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Alton Towers Leads Queue Technology | ||||
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5/10/2002 LONDON (Reuters) - Visitors to the UK's largest theme park, Alton Towers, will this summer be able to pay for a wireless service designed to slash waiting times for the most popular rides, the system's designer says. London-based start-up Mobile Maximiser deployed the world's first such system at Alton Towers in March. It works by sending a text message to a user's mobile phone, telling them when to visit the park's top three rides. It also gives hourly updates on waiting times at other attractions. Founder Steve Hinchliffe said waiting times for the 500 people taking part on peak days at the central England theme park were generally no more than 15 minutes. That compared with waits of more than two hours for people not using the service and queuing in the usual way. Under the current scheme, users are charged five pounds on top of the standard entrance fee, and Hinchliffe said it was proving popular. "It's making money... it's a big money-spinner," he said in an interview on Thursday. In addition to cutting waiting times, retailers, restaurants and the park's hotel were able to send text messages offering discounts to boost business at slower times of the day. While only five percent of the daily visitors could use the service -- known as Virtual Q Mobile -- under the pilot scheme, it is expected to work for up to 12 percent of a park's attendance when fully deployed. Hinchliffe said he had talked to major theme park operators including Disney and Six Flags, but the lack of short message service (SMS) usage in the United States meant a launch here would not be possible until about 2004. |
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