AP... how bad is it really?

[FatCow]

I read from AllEarsNet that AP magnetic strip can go bad (just like any other magnetic strips).

The question is now that I know that AP cards' quality is subpar in contrast to the room key/credit card, how often the magnetic strip is erased / erroneous?

I mean, I don't want to spend extra time to go all the way back to Guest Services when my card suddenly don't work at (say) Haunted Mansion Fast Pass pickup.

 

[tjmw2727]

Our family of 4 have had APs for the past 3 years none of us have had to have it replaced due to wear or the magnetic strip wearing out. Its not plastic like a room card but its a tough tyvek material and we haven't had a problem. I just keep it in a small card holder wallet and treat it the same as I would a cc'd or even a PHP. I have had to have one replaced as it was lost and even then it took about 5 minutes at MGM.

TJ

eta - If your are going to visit WDW enough to make an AP the most cost effective admission I would not let the type of card influence your decision. Allearsnet.com has a great breakeven analysis of the pass options.

 

[cheerdaddy]

Fatcow:
actually, although less superior than the plastic room keys, the paper passes are pretty durable..I have a collection of them in my lock box and they are all in good condition still....the key is to try to properly protect them while you're on vacation...keep them in your wallet or somewhere else where they can stay straight...the other key is to not get them wet...if you can master those two elements; the cards will stay in pretty good shape....at times; the cards do act up in the fastpass machines...if this happens, don't worry; there is always a CM at the FP machines who can manually get your fp's for you....just ask....this has happened to me a few times over the years and it's not a problem

 

[moinab]

If you keep it in the sleeve they give you, it holds up as well as any other card with a magnetic strip. I had to replace mine because I stuck it in my pocket without the sleeve, and the magnetic strip got a dent in it, preventing it from working properly.

 

[phamton]

I've had to replace all 4 of our families AP cards twice in 3 months (yes, 8 replacements). Then I discovered that my purse had a weak magnet in the snap. I removed the snap and haven't had anymore problems. What's funny is the snap never erased my credit cards or my plastic AP passes from Universal Studios.

 

[airhead]

...Ya think Disney would make these passes more durable! especially where they're used thru-out the year! That doesn't make sense to me.

 

[FatCow]

all things aside, I really wish that Disney create these APs just like their room-cards.

 

[DebbieB]

We've had AP's since 1998, we keep them in the sleeves, use it about 20 days per year and we've never had one wear out. I had a friend whose pass kept erasing and it turned out to be her magnetic purse snap also.

 

[goofy4tink]

We had a regular room/park card that went bad. Got demagnitized somehow or other in my backpack. Getting it replaced at POR Guest Services was the only less than pleasant thing that happened that trip. The CM made us feel like we had done something horrible. Man...all he had to do was key in a new card. Says to us.."Try not to wreck this one, okay!" And no, there was no smile on his face.

So the regular ones can get stripped also.

 

[KathyTX]

The AP stock is actually not "subpar" compared to the hard plastic room keys.

The material is very flexible, but it does not tear easily like paper would. I've toted my APs around a lot over the past few years, and haven't had a problem with the mag strip yet.

Just keep it away from magnets and try not to run it through the washing machine, and you should have no problems.

 

[FatCow]

I'm not talking about sub-par in terms of the durability of the card, but about the magnetic strip itself.

The magnetic strip of AP is actually of a lower gauss level so they, in theory, can not last as long as the room key / credit card magnetic strip.

The type of AP's magnetic strip is the same as magnetic strips found in many phone cards in Asia and from my experience using those things (when I used to travel there a lot), the data tend to get lost too easily.

I've never had to re-stripe any of my credit card all my life (and I don't use cash at all), but those phone cards... yikes, the failure rate is close to 30%.

However, thank you very much for the explanation in terms of real-life durability of AP.