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 13, 2022.)
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
Epcot
- Frozen Ever After
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (Opening in Summer 2022)
- 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
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 only have 2 kids so my child would still get to ride twice, but seems like a huge stretch to say people were taking advantage of the system. I mean either you have a small child or you don’t. How could the fast past line suddenly be full because of people abusing rider swap? Are they borrowing someone’s small child? Also you seem to be forgetting that both parties still have to wait the entire time if the standby line. Yes the person waiting with the baby can go sit somewhere else and wait, but it still isn’t fun for them. This is just another way for Disney to cut some corners. I get it, maybe having one less person going through will make lines slightly more efficient, but it’s still odd to spin it as a loophole people were exploiting. No it was the official Disney policy and actually made the trio more enjoyable for families. Now they are stripping it down to the bare minimum, like everything else.
My kids ae close enough in age that we never really had to deal with one who could ride and one who couldn’t. However, I always really liked that Disney seemed to understand that it wasn’t about just letting the one person who supervised the baby experience the attraction, but letting them experience their children experiencing the attraction. While I appreciate the need to normalize a rule for fair application across the board I agree with the posters commenting the number is arbitrary and won’t make a significant difference one way or another. The complaints of it had to happen remind me of people you hear grumbling in line when a make a wish family goes by; for the love of God, just be grateful you don’t have to walk in their shoes.
I really appreciate this update as it impacts my family. We have 5 kids and while some in the middle meet height requirements, they are too scared of some of the rides to ride. We also have a little guy that’s too short for everything. Often, only 2 of our kids ride the thrill rides. So our last trip, the 2 oldest got to ride everything twice. It’s really no big deal with the change. If my kids think it’s unfair for one to ride twice, we’ll just choose as a family that kid #1 rides with dad and kid #2 rides with mom. The end. We’ll just set the expectation from the beginning. I know some people will be really unhappy about this. I think it just takes a little parenting to tell the kids what will happen and to make it as fair as possible within their own family.
Plus 1 is definitely fair, and my 3 kids have all grown past the need for switch passes. But I have to say that the plus 2 is what made our family trips to Disney wonderful for me as a mom. The other theme parks we’ve gone to, I always pushed the baby stroller and took care of whoever didn’t want to ride while everyone else had the fun. But Disney’s policy of plus 2 made it so I could see all the fun with my kids for myself….I could see the “magic” I was paying for and enjoy it myself. Disney made it fun for moms! And coming such a long way for us from Canada, it’s what made it a truly “family” trip that included fun for every member, and made us keep coming back for more. Again, the plus 1 is totally reasonable and fair…but plus 2 is what made it fantastic for me, and what kept me planning trips every year while my kids were small. I took every one of my kids when they were under 2, and didn’t hesitate to book again year after year because I knew I’d get a holiday too.
Corkren Charlene,
The DAS system used to be different. (I believe it operated much like an immediate fast past and didn’t involve the waiting that is now required.) People hiring those with the DAS (it might have even had another name back then) pass was such a problem it was covered on the news etc and prompted a huge change in the policies.
I disagree with your opinion. Rider Swap is not a “loophole” . It is written on the Disney website (and still is) that a return rider can bring 2 guests. Your article makes it seem like you think parents were abusing or getting lucky by taking advantage of a “loophole” when it was Disney’s policy plain and simple. I realize you don’t have kids so it’s easy for you to say it’s fair. I don’t agree with you that this was “needed.” I really don’t think one extra child per family makes a big difference in the grand scheme of things. The only thing I can agree with is that it all points to an upcoming paid FP plan.
So we use rider switch for a completely different reason. It’s not so the parent can ride, it’s so our under 7 year old twins can ride a ride that only seats two since isn’t it true a child under 7 must be accompanied by an adult. Thankfully allowing an additional rider with the second parent is going to be just fine with us, but what about someone who has 3 children under 7 and all 3 would like to ride a 2 seater? Obviously a much smaller percentage of visitors are affected but that could make or break a visit!
Our family enjoyed it when our youngest was little, as our older twins got to ride twice. But it did always seem a little arbitrary to choose two as the number. Why two?
Anyway, only in America do we have time and entitlement enough to debate whether this matters.
