.:: Penn State Student - Theme Park Study

[Guest]

To Whom It May Concern,

 

I'm a technology student, and I'm doing a research project on theme parks. The basis is how adding technology can benefit theme parks and things of that nature. So if you could just answer this one question...

 

1.) If an amusement park you frequently visited developed a capability for you to be able to track your children (for example if they were to get lost), or if you visited the park with a large group, the park was able to track everyone in your group (for example if one of your group members or more were to separate from the group), and the price of the tag was at a reasonable price , such as $10 a tag, would this be something you would be interested in purchasing or renting?

 

yes or no?

 

(feel free to say more then yes or no, but all i need is a yes or no)

[hyyyper]

$ 10 a tag is quite expensive.

 

IMO the old method of meeting each other again at a certain location at a certain time is just as good. And nowadays people have cellphones if you need to reach them.

 

As for childeren, once they are old enough to go on their own give them wristband or dogtages with their name and your cell number. Picking an obvious spot and giving the kids a park map with that spot marked would also help if they got lost.

 

So unlike it's for $ 1 or so, i might buy it, but it's an unnessecary thing with today technologies and having a clear meet-up point.

[ernierocker]

No.

 

In my opinion, it doesn't seem necessary. I agree with hyyyper. Families have had their own system in place that for years has worked just fine. I don't think that this has really been that big of a problem at theme parks either. I'm sure kids get lost, but they are always located without having to track them.

 

Of course, I am saying this without being a parent.

[Team Thriller]

Some parks have devices that can track little kids. But they are very rear.

I think all parks should have them, but I think they aren't very reliable.

 

If you made a very reliable, pocket size tag, then I think yes. I think that for 10 dollars, lots of parents would purchase it, because 10 dollars isn't worth spending hours looking for them. If they where hard to handle and not very reliable, and if you had to carry them around all day. Then if wouldn't be worth it.

 

This idea is very good for huge parks like Six Flags Great Adventure, Cedar Point, and defiantly Walt Disney World.

 

 

Hope this helped!

[SharkTums]

At $10 a tag I would buy it for my child(ren) and I think other parents would too.

 

As a tour organizer I would LOVE to have something like this, but I would never spend $10 a person when we have 100 people running around a park.

[Guest]

thank you for the information so far, this is great stuff, the more I have the better case I can make.

[RaptorBoyASU]

I'm not sure about $10, but $5 probably. I took my niece's to Wannadoo City at the Sawgrass Mills mall, and they had a wristband locating system. Everyone had to have a wrist band on to enter, and there were kiosks that you could check to see where the rest of your party was within the facility. Really neat idea, especially at a place like that where you can let your kids out on their own a little bit.

[CoasterFanatic]

Holiday World has already implemented a low-tech version of this:

 

Phone Find:

Visiting with small children? If you're carrying a cell phone during your visit, please pick up free Phone Find wristbands (at Lost Parents, Wagon Rental, or Guest Relations) for them to wear. Simply print your cell-phone number on the wristband and instruct your child to go to a uniformed park employee if he or she gets separated from you. We'll call you and get you and your child reunited.

 

http://www.holidayworld.com/info.html

 

Also ... there is this technology at Dollywood

 

http://www.pdcorp.com/company/archives/2007/dollywood-splash-country.html

[Guest]

This is a basic RFID implementation, and that is the overall purpose of my survey... i know of a bunch of parks who are using guest tracking, but i just am looking to see the type of "buy-in" that avid amusement park goes might have...

[Meteornotes]

I don't have children, so I can't comment on that aspect. I will say that this would annoy me, and I would not want to participate. It's another thing I have to carry around, which I don't need. Cell phones work fine. Do adults need to have their every moved tracked? I don't think so. Let's have a little personal responsibility...

 

dt

[Guest]

At SFGAm if a child gets their height checked at guest relations, the wristband they are given says their height and has their name/parents cell phone # on it in case they get lost.

[sixflagsguy5]

I don't think people would pay $10, but maybe if it were done with a deposit of $10 and then only cost $1.

[AllenA07]

^ I like that idea the best. I think this is a good concept, but $10 a rental is going to keep many people from praticipating. However from the parks prespective, these are going to be devices that get lost and damaged rather often. A deposit therefore would be a good way to assure that you're not suffering losses, while at the same time, throw in a couple dollar fee for using the system in order to profit.

[LcHg5265]

At a small park like Lake Compounce in Connecticut, there are sometimes hundreds of "lost parents" a day, so i can not even imagine what it would be like at larger parks. While all of the parents are reunited with their child, it takes time and many employees to occur. I could see the system working well if it was non-invasive and possibly disposable?

[spaceace12]

Verizon has a service similiar to this. The child carries a cell phone and the parent can locate the child using thier cell phone. http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/splash/chaperone/index.jsp

 

It is 10 dollars a month. Plus the Child gets to have a cell phone.

[sixflagsguy5]

This new idea would be really useful if someone tried to kidnap a kid at an amusement park. Even if not everybody used the system, potential kidnappers would be scared off by the system.

 

Overall I think that people would have an interest in using it as long as it didn't take too much time to get and if it didn't cost too much. It's probably not going to be something that brings in tons of money for a park, but will be something that boosts guests' park experience and makes the park look safer.

[bettersteal]

I take my granddaughters to WDW all the time. We have only been truly separated two times. Even those times didn't last very long. For me I don't think that the $20 (2 of them) would be worth it. The odds are that no one is going to get lost.

[holyblakbelt]

I don't have kids (of course), but I have a 19 month old niece so in the future when we (my sister and I) do take her to theme parks, that could be a better asset for her. Sometimes I think it's better just to take cell phones or walkie-talkies instead.

[rgb60]

I guess people pretty much decided that $10 each isn't a reasonable price for a device like this-- especially to rent.

 

The one disadvantage to cell phones is that people aren't always in the position where they can (or should) talk on them in a park. So you end up playing phone tag sometimes.

 

(Fight on State!)