Indeed.
The tickets do not tear unless you cut a "starter notch" into them. Trust me, I was given the task of destroying rolls of ticket media one night. It tooks some time and a good pair of scissors to cut up what was left of the ticket rolls.
The problem with the plastic cards is that the magnetic strip is a lot more sensitive. When the room keys didn't work for the card readers at Pleasure Island, it was usually because they had been rubbing against a credit card, or other magnetic source.