FP+ and traveling with a baby

[Snow's Mom]

With the new FP+, have wait times actually gone up? I was reading a trip report that complained about the waits and technical problems with MDE. We'll be travelling with a group of 6 adults and a baby. Scheduling a FP with a time limit seems like a scary proposition right now.

We will hit the parks early and take turns going back to the hotel at naptime. I'm guessing DH and I (the grandparents!) will stay in the parks until about 4, then head back to babysit evenings. I read about the baby swap, and am trying to figure out how to best utilize that.

With the baby, we need to be able to "play it by ear". Wow, did we pick the wrong vacation for that!

[Snow's Mom]

Did a little research elsewhere, and to answer my original question, yes, it sounds like wait times for the non-headliners have gone up with the FP+ system. Sounds like once you use your 3 FP's, you need to make more, or expect to encounter longer lines at the "second tier" attractions.

Does anyone have experience with this?

[1DisneyNut]

Yes wait times have gone up on attractions they added FP+ to that used to have no FP at all. Don't be surprised to see 45 to 60 minute wait times on attractions that used to be 15 or 20. It is due to people who probably have never been to WDW scheduling FP+ for attractions that they have heard of before and they don't realize you shouldn't really need a FP+.

On the child swap, if someone in your group has a FP for an attraction that has a height requirement that the child doesn't meet, you can get a child swap pass. They will go do the attraction, when they come out, they can give the swap pass to anyone in the group and three people total can go through the FP+ line to do the attraction. It can be some of the same people or an entirely different group, it doesn't matter who, just a maximum total of three people. On the other hand, if nobody originally had any FP+ for the attraction, you can get a swap pass and how many ever want to can go through the standby line. When they exit, the same rules as above still apply so any three can enter the FP+ line with the swap pass.

As for the using your first three FP+ and then getting more one at a time, I find it more trouble than it is really worth. First, you have to schedule your 3 FP+ for earlier in the day and use all three. Then you can see what is available and it will usually be maybe a couple of second tier or some junk you really don't even want at all like Stitch for instance and the times for them will most likely be in the evening after 7:00PM and up to an hour before park closing. Typically by then, the wait times on those attractions are reasonable anyway so it is sort of more irritating staring at your phone in the middle of the park in the middle of the day wasting time dealing with it or at least it is for me.