Since Fastpass+ was introduced, it’s been possible to “Double Dip” as some call using Fastpass+ for 3 electronic Fastpasses AND using your hotel key to gather paper Fastpasses from the machines old school style or “Triple Dip” as I refer to using Magic Band FP+ for 3 FP, hotel key for paper Fastpass and Annual Pass for additional FP.
A lot of people have speculated on the net about “Double Dipping” coming to an end. (I’m not linking to specific sites purposely not to attempt an “I’m right and you’re wrong” kind of thing. I have no intention to disparage other people’s work.) Some have said that resorts would issue Key to the World cards with no swipe on the back. Some have said that it would be an RFID only card. Some speculated that the Key to the World would be eliminated entirely soon. I spoke to a person who has a solid knowledge of the Fastpass system last week and was told that the swipe on the back of the card will remain just the same for the foreseeable future for all hotel guests. I was told that there is no test in the works that eliminates the swipe on the Key to the World. The test that many are discussing is actually a test with Cast Members only. New Disney World resort guests will continue to receive Magic Bands to access their FP+, door key and charging privileges and the Key to the World will still be issued as a backup. If a person attempts to use the Magic Band, but the technology is acting up, the Cast Member can use the plastic card to continue the operation that is necessary to assist the guest. This means that one can still use FP+ for 3 electronic FP and the Key to the World plastic card in the paper FP machines.
I booked a one night stay on Wednesday of this week at the Pop Century resort with the primary goal of getting my kids and myself into the FP+ system. The parks have been getting busier and we would like to hit some of our favorite attractions without waiting forever. Combine the fact that paper Fastpass runs out earlier than ever with more guests and it’s a perfect storm. When I checked in, I was given Keys to the World for all my guests as well as Magic Bands. I’ve been working on discovering the best ways to use the FP+ system, which I’m not fully ready to report upon. But, I did test the room only hotel keys, annual passes and Magic Bands again today and found ALL THREE still work. I booked FP+ for my daughter to be involved in Enchanted Tales with Belle for the first time, to meet Rapunzel and to meet Ariel. We had to drop the Ariel meet due to time constraints. We also used our Annual passes and the 4 ROOM ONLY hotel keys to gather paper Fastpasses which we used. I WAS NOT able to use a hotel key from September that once had valid park tickets that were used up.
This is how our day went on Saturday, October 26, 2013. My daughter Debbie and I arrived at the gates about 5 minutes after rope drop because we had to take my son to basketball practice (Try outs are Monday, so keep him in mind). Debbie LOVES Disney characters. She’s the one that dreamed up the Extreme Character Challenge in which she and I met 71 characters, 68 were in different costuming and 60 were unique characters IN ONE REGULAR day. She really wanted to meet a few characters and do some of her favorite rides.
I had pre-selected Enchanted Tales with Belle for 9:05-10:05, Rapunzel meet and greet from 10:05-11:05 and Ariel for a later time. We didn’t feel a need to hurry to Belle at 9:05, so we grabbed some Fastpasses to meet Mickey Mouse, who i now talking in Town Square Theater. We started our touring with a ride on Buzz Lightyear with no wait. It was a close competition with me scoring over 400,000 and her scoring around 12,000.
She wasn’t very delighted with the final score.
We gathered paper FP for Space Mountain on the way up toward Fantasyland. She wanted to ride Tomorrowland Speedway, but there was already a long line by 9:30 and she said, “I don’t want to breathe gas for 30 minutes.” I could see using a FP+ entitlement as a good possibility for this attraction, either that or go there first. Smart 10 year old! We decided to drop in and meet Alice and the White Rabbit. They shared a brief Tea Party moment.
If you have a bad camera or don’t want the hassles of carrying a decent one around, you might consider Disney Photopass service.
We went to get some paper FP for Dumbo and Barnstomer (Mickey, Dumbo and Barnstormer still aren’t connected to the system or each other). Barnstormer was down all morning, so we settled only for Dumbo paper FP. On the way we saw this line that had formed at Pete’s Silly Sideshow because they don’t bring the characters out until 9:45am. I have said many times that it’s pretty silly to bring them out 45 minutes after park opening and keep them out so late, just cut the line off earlier in the evening so people don’t have to wait in unnecessary lines. It was 9:42 am.
After gathering that Dumbo FP, we headed over to Fantasyland and got a couple of paper FP to meet Cinderella. My daughter told me to use the other machine that had no wait. I told her it was for Rapunzel and we needed Cinderella. The lady in front of me had no idea (despite the clearly marked signs) that she was getting Cinderella FP. She thought all 4 Princesses met together in one room. An interesting exchange ensued. We moved on to see Enchanted Tales and used our FP+. The posted wait was 45 minutes and the line looked all of that or more. We tapped our Magic Bands and walked right in with NO WAIT. Win!
