Will My Digital Camera Demagnitize My Key to the World?

[Kevenswife2]

I've learned on the Disboards to watch putting my cell phone near my room key/credit card as it will demagnitize them.

What about my new digital camera? Will it mess up my cards?

And exactly how far do my 'cards' need to be from my cell? Can I put something between them in my bag to prevent problems?

 

[scousemouse09]

I didn't know that! WOuld also be interested in the answer please. If my cards are in my purse, surely that will act as a barrier?

 

[PebblesMK]

Last time I went, I had a purse with one small magnetic snap to close it. Every day I had issues with my card being demagnatized (which in turn caused me to spend precious time getting it worked out before entering a park. Those things are sensitive!! I would suggest doing everything you can to keep it away from anything that may "de-activate" it. As far as the camera, I'm not sure if that will do any harm. I hope you find some answers!

 

[MissRoseDarrensAngel]

I am going to let my mother carry the resort keys, ids and tickets with her as she has no digital camera & cell phone like I do. She said she has no issue with that.

I've read in past some people have had issues with things de-magentizing so its best my mother hold the tickets etc.

 

[Kevenswife2]

I'm really surprised no one has given me the answer to this question! Surely someone knows!!

Maybe I should just call Circuit City or Radio Shack and ask them.

 

[WillCAD]

The failure rate of KTTW cards is pretty high. Because of this, people constantly ask, "Why is this happening? How can I stop it?" And CMs, trying to be helpful, continue to pass on info that's incomplete or inaccurate.

Failure of the magnetic strips on KTTW cards are caused by several sources - which is why so many people are flabbergasted when their cards fail even though they keep them religiously away from any electrical device.

Failures are caused by three major sources:

1) Physical damage to the strip.
Damage can be obvious rips in the magnetic strip, or cracks in the plastic card, but more often the damage takes the form of very small scratches from passing the card through turnstiles, FP machines, or cash registers, or from storing the card in a pants pocket, wallet, purse, backpack, fanny pack, etc. These scratches cannot allways be seen by the naked eye, since they often run parralell with the strip itself and are often very small - but they can and will cause the magnetic strip to fail.

2) Static electricity.
Static happens everywhere, especially in cloth pockets. Put your KTTW card, bare, into a pocket, and not only can it get scratched by the cloth and the other items in the pocket, but any static charge generated by the rubbing cloth as you walk can scramble the strip.

But even if you keep your card in a protective pouch or sleeve, static from your clothing can discharge when you ground yourself, and sometimes it can pass through the card and scramble the strip.

3) Strong magnetic fields.
While this one is the most-cited reason for card failure, I personally think that it's the least common of the Big Three. To cause failure of a magnetic strip on a credit card or KTTW card, a magnetic field needs to be A) strong, B) close, and C) in motion across or along the strip.

CMs often cite cell phones, magnetic purse or wallet clasps, or even the mythical "electric eel-skin wallet" as the culprit for a KTTW card failure, but after seeing the difficulty that the Mythbusters had when trying to cause a malfunction in a credit card strip with magnets - it wouldn't fail till they used a really POWERFULL magnet - I tend to doubt that the tiny magnets in most wallets and purses, or the almost-imperceptible magnetic field from a cell phone, FRS radio, or camera battery, could do any appreciable damage to a credit card.

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KTTW cards do fail at a much higher rate than Tyvec MYW tickets, however, so my guess is that the magnetic media used on KTTW cards is much more sensitive and fragile than the media used on Tyvek tickets. As such, it's probably a lot more sensitive and fragile to the magnetic media used on credit and debit cards, so prudence demands that we excercise caution with all WDW ticket media, either plastic or Tyvec.

In the years since WDW started using magnetic strip cards for tickets and room keys, I have never had a KTTW card or a Tyvec ticket fail. I had a room key from an off-site hotel fail once. I keep my tickets and room keys in a vinyl pouch on a neck lanyard, only take them out when they are needed, and handle them by the edges when they are out of the pouch to avoid damaging the magnetic strip. This seems to work for me.

 

[Kevenswife2]

The ONLY time I've had a failure was with a Tyvec ticket and I unknowingly put some magnetic flashy pins in my change purse with it. (What a pain to get fixed!)

I've read on here about cell phones doing it too so 'to be on the safe side' I keep them seperated.

I just bought a small digital camera and a small case and would like to only carry that...but my KTTW would have to be right next to my digital camera. That's why I'm asking.

 

[chartle]

The failure rate of KTTW cards is pretty high. Because of this, people constantly ask, "Why is this happening? How can I stop it?" And CMs, trying to be helpful, continue to pass on info that's incomplete or inaccurate.

Failure of the magnetic strips on KTTW cards are caused by several sources - which is why so many people are flabbergasted when their cards fail even though they keep them religiously away from any electrical device.

Failures are caused by three major sources:

1) Physical damage to the strip.
Damage can be obvious rips in the magnetic strip, or cracks in the plastic card, but more often the damage takes the form of very small scratches from passing the card through turnstiles, FP machines, or cash registers, or from storing the card in a pants pocket, wallet, purse, backpack, fanny pack, etc. These scratches cannot allways be seen by the naked eye, since they often run parralell with the strip itself and are often very small - but they can and will cause the magnetic strip to fail.

