demagnitized tickets

[arielsleepingbeauty]

We just came back from WDW. I don't know if anyone else had this problem with the new tickets, but three times my ticket was demagnitized. I was so upset. Not only did i have to stand in line to get through the turnstyle, but then i had to stand in another line to get a new ticket. The first time it happened a cast memeber asked me where i kept it, i told her in my wallet in my fannypack. She said that a cell phone could demagnitize it. So i kept my phone off. Then it happened again and again. No other explanation was offered, but they did give me a free sleeve to put it in.. I am really unhappy with the new ticket system. It wastes alot of time. I didn't know if i was the only one that had problems with it.

 

[sheri236]

this happened to me too last year several times. it was my cell phone--i had to keep them in totally separate places.

 

[88Keys]

Not only do cell phones demagnetize them, but so do other credit cards -- you just need to find a completely separate place to put them. When we had to go through this, we mntioned politely about the time it was eating up, and they gave my family 4 fast passes for any ride --- they called it "time back".

 

[Hopetobee]

If I put my ticket in an outside pocket of a waist pack, and phone in the inside pocket, would that be far away enough? or would I need to put ticket or phone in my shorts pocket?
That sounds confusing, can you put ticket and phone in separate pockets of a waist pack and it not demagnetize the ticket?

 

[mjgruber]

If I put my ticket in an outside pocket of a waist pack, and phone in the inside pocket, would that be far away enough? or would I need to put ticket or phone in my shorts pocket?
That sounds confusing, can you put ticket and phone in separate pockets of a waist pack and it not demagnetize the ticket?

How do they know how many days were left? Can they retrieve the information?

 

[Deb & Bill]

How do they know how many days were left? Can they retrieve the information?

They can very easily track the use of the ticket up to that time so they can issue a new ticket with the same info on it.

 

[SueM in MN]

How do they know how many days were left? Can they retrieve the information?

The information isn't kept on the ticket. The information is on their computer - the magnetic strip on the ticket has only the information needed to access that "account" on their computer.

 

[WillCAD]

This is not a problem indemic to the "new" tickets. It's a problem with any type of card that has a magnetic strip - WDW tickets, hotel room keys, ATM cards, credit cards, etc.

Magnetic fields can demagnetize these strips. Magnetic fields are created by any electrical device, from a lamp to a cell phone to a TV. And guess what - batteries have magnetic fields, too, so turning off your cell phone is not always a solution, because the phones battery can still demagnetize a strip.

The problem seems more common at WDW, but only because WDW issues hundreds of thousands of park passes, room keys, and other tickets every week, and people naturally seem to put them all together in a pile and store them in lanyards, pockets, and fanny packs.

There are several precaustions you can take to reduce the possibility of demagnetizing your tickets and room keys:

1) Store cards in a remote location from any electrical device (phone, camera, radio, etc.) Keep at least several inches between the cards and the electrical devices.

2) If you have multiple cards, be careful how you stack them. Don't let the magnetic strips come into direct contact with each other - one strip rubbing against another strip in a pocket or lanyard pouch can demagnetize both, just like rubbing a magnet against a cassette tape.

3) Keep cards away from heat and moisture. This is especially difficult in a theme park environment, but it can be done. Heat causes static electricicty, and static is the enemy of all forms of magnetic data storage, including the strips on WDW cards. Moisture can cause the paper coating of the Tyvec tickets to expand and contract slightly, stretching the magnetic strip just enough to crinkle it.

4) Keep cards in some kind of a container, rather than just in your pocket. Neck lanyards are popular, as are waist packs - but don't just throw the cards into a large open pocket of a waist pack, be sure to use a waist pack that has credit card pockets.

 

[tmt martins]

The phones speaker magnet is what demagnitises them so turning off does no good.

Different phones have stronger speakers so you really can't tell yours until it happens.

However the biggest problem is that when they are put away they get scratched mainly on the very edge that starts the reader or static from another cards .

I keep several cards together in a small plastic holder and have never had one problem just keep them all facing the same direction same end up and you should be fine.

 

[MartDM]

So i kept my phone off. Then it happened again and again. No other explanation was offered...

You just provided your own explanation. Turning the phone off does no good - you needed to keep the phone and ticket separate from one another. You essentially caused the repeated demagnitization by continuing to keep the ticket with the cell phone after being told the phone would cause the problem.

Live and learn...I'm sure it was frustrating but now you know and so does everyone else who reads this thread. At least your story provides a public service, right?

 

[lclark0621]

It happened to me a few times to.

I have never had a cell phone demagnitize a credit card or atm or any other hotel key. But if my WDW ticket/hotel key ever came with in a few inches of a cell phone the card went dead.

A few times it happened, I did not even have my cell phone. No explaination for why it happened those times either.

It is something I just accept is going to happen & there are sometimes no reasons for it.

