Food & Parent Swap questions

[CarrieR]

Bear with me please, up through last season I had been a Platinum Pass holder but opted to forego it this year... and I feel completely clueless about my upcoming trip! I take my nanny kids (and a helper!) annually, and usually have the benefit of a few "test run" visits in which to get any info I feel I need, but that's been absent this year! Anyways, I have two questions...

1) Food. Have the food offerings improved any? I tend to carry food in for me and the kids, as we have a number of dietary restrictions (between the group -- I am a vegetarian, some have food allergies, there's a dye reactive kid, etc.) I usually manage to get a good, solid meal in everyone that way and then we pick around what's available at the park. I find it nearly impossible to eat there, and what is available is both insanely expensive and also disgusting... we usually eat fairly balanced diets and the first two years I had a kid puking in the parking lot at the end of the day due to the heat plus all of the greasy food, ha! Anyways, I'm wondering if things have improved any in that aspect? I'm presuming not, but if I could get pieces of whole fruit, fresh veggies (like carrots/celery sticks) or anything like that it sure would make life easier.

2) Parent Swap. I've never used this before, but this year the kids are >54", 53"x2, 47-48" and 44". There will be a couple of rides that my helper and I will probably both want to ride, and I was hoping for someone who has used this program and could provide me with info. I'm thinking BLSC and Adventure Express in particular. We're not opposed to lining up all together, and then timing it out on the platform so that the 44" child can be passed off to the first group before the second group boards, but I know you usually can't even bring a too-short kid into the line.

Any help on either front would be appreciated! Thanks!

[trint2004]

sadly the food options have not changed, but you do have to ability to leave the lot and go out to eat at one of the restaurants in the area and come right back to the park, all you need to do is show the teller your recite to get back into the lot with out paying, or flash you goldpass. Also on the parent swap situation, go to guest relations when you first get into the park, let them know that you would like a parent swap form. Take this with you when you ride rides. The other people in your group can wait out of the line while you go and ride. When you get off of the ride take it up to a ride op. tell them you are doing a parent swap. They will sign the back of the form, and tell you to give it to the other party and have them come up the exit. That way you dont have to try and match up the trains just right, plus its a lot less stressful on the kids not riding and the other guest visiting. Hope this helps you out some.

[CarrieR]

Thanks, Trint. It's easier for me to prepare ahead of time to carry food in than to load six kids into carseats and go across the street, lol... I have no problem doing so since we have legitimate dietary restrictions. (And I am happy to pay for food if they provide food that my party can eat... guess I am just spoiled by dining at Disney, sigh. And Holiday World for that matter! I know CF does not equal Disney but the options at KI and CP are just TERRIBLE! End rant...)

Is there a number who can ride with parent swap? Like if a few of the kids rode with the first adult, could the other "half" ride with the second? Or is it just the second adult alone, or with a single companion, or...? I find it easiest to prepare for this stuff ahead of time, it heads off any meltdowns ahead of time.

Thanks!

[trint2004]

the ones that want to ride with you are okay, but if you want to have more ride with you on the swap inform guest relations of it, so they can make the pass state that. We are not suppose to let more then two up the exit with out there permission first

[trint2004]

also if you need more questions answered you could always call up the park. They can give you more detailed information on the programs they offer.

sidenote: I work for the park and have many parents tell me that this is by far one of the best riding options we offer, because they dont have to carry kids who get inpatient in line. Because while ones waiting, the other can take the kids to other rides, while the other is in line. Even if the other with the kids dont get to the ride right after the other person get off of it, they can always return with the pass to ride. I also have used it with my friend, and her son. It does make a difference, I hope you guys have a wonderful trip. and while your there come up and see me, i work Diamondback

[The Interpreter]

I hope Fast Lane never adversely affects this wonderful program.

[XGatorHead 8904]

^Agreed. KI's parent swap program is wonderful and I would hate for anything to jeopardize it. Other parks could learn from it; KI's and WDW's are the best out of all the parks we've been to. Disney does it fairly similarly to KI (or at least they did when we last used it in 2008), except for there you tell the ride op at the beginning of the line that you are doing a parent swap, and they give you a ticket to give to the 2nd person (instead of having to pick up a form at GR like at KI). At Universal, the whole party must wait in line... kids and all... until the ride's loading area. From there, the first rider goes on, and the one staying with the kid goes to a waiting area. Then they meet in the waiting room and swap.

While Uni had some nice waiting rooms in which the kids and parents wait while the other person's riding, the kid still has to wait in line. I felt bad for GatorGirl having to wait in line for Revenge of the Mummy (about 15 minutes) and Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey (90 minutes) and not being able to ride them. These are the only two that she couldn't ride that we made her wait for, because all of the other ones she wasn't tall enough for we had ridden before (with the exception of HRRR, on which I didn't fit the test seat so we didn't bother getting in line) and could go without doing on this trip.