Fast Lines at Theme Parks

Authors: G. Hernandez-Maskivker, G. Ryan, M. Blazey, M. Pàmies

Abstract:

Waiting times and queues are a daily problem for theme parks. Fast lines or priority queues appear as a solution for a specific segment of customers, that is, tourists who are willing to pay to avoid waiting. This paper analyzes the fast line system and explores the factors that affect the decision to purchase a fast line pass. A greater understanding of these factors may help companies to design appropriate products and services. This conceptual paper was based on a literature review in marketing and consumer behavior. Additional research was identified in related disciplines such as leisure studies, psychology, and sociology. A conceptual framework of the factors influencing the decision to purchase a fast line pass is presented.

Keywords: Tourist behavior, fast lines, theme park, willing to pay.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1080424

References:

[1] M. Kostecki, "Waiting lines as a marketing issue", European management journal, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 295-303, 1996.
[2] R. Yan, S. Lotz, "The waiting game: The role of predicted value, wait disconfirmation, and providers' actions in consumers' service evaluations", Advances in consumer research, vol. 33, pp. 412-418, 2006.
[3] W. Lee, C. Lambert, "Impact of waiting time on evaluation of service quality and customer satisfaction in food service operation", Foodservice Research International, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 241-254, 2000.
[4] G. Tom, S. Lucey, "A field study investigating the effect of waiting time on customer satisfaction", The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, vol. 131, no. 6, pp. 655-660, 1997.
[5] K. Katz, B. Larson, and R. Larson, "Prescription for the waiting in line blues- entertain, enlighten, and engage”, Sloan management review, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 44-53, 1991.
[6] W. Li, "Impact of waiting time on tourists satisfaction in a theme park: An empirical investigation", Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), 2010 IEEE International Conference on, pp. 434, 2010.
[7] D. Maister, "The Psychology of Waiting Lines", The Service Encounter: Managing Employee/Consumer Interaction in Service Businesses, J. A. Czepiel, M. R. Solomon, and C. F. Surprenant, eds. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, pp. 113-126, 1985.
[8] M. Hui, D. Tse, "What to tell consumers in waits of different lengths: An integrative model of service evaluation", Journal of Marketing, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 81-90, 1996.
[9] G. Geissler, C. Rucks, "The overall theme park experience: A visitor satisfaction tracking study", Journal of Vacation Marketing, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 127-138, 2011.
[10] B. Pikkemaat, M. Schuckert, "Success factors of theme parks- An exploratory study", Institute for tourism, vol. 55, no. 2, 2007.
[11] R. Hensley, J. Sulek "Customer satisfaction with waits in multi-stage services", Managing Service Quality, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 152-173, 2007.
[12] C. Heo, S. Lee, "Application of revenue management practices to the theme park industry", International journal of hospitality management, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 446-453, 2009.
[13] A. Matthew, A. MacLaren, K. O’Gorman, C. White, "Priority queues: Where social justice and equity collide", Tourism Management, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 875-884, 2012.
[14] S. Clavé, The global theme park industry, Cabi, Wallingford, Oxfordshire; Cambridge, MA, 2007.
[15] A. Kemperman, Temporal aspects of theme park choice behaviour, Citeseer, 2000.
[16] R. Ahmadi, “Managing capacity and flow at theme parks", Operations research, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 1-13, 1997.
[17] C. Heger, S. Offermans, J. Frens, "Waiting as part of the fun: Interactive gaming in theme park queues", Offermans SAM, Nagtzaam HA H.Proceedings of SIDER, vol. 9, pp. 52-55, 2009.
[18] A. Kemperman, A. Borgers, H. Oppewal, H. Timmermans, "Consumer choice of theme parks: A conjoint choice model of seasonality effects and variety seeking behavior", Leisure Sciences, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 1-18, 2000.
[19] L. Moutinho, "Amusement park visitor behaviour — Scottish attitudes", Tourism Management, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 291-300, 1988.
[20] P. Pearce, Tourist behaviour: themes and conceptual schemes, Channel View Publications, Clevedon, UK; Buffalo N.Y., 2005.
[21] J. Chebat, P. Filiatrault, "The impact of waiting in line on consumers", International Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 35-40, 1993.
[22] J. Chebat, C. Gelinas-Chebat, A. Vaninski, P. Filiatrault, "The impact of mood on time perception, memorization, and acceptance of waiting.", Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs, 1995.
[23] F. Leclerc, B. Schmitt, L. Dube, "Waiting time and decision making: Is time like money?", Journal of Consumer Research, , pp. 110-119, 1995.
