families were being put ahead of us all day .
Medical needs … which I respect. That’s not my issue . My issue is … no medical proof is needed !
Just go to the entrance, speak with customer relations, tell them a member in your family can’t stand very long in line , and you get a special code .
They just have to believe your story .
Seems wrong . Again .. I am NOT , in any way , bashing people with medical needs . No problem.
But we know people who pull this off all the time . Just Seems wrong .
Thank You
I’m glad we did our Disney trip before the change. We have a toddler and 2 elementary age kids. It wouldn’t have been as magical of a trip if it me of us parents were always missing out on the magic of seeing both of those older kids on those rides. I know it does give those kids extra rides but those kids also probably have to work around toddler tantrums and nap times and maybe miss out on things because of that. Obviously it’s totally up to Disney but I don’t really understand why this change needed to happen. Most of the rides we did with the rider swap we all fit in one row of the ride and we weren’t taking up space from other riders. It would have been very disappointing for a family like ours.
I agree with the change. Like someone up here wrote we didn’t know it existed and didn’t even think to use it when our kids were little even after we learned about it.
You wrote that the first party waits at the entrance to the group to return. If that is true then that also is a change. It used to be that the waiting party could go off and enjoy other rides.
I was disappointed in disney that I hen they built new rides like FOP they didn’t build a rider swap room like Universal. Hi ride Gringots and everyone waits then the adult waits in a nice room with a TV until they swap, no coming back later.
Also I think they closed the loophole that the second party had unlimited time to come back to the ride. I remember reading about people going ride to ride first thing and racking up the ride swaps then using them later in the day when the lines were long.
Also I believe they closed the loophole associated with fastpass where no one waited and they used less fastpasses – that one was upsetting
“You wrote that the first party waits at the entrance to the group to return. If that is true then that also is a change. It used to be that the waiting party could go off and enjoy other rides.”
That’s the official rule. Some attractions (like Soarin’) have designated areas, but I don’t think any Cast Members actually care what you do while waiting. You could go to Sunshine Seasons, do Living with the Land, or whatever. In fact, the CMs would probably prefer that people don’t loiter around the entrance/exit.
There have been a number of loopholes closed with FastPass+ over the years, including the ones you’ve identified.
We didn’t even know about Rider Switch when we went for the first time 5 years ago. So I went with our oldest daughter while my husband sat outside with our son and toddler and then he would go wait in line again with my son. Found out about this after that.
I think this is a very fair change!
I have three kids, and honestly we almost never used rider swap for the kids, it’s usually for the adults (ie mom or dad would wait with the child in the stroller while the rest of the party rode). Then, if the adult wanted to ride said ride, we’d swap. Most of the time though one of us would just take the time to get everyone food or use the bathroom, or go into a shop with just the one child who was contained in a stroller. Also, the last time I went (2019) they gave me card to hbd to the fast pass CM, I didn’t have to wait in one spot.
I didn’t even know rider switch existed when my 2 sons were little. Not even sure when it was first implemented, so never used it. However, I agree with the upcoming change to the policy and hope that it does make some difference in the standby line.
I’m with you. I was surprised to find out during our recent trip up to 3 of us could go the 2nd time…I thought just one other member of the party could join the one who missed out. We didn’t even bring 3, unnecessary. Seems fair to me! However, we have only 2 kids and in our party of 9, these were THE only kids. But, those with more can surely make due.