Paper or Plastic (tickets)

[Gorjus]

Could any one explain to me; or has anyone ever thought this odd:

If you are staying at WDW for, say, 10 days, you receive a plastic, credit card type of ticket, often doubling as your room key.

If you are a pass holder, whose ticket must last an entire year, you receive a paper ticket.

In what universe does this make sense? Can anyone help?

 

[The Mom]

I've often wondered the same thing, especially after my AP has been crumpled and torn in my purse or pocket. (Where I keep it handy to get a FP)

I found it was worth it to get a lanyard with carrying case for it. Not perfect, but better.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

In terms of costs it makes no sense at all. Disney will presumably issue more plastic room key type passes in a year than paper, but the cost of the plastic ticket will be accounted for, somewhere.
With a 12 month pass, the holder is more likely to misplace it and so the replacement cost of a paper ticket is cheaper.

 

[metscool]

Why would WDW do that. Can't you go to one of the ticket places near the parks and get the tickets. Or do you have to get the tickets at your resort.

 

[mrtoad]

I agree, makes no sense at all.

 

[reptar77]

When I recieved my AP last Dec I asked the same question. They replied that I could get a plastic ticket but there was a fee to recieve that. I could though get a replacement paper ticket if my was ruined. It has been beat up several times by the readers at the AK.

 

[One Lil Spark]

I found it was worth it to get a lanyard with carrying case for it. Not perfect, but better.

To the OP: I am going to point out that this was probably their objective...

They're basically encouraging you to spend your $$ on a lanyard and they're hoping you'll buy it @ WDW. Then, this could possibly interest people in pin trading, etc...

A chain reaction of spending all because they were smart enough to give you a paper ticket! :lol: Smart little devils.

 

[Master Yoda]

Sounds kind of weird but it has been me experience that the paper tickets actually last longer than the printed plastic tickets.

I keep 5 AP's in my wallet. In nearly 6 years with monthly sometimes weekly use I have yet to have one go bad. Our Jacksonville zoo membership is on a printed plastic ticket and it takes about 1 to 2 months for the printed material to start coming off and the magnetic strip will be shot in about 6 months. This is with at most monthly use. I have yet to get more than 6 months use out of a check card but that is with daily use so it is to be expected.

The biggest problem I see with both the printed and stamped plastic tickets is the printing wears off. Granted the stamped cards will always have the raised letters but they are quite hard to read when the coloring wears off them. Not to mention the stamped cards are much more expensive to produce. The plastic printed tickets also double as a room key and can be used for charging so matching them with that format must also come into play.

If Disney was replacing paper AP's left and right it is pretty safe to say that they would go another way.

 

[mrtoad]

The problem with the magnetic strip you have with your check cards seem high, as I have never had one fail on me. There is probably something in the way you have them stored that is demagnetizing them. They say to make sure all your cards face the same way in in your walet so the black strips all face the same direction. Not sure if that is the problem or not, but just thought I would mention it.

Sounds kind of weird but it has been me experience that the paper tickets actually last longer than the printed plastic tickets.

I keep 5 AP's in my wallet. In nearly 6 years with monthly sometimes weekly use I have yet to have one go bad. Our Jacksonville zoo membership is on a printed plastic ticket and it takes about 1 to 2 months for the printed material to start coming off and the magnetic strip will be shot in about 6 months. This is with at most monthly use. I have yet to get more than 6 months use out of a check card but that is with daily use so it is to be expected.

The biggest problem I see with both the printed and stamped plastic tickets is the printing wears off. Granted the stamped cards will always have the raised letters but they are quite hard to read when the coloring wears off them. Not to mention the stamped cards are much more expensive to produce. The plastic printed tickets also double as a room key and can be used for charging so matching them with that format must also come into play.

If Disney was replacing paper AP's left and right it is pretty safe to say that they would go another way.

 

[FAIRIEDUST78]

I find this to be odd. I understand the economics of it,however I do have a DL AP and it is plastic. THe graphics never fade,or peel,and I have never had any problems with the magnetic strip wearing out. Seems weird to me.

