Disneyland Tip: Rider Switch

My firstborn son is nearly four and obsessed with Disney's Cars.  We've been deliberately keeping from him that there's this place about an hour away from us called "Cars Land" since Disney theme parks are, to put it mildly, PRICEY. 

Thanks to a good friend of us who works for Disney, we were able to go to a place that looks an awful lot like Radiator Springs in the movie.  He was so happy.  So happy.

 

Imagine my own happiness when I learned about Disney's Rider Switch program.  I didn't know it existed and it has really revolutionized the way we will go about Disneyland and Disney California Adventure from now on.  Since we're a family of 2 adults, a 42" child, and a 1 year old, about half the time of each adult while we've been at an amusement park has been standing with this creature while the other goes on the fun ride:

 

I learned that there is a Rider Switch program in place (you can go on the Disney website where they will give you a list of all the rides that have this pass).  So say for whatever reason one or more children cannot go on a ride and an adult needs to stay back with them.  So your entire family rolls up to the queue where there is a helpful Disney Cast Member in place. You tell them you want to do the rider switch. They give you some instructions on the rider switch pass.  One person stays behind while the rest of the party goes.  Then when the party gets back, the other person has a pass to go on the ride (with a friend of course!) that allows that person and ride buddy to bypass the normal standby line.  I wish someone had told me about this before we went to Disneyland the last time!

 

So we only utilized this for the ultra popular Radiator Springs Racers since we went on a weekday during low season, but it was really quite nice. We had Fastpasses, got there within the appointed time frame, got a Rider Switch pass on the way in, and the 42-incher and I rode the ride while Dad and the 1 year old stayed behind. It was quite an awesome ride and as soon as we found Dad my firstborn wanted to go again, which was quite convenient since Dad had the Rider Switch pass which effectively acted like a second Fastpass for the ride.  (I wanted to go again, too, but let's be real here.  The three year old can't watch the spitfire and Disney Cast Members really aren't THAT nice where they'll babysit for 20 minutes while we queue up and ride the ride.)

Every family with a child not old enough for the faster rides or not tall enough for the rides needs to know about this! Hopefully this will help you out the next time you go to Disneyland / Disney California Adventure / Walt Disney World!