Photo-less Season Pass Cards

I looked around to see if this had been posted yet, my apologies if it's already been discussed.

I processed my season pass at Canada's Wonderland today, and the 2007 passes have no photos. The cards are completely pre-printed with bar codes, and the photo attendant scans the pre-printed card, saves your picture in the computer and you're done. It takes seconds. No printing of the cards required. You are only asked to sign the back of the card to identify it as yours.

When Wonderland put in thier new gate systems, the attendant would scan your card, turn to the computer screen which displayed your picture (as saved in thier system and then printed on your card), and made sure it was you. They would press the green button on the screen and the turnstyle would unlock. Gone were the days of the swiped card without looking at the picture, because the attendant had to tell the computer you were you before the turnstyle would unlock. This is a much better system, since no one ever really looked at the pictures on the cards.

Since I had gotten the MAXX Pass I asked the person who was taking our pictures today how the photo-less cards would work if we were at another park. She told me that all the parks systems were now connected and that the gate person at the other park would see my picture on thier computer so they didn't need to print pictures on thier cards any more.

Has anyone else come across this, or know if the gate systems at the other parks have been upgraded to Wonderland's?

Not all have been upgraded yet, but they're going to be.

In any case, you won't have a problem at a park that hasn't been upgraded yet. They all are connected to the same database. If you can't use it at the front gate, just go to GR.

At BGA, I think SeaWorld, and most likely BGE they have finger print scanners for your passes, that are relatively gross on the account of them having everyone with a pass touching it but it does save time at the gate.

^BGE has them too as does the Disney Parks. As for them being touched by everyone, whats the difference between them and a restraint handle on a coaster, a turn style, a door handle, etc. Be thankful you have a good immune system that keeps out 99.9% of the bugs out there and don't think about them, its only going to turn you into a hypochondriac. Just wash your hands before you eat ;).

Not all the CF parks are upgraded yet. We just got our Dorney passes in the mail and they still have our pictures on them.

The CF parks that didn't upgrade this offseason will do so next offseason.

I visited a friend that had a friend that had a BGA pass....I tried using his, since it didnt have a picture on it. It worked! I think the hand sensor device only saves that days "impression" of your hand. We thought it quite odd and it did work.

Carowinds is photo-less too. I am curious to see how it will work at the rest of the parks. :)

-Tina

The Herschend Family Entertainment Parks APs are photo-less too.

This is a Paramount "left over" as my KI passes of the past have been this way, as is my 2007 MaxxPass.

Parking is on the card too, so all I have to do is hand the tollgate attendant my pass.

I would assume that CP and GL have this system as well, as I have an All Ohio Parking Pass and there is no visual indication that I have one.

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PCWCoasterBoy said:

Gone were the days of the swiped card without looking at the picture, because the attendant had to tell the computer you were you before the turnstyle would unlock. This is a much better system, since no one ever really looked at the pictures on the cards.

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Who says they actually have to look at the picture on the screen? They just have to push a button that says they looked at the picture. Nothing is forcing them to look at the photo on the screen, same as before.

It sounds to me the parks were sold on a "better way" to make sure the employees do their job.

-Tambo

And in this case the "better way" adds complexity to the back-end. Now they have to make sure the network is up or the systems are synchronized (depending on the implementation).

Seems to me this is a "solution" that was looking for a "problem", much like the Busch biometrics system (bone measurements in the past, fingerprint scan now) *** Edited 4/16/2007 2:14:37 PM UTC by GregLeg***

My IOA pass is just a piece of paper with a barcode (think regular park ticket) and they scan my finger each time.

As for everyone touching them, the attendants have little wipes that they clean them with (or in my case three times while I was trying to get in - thats what happens when you eat greasy food beforehand!).

I personally love the system. All I had to do was buy the pass at a regular ticket booth and go into the park. None of this mailing passes back and forth with the park or waiting in long season pass processing lines.

King's Island has been using that system for a season or two now. I suppose it does help them with their security in some ways, but miss they old photo ID passes.

We had quite a collection over the years from PKI/CP. My wife has always kept our daughters passes for the scrapbook. It's been fun to watch her appearance change each year. But, oh well...

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CoasterDad64 said:
This is a Paramount "left over" as my KI passes of the past have been this way, as is my 2007 MaxxPass.

Parking is on the card too, so all I have to do is hand the tollgate attendant my pass.

I would assume that CP and GL have this system as well, as I have an All Ohio Parking Pass and there is no visual indication that I have one.

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I had my Kings Island maxx pass processed Saturday and they put small sticker with the letters "OP" on the back to indicate that I have all Ohio parking. This may serve as the visual indication, but I'm worried that it might wear off.

My personal guess is that Cedar Fair didn't put photos on the ex-CBS passes because by not putting photos on the passes they were able to collect photos in the pre-season before they had a design for the passes, and in the season they can just do a barcode exchange for distributing passes.

Whether or not the photo shows up when the pass is scanned is immaterial to whether the pass has a photo on it or not. If the photo comes up when the pass is scanned, fine, but the photo gives you a way to positively identify the pass with a person without scanning it.

I won't be one bit surprised if the ex-CBS parks go back to printing names and photos on passes next season. There's no reason not to, assuming you have the card designs ready at processing time...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I purchased my CF Maxx Pass at Carowinds last weekend. If you purchase a Carowinds season pass they take your picture and print it on the card however if you purchase a Maxx Pass it does not have a picture. The entrance gates also have not yet been upgraded with the system necessary to view the pictures. So for now I have a season pass without a picture and they have no way to verify that I am indeed the person who is supposed to have that pass.

^ Theoretically, they could check your driver's license.

and yes, I do recognize ALL of the potential flaws with that system...LOL! :)

P.S. Since I haven't *ranted* on this subject LATELY....paper passes are just complete and utter JUNK. It's summertime, who DOESN'T occasionally ride a water ride. Then you have some scraps you can turn into GR for *another* paper SP.

Season passes are supposed to be *plastic*....and for GOOD reason! ;)

There, I feel better now....thanks for letting me vent... :)

*** Edited 4/17/2007 8:04:04 PM UTC by rollergator***

^While I generally agree with you if the park hands me a plastic holder (like the Busch parks do) then I dont have a problem. Because plastic holder + athletic tape = waterproof. Thats how I my Gold Pass at BGE survived last year without even a ink smear even after numerous rides on Escape from Pompeii and Roman Rapids.

J-Trick - thanks for the comment.

I will have to check on the OP sticker this weekend as I do not have one and I definitely paid for All-Ohio Parking.