Funworld July 2011

When families and friends get separated in an amusement park—voluntarily or involuntarily— it’s a good idea for them to be able to locate one another quickly if the need arises. For Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio, Texas (www.morganswonderland.com), however, it is an absolute necessity since the park caters to children and adults with disabilities. That’s why when the park made its debut last year it activated a state-of-the-art communications network for its guests.

“The system was driven by comments we received in focus groups from parents of special needs individuals,” says David Force, GM for Morgan’s. “One of the most common statements was ‘I want a safe place for my children to play.’ One of the solutions to a ‘safe place to play’ is our wireless RFID system. This is not the first place this technology has been used, but it’s a place where we added other technical capabilities to this process.”

As a quick recap, RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification and consists of two basic parts: a tag with a microchip and antenna, and a reader that records data from the chip. To this point the attractions industry has used RFID primarily for cashless point-of-sale systems, but as Morgan’s demonstrates, the applications are much broader.

The park hired Internet Contrasts (www.internetcontrasts.com) to design its RFID system, but that was only the beginning of the challenge. The 25-acre park also needed a system that would carry voice and data (telephones, point-of-sale systems, employee time clocks, etc.), handle an emergency notification system, feed an IP security camera setup, provide wireless access for guests, and offer lighting and exhibit controls. To top it off, it all had to operate out of a server room measuring only 9 feet by 10 feet.

Versatility Was Key
Internet Contrasts participated in the park’s initial construction meetings, which was important because the company could consult on where fiber optic conduit would be laid to facilitate the RFID system. “We had to design coverage for the entire park,” says Brandon Zumwalt, president of Internet Contrasts, “so we have to space these radios at certain distances, and they all work off of Ethernet, so we had to get Ethernet connections to all areas of the park. But once we laid that network down, we could also use it for things like VOIP phones, security cameras, and point-of-sale systems.”

He says one huge advantage of this is that system devices like VOIP (Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol) phones and security cameras can be powered by the Ethernet system itself. This eliminates the need to install electrical outlets and provides significant cost reduction.

Guests who enter the park is required to wear an RFID wristband, which links to important personal information about medical conditions and can track their location in the park by GPS. Groups need to be together when they arrive and depart the park so they can be tagged together; this way, any group member can scan a wristband at one of five kiosks in the park and immediately see the location of friends and family, and even leave a message for them.

What’s more: “A lot of the exhibits are interactive, with touchscreens, and we integrate the RFID system with the exhibits so the system knows who is accessing an exhibit,” explains Zumwalt. “That’s important because guests provide profile information when they enter the park, and if they say their favorite color is red, they can be offered, say, a build-and paint car that’s red. When they’re done with it, the system will send them an e-mail postcard with a picture of what they did.”

On the park’s “Off Road Adventure Ride,” a guest’s location in the queue is registered when the RFID wristband is scanned. Then, there’s a point on the ride where a Doppler sensor detects the motion of the guest’s vehicle and takes a photo. The picture is then e-mailed to the guests, and they no longer have to stand in line at a photo booth after the ride and go through the hassle of finding and purchasing their pictures.

Ethernet ‘Ring’ Network: Secure, Flexible, and Expandable
Zumwalt says one of the most critical decisions his company made in designing the park’s system was to stipulate an Ethernet ring network instead of a traditional hub-and-spoke layout. “We saved them about half a million dollars, ballpark, in cabling and labor costs,” he says. “Also, the problem with Ethernet is that if you have a loop in your network, you get collisions, and you can lose your traffic if there’s a cut in the line. But with Ethernet ring protection, if it detects a break in the line, it will immediately port block the loop, change the traffic path, and take it around the other direction.”

Since the RFID system is storing personal medical information about guests, security is a top priority, and the park must conform to HIPAA regulations. Zumwalt says the system has core authentication and knows who is and is not allowed to access the network. “There’s a central network that determines what VLAN’s (Virtual Local Area Networks) can communicate with each other,” he says. “The beauty of it is that the park doesn’t have to have an IT staff because the system doesn’t require any day-to-day tweaking.”

The flexibility of the Ethernet-based fiber system allows Morgan’s Wonderland to easily add and move attractions. In fact, the park is using only two of the 12 fibers installed in the conduits, so there is plenty of capacity for future expansion.

“They may decide they want to add a refreshment stand somewhere,” suggests Zumwalt. “So they’ll need a point of sale that can accept credit cards, a phone that allows the staff to communicate, and a camera system to watch employees and customers at that location if they’re accepting cash. The integrated Ethernet system easily allows for all of this to be added.”

Finally, Morgan’s Wonderland wanted the facility to be a “green-friendly” operation, so Internet Contrasts designed the system with some comprehensive energy-monitoring capabilities. “That’s another little gem here,” Zumwalt reveals. “All of these electronics take power, so we’re using some green technologies from IBM—a blade center that virtualizes all of their servers and all their desktops. So, I can log into their servers and see how much power is being drawn by their blade center. By virtualizing, we can add processing power in that small 9-by-10- foot server room—we’re running 70 servers out of that thing!”

As mentioned, it was a big advantage for Internet Contrasts to be included in the initial construction design phase of the park. However, Zumwalt notes that such an Ethernet-based system can also be retrofitted into a park because fiber cable can be pulled through existing conduit. Although more challenging, a completely wireless system can be installed if there is no conduit already present.

In the end, most of the components of this sophisticated system may be invisible to guests, but the results are not. Says Morgan’s GM Force, “In the design of our park, we attempted to overcome obstacles so that [the special needs community] could enjoy a theme park experience at the same level as others enjoy theme parks.”

Contact News Editor Keith Miller at kmiller@IAAPA.org.