How to Choose the Right Access Control for Your Amusement or Trampoline Park

Go beyond paper tickets and get with the future of access control for your FEC, amusement park or trampoline park. 

The advent of summertime means that the theme park wars are in full effect. Are you Team Disney or Team Universal? I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love to see amusement parks continually striving for that bigger splash in our industry.

No doubt the leadership at your park is also on the hunt for the next attraction, package or even business development that will give you that edge over your competitors. And with attractions and technology that are ever-changing, parks need to be on the lookout for the right amusement park point of sale software systems and processes to manage how guests interact with your attractions and your park.

Access control is a critical piece of the guest experience puzzle

 – it is part of your welcome, after all – so make sure that you’re making a good first impression. Read on for three common types of access control for your park or attractions and how to decide the one that’s right for your facility.

No. 1: Color and/or Barcoded Wristbands

Wristbands provide a great low-cost option to grant your guests access to your park, and many trampoline parks use this option for their timed jump tickets. Admission to timed sessions can be set to print to separate printers with different colored wristbands so that court monitors have a visual cue that alerts them as to when guests’ allotted time on courts has ended.  

These bands can also be barcoded, which allows them to be scanned at a turnstile, point of sale (POS) station or handheld scanner. Entrance to other attractions and monetary value can be associated with the wristbands, however if you would like to offer a media that is more ‘reusable,’ then you may want to consider magstripe cards instead.

No. 2: Player/Membership Cards

If your amusement facility sells gift cards, memberships or multi-use or season passes, magstripe cards continue to be a good solution for access control. Cards can be easily loaded with monetary value, entitlements to attractions and game play points, which make them a media that guests can save and reuse.

Pass sessions or season length can be set when the cards are purchased and generated, and cards can be printed with guest pictures to reduce misuse of passes. For entrance to attractions or when using games, these cards can be scanned (with an associated device or turnstile) or swiped at a cashless debit card system at the time of use. While slightly more expensive than wristbands, cards can be purchased by facility owners in bulk and often have discounts based on volume.

In addition to access control, these cashless cards enable you to monitor how guests are engaging with your facility, what activities they are interacting with and per cap spending. Revenue allocation can be realized when cards are purchased or when used. This helps you with staffing at peak times and with analyzing attraction use or spending patterns.

No. 3: RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Bands 

RFID technology, which is often used in wearable items such as wristbands, offers you a reusable media for guests to keep and bring back during a season – just like with membership cards. This is especially attractive in water parks because guests can load money or link credit card access through the use of tokenization. This allows them to enjoy all the pools and other wet attractions, purchase merchandise or pay for food and beverages without needing to carry around cards or cash. 

Whichever access control solution you prefer, it makes sense from time to time to assess how it is working for you, your current throughput and your future needs.

To learn more about which solution might be best for your facility, and how you can utilize a cashless card arcade system, contact us and we’ll help you figure it out!