America Theme Park Problems...

[AndyJ]

My passes never worked at the styles because they were always wet/had been wet/etc...

Universal Spain is much better, in that you can go into the park with one plastic card that is room/park and charge. No Picture ID or anything needed.

In the US, I had to have my passport with me a heck of a lot, to collect tickets, get drinks...

Paper tickets got wet and screwed quickly, in Disney, Universal and Busch Gardens.

It was nerveracking to leave such an item as a passport in a locker to go on a water ride or for the day. Especially those dodgy bio readers at The Mummy.

One plastic card and a user-chosen Pin is the way.

A.

[Tiggernut]

Andy - we used our photo driving licences as ID rather then the passports - the passorts were safely locked away at the villa!

My attitude is that I can replace the driving licence when I get home - without my passport I'll have trouble GETTING home! :wink

[disneydaft]

I wondered as well why they couln't give you credit card style tickets instead of paper ones.

It couldn't cost anymore than a penny or 2 extra for them to make.

[uklad23]

A penny or 2 times millions is probably something they decided wasnt worth it compaired to the number of guest complaints. If its a problem always tell Disney thats the only way they can measure guest views.

[TinkTatoo]

Originally posted by AndyJ72 My passes never worked at the styles because they were always wet/had been wet/etc.....

To save this happening we keep our tickets etc., inside a ziploc bag. Even if you think you won't go on any wet rides it is all too easy to get caught in a downpour

[Jay66UK]

Some Disney guests had combined plastic credit card-style room keys and park tickets. We frequently encountered problems behind people who's pass wouldn't work (not being read at all no matter how many times inserted, not just failing to finger scan) - without exception they were always these plastic ones rather than the paper ones.

When we arrived at MK early one day we saw them running a cleaning card through the card readers before opening them for the day...seems inside there are 4 magnetic reading heads so that whatever way you insert your card it works. The cleaning cards came out covered in muck.

On the odd occasion when our cards wouldn't be read, turning them upside down worked (being read by a different head) - it seems the problem lies more with the dirty card reader than the cards.

[chattychick157]

I had our cards/passes renewed on 3 seperate occassions when over there this May, as they were card and wouldnt work at the turnstiles or on the fast pass machines either. In the end a nice park man found out the problem I had a magnetic button which held my bag shut and I had put my passes into the pocket next to it, the magnetic button interferred with the magnetic stripe on the back of the passes which meant they wouldnt work.
It was a right pain in the bum as everytime a cast member had to run back to the office and get me new tickets to use.
It didnt help because it was only on the last time I had them changed that the man realised why I was having so many problems, even though the other members had checked my bag etc to see why the problem had arose.
I would have been happy to pay an extra $5 on my ticket price to ensure I had the plastic credit card type cards as it would have saved alot of time when entering the parks (took about 30 mins each time to get new tickets).

[tinkernell]

when we went last time we photocopied back page of passport then lamenated it, everywhere was quite happy to accept this as proof of identification and it meant our passports were safe in the villa

[Claire44]

when we went last time we photocopied back page of passport then lamenated it, everywhere was quite happy to accept this as proof of identification and it meant our passports were safe in the villa

We have also done this and dd and her boyfriend were asked for id everytime they had a drink and everyone accepted the black & white photocopy of their passport as id. We also use the ziplock bags for our tickets and have never had a problem with them getting wet or damaged.

[dcmax]

On checking in at POR we were told by the CM that there were problems with the plastic room keys at the turnstiles, at tills and at FP machines.. Fortunately we had MYW standard cardboard tickets and had no problems, my biggest tip..Dont join a Q at the turnstiles behind anyone with a room key loaded with admission..

Sure enough by the way our room keys stopped working at the tills in shops and restaurants after day 1....