I echo everything Jenifer Eisenman said! Rider switch has very, very little to do with the second parent getting to ride the ride or the kids getting to ride twice. It has everything to do with both parents having the opportunity to experience the ride with their kids! I agree whole heartedly with her comment that +2, +3 is just a justifiable as +1. As multi trip goers per year and a parent of 3 ages 5 and under, I’m extremely disappointed in this change! I always appreciate your perspective, and that doesn’t change here, but I definitely think you should acknowledge the fact that your perspective is severely limited or skewed at best which amounts to more than you admitting your limited use of the system.
As long as this is an “unwritten policy” it will continue to be nearly random, changing from visit to visit and sometimes from ride to ride.
I wish there was an official written policy, which would make it easier for those of us making plans with our families, as well as Cast Members hoping their manager agrees with their reading of the unwritten rule.
I am disappointed with the author’s take on rider switch. Lifelong Disney fan here who has been going for the last 40 years and experienced many changes at Disney as well as my own life changes. Our family has never seen rider switch as a “fast pass” or “golden ticket”. It’s an opportunity to experience my kiddos’ joys and reactions to the experiences at Disney. Not being able to go with our entire family on rides/ attractions is a bummer, but at least with rider switch I could see my eldest two. One could easily make the case that it should be +3 as much as +2 or +1. Or maybe it should be based on the seats. For example ROR could be +7 while 7DMT would be +1. In any case the author’s take is uninformed and demonstrates his lack of experience (as a child or parent). I appreciate the information, but not the author’s bias.
As a Mom of 4 (now grown) we used rider swap a lot. I never saw the older kids getting to ride twice as a legal loophole for avoiding a wait. To me it meant that both their Dad and I got to experience the magic of Disney WITH them and neither parent had to miss out on the memory.
I never understood why it was +2. If the reasoning behind parent 2 bringing guests is not having to ride alone, a +1 accomplishes that. Moreover, many of the thrill rides only seat 2 across, so allowing +2 (for a total of 3), seems like it would slow down operations even more because you’d need to load a single rider or forgo that spot altogether. No big sibs are entitled to to windfall rides when others are waiting. Sure it was great for them, but loopholes close and people adapt. Seems like an eminently fair change.
Annie: One kid waits with you with the baby while the others ride with Dad. Then you and the last child who is eligible to ride gets to ride. Once. No one rides twice. Easy, Everybody gets to ride one time except for the baby. who has to wait until they are older.
You may as well just do away with it altogether. I have four kids. I’m certainly not going to take just one back on the ride.
Now wait a minute, I became disabled in2017. Before that I stood in every line just like everyone else, but the disease I now have, which by the way came on with a vengeance while I was at WDW, leaves me extremely immuno compromised even though I received countless intravenous infusions every month. The DAS program only allows my party to wait in an electronic line. Whatever the standby time is, is what time elapses for our return time and I can only stand in one line at a time. I don’t appreciate people saying people hired disabled people so they could go ride without waiting when obviously you don’t know how the DAS works.
We used it when kids were small and it was great. But noticed recently allot of people were abusing it. Was like when families of 10 plus would hire a disabled person for their vacation so they could all skip the lines. People never want to wait and ruin it for people who follow the rules.
@DisneyDadSC You’re literally complaining about this and telling others that life isn’t fair for everyone all the time lol. Just so long as it works out for you eh?
As a family of five with young three kids with one that can’t ride most of these rides, this stings. I do get it may seem unfair that the older two get to go twice but it’s not a forever benefit. Life’s not fair to everyone at times. Sometimes you benefit, sometimes you don’t. We use Rider Swap a lot and it never seemed like there were more than one or two families checking in at any given time. I don’t believe it led to longer lines. Now DAS, it’s clear that system is being abused signifcantly … and probably criminally.
We have 4 kids with a 7 year gap between the pairs so the +2 served my older kids well for sure but I always wondered “why +2?”. Most of the time, I would end up holding babies so my wife and older couples could get some free time without the fuss. Then the older kids would ride together both times and my wife and I would up riding alone anyway with the +2 rule. So I always wondered – why +2 and not +1? One thing I will say is it was hard to explain to the older kids eventually that their younger siblings were no longer “golden tickets” for them to a no-wait second ride because they were big enough to ride themselves. Up to that point, they knew nothing but luxury! 🙂
Personally, I thought the old, old system of just waiting in line all together, walking through the ride with the baby, and handing off right there was best because it was faster. But I understand why they went to the golden ticket approach.