Judy Perkins rented tubes, bought food and snagged a midday beer, all without her wallet.
Instead of credit cards or cash, the South Carolina resident paid for it all with a technology that lets Wet 'n Wild customers access the power of their credit cards through a water park-friendly wristband.
"I love it," Perkins said. "It's just convenient."
Called "GO," the wristbands use radio-frequency identification, or RFID, to transmit a serial number to the scanners alongside the park's cash registers. RFID is the same technology that makes Florida's SunPass possible.
"Once they come in, they put their stuff in their locker and never have to come back," said Sherri Harvey, Wet 'n Wild's accounting manager.
Such cashless systems have been in use at stores and gas stations for years, but their use at water parks is fairly new.
Wet 'n Wild is the first park in the nation to use the GO technology, which is marketed by Proximities, a company based in Melbourne. The water park tested the cashless system in April, and is offering it again for the peak summer season.
"It really is a guest convenience," said Michael Black, general manager of Wet 'n Wild.
RFID is a technology that uses radio waves to identify an object. It has been around since at least the 1970s, according to the RFID Journal, an industry publication. An RFID system usually includes a tag, a reader and a database where information is stored.
From identifying patient information in a hospital to tracking pallets of merchandise, many uses have been proposed for RFID. Unlike a bar code, RFID doesn't require a line-of-sight scan, making it easier to transmit information.
"Think about when you go to the supermarket, and the cashier has to scan your box of cereal six times," said Joshua Girvin, founder of Proximities. With no bar codes, RFID doesn't have that problem. "It's much easier and much quicker for the consumer to use."
But while customer convenience is a big motivator, it's only part of the story.
During Wet 'n Wild's April trial, customers spent about 10 percent to 15 percent more on food and other extras throughout the day, Black said.
That's an especially important statistic for water parks, which tend to post lower per-capita spending than their drier counterparts.
"In the past, [customers] would have to go back to their locker to get their wallets," Black said. "Now it's more of an impulse."
That impulse is one of the reasons that other RFID systems have already taken hold at water parks across the nation.
In the Poconos and Niagara Falls, Canada, Great Wolf Lodge indoor water parks have adopted the "Smart Band" technology, which is marketed by Precision Dynamics Corp., a wristband company based in San Fernando, Calif.
And "Splash Cash," a version of Precision Dynamics' Smart Bands, is in its second season at Water World in Federal Heights, Colo.
Here in the Orlando area, the new Ron Jon Surf Park plans to adopt the Smart Band technology when it opens in early 2007.
Customers will be able to use their wristbands not only to purchase concessions, but also to access reservation-required areas and open their lockers, said Jamie Meiselman, chief executive of Surf Parks.
"We wanted to try and make the experience for the surfer as natural as possible," Meiselman said. "When you're surfing, you don't want to have anything dangling around your neck."
As for Proximities' GO wristbands, the company said it is working with several other parks in Florida and across the nation but is unable to disclose details at this time.
Cashless payment programs are already in place at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks, which offer a waterproof bracelet version of the Walt Disney World Shopping and Dining Gift Card.
And at SeaWorld's Discovery Cove, guests can link a credit card to photo ID cards they wear during their visit. As for SeaWorld's future water park, the company has not yet disclosed such operational details.
Today's cashless payment systems are a far cry from the original -- Splash Cash. The wristband featured tear-off tags, each of which represented a certain dollar amount, said Rick Root, president of the World Water Park Association.
"That whole concept of coming up with a device so people don't have to carry money has evolved quite a bit over the last 20 years," Root said.
But the technology involved in this latest evolution -- RFID -- doesn't come without controversy.
Because of the ability to gather and store personal information, privacy advocates have questioned the consequences of widespread RFID use. Some have even decried the technology as a type of "spychip," claiming that RFID tags -- some no bigger than a grain of pepper -- could be used to track people without their knowledge.
And Christian groups have compared an implantable RFID chip, called VeriChip, with the apocalyptic "mark of the beast."
"This is definitely a whole new world," said Rebecca Jeschke, spokeswoman for the nonprofit organization Electronic Frontier Foundation. While there are not a lot of RFID scanners right now, Jeschke said that in the future, the risks will rise.
