Disclosure: We recently visited Universal Orlando Resort as part of the Family Forward social media event. We paid for our air and hotel, but additional perks and items were included in our stay at no extra charge to enjoy the theme parks.  During our visit to the parks we used the chid swap rooms, and felt that we needed to shout it from the rooftops that the best kept secret at Universal Orlando Resorts is child swap. 

There are so many times as a parent when you rely on your past experience to help guide your family. There are movies you watched and activities like theme park vacations you enjoyed in your younger years, that you can not wait to experience with your spouse or children.

As a mom, I can not tell you how many times I relied on information from my past experiences in my 20’s to guide me as a parent, that steered me completely wrong. Not in a physically unsafe way, but more of an emotional one.

As a mom I can predict a lot of things about my son, like when he’s hungry or having a bad day. But he feels and experiences movies much more sensitively than I do, and most kids his age. No matter how many bribes we offer, he says often that dark, intense experiences also known as rides and movies, “are just not my thing.”  On an impulsive whim at 3 I took him to see Beauty and the Beast and the movies have not been the same since. He will shake with fear during scary parts of movies. 

And for a 2 hour movie I can find ways to shelter and modify the experience to be successful. A theme park vacation is different.

Hindsight is 20/20.  Sometimes, not until you are in the midst of living with your decision do you wish you had made a different one. I’ve shared old movies with Gavin, and there is always something I don’t remember, like swear words, gestures, or activities that were politically correct in the 90’s and clearly not okay 25 years later.  

There are so man sensory experiences thrown at you over the course of days. You are hot, sweaty, tired, and hungry. And while I would love to be able to go at his pace, the truth is, when you lay down thousands of dollars on a once in a lifetime theme park vacation, I’m not one to sit on the sidelines and take one for the team, especially if there are brilliant, thought solutions that allow everyone to participate together somehow. The pros definitely outweigh the cons.

I could create all sorts of posts on how you can spend more money to enhance your trip with foods and VIP experiences, but there is a best kept secret for families at Universal Studios Resort Orlando at every single ride and it’s called, THE CHILD SWAP ROOM. It’s a FREE perk included in your ticket.

We took our almost 8 year old son, who is 49 inches tall. Universal’s theme parks, like all theme parks have height restrictions. While there were probably many rides he was not emotionally ready to experience, sometimes he was just not tall enough.

Then what do you do. Your husband is dying to relive his childhood on the Transformers ride but your son is terrified of 3D experiences. Do you wait outside in the hot summer Florida sun, sweating like crazy, spending even more money on food and souvenirs?

NO! You use the child swap room. 

What is the Child Swap Room

Every single ride at Universal has a child swap room. If we had not benefited from the VIP experience, we may have never known about it. Child swap rooms are the best free perk ever. They are like secret, hidden eggs inside the park.

Once you find one, you’ll probably find the rest, but unless you know about it or your child is having a visible meltdown in front of a staff member and someone points it out to you, they could go unnoticed.

The rooms are large and air conditioned. There is bench seating to rest your feet. I saw many parents breast or bottle feeding young babies. Sometimes there are movies playing on a television, which can still be scary for some kids. 

Why Use the Child Swap Room

It could be simple, someone just might not be tall enough to ride. Or you might have special circumstances where another child is scared. If someone in your family has special needs, using the child swap room is a great option for their considerations, too.

Your daughter might be fearless and your son is not, but if he see’s how much fun his sister is having, then he could be persuaded. And if this can happen fast, no-one needs to get back in line to wait all over again when they finally overcome their fears.

Here’s How to Use Child Swap

Tell the person scanning your ticket at the entrance to the ride you intend to use child swap.

Head into line, the line that corresponds with the type of ticket you have, then walk through the line and wait together. 

When you reach the end of the line, where the attendant instructs you to get on the ride, let them know you are using Child Swap.

If you don’t know where the room is, ask, they will happily point it out to you.

1 parent goes into child swap with the child who is not riding and waits with them. The other hops on the ride, by themselves or with other children who are.

When the other parent returns, the parent in child swap can hop on the ride to experience it themselves.

Cons of Child Swap

The only 1 I can think of is that it stinks that sometimes you can’t ride sitting next to another family member or spouse. But on the other hand, some of these rides are so intense and amazing, or you have an overhead harness strapping you in, that you can’t even see who is next to you. It’s really just you and the ride.

If you want to be guaranteed to sit with a spouse and not ride with your kids, then pay for the VIP experience and the guide will happily your child in the child swap room while you ride together. My son honestly really enjoyed that experience as well.

Some of the child swap rooms, especially the ones in the Hogwarts castle in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you may have to wander through some darker, scarier areas in the line in order to get to it.  

We cyou can track down one of those enormous sprinkled donuts, have unlimited Coca Cola products   talk about the best place to get a sprinkled donut,  if I’m personally going to  does not matter

Movies and theme park activities are awesome, but for young sensitive kids they can be terrifying. Some rides also have height restrictions and after you spend thousands of dollars paying for a theme park vacation, flexibility is key.  

There are so many variables 

 I could shelter him from that one scene, remembered that one 

you view and experience them through a different lens. You don’t have the responsibilities of someone else to depend on you. What 

 had been 12 years since I had planned my last theme park vacation. The priorities I had as a thrill seeking 23 year old with my college friends