Amusement parks are full of fun, entertainment, and thrills. They are also full of lines – a line to park, buy tickets, get on a ride, play a game, use a restroom, purchase food. While lines cannot and should not be eliminated, they can be better managed. One common measure used by queue managers is estimated wait times. By understanding this metric, managers and staff can better manage the expectations of anxious customers. They can also better manage the capacity and efficiency of the attraction or service. Many amusement parks still largely rely on manual people-counting to estimate wait times in lines. This requires staff members to actually go into the line, hand a guest a card with a time on it as they enter the line, then have the guest turn in their wait card when they get to the front of the line. Talk about a tedious, time-consuming, confusing process that is rife with opportunities for error. This is just one of the common manual ways that amusement parks attempt to count their patrons and control the chaos. But there is a far better way to gather the desired stats without deploying valuable staff to wander through lines or tally up numbers. Real-time video analytic systems deliver up-to-the-minute information to amusement park managers, as well as helpful historical data.
Amusement Park Queue Management Joins the Digital Age
Amusement parks are businesses just like any other that need to run efficiently and intelligently in order to manage demand and keep patrons happy. Technology has the power to drive large amounts of data and organize it into ways that can be immediately useful. And best of all, it can scale, able to report on 1,000’s even tens of thousands of customers at a time. Real-time queue analytics provide up-to-the-minute automated monitoring and collection of queue length, wait times, queue abandonment rates, and predicted wait times (so you can let your impatient guests know just how long they can expect to be in line via digital monitors or mobile apps). Queue monitoring technology delivers the 411 to help amusement park managers identify how well their staff and their rides and other services are keeping up with the crowds. These valuable performance metrics enable those in charge to reallocate resources where necessary – whether that means redirecting visitors to a less-busy concession line to reduce a line’s length, pointing out restrooms that are available in a different area of the park, or opening up two more ticket windows when half a dozen school buses pile into the main parking lot. All before setting off a flurry of patron frustration.
Stay Ahead of the Crowds
It’s Father’s Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day weekend… some of the busiest days for amusement parks. But every day of the amusement park season is important – major holiday or not – and each day comes with its own set of data when it comes to lines and wait times. When a sudden rush of new people hits the back of a line, estimated wait times are automatically updated. If a group leaves the line, the same technology applies. Real-time analytics isn't simply counting people in a space – it’s about tracking individuals as they enter, move, and exit from a particular environment. With a wealth of historical information at your fingertips, it’s possible to stay ahead of the crowds, prevent service breakdowns, and be proactive about the amount of staff and resources needed on certain days or at specific times. Wouldn't it be refreshing to know the current wait times of all your queues? To know exactly how many customers are waiting in line from one moment to the next? To be notified when operations fall out of compliance? Amusement park queue management can be a whole lot more efficient, streamlined, and, well, easy, with real-time analytics. Contact a Lavi expert to discuss your park’s needs.
