Kiddie rides going plastic

Technology is overcoming yet another childhood memory: paper tickets to go on amusement park rides. At least in Wildwood. The concessionaire at the parks there is scrapping paper for plastic starting next summer.

The ticket cards are so 21st century. They will be swiped through a machine much like a credit or debit card. They can be purchased online and reloaded from home computers. If registered, they can be replaced if lost. Each member of a family can have one. Each swipe will record how many rides are left on the ticket and which ride was used last. It'll provide a more accurate measure of how many people use the rides.

Sure, going plastic will cut down on paper waste, but plastic isn't very environmentally friendly either. And will it become a cherished memento of a vacation stay? Somehow, a paper ticket says so much more about the Shore than yet another plastic card. Imagine how many amusement-ride tickets or skeeball winnings are sitting in family scrapbooks. Let's hope Point Pleasant Beach, Seaside Heights and points north opt for nostalgia over high tech when the card maker comes calling.