Child swapping at Walt Disney World

On our last Walt Disney World trip, we had 2 families with a total of 4 kids ranging in age from 2-10. We did a lot of child swapping using Fast Passes and learned a lot in the process.  Many people have asked me exactly how it works so I’ll help clarify that for anybody who hasn’t done it.  Also, we discovered good waiting spots that might be helpful for others who are swapping as much as we did.

How to Child Swap
The quickest way to Child Swap is to obtain Fast Passes for part of your group ahead of time. The first part of the group that goes can report to the Fast Pass line area and ask the Cast Member there for a Child Swap ticket. That ticket entitles you to hand it off to the second part of your group and up to 4 people can use that ticket. Some members of your party can ride more than once so that members aren’t riding alone (older kids who love bigger rides will especially love this perk!). Mostly the bigger rides with height requirements will allow Child Swapping and every ride seems to have slightly different rules. Some Cast Members want to see the smaller children that won’t be riding, for example.

Using this combination of Fast Passes and Child Swap tickets drastically speeds up the riding process but you still will be spending a lot of time waiting.  We discovered some good areas to wait with the smaller children.  Here are some ideas:

Magic Kingdom
While waiting on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain, you can ride the train.  Under the train at Splash Mountain, the play structure is supposed to be fun too.  While waiting for Space Mountain, you can ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.

Epcot
While waiting for Test Track, you can wait in Innoventions East and have the kids make a robot and explore the other areas here.  While waiting for Mission: Space, kids have a play structure at the exit of the ride that they can climb on and other various activities here to explore. While waiting for Soarin’, you can wait by riding Living with the Land in the same building.  Circle of Life is also a possibility.

Animal Kingdom
While waiting for Dinosaur, you can wait with the kids at The Boneyard and maybe even catch Lucky the Dinosaur on the way.

Other Ideas

• We bought several frozen lemonades at different times and found a shady spot while waiting many times as well. The kids all seemed to really love these and it pacified them as they passed the time away.
• We used little bottles of bubbles to entertain the kids throughout our trip, including while waiting for swapping. So simple, so cheap and other children enjoy chasing after the bubbles too!
• Both parties should definitely have a cell phone or 2 way radio so you can easily locate each other.
• Every Cast Member is different and some required us to show the child in order to get the child swap pass so keep the child(ren) in the same basic area in case this happens!

Happy Child Swapping!
Shannon Albert
antispambot(‘shannon@MEI-Travel.com’)