 

[DebbieB]

I have a friend who had problem with her AP about 4 or 5 years ago, it turned out to be the magnetic snap on her purse.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We just came back from WDW. I don't know if anyone else had this problem with the new tickets, but three times my ticket was demagnitized. I was so upset. Not only did i have to stand in line to get through the turnstyle, but then i had to stand in another line to get a new ticket. The first time it happened a cast memeber asked me where i kept it, i told her in my wallet in my fannypack. She said that a cell phone could demagnitize it. So i kept my phone off. Then it happened again and again. No other explanation was offered, but they did give me a free sleeve to put it in.. I am really unhappy with the new ticket system. It wastes alot of time. I didn't know if i was the only one that had problems with it.

You're certainly not the only one to have this problem. When we were at WDW a few weeks ago, we commented on how so many people had this happen, we've never seen this be such a common problem before. It wouldn't be an exageration to say that at every park we entered, we saw this happen to at least one person in line at that time. DH said that since it's happening so much now (as compared to previous years), and cell phone usage is so much more prevalent, that it's probably cell phones causing the demagnetization. I know that I keep my park ticket in a separate little pouch in a separate pocket, or I use a lanyard just for my ticket. But it's a very common problem.

 

[airline2]

the best soultion to the problem would be for disney to switch to a bar coded ticket.

 

[katied]

Another problem will be if your purse has a magnetic clasp or snap on it. That happened to me on one trip, and once I stopped putting the ticket in the purse, no problems (of course it did mean I had to make sure I never lost if from my pocket and took it out of my pocket at the end of the day). Now I have a baglinni with a separate section just for the tickets.

 

[CanadianGuy]

I've had cell phones since 1992. When they were a LOT bigger. And had bigger speakers, magnets etc.

I have had ATM and credit cards since 1987.

I have stayed in LOTS of hotels with the mag stripe hotel cards.

I have NEVER had a room key, ATM card or any other 'hard plastic' card demagnetized by being in proximity to my cell phone. Or anything else for that matter.

The Tyvek tickets (or whatever that flimsy material is) are a problem. They are so thin that there is not enough magnetic material to properly store the information required on the stripe reliably.

Disney is using them, cause they are a lot cheaper than the hard plastic cards that hotel guests get as room guys. A few pennies times the number of non-hotel guest tickets and you can see how that would add up.

Regardless, these tickets are a problem. For Disney to blame it on the guest (or their cell phone) is irresponsible. They've chosen to cheap out on these tickets and the guests are the ones who pay with wasted time.

J

 

[disneysnowflake]

We almost didn't get into MNSSHP party because none of our tickets worked.

It's odd because our room keys worked fine. My credit cards worked fine. It was those MNSSHP tickets that didn't work. I ordered them online and got them in the mail.

I had my receipt with me, but the CMs said they couldn't let us in. We had to ask for someone else to okay for us to come in. Then this one younger guy talked to me like I did this on purpose. I asked him why my room key/ticket worked and my credit card worked, but not that. He said I must have done something to them by keeping them near a magnet. He also said the next time we had this happen we were going to have to find some other activity to do for the night.

It took us about 30 minutes to finally be allowed to get into the park that night. What a hassle.

 

[rayjess]

Same thing happened to us this past February. I think I had to visit the help desk area of every park due to demagnetizing. I tried doing what they said by keeping away from cell phone, no tickets touching each other, and keep tickets separated. Still had same problem every day. My room card even got demagnetized and had to get a new one issued. I could use that card to make purchases but could not open door to our room.

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

Last year, I had my cell and card in the same pocket the whole time....no problem.

This year?? Holy cow. Mine was demagnetized 3 times (I even kept my cell in the diaper bag rather than on me to try and keep it from happening....happened anyway.

My sisters was demagnetized 3 times....she had my mom carry her cell in her waistpack....didn't help.

We had room charging, so we didn't carry any other CC's. All that was in my waist pack was my ticket, a brush, chapstick, some cash (in a wallet type thing) and mints.

DH had his pass in his wallet with his other CC's and his was fine the whole week. Same with my mom. My son had his in his pack with a camera. He was fine too.

The girl at the desk said sometimes even eel skin wallets can do it.

On the upside, took about 2 minutes to get a special ticket for the rest of the day from Guest relations, and then another 2 at the hotel desk for them to print up a new card.

Maybe my sis and I just have a "magnetic" personality.

 

[kaytieeldr]

the best soultion to the problem would be for disney to switch to a bar coded ticket.

Well, not really. The best solution to the problem is to keep any item with a magnetic strip away from any item that can cause that strip to become demagnetized. It's not Disney's (or MasterCard's, or Macy's, or Hilton's, etc) responsibility to redesign credit cards, room keys, park passes, etc. As has been indicated in this thread, MANY items can cause park passes to become demagnetized. Nobody seems to think that credit card companies should redesign credit cards, that purse manufacturers should eliminate magnetic closures, that hotels should return to room keys vs key cards...