 

[uglybug2005]

The mag stripes on the resort Ving cards demagnetize about 2-3x as often as the paper tickets. Paper tix cost much less to reproduce. The most common reason APs are reissued at the parks is the passholder left their pass at home/in the hotel room. There is no replacement fee for annual passes at WDW because they are on the paper stock. Ving card replacement is factored into the resort rates. You have to stand in an extra line after buying your ticket to process an annual pass at locations that use plastic "ID" type stock (somewhere between Ving and a credit card in terms of durability).
Unless you keep your AP next to a magnet (cell phone, money clip, or purse snap. Contrary to popular belief, your credit card will not damage the stripe unless you put the two stripes face to face -and credit cards will do that to each other if you're crazy enough to store them like that), fold it in half, staple it, or laminate it, it will last a full year. If you lose or misplace it, replacement is free, quick and easy (assuming you follow the AP requirements and carry your photo ID with you at all times).
Having covered all of those questions, the only benefit to having your AP on plastic stock is that it seems flashier, *better* or more important. WDW tickets are like people. It's not what they look like, it's what's on the inside that counts. Will your admission entitlements change at all if you don't have a picture of Mickey on the back of your ticket? Of course not. Same thing goes for paper vs. plastic.

As far as demagnetizing goes, WDW is in the process of switching to a barcode system (which means replacing hundreds of very expensive printers and upgrading thousands of computers). That will make the paper v. plastic issue even more trivial.

 

[shoppingnut]

I have had problems with both types of cards. And, most recently, have been having more problems with the plastic room keys than ever before. My trip in July I replaced the room key 3 times because it didn't work. And during one trip a while ago I had to replace my AP 3 times because the machine bent a line down the middle at Epcot, so it wouldn't work when I went to MK. I think both types of cards have problems and neither one is better than the other IMO.

 

[WDW_Sam]

I can't see the sense in it. We got the full annual passes and I was expecting some extravagant plastic cards with names embroided onto it hahah But no - A piece of paper! !

Sam

 

[mousermerf]

I can't for the life of me figure out why people seem to care.

The "paper" tickets aren't like newsprint or regular paper, they're very durable, but not bulky, which the room keys arguably actually are.

As someone who has several credit cards, IDs, membership cards, etc.. i'm happy my AP is thinner but durable.

 

[CheersBoston]

How could a paper ticket double as a room key??

 

[TTATraveler]

What really annoys me is the AP renewal voucher you receive if you order ahead of time. They send you a thick plastic card which you proceed to trade in for your real AP, a flimsey slightly laminated paper

 

[reptar77]

How could a paper ticket double as a room key??

When you purchase packages with lodging they incorporate you room key with theme park tickets. AP are not done this way.

 

[uglybug2005]

The reason plastic stock is used when tix or certs are mailed out is so they don't get bent in the sorting machinery at the post office. Also, the paper stock is not laminated, nor is it flimsy (try to tear an old one in half without cutting/biting it) it actually has a layer of plastic between two layers of paper (the newer stock being used in the TVMs is actually 100% plastic). If your overall experience suffers greatly because of how thick or thin your admission media is, or what it looks like, maybe you need to reexamine your priorities. This is super trivial stuff. You are paying for admission entitlements, not for a souvenir membership card. If you want a fancy status symbol to make you feel special and show other folks that you are an annual passholder, there are plenty of exclusive pins and t-shirts that you can actually display, rather than holding a fancy ID in your pocket that no one knows about but you.

 

[TTATraveler]

The reason plastic stock is used when tix or certs are mailed out is so they don't get bent in the sorting machinery at the post office. Also, the paper stock is not laminated, nor is it flimsy (try to tear an old one in half without cutting/biting it) it actually has a layer of plastic between two layers of paper (the newer stock being used in the TVMs is actually 100% plastic). If your overall experience suffers greatly because of how thick or thin your admission media is, or what it looks like, maybe you need to reexamine your priorities. This is super trivial stuff. You are paying for admission entitlements, not for a souvenir membership card. If you want a fancy status symbol to make you feel special and show other folks that you are an annual passholder, there are plenty of exclusive pins and t-shirts that you can actually display, rather than holding a fancy ID in your pocket that no one knows about but you.

I really don't care about the type of paper stock used for the AP, I just couldn't understand why the voucher being exchanged was made better then the actual AP, but your explanation makes sense about becoming bent in postal sorting machinery.

 

[uglybug2005]

Only the part that answered your question was specifically directed at you, TTAT, the rest was for "hypothetical you", made up of the many random individuals who are truly, sincerely, and deeply upset that they don't get their tickets "on a credit card..."
Admission media, like just about everything at WDW, is the way it is based on years of research, testing, adjustments, and experience from many members of the organization. While there is always room for improvement (and thousands of people work day in and day out to find and implement those improvements) it's fair to say that -most of the time- there are several very good reasons for the way certain things are done.