"One of the things I worry about is people becoming cavalier about the way their movements are tracked throughout the world," Jeschke said. "People need to realize that pretty soon their every move is going to become transparent."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...l-wetnwild2006jun20,0,1952635.story?track=rss
Instead of credit cards or cash, the South Carolina resident paid for it all with a technology that lets Wet 'n Wild customers access the power of their credit cards through a water park-friendly wristband.
"I love it," Perkins said. "It's just convenient."
Called "GO," the wristbands use radio-frequency identification, or RFID, to transmit a serial number to the scanners alongside the park's cash registers. RFID is the same technology that makes Florida's SunPass possible.
"Once they come in, they put their stuff in their locker and never have to come back," said Sherri Harvey, Wet 'n Wild's accounting manager.
Such cashless systems have been in use at stores and gas stations for years, but their use at water parks is fairly new.
Wet 'n Wild is the first park in the nation to use the GO technology, which is marketed by Proximities, a company based in Melbourne. The water park tested the cashless system in April, and is offering it again for the peak summer season.
"It really is a guest convenience," said Michael Black, general manager of Wet 'n Wild.
RFID is a technology that uses radio waves to identify an object. It has been around since at least the 1970s, according to the RFID Journal, an industry publication. An RFID system usually includes a tag, a reader and a database where information is stored.
From identifying patient information in a hospital to tracking pallets of merchandise, many uses have been proposed for RFID. Unlike a bar code, RFID doesn't require a line-of-sight scan, making it easier to transmit information.
"Think about when you go to the supermarket, and the cashier has to scan your box of cereal six times," said Joshua Girvin, founder of Proximities. With no bar codes, RFID doesn't have that problem. "It's much easier and much quicker for the consumer to use."
But while customer convenience is a big motivator, it's only part of the story.
During Wet 'n Wild's April trial, customers spent about 10 percent to 15 percent more on food and other extras throughout the day, Black said.
That's an especially important statistic for water parks, which tend to post lower per-capita spending than their drier counterparts.
"In the past, [customers] would have to go back to their locker to get their wallets," Black said. "Now it's more of an impulse."
That impulse is one of the reasons that other RFID systems have already taken hold at water parks across the nation.
In the Poconos and Niagara Falls, Canada, Great Wolf Lodge indoor water parks have adopted the "Smart Band" technology, which is marketed by Precision Dynamics Corp., a wristband company based in San Fernando, Calif.
And "Splash Cash," a version of Precision Dynamics' Smart Bands, is in its second season at Water World in Federal Heights, Colo.
Here in the Orlando area, the new Ron Jon Surf Park plans to adopt the Smart Band technology when it opens in early 2007.
Customers will be able to use their wristbands not only to purchase concessions, but also to access reservation-required areas and open their lockers, said Jamie Meiselman, chief executive of Surf Parks.
"We wanted to try and make the experience for the surfer as natural as possible," Meiselman said. "When you're surfing, you don't want to have anything dangling around your neck."
As for Proximities' GO wristbands, the company said it is working with several other parks in Florida and across the nation but is unable to disclose details at this time.
Cashless payment programs are already in place at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks, which offer a waterproof bracelet version of the Walt Disney World Shopping and Dining Gift Card.
And at SeaWorld's Discovery Cove, guests can link a credit card to photo ID cards they wear during their visit. As for SeaWorld's future water park, the company has not yet disclosed such operational details.
Today's cashless payment systems are a far cry from the original -- Splash Cash. The wristband featured tear-off tags, each of which represented a certain dollar amount, said Rick Root, president of the World Water Park Association.
"That whole concept of coming up with a device so people don't have to carry money has evolved quite a bit over the last 20 years," Root said.
But the technology involved in this latest evolution -- RFID -- doesn't come without controversy.
Because of the ability to gather and store personal information, privacy advocates have questioned the consequences of widespread RFID use. Some have even decried the technology as a type of "spychip," claiming that RFID tags -- some no bigger than a grain of pepper -- could be used to track people without their knowledge.
And Christian groups have compared an implantable RFID chip, called VeriChip, with the apocalyptic "mark of the beast."
"This is definitely a whole new world," said Rebecca Jeschke, spokeswoman for the nonprofit organization Electronic Frontier Foundation. While there are not a lot of RFID scanners right now, Jeschke said that in the future, the risks will rise.
"One of the things I worry about is people becoming cavalier about the way their movements are tracked throughout the world," Jeschke said. "People need to realize that pretty soon their every move is going to become transparent."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...l-wetnwild2006jun20,0,1952635.story?track=rss