Annual Passholders--A Question about using your passes

[Lauri]

Our family purchased annual passes which we activated in February. We used them again this August, and had to replace them several times each (4 of us), as they were not able to be read at the park turnstiles. We also had difficulty using them to get fastpasses, which caused quite a problem and made us unpopular with people behind us in line .

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm worryed because we're going down again over Thanksgiving, and I know our passes were having problems the last day we were there. I keep them in a separate pouch, away from all other magnetic strips. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Lauri

 

[knieriem]

Our passes do the same thing. My husband's always has trouble scanning when we go into the park and then they both mess up at the fast pass dispensers. Not sure how to keep this from happening. Looking forward to any suggestions though that people post here.

I started a post a few days ago about why the passes are paper(only they aren't really paper but I forgot the actual material name.) Most people agreed that they wish the annual passes would be made more like a credit card material.

 

[BamaTigger]

Ours did the same thing this past September. Had to get new ones as well. I keep them in a separate pouch as well and it doesnt help.

I too wish they would be like the KTTW cards. I dont understand why WDW doesnt do this for the AP holders. It just doesnt make sense in my opinion!

The CM told us to keep them away from anything magnetic and not to put them side by side. We dont and they still get messed up.

 

[vicki_c]

Doesn't solve the underlying problem, but they are easily replaced at Guest Services - quick and painless.

Keep them (and regular tickets) away from your cell phone is what I've heard the most. We have never had a problem with our APs in 4 trips, though.

 

[FigNewton]

Doesn't solve the underlying problem, but they are easily replaced at Guest Services - quick and painless.

As "quick and painless" as the process at guest services may be - it is not by any means quick and painless to take time out of your day to actually go to guest services to get replacements when you can't get your fast pass. Any disruption of your normal touring requiring you to go to guest services can't really be called "quick and painless" imo.

 

[vicki_c]

As "quick and painless" as the process at guest services may be - it is not by any means quick and painless to take time out of your day to actually go to guest services to get replacements when you can't get your fast pass. Any disruption of your normal touring requiring you to go to guest services can't really be called "quick and painless" imo.

You can always get a FP right then from the CM working the attraction if your tickets aren't working - no need to drop what you're doing and miss that critical FP opportunity! Get the replacement APs when it's convenient for you. Just trying to let the OP know it was an easy fix. No need to sound so hostile!

 

[Lauri]

Wow, you guys are fast. Yest, I wish they were plastic cards, as some of the fastpass machines are not set up to take paper tickets.

I'm glad it's not just us, but it is a real pain to replace the tickets, especially since it's usually only 1-2 tickets at a time that need to be replaced. It always seems like they stop working when you have to be the first people in the park, to get the hardest to get fastpasses.

Still looking to see if anyone has tips on how to get this not to happen...

Lauri

 

[spodie]

I've only had to replace my AP once this year and have never had any other problems with it. I keep it in it's own pocket in my wallet inside of the booklet that they give you to put it in. I do agree that they make it plastic instead of that paper/plastic material though...

 

[FigNewton]

You can always get a FP right then from the CM working the attraction if your tickets aren't working - no need to drop what you're doing and miss that critical FP opportunity! Get the replacement APs when it's convenient for you. Just trying to let the OP know it was an easy fix. No need to sound so hostile!

LOL you thought that sounded hostile?!?

 

[Stacybaeasm]

It could be your cell phone. I had the same problem a few years ago. Kept it in my lanyard pouch and away from most magnetic things BUT my cell phone would get near enough in my purse or holding it that it would demagnatize through the plastic pouch. I switched to a clip pouch and keep it on the opposite side from my bag and haven't had a problem since. Plus - I think the newer gadget phones (Iphone, Touch, etc, etc) are more likely to demagnitize stuff.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We had problems at Epcot several days but they worked at other parks and the FP machines. Maybe sometimes it is the scanner and not the pass.

 

[TillyMarigold]

I've heard that if your AP doesn't work going in the regular way, put it in upside down ... they can go in any way, but most people put them in right side up, so that reader gets out of whack much more often. I had mine not work at the entrance to ... AK I think ... and the CM just had me put it in upside down and it worked.

There have been several posts on here from CMs that everything they tell you about credit cards/cell phones is BS, the problem is that the material itself tends to become demagnetized but Disney wants the guests to think it's their fault.

I've never come across a FP machine that didn't take APs, I don't see why they'd do that since the FP machines were invented before Disney switched to having the plastic room keys, all the tickets used to be paper like the APs are now.

 

[Snork]

I thought my wife was going to tear the head off a cast member after she was told for like the 6th time that day to keep her AP away from magnets or her camera or her cell phone. We had to get hers re-printed twice on our last trip.

Oh yeah, her AP was not in her camera bag with all that stuff, it was in her wallet. Try telling that to a CM and they give you "that look."