Debbie really wanted to be involved in this experience, so I told her to show lots of enthusiasm and she’ll be chosen. She was picked for the role of Mrs. Potts, which is funny because Debbie is a pretty tidy person. I never have to tell her to clean her room. She was so happy. I took another crappy phone pic of her big smile, but it was even less worthy than these. I’m about to surrender on repairing my own camera and have considered buying a new Nikon.
Debbie was very impressed with Enchanted Tales and loved how she got to help Belle tell her story and parade around with the tea pot.
At the end of Enchanted Tales with Belle it is okay to walk to the back of the room and take a photo of your child with Belle. The Cast Members ask that you please not use a flash and don’t hinder the Photopass person doing his/her job.
So here’s the haul of Fastpasses: Mickey, Space Mountain, Dumbo and Cinderella before really getting started into the day. We could have had more, but we were testing at Space Mountain and got more FP than we neeeded. We ended up giving them all away because we didn’t have time to ride.
We then used our FP+ reservation to meet Rapunzel and Snow White, the posted wait was 35 minutes. We waited 13 minutes to meet these princesses. Debbie got a quick peek at the portrait gallery and Cinderella’s slipper. Rapunzel didn’t have a Photopass photographer which I thought was odd. Debbie talked to Snow White about her love for apple pie. Snow said to stay away from the red ones, especially at Halloween and not to take them from strangers. Good advice Snow!
Debbie and Rapunzel 
After meeting Rapunzel and Snow using our FP+ entitlement, we used our Cinderella paper Fastpass. We had absolutely NO WAIT to meet Cinderella and Aurora. Debbie and Cinderella discussed their love for shoes.
Debbie asked Princess Aurora which name she prefers and Aurora explained that she likes them all when they are presented by different people. Princess Aurora from her family, Sleeping Beauty when it comes from Prince Phillip and Briar Rose from the Fairies. 
We circled back to see if Barnstormer was open before using our Dumbo paper FP. Barnstormer was still closed :( Debbie enjoyed seeing the new construction on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride that should open in Spring 2014.
We took a spin on the Walt Disney World Railroad to get back to Town Square quickly and easily. Well, it ended up being easily, but not quickly. The train stopped behind Space Mountain for quite a while and we would be a few minutes late for meeting Mickey with paper FP.
The Cast Member noticed we were a little late and I explained that the train delayed our arrival. He was accommodating and allowed the grace period. The posted wait for Magic Words with Mickey was 60 minutes. The wait looked more like 90 minutes though. The cast were telling people that they could wait as much as 30 minutes using Fastpass of any type. We ended up waiting 15 minutes. It was a pretty rough 15 minutes because the line had several children having meltdowns. The screaming was incessant and Debbie was thinking of bailing, but really wanted to see Mickey talk.
Here’s a video of the interaction Mickey had right before ours. Mickey offered to fly like Peter Pan.
We decided to take the Railroad over to Frontierland and use our Annual Passes and hotel keys to gather some more FP to see if it would work on that side of the park. We got paper FP for Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Jungle Cruise. It was our first time on Jungle Cruise since the changes were made.
We shared a taco salad at Pecos Bill and headed over towards the Jungle Cruise to use our FP. We had a few minutes, so we purchased a Mickey Premium Bar to share. Sharing is Caring!
Why we moved to Orlando…
We had a fun experience on Jungle Cruise and heard a few new jokes. We weren’t expecting the arrow tossing natives near the backside of water though. We then headed over to Splash Mountain and got soaked! I’m glad that WDW finally got around to letting people get wet again on Splash. For quite some time you could ride and never get a drop of water on you.
We gave away our Thunder Mountain FP because we had to leave by 1:00 pm to pick my son up from basketball. So here’s our total for the day:
- Reserved Enchanted Tales, Rapunzel & Ariel FP+
- Gathered Mickey paper FP
- Rode Buzz Lightyear with no wait
- Gathered Space FP (gave away)
- Met Alice and White Rabbit
- Gathered Dumbo FP (Barnstormer closed. Could have split them and gotten The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but were testing stuff)
- Gathered Cinderella FP
- Involved in Enchanted Tales with Belle (FP+)
- Met Rapunzel and Snow (FP+)
- Met Cinderella and Aurora (Paper FP)
- Rode Dumbo (Paper FP)
- Rode Railroad to Town Square
- Met Mickey (Paper FP)
- Rode Railroad to Frontierland
- Gathered Splash, Thunder and Jungle FP
- Ate lunch at Pecos
- Shared a Mickey Premium Bar
- Rode Jungle Cruise (Paper FP)
- Rode Splash Mountain (Paper FP)
We had a great time doing things she wanted and never broke a sweat on a beautiful day in the Magic Kingdom. We were there less than 4 hours :)
Have any questions about our Fastpass testing experience today?
