Annual Passes- What are they made of (besides magic!)

[DisnutDave]

DW and I have a question that has been nagging at us for a while. We don't recall ever seeing it addressed on the boards before.

We've only bought AP's once, in October of 2002. We bought them at the front of MGM. They were made of what we thought was pretty flimsy cardboard. Park Hoppers we'd had before were more solid, and even our Universal AP's were made of plastic, like a credit card. And of course, WDW resort room keys are about as solid as you can get!

We used our Disney AP's on three visits, and by the end they held up but were pretty creased and worn. We'll be buying new ones when we go down this December.

We recently ordered our MVMCP tickets, and when they arrived we were surprised to see that they are plastic.

Isn't it odd that something that has to take quite a lot of use for a full year is made of paper? Or was this an anomoly? What material are other people's AP's made of?

 

[Pluto2003]

picked it up at the park window and it is the cardboard kind.....I too was suprised as I thought they should be the plastic kind.
I can understand one day passes being cardboard but something that is going to be used over and over especially AP passes....should be plastic in my opinion.

 

[bethzfl]

I agree. AP passes should def be the credit card type plastic.

 

[Chuck S]

APs are still the mylar-type thin material. I've had an AP for several years, and only had to get a pass replaced once...after it got drenched in a summer storm (the pass was actually OK, the mag stripe was erased).

As long as you use the "discount info sleeve" for your AP, and take reasonable care, it should be OK. If it does become damaged, it is easily replaced at guests services.

 

[GoldenOldie]

All Disney AP/PAP's are on mylar stock, not plastic. Disney replaces so many AP/PAP's in the course of a year that it is much more cost effective for them to use the mylar stock for them. If you had any idea how many people come to Guest Relations each day and say they forgot their AP (many times only back in the resort room) or they lost their AP or they washed their AP or their dog got their AP or their spouse is in another park with their AP or.... etc. You get the idea. All these AP's get replaced at no charge. Multiply all that by 365 days a year and you'll get an idea of how large and expensive a problem it can be.

Mylar AP's are like paper money. They are both designed to be very durable if handled correctly.

 

[DisnutDave]

Thanks for the replies. We wanted to be sure we didn't get something different than the norm.

GoldenOldie, your explanation makes a lot of sense. We'll be sure to treat our AP's with the respect they deserve!

 

[Kourtnie]

Do you know if you can rent more than one room at the AP discount. We need two and only have one AP

 

[Rhonna]

Kourtnie,

You can have three rooms at AP rates.

 

[Micca]

Thinking about what GoldenOldie said about replacement cards(thanks for the post BTW), I wonder if people would be more careful with a credit card type product over the current mylar?
How many times have any of us misplaced or damaged a plastic card? I have DL, credit cards, discount and gift cards that I've carried much more than one year.

BTW I do keep my AP in it's sheath and it looks pretty much like the day I got it in December 2003.

 

[NotTooGoofy]

I'm surprised they are of mylar stock as well with the several water rides that could soak wallets and their contents (Kali Rapids, Splash Mountain sometimes). I figure this would ruin the APs.

As an aside, it amazes me that people store annual passes in unsecure places when at the park. At an amusement park near where I live, some guy had his family annual passes in his shirt pocket. He went on a roller coaster and coming down the first hill out they popped. I wonder how often this happens on R&R or Space Mountain.