 

[DCbride]

When I got the luggage tags from DD, I cut the clear plastic down a bit and slid my AP into the space where you write your luggage info. It makes it so much easier to find in my bag because it is now a hard plastic ticket. You do have to take it out for FP and to enter parks, but it has saved on wear and tear by just being with all the other things in my bag. And I have never had an issue with it not working.

 

[rie'smom]

Doesn't solve the underlying problem, but they are easily replaced at Guest Services - quick and painless.

Keep them (and regular tickets) away from your cell phone is what I've heard the most. We have never had a problem with our APs in 4 trips, though.

Not quick and not painless
Our APs gave us problems at DHS last April. I sent my daughter and her friends to wait at rope drop for RnR while I went to get the APs replaced. Pete from Pennsylvania was not a happy CM for some reason. Got the APs and went to TSM to get FPs. After waiting in line for 20 minutes to get FPs, the APs wouldn't work but the nice CM gave me a ticket that was good for FPs all day. The girls decided to get in line at TOT, so I went back to guest services to get the APs fixed. Pete started accusing me of trying to get FPs while my daughter and her friends were not in the parks! He was really ugly to me. I invited him to walk with me to the TOT line to find them if he thought I was lying. He reissued them and I noticed that he issued 2 in my name instead of 1 in my name, 1 in my daughter's name, and 1 in my niece's name. Once again, he started fussing at me! It wasn't my fault that he typed in the wrong information.
It was an awful and I was terribly embarrassed because other guests were looking at me as though I'd done something wrong.
I'm hoping not to have problems in November.

 

[campingdawgs]

I keep all of our APs together in the booklet we were given. The booklet then goes in the water wallet (came with some swim shorts) in one pocket, and my cell phone goes in my other pocket. Some of the APs did not work on some occasions, but there is almost always a CM who will give you a special card to use for FP so you don't have to go to guest services until you are leaving the park.

 

[Jacklynn]

yep, we live 30 mins from Disney and go several times a month, and are constantly having to have new tickets printed

 

[Manda]

Not quick and not painless
Our APs gave us problems at DHS last April. I sent my daughter and her friends to wait at rope drop for RnR while I went to get the APs replaced. Pete from Pennsylvania was not a happy CM for some reason. Got the APs and went to TSM to get FPs. After waiting in line for 20 minutes to get FPs, the APs wouldn't work but the nice CM gave me a ticket that was good for FPs all day. The girls decided to get in line at TOT, so I went back to guest services to get the APs fixed. Pete started accusing me of trying to get FPs while my daughter and her friends were not in the parks! He was really ugly to me. I invited him to walk with me to the TOT line to find them if he thought I was lying. He reissued them and I noticed that he issued 2 in my name instead of 1 in my name, 1 in my daughter's name, and 1 in my niece's name. Once again, he started fussing at me! It wasn't my fault that he typed in the wrong information.
It was an awful and I was terribly embarrassed because other guests were looking at me as though I'd done something wrong.
I'm hoping not to have problems in November.

In June, I was also treated really badly at DHS when our APs (both of them - that I'd only had for about 12 hours and never used for park admission) didn't work. It wasn't quick or painless and it was humiliating and upsetting.

(Started to write out the drama - but it isn't worth it... must. let. go. of. anger. )

I was so worried about it happening again on this trip and being subjected to that again. The good news is that they worked flawlessly on our October trip. Better news is that on previous trips to the June debacle, it was never a problem (just an annoyance) to get not working APs reprinted either.

 

[richmo]

I don't think this has anything to do with the passes being AP's. We had four passes in August; one an AP that was used 5 days in the spring and 3 new 10 day park hoppers. Two of the passes (all paper) would work just fine in the turnstile but almost consistently failed in the FP machines. Twice I was given vouchers (another paper ticket) for FP use only (this ticket says FastPass on it and works in the FastPass machine for that day at that park only). Finally, I wound up getting Guest Services to replace the ticket. They seemed surprised that it would work fine in the turnstiles, but not in FP's.

I was pretty surprised at the number of retries that were needed over the course of our trip. I can only think of a time or two where the turnstile rejected one of our tickets, but dozens of times where the FP machine couldn't handle it. (These were not instances where I was trying to get a new FP too early, these were failures of the FP machine to read the ticket...if I remember correctly , the machine would beep twice)

I wonder if they had a bad batch of tickets in August, or maybe the readers are getting old...especially the FP machines, which must get thousands of hits a day. I also wonder if they should go to a bar code system with tickets (I see the turnstiles have them as a backup) or are bar codes too easy to counterfeit?

 

[Geoff_M]

Keep them (and regular tickets) away from your cell phone is what I've heard the most.

I can attest to that... Last time we had to replace our APs about three times in four days. The last time we had to have them swapped the CM asked if they were being kept near a cell phone. They were! Fearing that I'd lose it off of my belt, I was carrying my phone in the same fanny pack as the APs, and there were riding next to one another. After I returned my phone to my belt, no more AP problems for the rest of the two week trip!

I was skeptical, as I've seen how hard it is to demagnetize a credit card on Mythbusters... but the CM appeared to be right.