AP is cardboard?!?!?!?!

[dopeynme]

Hi, All! Not sure where to post this........Why is it that a 5-day or 7-day park pass looks like a credit card, very sturdy plastic, but my annual pass, valid for 1 year, is made of cardboard?

DH and I have both had situations when the AP was "fussy", the reader didn't like it and had to be put through a couple times before it would work. Then, last week, mine would not work at all. I had to go to GS, wait in line behind 7 parties, just to get my AP reprinted. Wasting time, inconvenient.....I don't get it. Who thought cardboard was a good idea?

Does anyone know where at Disney I should write with my complaint? I am a DVC owner, D23 member, Disney lover and I rarely complain.....but this just annoyed me.....Thanks for any insight.

 

[chartle]

Hi, All! Not sure where to post this........Why is it that a 5-day or 7-day park pass looks like a credit card, very sturdy plastic, but my annual pass, valid for 1 year, is made of cardboard?

DH and I have both had situations when the AP was "fussy", the reader didn't like it and had to be put through a couple times before it would work. Then, last week, mine would not work at all. I had to go to GS, wait in line behind 7 parties, just to get my AP reprinted. Wasting time, inconvenient.....I don't get it. Who thought cardboard was a good idea?

Does anyone know where at Disney I should write with my complaint? I am a DVC owner, D23 member, Disney lover and I rarely complain.....but this just annoyed me.....Thanks for any insight.

There are a lot of paper versus plastic threads here. First its not cardboard but Tyvek a very strong laminated hi tech material.

Most tickets that are not issued at a hotel are Tyvek. The hotels use plastic because thats what works in the door locks.

I a nut shell people have reported as many problems with the plastic cards as the Tyvek cards.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

We became AP holders for the first time in April and it was a huge nightmare... so much wasted time at Guest services! I posted about my experiences with our AP's when we returned. I really hope these issues don't occur on our next vacation in Nov. but I'm not holding my breath!

This is the link to the thread I began in April.

 

[Hmom03]

I don't care what they are made of, I just want my AP to be sturdier than it is now.

 

[Chuck S]

I've had APs for years. I even remember when they were laminated with your photo. I've only had to have one replaced since they went to the Tyvek cards. Yet friends of mine, who had their tickets on the room keys, have had to have theirs replaced up to 3 times in one trip.

 

[OKW Lover]

Our experience is similar to Chuck's. (I've had an AP since the mid-80's) Typically my wife and I use our AP's about 30 days a year, most of which have multiple park entries in a day. Never had a problem with it tearing/ripping/falling apart.

 

[Alexander]

The biggest problem with AP's, room keys, or anything that has the magnetic strip is demagnetizing. You have to keep those cards away from all other cards with strips, and most importantly, away from cell phones!

 

[Alesia]

The biggest problem with AP's, room keys, or anything that has the magnetic strip is demagnetizing. You have to keep those cards away from all other cards with strips, and most importantly, away from cell phones!

And all magnets. Most people don't even think about the magnetic closures on their purses.

 

[MinnieGi]

We've been AP holders on and off for the last 8 years. Usually we have no problems with the AP card. But the last time we were there our cards gave us continual problems and I also ended up at GS to get mine replaced. Ugh! It was a pain in the butt. Hoping on our next trip in Dec. when we are issued new AP's our cards will be okay.

 

[walkdmc]

I know! RIght?! It's ridiculous, couldn't believe it myself. However, after one weeks worth of heavy usage, it seemed to hold up fine. It does have some type of waterproof covering, not your typical cheap cardboard.

 

[walkdmc]

I don't mean to sound stupid, but why do I have to keep my card away from my cell phone? I keep both in my bag, close to each other!

 

[mousermerf]

Premier passes are plastic.

You... lesser.. AP holders don't get the refined quality of imported hand crafted fine tuned plastic goodness that Premier passholders do.

 

[Chuck S]

I don't mean to sound stupid, but why do I have to keep my card away from my cell phone? I keep both in my bag, close to each other!

All electronics have a weak, surrounding electo-magnetic field. Occasionally this field is strong enough to damage the data on credit cards and park passes.

 

[SueM in MN]

Our experience is similar to Chuck's. (I've had an AP since the mid-80's) Typically my wife and I use our AP's about 30 days a year, most of which have multiple park entries in a day. Never had a problem with it tearing/ripping/falling apart.

Our experience is the same

The biggest problem with AP's, room keys, or anything that has the magnetic strip is demagnetizing. You have to keep those cards away from all other cards with strips, and most importantly, away from cell phones!

My AP had gotten demagnetized once and while I was waiting to get it taken care of, I asked the CM if they had much trouble with the APs. He explained they were made of Tyvek material and they saw very few of those come in compared to the hard plastic cards. He said they got many people coming in each day with problems with the plastic cards. The 2 most common reasons were scratches on the magnetic strip, cracked cards (he said most got sat on). Demagnetized plastic cards were 3rd.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

Premier passes are plastic.

You... lesser.. AP holders don't get the refined quality of imported hand crafted fine tuned plastic goodness that Premier passholders do.

hand drawn calligraphy for the name printing, and an ID number hand chosen by a numerologist.

The only choice for the theme park goer with discriminating taste.

 

[DOOM1001]

I have no problem with my Tyvek paper AP,one time it did become demagnetized and wouldn't read at the entrance to EPCOT,in the span of 2 minutes a CM on a segway came and took my pass and was back with a new pass before I could blink.If the passes were plastic with your picture on it it wouldn't have been as easy as it was to replace my pass.I've had the Tyvek passes for years now and they hold up well throughout the year.My Busch/Sea World AP's also were replaced from plastic to Tyvek.My Universal AP is still plastic as it's the same pass from almost 10 years back,but if I lost it or had to have it replaced I'm 99% certain they also have switched to Tyvek.