2) Static electricity.
Static happens everywhere, especially in cloth pockets. Put your KTTW card, bare, into a pocket, and not only can it get scratched by the cloth and the other items in the pocket, but any static charge generated by the rubbing cloth as you walk can scramble the strip.

But even if you keep your card in a protective pouch or sleeve, static from your clothing can discharge when you ground yourself, and sometimes it can pass through the card and scramble the strip.

3) Strong magnetic fields.
While this one is the most-cited reason for card failure, I personally think that it's the least common of the Big Three. To cause failure of a magnetic strip on a credit card or KTTW card, a magnetic field needs to be A) strong, B) close, and C) in motion across or along the strip.

CMs often cite cell phones, magnetic purse or wallet clasps, or even the mythical "electric eel-skin wallet" as the culprit for a KTTW card failure, but after seeing the difficulty that the Mythbusters had when trying to cause a malfunction in a credit card strip with magnets - it wouldn't fail till they used a really POWERFULL magnet - I tend to doubt that the tiny magnets in most wallets and purses, or the almost-imperceptible magnetic field from a cell phone, FRS radio, or camera battery, could do any appreciable damage to a credit card.

------------------------------------

KTTW cards do fail at a much higher rate than Tyvec MYW tickets, however, so my guess is that the magnetic media used on KTTW cards is much more sensitive and fragile than the media used on Tyvek tickets. As such, it's probably a lot more sensitive and fragile to the magnetic media used on credit and debit cards, so prudence demands that we excercise caution with all WDW ticket media, either plastic or Tyvec.

In the years since WDW started using magnetic strip cards for tickets and room keys, I have never had a KTTW card or a Tyvec ticket fail. I had a room key from an off-site hotel fail once. I keep my tickets and room keys in a vinyl pouch on a neck lanyard, only take them out when they are needed, and handle them by the edges when they are out of the pouch to avoid damaging the magnetic strip. This seems to work for me.

Thank you for this post.

I to think that the CM's use the cell phone, camera, eel skin purse excuse because its easier than saying

"Well a few years ago we found a cheaper supplier for our KTTW cards and its easier to say all this new high tech stuff that people carry around is messing up your card than to admit that we save .1 of a cent on each card which really adds up. So its just cheaper to misinform and inconvenience you."

This is also a good argument for people who want to replace their "paper" cards they get from UT for the more sturdier plastic.

 

[chartle]

The ONLY time I've had a failure was with a Tyvec ticket and I unknowingly put some magnetic flashy pins in my change purse with it. (What a pain to get fixed!)

I've read on here about cell phones doing it too so 'to be on the safe side' I keep them seperated.

I just bought a small digital camera and a small case and would like to only carry that...but my KTTW would have to be right next to my digital camera. That's why I'm asking.

I bought one of those lanyards that have a pouch for your tickets a water bottle holder and a few extra snaps to hold whatever. I used one for my camera and never had a problem with my tickets. This trip was during TS Fay and in end they where very moist at the end of trip and still no problems.

99.999% of people don't have problems with their tickets.

Now if you do have a problem and have it fixed the CM may tell you this happens all the time. Well from their side of the counter it does, statistically they are going to get a certain number of people come in every day with problems.

 

[earljam]

I've never had a problem and i keep my credit cards and my camera in the same bag.

 

[WillCAD]

The ONLY time I've had a failure was with a Tyvec ticket and I unknowingly put some magnetic flashy pins in my change purse with it. (What a pain to get fixed!)

I've read on here about cell phones doing it too so 'to be on the safe side' I keep them seperated.

I just bought a small digital camera and a small case and would like to only carry that...but my KTTW would have to be right next to my digital camera. That's why I'm asking.

I didn't mean to imply that the Tyvek tickets never fail - they certainly do - it's just that the KTTW cards fail a lot more often.

And you're certainly right, it's a real pain to get a failed ticket re-issued, especially KTTW cards, since a new KTTW card can only be issued at the resort where the original was issued. You can get a temp ticket if your KTTW card fails, but to get the actual card replaced you have to go back to your resort.

I wonder if the problem you experienced with a Tyvek ticket was not magnetic-related, but was physical damage related. You say you put magnetic flashy pins in your change purse - could the damage have been caused more by the ticket being put into a change purse full of change and pins with edges scratching it, than by the magnets on some of those pins?

 

[Kevenswife2]

I wonder if the problem you experienced with a Tyvek ticket was not magnetic-related, but was physical damage related. You say you put magnetic flashy pins in your change purse - could the damage have been caused more by the ticket being put into a change purse full of change and pins with edges scratching it, than by the magnets on some of those pins?

Well that certainly is possible. CM asked me if I had anything magnetic in my bag so I figured the problem was the backs on my flashy pins. To fix the problem the CM had to try and read and put into her computer all those little numbers on the back of our cards. After five days use they were getting pretty faded. Another good reason to always make a copy, or write down, the numbers on the back of all tickets!