Cincinnati Zoo, a current Gateway Ticketing Systems customer, upgraded and enhanced their ticketing system as part of a new $19.6 million entrance.
The Zoo’s new entrance, Historic Vine Street Village, is designed to make the park more visitor-friendly by accomplishing two goals. The first is minimizing traffic jams and offering more parking to guests, and the second is by reducing the wait time to get in. Reducing the wait time at the Zoo entrance is where Galaxy comes in.
John Lucas, Director of Park Operations, explained the need for a new entrance. “The Zoo’s old entrance was an operational challenge, and consisted of guests paying admission and parking from their car. This was very slow and really choked guest throughput. For this reason we wanted to construct a new entrance that offers all of the modern conveniences of an effective entry, including turnstiles and self-serve kiosks, ” he said.
The Cincinnati Zoo turned to Gateway to provide the solution they needed for the new entry. Gateway provided four kiosks, six turnstiles and three new Point of Sale (POS) units for membership. In addition, the Zoo will be implementing the Galaxy interface to The Raiser’s Edge.
“The Zoo is also adding two scanning entry points, ” said Doug Beermann, Gateway Project manager. “Previously they handled all access control at the POS through their parking lot toll-booths, and Memberships were not scanned. The new entry allows for access control through turnstiles, separate from the POS stations. This allows for better processing of pre-purchased tickets and improved accuracy, ” he said.
The Galaxy Kiosks at the entrance will be used to sell general admission tickets and combination tickets for rides and 4-D theater shows, and will allow for on-site pick-up of ticket orders purchased from the eGalaxy Web Store.
Dave Schneider, Director of IT at the Zoo was very pleased with the Galaxy system’s performance at the Grand Opening. He said, “On opening day, (it rained), we did close to 5000 visitors and on Sunday we did over 11, 000 (huge amount for our Zoo) without any IT/Ticketing issues.”
When asked about the benefits of working with Gateway Ticketing Systems, Lucas said, “Gateway has been a great partner with the Zoo. I can always count on them to offer solutions to the operational and ticketing situations we face at our facility. I’m now a firm supporter of the Project Management services they offer for a project of this magnitude. The PM process was very effective, and we went live without a SINGLE issue.”
About Cincinnati Zoo
The Zoological Society of Cincinnati was founded in 1873 and officially opened its doors in 1875, making the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden the second oldest Zoo in the United States. Rated by peer zoological parks as one of the best zoos in the nation, the Cincinnati Zoo continues to set the standard for conservation, education and preservation of wild animals and wild spaces. Over 1.2 million people visit the Zoo annually. The Zoo features more than 500 animal and 3, 000 plant species, making it one of the largest Zoo collections in the country.
About Gateway Ticketing Systems, Inc.
Gateway Ticketing Systems, Inc. is the world leader in high-speed, access control, admission control, and ticketing software for the attraction, amusement and transportation industries. Located in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, Gateway Ticketing Systems provides sales, service, and support for point of sale and ticketing systems throughout North America and worldwide.
For more information on Gateway Ticketing Systems, visit www.gatewayticketing.com or call +1 (610) 987-4000.
