When you visit Disney World, Universal Studios, or any other theme park, you’re agreeing to spend a day waiting in a lot of lines. Even on a so-called “slow” day at the biggest theme parks in the United States, lines for popular rides can easily top an hour while very few will simply let people walk on.
When you visit a Walt Disney (DIS) park, you’re not just committing to standing in line for rides. You’re also going to wait for food, to get into shows, and to make purchases at gift shops all around the park. That’s true – maybe even worse at Comcast’s (CMCSA) Universal Studios (where staffing levels seem a little light compared to Disney World.
Disney, Universal and Six Flags offer added-fee ways to spend less time standing in line waiting for rides. Disney World, for example, has its Genie+ and Lightning Lane services which allow people who pay to wait in much shorter lines on popular attractions. Universal parks offer a much-pricier Express Pass (the price varies based on how crowded the park is) that lets holders use a separate (and shorter) line for most rides. Six Flags has The Flash Pass and The Flash Pass Junior to reduce the wait in line.
Neither Disney nor Universal, however, has a democratic way for park visitors to spend less time waiting in a grab-and-go situation. Disney does allow advance ordering at some quick-serve restaurants, but it has nothing close to what rival Six Flags (SIX) has been testing. The second-tier theme park company, which offers regional parks focused on thrills rides, will soon be testing Amazon’s (AMZN) “Just Walk Out” technology at its theme park in New Jersey on June 1.
“If all goes well a similar rollout will be planned for the Six Flags Magic Mountain location in Los Angeles,” Modern Retail reported.
Image source: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Amazon Removes Checkout From the Equation
Amazon has piloted “Just Walk Out” at its own Amazon Go convenience stores. Customers who wish to shop in the store simply open the Amazon app, take what they want from the shelves, and walk out of the store. When they leave, the charges appear in the app, charged to the user’s Amazon account.
The technology has also been tested in airports around the country. Using it at Six Flags would, in theory, speed up the process of getting in and getting out at grab-and-go locations. That should lessen wait times, limit crowds, and make shopping in those locations more appealing (thereby increasing sales).
That’s at least what Coca-Cola (KO), which has partnered with Six Flags and Amazon to bring the technology to Six Flags’ “Quick Six” store. A sort of convenience store that sells, food. beverages, candy, and Six Flags merchandise, customers will use Amazon technology to charge people’s purchases to whatever payment method they used to enter the store.
Six Flags Global Vice President Stephanie Borges told Modern Retail why Six Flags was testing the Amazon technology.
“We always look [at] how can we use technology and innovation to enhance the guest experience. We look at holistically a consumer coming to our parks and all the different things that they’re doing in that day and one of the pain points is always lines,” she said.
Coca-Cola’s Director of Amusement and Entertainment Partnership Rachel Chahal told the website that if the technology could increase Coke’s sales at the store by 10%, it would be worth implementing at other Six Flags locations. She also noted that the “Just Walk Out” technology cut transaction times from around six minutes to under one minute.
