Why such cheap material for Park Hopper tickets?

[navrik]

Doesn't the material (thin cardboard) seem kind of cheap for Park Hopper tickets? You would think after paying hundreds of dollars they could give you something a little more substantial since they must withstand several days of sweat, suntan lotion, FastPass machines, water rides, (rain?) I pay $50 for a Six Flags season pass and you get a piece of plastic (like a credit card) with your photo and a bar code on it. Even if you lose it no one else can use it.

 

[MobileBadBoy]

I've got a Hopper that lasted 7 days, and it's got maybe 2 small wrinkles in it. It stayed in my wallet for probably 3 extra months, and after looking at it right now, the ticket is uneffected. It's actually the 'sleeve' that it comes in that's wrinkled.

But mostly I get a resort key that holds my ticket(s), and it's like a credit card, but the way my last trip fell, I needed to buy an extra hopper to go along with what I had left over from the trip before.

 

[MKCustodial]

I suppose that, if the tickets we plastic cards, then they'd be even MORE expensive then they already are.


That being said, I'd like to know more about using your rook key as a ticket, Mobile BB. Is this option available for any tickets or just the Ultimate Park Hoppers (the ones that are good for lenght of stay to resort Guests)?

 

[Katherine]

I remember they use to be little "credit dards" with a picture of you on it before they got this finger print thing up and running. Are they still using that? I remember it but it was about 6-7 years ago, it was only for annual passes though.

 

[WDWspider]

My hoppers from 98 were the cardboard, but my hoppers I bought in 01 were plastic. I think this is much better, since days never expire. We have two days stored for a future trip. Did they go back to cardboard again? Or do the Disney Stores still sell plastic ones?

 

[KathyG/poohbear]

From my experience under the Disney club last March...if you bought your tickets at the Disney Store you got the neat credit card type ticket for the 5 day hoppers etc.

What was wierd was getting to the Orlando airport and buying AP and having them be cardboard. I know they replace them anytime but Disney is the only park I know that doesn't give you a credit card ticket for an AP.

 

[figmentmom]

I purchased an Annual Pass last August, and it's sort of a reinforced (but thin) cardboard, with a paper sleeve to protect it. I had my doubts, too, but it has held up very, very well.

 

[MDJ]

When we were there in September, we bought our hopper tix off-site, and we were staying on-site. When we checked in, I asked our hostess if we could have our passes put on our room key, and she said yes, just to let her have them. Unfortunately, they were still out in the car, so I suggested that we would bring them back down after we carried our luggage up. When we walked back down, I went to the customer service desk, where I was told that they couldn't do it. I walked back over to one of the check-in counters where they said sure they could do it. They basically took my pass, gave me credit for it, charged me for a new pass, and put it on a new room key. By the way, they were discounted tickets and I didn't have to pay a price difference. Very nice and helpful.

Mark

 

[Sean23]

I have a paper ticket and it is a Premiun Annual Pass. I go to the waterparks on a weekly basis and am not paying $7 for a locker, I just keep it in a dry box around my neck and it keeps it dry most of the time. The pass has been replaced 5 times this year due to getting wet or over usage and I cannot keep it in the sleeve they give because if it gets wet it is really a mess trying to get that pass out. Disney replaces the pass with no problem, but
I do remember a few years back when the passes had a plastic coat on them and they were very sturdy and waterproof.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

The last time we used "hopper passes" they were made of card (it was quite thick and stood the test of time). Other visits have included "Length of Stay" passes while on WDW property - these were plastic credit cards which doubled as room keys - much more practible.

 

[mkt]

actually, WDW is in the process of converting all of their tickets to plastic credit card types... albeit not as hard as a credit card, more like a prepaid phonecard

 

[Fido]

When we went in 2001, I had an old PH Pass from '99 that you could barely read or tell what it was. I had kept it in my wallet the whole time. The lady had trouble telling (with the aid of a machine) how many days I actually had left on the thing. I swear I had three, she said it was one. Oh well.