Thank you so much for all the great info!! I’m stressing out way too much about this vacation, but your blog is helping immensely. I see you’ve answered these questions but just in case things have changed….
1. Can we go to parks without checking into POP first if we received MB in mail? (I mean utilize the FP+ in the parks??)
2.We have UCT paper tickets, should we enter the parks with the paper tickets, the MB’s, or maybe both? Just want to make sure we can double dip. (IF machines are up and running in 4 days!!!) Thank you!
I would check in first, just to make sure you’re activated.
Your tickets need to be added to your mde account, then it won’t matter what you use for entry. Machines should still work in 4 days
ok! Thank you!! Maybe I can sleep now. :)
Thank you! So if we are no longer available to use the paper FP, does this mean we are limited to just our 3 FP+ selections only, then stand in line for all the others? If so, then how is FP+ an advantage for us other than we get to pick 3 attractions in advance? We were able to utilize FP much more frequently with only the paper version….or am I mistaking?
Amazing work! My family is going to WDW the 3rd week of March, staying at A of A. Do you have any updates on the status of FASTPASS+ for that time? Will we still be given cards to swipe for paper fastpasses as well as having 3 FP+ selections?
It’s doubtful that the swipe cards for paper Fastpass will still be available at that time, but I’ll keep you updated here on the blog as things change.
Thank you!!!!
Thanks for all the great info. By old room keys, you mean from previous stays? Thanks!
Yes, room only stays. Not ones that had tickets attached
Before FP+ came out I know that you couldn’t get paper FPs if an annual pass or KTTW card wasn’t used to enter the parks. Is it still the same way when you are using the KTTW card or annual pass for extra paper FPs?
Old room only keys have been working just fine. Otherwise, yes the ticket must be used in park that day.
Thanks for your blog!!! I totally love reading it and I enjoy all the fun memories you are making with your family!!! We go down Nov. 16th and I was wondering about using FP+ and the regular FP system. This post has been very informative! If I understand correctly, we should still be issued a KTTW card as a backup to our magicbands, and we should be able to use that to pull regular paper FP? I have been unsure because there have been so many conflicting accounts on the web, but I trust your site the most!!! We have a MYW package, and I just wasn’t sure if the KTTW card would work because of our magicbands and everything being tied together.
Also, I enjoy all the research you do about what is not conneted. It is fascinating! :)
Yes kttw is currently used as backup system for charging privileges. It can also be used to fastener gather paper fp. I tested the system for the last week and it still worked at every machine in all parks.
Love Love your blogs! Great information and humor :) We will be spending 2 days in Magic Kingdom. I already have Fastpass+ for Rapunzel Meet, Enchanted Tales and Big Thunder on our first day then Meet Mickey, Splash Mountain and again Big Thunder on our 2nd day (2 preschoolers love Big Thunder at DL in CA so it’s a must for us on both days!). I didn’t know some of them weren’t linked, so would you suggest something else instead of the new meet mickey or should we keep that one? I have it for 9:10am so I thought we could do it first thing in the morning. Would you recommend something else for the Fastpass+? Thank you!
I can tell you it’s not linked, so you can get that FP for free. You could also walk right in at park opening. I’d use the FP for something else personally.
Loved reading your recap!! Heading down next week. We received our magic bands(linked to our annual passes) and will be driving into town. Do you know if we will have to check in prior to going to the park and having access to our FP+?
If you receive your Magic bands in the mail, you would not need to check in first
We will be there the last of February with a MYW Package. Does this mean that I’ll still be able to use FP+ and my back up card to pull paper FP?
Depends on final launch date for entire mymagic+ system. I would say it’s probable at this point, but to far out to guarantee
BTW, from what i am seeing as an ap holder i can make 7 days of FP+ reservations once we stay ONE night on site.. after that it says maximum reached…. wonder if its a soft limit or a hard limit (meaning that you can only have 7 days at any givin time)
There’s a 7 days at a time limit on Annual Pass holders. Once you’ve reserved for 7 days, you are blocked from reserving for the 8th day.
Any idea on how many days you have until you are unblocked after the 7th day as an AP holder?
Use a day, unlock another only 7 days blocked at a time
Are we guaranteed to see talking Mickey at this point? We were at MK on Oct 24 but got the non-speaking big cheese.
Nothing is guaranteed at wdw, so I’ll call it highly likely
Kenny, out of curiosity how did you enter the park? Just want to make sure you can either enter with your AP and still use FP+ or enter with your Magic Band and still use FP.
I used Magic band tied to annual pass. Could have used the card version, but mb was easier.
