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Do you think KI will have free Wi-Fi eventually?


Skyrider
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I was at Disney this summer and they have free Wi-Fi and this is helpful with their Disney Experience app to make reservations for rides. It made me think do you think KI will eventually have free Wi-Fi throughout the park and if so how could this be used to the benefit of both KI and the patrons at the park?

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that was a $1.1 billion (with a "B") project. KI wouldn't be to scale and it may happen someday-- but it would be in the millions to create the infrastructure to support it. Disney utilizes the RFID technology through it and generates data upon unbelievable guest data. KI doesn't have the need to analyze guests to that level. The only reason they would do it is for customer experience to this point... Guests aren't going to flock to the Island for free wifi. They may, I doubt it though.

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The only seasonal park I know of with free Wi-Fi is Holiday World, but they had a very good reason for installing it in that being such a rural area, data signals are very hard to get there with some carriers, so it was kinda needed. KI doesn't really have that problem, so they have no good incentive to add free Wi-Fi.

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Yeah, I pitched the idea years ago to some KI peeps. The answer I got was that they had thought about it, but there really was no need for it.

At the time it was true.

Zip ahead a half decade. The growth of smart phones has been exponential. Network clogging has made it difficult to make calls, text, or use data on busy days. Data caps are the norm for many carriers. Free WiFi is expected at most places - not necessarily a perk.

The time will come for KI to offer free WiFi. Will it be soon? I don't know.

The real question is this: if there are 35,000 people in the park and 8,000 using the WiFi, how fast could it really be?

They may be waiting for technology to catch up with their needs.

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This would be a good idea, but if Kings Island had free WiFi, would people be too distracted to go on the rides, and instead spend the day sitting down and going on Twitter? But WiFi would be great for people who can't pay for the internet, (like myself.) Also if I wanted to take selfies, I can just upload the pictures on Facebook right in the park.

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The real question is this: if there are 35,000 people in the park and 8,000 using the WiFi, how fast could it really be?

If done right, pretty fast.

True, but that won't come cheap, even for a school system. We even get what is called E-rate sometimes (we pay only 15% of the cost) and even that is not cheap. Let's just say, for KI to do it right we could have another coaster (maybe not a B&M, but a nice little woddie) or even several new flats in the park. Which would you rather have WiFi or more rides?

Being a customer that drives 2 hrs one way to the park, invest the money in the rides, I can get on WiFi anytime thanks!

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I think it's a little silly to imagine that our choices are a wooden coaster or wifi. I think some folks may be overestimating the cost of such a project. Would it be cheap? No. But $10 - $15 million to equip the park with wifi? I don't think so.

Pyro, some of us here DON'T take our smart devices. But it's not a black and white topic. Just because you have a cell phone in the park with you doesn't mean you're sitting on benches tweeting and completely missing nature and coasters. Just because you leave your phone in the car doesn't mean you're having some transcendental experience connecting with the park and appreciating its gardens. Like it or not, you're not going to convince everyone or even most people to leave their electronics at home. It's 2014 and wifi is more of a basic service than a premium upgrade anymore. It's expected at major, large public places.

And that is not a horrible thing. When folks Instagram a photo of Banshee or follow @KingsIslandPR on Twitter, they're not only providing free marketing for the park; they're also interacting with the park in new ways. People used to bring / buy disposable cameras. Now, all of their friends get to see well-filtered, high-quality photos of Kings Island instantly on Instagram, and connect with others who use the geotag. You can talk about Kings Island while you're there, ask the park questions, join conversations, and participate in giveaways on Twitter. That's not a disconnect from the park-going experience. It's a new way to re-connect.

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I don't think the cost would be chump change by any means, but certainly worthwhile for a marketable amenity.

How much good will has Holiday World earned by trumpeting free wifi (which is free at most large public locations... stores, malls, airports, restaurants, etc) and free inner tubes (I've yet to see a water park charge for inner tubes). Keeping in mind that Holiday World does charge for those services and the rest (parking, sunscreen, soda pop, etc) just not per item.

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I would like to have wifi in such areas reserved for sit down usage like Festhaus , Hanks Burrito Shack, Oktoberfest Beer Garden, Reds Hall of Fame Grill, Picnic Grove, and wave pools in Soak City. These areas are used frequently for guests in the park for resting and checking their smartphones. I would enjoy having some free wifi to enjoy watching Netflix during rain delays :)

Sent from my iPhone using Taptalk

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Does the Starbucks offer WiFi at their location at the park? I know they do at their coffee shops outside of the park.

One thing about any WiFi access is the number of people accessing it and the load they put on the bandwidth if they were streaming videos and music. When I used to have my iPhone from Verizon in 2010, I had unlimited data usage and would stream music from Rhapsody and watch videos from Netflix. Now I am on a 3GB data plan, it would not take long to go over my limit if I stream music and videos on a regular basis. It would be nice if the won't have the entire park covered by WiFi, to have places like the Festhaus, the Bier Garden, Reds Hall of Fame, Soak City, any place where guests will gather to sit down and eat, catch a show, and even the front gate and maybe even the shops.

I wonder if anybody had ever used a WiFi snooper and scanned the park for any hidden wireless networks that the park might access for their handheld devices? But when and if the park gets WiFi, make sure when you access the open network, the have a good security software on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop or any other device.

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There are interesting things to consider with WiFi and companies. If I remember correctly, companies have to make sure that any ticketing and point of sales system are completely seperate from the public system.

Also, depending on the infrastructure, it can be quite the challenge to set up a strong and consistent WiFi signal. Have you ever heard someone complain about losing a free WiFi signal? It doesn't matter if it's free, some will still complain if they can't access it.

In the scheme of things, I think KI will have a far easier time of this than non-profits and schools. A larger budget can pull many strings. Schools have been working hard to provide secure internet connections and computers for students to use for testing. For a great number of schools, aging infrastructure and limited funds are making it a struggle. I don't see KI having the same sort of challenges.

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I would like to have wifi in such areas reserved for sit down usage like Festhaus , Hanks Burrito Shack, Oktoberfest Beer Garden, Reds Hall of Fame Grill, Picnic Grove, and wave pools in Soak City. These areas are used frequently for guests in the park for resting and checking their smartphones. I would enjoy having some free wifi to enjoy watching Netflix during rain delays :)

Sent from my iPhone using Taptalk

Festhaus is the one place at KI where I feel Wi-Fi is actually needed, as I sometimes lose service inside that building.

As for watching Netflix, most public Wi-Fi hotspots require you to accept terms and conditions before granting you access, and those conditions often include a restriction against excessively heavy use, such as streaming whole movies, to prevent one person from hogging all the bandwidth. Also, public Wi-Fi is rarely more than 1 Mbps, on which you're going to struggle to stream video without buffering.

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  • 2 weeks later...

And some private universities have no Wi-Fi because the administration is somehow convinced that their students don't want it...

I speak from experience.

I know exactly how that is... I went to a private college before transferring to the school I'm at now and there was little to no Wi-Fi on campus. I remember having to plug my computer in with a cable to be able to access the Web (and this was in 2009). Although I do enjoy retro technology, I think Wi-Fi is a necessity in today's world; especially on college campuses as some professors use sites to allow students to turn in their homework online.

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  • 1 month later...

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