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!
Do you know if TRON is added to the list for rider switch?
Christy
I HOPE everyone will have to pay for Lightning Lane or have the gene+pass. That was another LOOPHOLE for rider switch before which I could not believe when I heard it.
Parents posted that one of the adults didn’t need a fastpass to a popular ride like 7 Dwarfs (which means they could have ANOTHER fastpass) meanwhile the other parent and older child would have the fastpass, they would get the rider switch pass for that other parent.
There were blogs telling families how to do it so that they ended up with skipping the line MORE than the 3 fastpasses by using rider switch.
Also it used to be that the rider switch didn’t have a return time. I read reports where parents would say get there early, get rider switch passes while lines are short then use the passes in the afternoon when lines are long. Making the folks who are going to use the rider switch wait close by is only fair. As it is someone gets to ride twice which in it’s self is a bonus.
Universal has waiting areas. I still cannot believe Disney didn’t build those when they built their newer rides.
How will Rider Switch work with the new paid Lightning Lanes? For example, if 1 adult and 2 children purchase Lightning Lane access for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, will the adult waiting with another child also need to purchase Lightning Lane, or just be able to ride utilizing the Rider Switch?
Heather, the DAS pass only allows up to six guests, including the guest who is disabled. I have a DAS. I would hate to have to go on an attraction with just one of my family members or friends. It is much more enjoyable when we go as a group.
Why would you want to punish a group of people who already have enough to deal with when visiting Disney World? I would hope that people would be a little more understanding of guests using DAS more so then those using fast pass.
I really hope Disney will also review and up date the DAS policy to only allow one guest with the DAS guest. Last May on our visit the DAS abuses were glaring. Before you did not know who was fast pass & who was DAS. We saw many very large groups skip the long & hot 90 degree lines due to one often time non-obvious DAS member. Trust me many families around us in line were very upset and vocal about the obvious abuse. It really hurt in the Flight of passage line.
As parents we rotate which kid we ride with on each ride all day long. You can certainly do that with rider swap, ride with one kid and then ride with the next kid on the next ride and so on. To let more than 1 person ride with the waiting adult is unfair and makes the lines longer for everyone. I really hope there is no paid fast pass for the rich, and no multiple person double rides for rider swap, everyone just waits their turn and rides once which will ultimately make it better for all.
@John, re: “ That at some rides you must wait in a portion (in the case of the Avatar ride a very long portion) of the line before you get the swap pass?”
While we never leveraged rider swap to the fullest (kids close in age) my daughter doesn’t like the more thrilling rides (e.g. Everest, Rock n Roller Coaster, etc.) so we used it some in December of 2020. The swap points varied by attraction at that time.
I have not been to Disney World since COVID started, but can anyone tell me if the worst and most inconsistent part of rider swap still exists? That at some rides you must wait in a portion (in the case of the Avatar ride a very long portion) of the line before you get the swap pass?
My wife and I have two children. One is 6 and one is now 4, but the last time we went was around 8 months. If you’ve never waited in line with an 8 month old, you know it can be frustrating. Anyway, you had to wait for a while to before they would give you the pass.
Other rides (Tower of Terror, Slinky Dog) you just walked up and got it. Then one of us got in line with our older child while the other waited. Obviously this rule change doesn’t affect us, but it’s still interesting.
Anyway, going again in December and looking forward to using all your tips! God Bless!
Is the policy the same at Disneyland?
It’s interesting how everyone has such different takes on this. One point you didn’t mention is that allowing additional riders doesn’t just let kids ride a second time, it allows the parent who didn’t get to ride the first time to experience the ride with their children and see it through their eyes.
I see a lot of people prefer the plans that have both parents walk through the line together, but I can tell you as a parent who has waited with the baby on many occasions, sometimes it’s really wonderful to be able to go change a diaper, get a snack, or try a playground instead of wrangling someone who really wants to ride through a line and then have to tell them they can’t. We’ve had moments where one of our kids was unsure and we went through the line all together and Disney essentially rigged the system to accommodate a rider switch at the turnstile, but when you know the second kid isn’t going to ride, I’d hate to have to walk through the line with them. There have been times when the rider swap was a fastpass ticket we could use any time before the end of the month, which was really helpful when we realized we really didn’t have time to do the second ride right that minute because we needed to get to a parade, someone needed a nap, or didn’t feel well. The other adult could use it later that day or on another day if we were coming back.
I don’t see the point of changing the policy. I think it should just be left as is. I have 4 kids and I don’t see rider switch as a huge perk. I’m really glad they have it but it’s a pain to wait twice for one ride. It’s very time consuming. Life in the parks is much better when I don’t have to use it. Most the time only one of my kids wanted to go with me the second time. I’m sure there are plenty of parents who don’t always have someone going with them each time they use it so I don’t think this change is going to change much. Even though I didn’t always use the 2 extra person rule, it was still nice to know it was an option.
Personally, I think the +1 or +2 should be based on the seating for the ride. Most of these rides have 2 seats next to each other, so it makes sense to do an adult +1. The only people really affected by the +1 would be the single rider line, if it exists for that ride.
I agree that I MUCH prefer Universal Orlando’s system. The entire party goes through the line together, then the non-riders wait in air conditioned comfort in a room that sometimes even has things to entertain youngsters while the first party rides. As soon as they are done, the adults swap places. This way, a reluctant child can go through the queue before deciding whether or not to ride, the entire family stays together, the wait time while Party 1 rides is minimal, and it is almost always a comfortable indoor place to wait. It also means that the rider swap doesn’t use the fast pass/Express pass queue.
I’ve always been disappointed with the rider switch policy at Disney Parks. I am from California, so I’ve only used this to Disneyland and California Adventure.
For those in larger, groups, it was no big deal, 2-3 adults could hang out with the kid(s) who could not ride while the rest of the group went through the queue, then those that waited, would go through the FastPass line.
But when it was just 2 parents with 1 child – it’s torture, especially when the lines are long. Both parents would be apart for 2 waits – the long standby line and the (not really much) shorter FastPass line, then meet up.
SixFlags and Knott’s Berry Farm always did this so much better. The whole family goes through the line. The first parent would ride while the second waited at the turnstiles, then they would swap the kid and the first parent would head out with the child, while the second one eAnjoyed the ride.
The whole family gets to stay together and enjoy each other’s company in the line.
@DisneyDadSC
Whatever your thoughts on “Rider Swap” changes, I would really encourage you to examine why you think “DAS” is being abused. I am a disabled young person who is also an AP and have been for many years. I utilize “DAS” however, to most people I look “normal” or like I am “abusing the system” because I am 30, have young kids, can walk, etc. You do NOT know if someone is abusing “DAS” You do not know if someone has PTSD or is Autistic, or has one of literally thousands of invisible disabilities. The last time I used “DAS” I was left in tears after a young person asked me who I paid to get a “DAS.” Disabled does not have one look and suggesting that you could tell if someone is not disabled or is abusing the system is misguided.