Last month we were able to use FP+ and get paper tickets using: our UCT paper tickets that were tied to our stay via the website (had to do that to schedule our FP+), our current room keys that had no tickets attached, and old room keys that never had tickets attached. We didn’t need that many FP so I didn’t really use all of those much, but I did try them at different times to see if they would work.
Thanks for sharing!
That’s very helpful! Thank you!
You mention that Mickey is not a FP+…wondering when the switch is as we have a FP+ booked for him in December. t came up in our options and we wanted to do that.
Do you think with crowd at Christmas getting paper FastPass with KTTW cards will be awful? In MK It would be nice to grab one or 2 extras on our first day and Christmas??
Didn’t say that. Mickey offers fp+ i chose to use paper because it didn’t count against any other fp
awesome thanks.
Now that Mickey talks at Town Square Thearter. How long are the waits and how far out is the paper fast pass times. I am not sure if it’s worth using a fast pass+ on a MK day which we plan to arrive at around 1pm. What’s your opinion.
Very long. An hour or more is normal. Haven’t tracked paper fp distribution for Mickey yet. Just get paper one early in day like i did.
I’m still confused! Gah! How were you able to make your Fastpass+ reservations without attaching your tickets to MyDisneyExperience? The site insists that I must attach my tickets if I want to set up any Fastpass+. If I do attach my tickets (from undercovertourist), then when they issue the hotel card, won’t it now have my ticket attached and prevent me from using the legacy FastPass machines? I’ve never been to WDW, but we’re going there for our honeymoon… all of the touring plans I’ve read about rely on legacy FastPass. So this whole thing is kind of frustrating.
Didn’t say that. Annual Pass was linked to room only hotel stay for one night on wed. Still have physical plastic ap card too as well as room only hotel key. Can’t tell you what an undercover tourist ticket would do as I have never tried that, but suspect it would work still.
Daughter asked last week if we could go to Disney for her 17th birthday, which is Thanksgiving Day. I think we would be able to go for the week, but not much time left to save up money. Staying off-site would be so much cheaper, but I’m worried about being shutout of fastpasses. Will offsite guests still have access to regular fastpasses? I don’t mind driving to the parks, as I usually do that anyway when staying onsite, and we will arrive in plenty of time for rope drop. Any opinions or advice is greatly appreciated!
Conditions for fp will remain the same for holiday period
And you got to have a great time with your daughter! What a Dad!
That’s the most important part Rita :)
Good article. We couldn’t do nearly what you did in four hours due to having one child still in a stroller. Our family did split up and me and the older kids went on rides the little one couldn’t go on. My husband took the little one on Dumbo and Barnstormer etc.
We like FP+ and we used our KTTW cards sparingly. We found it occasionally difficult in MK to be on opposite sides of the park. The first week we were there the railroad was still closed for refurbishment. We were glad to have it open again on our last day in the World.
Tips that I can offer: When making your FP+ reservations keep in mind the location of the rides and the time involved in touring the park. You do not want to be walking back and forth.
Enchanted Tales with Belle is very good and very fun for children and even for daddies that get to be knights. There is a photopass photographer there and they take photos and hand you a card when you exit.
The one day we were in DHS the FP system was down and it was a mess. The FP+ on our magic bands still worked but there was no hope of getting paper passes that day. However at the ToT, CM’s were handing out paper FPs with hand written return times. It was a gong show.
We found the lines to get into the park at Epcot very long. The first day we went it took us 30 minutes just to get through the line. I don’t know if people were having issues with their bands/cards or just didn’t know what to do. It was bizarre. Second day we were there, same thing but the line seemed to flow a bit better.
What did you think of the FP lines? Not so fast anymore for some of them. The Test Track line was ridiculous. It took us 40 minutes to get through the line and ride.
I thought you could only get a paper fastpass every 2 hours. Is that not the case anymore?
Sorta true but here’s the exceptions:
You can get a FP for the earliest posted return time OR two hours away, whichever is EARLIER.
Mickey, Dumbo and Barnstormer are NOT connected to the system and don’t count against your allotment at all. You can get one of those (or all) and still get another FP. That’s how we were able to get Mickey, Space, Dumbo all at the same time. We used our extra hotel keys for Cinderella
Wow, I can’t believe how much you accomplished! We are going to be there 11/23-11/29 and I am nervous about the crowds. We were there pres week last year and did fine. But FP+ makes me nervous. Hope we can still use reg FP and our bands in November.
Everything will remain the same until Spring. The only real troubles with paper FP have been with Soarin, Test Track, Toy Story Mania running out by 9:30-10:30 each morning.
Good to know! We have already reserved fast pass+ for those three attractions. Do you know if rider swap works the same way with fast pass+?
Yes it shouldn’t affect your fp situation