Printing ID cards at the speed of a thrill ride at Lagoon Amusement Park

The Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah, likes things fast, too. For more than 100 years, it has offered exhilarating thrill rides as part of its entertainment package. The park’s Fire Dragon Double-Loop Rollercoaster hits speeds of 90 kilometers per hour, and its Lagoon-A-Beach Waterpark promises 550,000 gallons of liquid fun.

Identification cards

Like many other parks, Lagoon provides identification cards to its employees and offers season passes (called Season Passports) with identification cards to its guests. But the equipment formerly used to print the cards was not keeping up with the pace of the park. “As the public demand for Season Passports increased, it was becoming more difficult to keep up with the desired pace,” said Nic Young, ticketing manager. “We used to take Polaroid pictures and laminate them onto pre-printed cards but matching the pictures with the cards was tricky. It was easy to put the wrong picture on someone’s card.”Lagoon now is able to satisfy the needs of its employees and guests with the updated card printing technology

The multi-step process also was slow and cumbersome – not a minor concern with 2,500 employee ID badges and more than 30,000 season passes issued every year. Lagoon now is able to satisfy the needs of its employees and guests with the updated card printing technology, bringing the park back to its desired speed.

ID badges and card-printing technology

“These printers are extremely fast,” said Young, “which is especially important during our busy months of May and June. I also like the one-step printing process and the fact that the printers are easy to maintain and keep clean.”

The Employee Services department uses colored ribbons when printing employee ID cards, identifying employees 15 years of age or younger by printing those names in red on the employee’s card. The Ticketing department uses standard black ribbons for its season passes. With five computer stations in the Season Passport photo area, ticketers can issue passes to large groups of people at the same time.

Barcode technology

Both employee and Season Passport ID cards use barcode technologyBoth employee and Season Passport ID cards use barcode technology. For employees, the barcodes specify the level of park access and also bring up full-sized pictures of the employees to be viewed by Lagoon security. For Season Passport holders, barcodes record when a passport has been used or restrict passport usage on specified dates (such as during Lagoon’s July Fun Pass).

Now that the Lagoon Amusement Park has established its current system, computer stations at the gates can track Season Passport access information and provide valuable marketing information. “We’re trying to increase our per person usage through promotions such as our Season Passport Holder coupon books,” Young said. “Our ID card system allows us to record our progress.”

The bottom line, however, is speed. “There are no more long lines,” Young said. “We’re able to operate at full capacity all day long, allowing our guests to get their Season Passports quickly and proceed directly to the fun.”