New this year in the FastLane scanners and the Fastlane KIOSK's around the park. I know it was touched on in the general discussions over the weekend, but wanted to give it its own thread for discussion. What do you think, like it, don't like it, and tell us why.

 

  

 

Looks easier than Hershey's scanner where you have to line up the band with the scanner a certain way.

I won't buy fast line at KI but do they use RFID. What are we scanning here?

It’s nice to see the park embracing technology. I haven’t used the kiosks yet, but they look great! The scanners in its current iteration is a bit unintuitive. Having to wear and adjust my Fast Lane bracelet to get it lined up with a scanner is very dated. I say that because of the experience I’ve had with Disney’s lightning lane which uses NFC and can be scanned from a card, phone, Watch, or their version of a Magic Band.
 

 I’m assuming this is an NFC reader emblem? It appears so and that I find exciting because there is so many things that they could do with such a system. Imagine scanning into the ride and being able to see your ride count for the year/day/all-time. They could keep your ride count that you can compare with other guests ride counts.

3 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

I won't buy fast line at KI but do they use RFID. What are we scanning here?

QR Code on the wristband.

 

11 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

Looks easier than Hershey's scanner where you have to line up the band with the scanner a certain way.

My son was having issues with getting the QR code just right under the scanner. I am OK with the scanners, but it seems it is slowing the traffic down for queueing waiting on someone to get their wristband to scan. 

Hershey's still sounds harder.  Its this Hershey Kiss shaped symbol on the wristband that you have to line up with the subsequent Kiss on the scanner, and its facing on the wristband makes you twist your arm around awkwardly.  

This is the product being used, which according to the website, does indeed support NFC tickets/wristbands.

https://www.alvaradomfg.com/products/ultraq-pedestal/

40 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

It’s nice to see the park embracing technology. I haven’t used the kiosks yet, but they look great! The scanners in its current iteration is a bit unintuitive. Having to wear and adjust my Fast Lane bracelet to get it lined up with a scanner is very dated. I say that because of the experience I’ve had with Disney’s lightning lane which uses NFC and can be scanned from a card, phone, Watch, or their version of a Magic Band.
 

 I’m assuming this is an NFC reader emblem? It appears so and that I find exciting because there is so many things that they could do with such a system. Imagine scanning into the ride and being able to see your ride count for the year/day/all-time. They could keep your ride count that you can compare with other guests ride counts.

Looks like NFC to me.  Could be compatible with a watch or phone.  Just make sure that your phone is secure when riding the coaster.  They could include them in the season pass (like with your bank card).

I think when prices get low enough they will just do NFC tags.  They are cheap enough now to put in a type of "magic band" and would operate much quicker than the QR Code.

10 minutes ago, robintodd said:

Looks like NFC to me.  Could be compatible with a watch or phone.  Just make sure that your phone is secure when riding the coaster.  They could include them in the season pass (like with your bank card).

I think when prices get low enough they will just do NFC tags.  They are cheap enough now to put in a type of "magic band" and would operate much quicker than the QR Code.

Something like Disney’s Magic bands would sell like hot cakes at KI. During Winterfest the park sold out on the Wonder Wands which used NFC to interact with objects within the park.

32 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

Something like Disney’s Magic bands would sell like hot cakes at KI. During Winterfest the park sold out on the Wonder Wands which used NFC to interact with objects within the park.

I’d for sure be good for a few “magic” KI bands. That could be really cool if done right. 

The regular wrist bands could just be a place holder until a more interactive option comes along. They could be working on that and fine tuning things for next year. The technology is in place so that's a good sign. 

I think the reason they aren’t using RFID in the wristbands is that it would increase the cost. Not significantly, but a meaningful amount. For All Season FL, One Time FL, etc it maybe an infrastructure thing. Maybe the app doesn’t support it yet. 

To give you an idea on costs, the wristbands that Cedar Fair currently uses are around 4 to 5 cents each.  The cheapest RFID wristband I have heard of in bulk is just over 50 cents each.  I could see the chain trying them at one or maybe two parks to test them, the extra cost could be worth it if it makes a big difference in scan time or reliability.  But I would not expect to see widespread adoption without testing to prove its worth first.

And I just had a thought. They could even implement the same wristbands that Great Wolf uses. Or used last time I was there some years back. They are RFID, waterproof and they store information that could be useful such as credit card credentials so one doesn't need to carry around their wallet. Granted that makes a lot of sense in a water park setting, I definitely could see this being useful in any amusement park setting. Just flash the user's credentials onto a wristband such as season pass, tickets, add-ons to a disposable RFID wristband and call it a day. Flash the wristband at the FL kiosks, vendors and other such things. Just a thought. Might not be nearly as advanced as say a Flash Pass or Magic Band, but it doesn't really need to be in this case. It still gets the point across and streamlines a lot of things along. 

On 4/22/2024 at 5:43 PM, Tr0y said:

Something like Disney’s Magic bands would sell like hot cakes at KI. During Winterfest the park sold out on the Wonder Wands which used NFC to interact with objects within the park.

With more and more people experiencing the magic bands at Disney’s properties, it would be something so familiar if it was implemented at their local Six Flags parks.

IMO, the chain should invest in these for all parks but start with resorts-They would make perfect sense at CP with the resort set up they have that could be used for hotels, fast lanes, park entry, fun pics, etc. 

To your earlier point, they could also work at activation points for Haunt and Winterfest.
 

I really enjoy having the lantern during Haunt, but I could understand how it could also be nice to have a magic band-style item that you don't need a locker for. The only thing I think the parks would need to do more of is adding interactive elements during the main season (could change between festivals) and make them usable in the water parks (like the now-dead TapuTapu system, but for passes and such).