Oh, and someone mentioned picture ID passes....I remember that they tried that in the 90's sometime, but it didn't last long. The pictures were so small and pixilated that you could barely tell who it was anyway. One of my sisters used my other sister's picture Park Hopper to get in the following trip and it worked. They look nothing alike, btw.
I guess Disney either realized it was a bad idea, or they jumped on the next technological bandwagon to come along (probably the latter).

 

[diegorivera2]

The media used for the tickets is an excellent paper manufactured specifically for this type of use. Our APs have held up wonderfully this past year (even after a SM drenching!) but it does look a bit unusual when compared to our past Length of Stay tickets, which were plastic.

More importantly -- the cost of the paper media and the coding material on the back is less expensive for WDW than the plastic. It's all about keeping costs down!

 

[crazygirley]

What about the Premium Annual Passes? I am a premium annual passholder, and I think I deserve at least a piece of plastic, ALSO, the cards are always tearing or shreading, so then they don't work, and then you have to spend an hour in line at guest relations to get a new card...Whats Up? Why can't they be like the room cards?

 

[Fido]

Originally posted by diegorivera2
More importantly -- the cost of the paper media and the coding material on the back is less expensive for WDW than the plastic. It's all about keeping costs down!

I figured that was one of the main reasons behind the cardboard approach. It all adds up in the long run, but at the same time you'd think it would be expensive to keep changing the process every year or two as well.:hammer:

 

[AkiraRaptor]

When we stayed at AKL last year we got the credit card type passes. They worked at hoppers, our room key, our credit card, and the also worked the elevator to get to the consierge lounge.

It was quite nice to have them, and whenever a CM saw them, they too notice to us and started talking to us.

I remember years ago when I stayed at the Contemp. We got similar passes and it sure felt like the CMs gave us extra attention like the front of the monorail and helpful tips, stuff like that.

This was the first time (the AKL trip) since the Contemp. trip that we seemed to get a bit more attention than other trips. We sure liked it.

 

[KathyG/poohbear]

I understand costs are important but even small parks like Paramount gives you a real plastic card. It just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[All Star Nathan]

All ticket media are plastic of some sort. Go ahead and cut an old "paper" one in half and you should be able to peel apart the layers. This layer exists to reinforce the paper and also serves as a conterfit identifier. Although I have never heard of counterfit disney tickets and it's pretty improbably due to the computer assignment program this is one way to find out.

If you want to have your tickets put on your Key to the World Card "room key" The cast member has to refund the original ticket and resell you a ticket on your reservation. If you purchased your tickets at a discount you are out of luck because FD cast memebers do not have access to discount ticket rates. You would have to pay the difference. Technically FD Cm's are not supposed to transfer tickets because of extra paperwork, costs ect. and because pricing differences can create some real problems if you arent very careful. If you go to guest services at any disney hotel they sell all tickets available to them on the plastic cards because those are the only machines they have.

 

[diegorivera2]

Remember that the LOS (length of stay) passes also serve duty as room keys and charge cards. As such, they need to use the plastic media and the magnetic stripes they can create during the lamination process. These cards can then be *encoded* with information during check-in whereas ticket media just has to have one thing -- what parks and what times the ticket is valid.

I would venture to say that WDW will move to smart card technology within the next few years in order to store more information about its guests on its cards. This technology will allow for all sorts of information gathering and help WDW cater to its guests.

For example, with smart card technology for AP holders, WDW would know that I visited last June and spent a week at OKW with 20(!) guests. It would also know every on-site resort I've stayed in and know which restaurants I prefer (if I use the card to charge meals to my account) and, more importantly, that POTC, HM, SM, CoP, and the TTA are my favorite attractions in the MK. It would also know that I need to renew my AP in June of this year (which the mag-stripe paperboard card already knows) but could also tell how many times I've entered AK in my lifetime. (Only twice -- I still haven't gotten over the poor signage; I'm always lost without a man-made landmark. The TOL looks the same from every angle!)

However -- this won't happen anytime soon as the US really is comitted to the magnetic stipe approach and most of our telecommunications equipment works with this and not smart-card technology at this time. Big brother will just have to wait.

 

[Brett]

I'm not a fan of these cheap tickets. My annual pass, which was purchased in August, is starting to look banged up. I'm not sure if it'll hold out or not.