[24] M. Houston, L. Bettencourt, S. Wenger, "The relationship between waiting in a service queue and evaluations of service quality: A field theory perspective", Psychology marketing, vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 735-753, 1998.
[25] J. Hornik, "Subjective vs. Objective Time Measures: A Note on the Perception of Time in Consumer Behavior", The Journal of consumer research, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 615-18, 1984.
[26] P. Jones, E. Peppiatt, "Managing perceptions of waiting times in service queues", International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 47-61, 1996.
[27] M. Koo, A. Fishbach, "A Silver Lining of Standing in Line: Queuing Increases Value of Products", Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 713-724, 2010.
[28] G. Ryan, M. Valverde, "Waiting online: a review and research agenda", Internet Research, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 195-205, 2003.
[29] G. Ryan, M. Valverde, "Waiting for service on the internet: Defining the phenomenon and identifying the situations", Internet Research, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 220-240, 2005.
[30] G. Ryan, M. Valverde, "Waiting in line for online services: a qualitative study of the user's perspective", Information Systems Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 181-211, 2006.
[31] V. Vukadinovic, F. Dreier, S. Mangold, "A simple framework to simulate the mobility and activity of theme park visitors", Proceedings of the Winter Simulation ConferenceWinter Simulation Conference, pp. 3253, 2011.
[32] R. Zhou, D. Soman, "Looking back: Exploring the psychology of queuing and the effect of the number of people behind", Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 517-530, 2003.
[33] Z. Carmon, J. Shanthikumar, T. Carmon, "A psychological perspective on service segmentation models: The significance of accounting for consumers’ perceptions of waiting and service", Management Science, vol. 41, no. 11, pp. 1806-1815, 1995.
[34] H. Friedman, L. Friedman, "Reducing the “wait” in waiting-line systems: Waiting line segmentation", Business horizons, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 54-58, 1997.
[35] F. Bielen, N. Demoulin, "Waiting time influence on the satisfactionloyalty relationship in services", Managing Service Quality, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 174-193, 2007.
[36] M. Davis, T. Vollmann, "A framework for relating waiting time and customer satisfaction in a service operation", Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 61-69, 1990.
[37] G. McDougall, T. Levesque, "Waiting for service: the effectiveness of recovery strategies", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 6-15, 1999.
[38] W. Fung, "A study of queue: consumers'purchase intention tradeoff between perceived product quality and perceived sacrifice", Marketing Option, Working paper, 2006.
[39] A. Rafaeli, G. Barron, K. Haber, "The Effects of Queue Structure on Attitudes", Journal of service research, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 125-139, 2002.
[40] S. Taylor, "Waiting for service: The relationship between delays and evaluations of service", Journal of Marketing;Journal of Marketing, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 56-69, 1994.
[41] A. Pruyn, A. Smidts, "Effects of waiting on the satisfaction with the service: Beyond objective time measures", International journal of research in marketing, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 321-334, 1998.
[42] R. Larson, "Perspectives on queues- social- justice and the psychology of queuing", Operations research, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 895-905, 1987.
[43] L. Dubé-Rioux, B. Schmitt, F. Leclerc, "Consumers’ reactions to waiting: when delays affect the perception of service quality", Advances in consumer research, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 59-63, 1989.
[44] D. Moore, "The Waiting game", UNLV Theses/Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones. Paper 556. http://digitalcommons.library.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/556, 2007.
[45] J. Baker, M. Cameron, "The Effects of the Service Environment on Affect and Consumer Perception of Waiting Time: An Integrative Review and Research Propositions", Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 338-349, 1996.
[46] M. Davis, J. Heineke, "How disconfirmation, perception and actual waiting times impact customer satisfaction", International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 64, 1998.
[47] J. Kellaris, R. Kent, "The influence of music on consumers' temporal perceptions: does time fly when you're having fun?", Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 365-376, 1992.
[48] M. Davis, J. Heineke, "Understanding the roles of the customer and the operation for better queue management", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 21-34, 1994.
[49] S. Keliiholokai, "The Effects of annual pass holders on the Disneyland Resort infrastructure", UNLV Theses/ Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones. Paper 540, 2010.
[50] A. Milman, "The future of the theme park and attraction industry: a management perspective", Journal of Travel Research, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 139-147, 2001.
[51] J. Gnoth, J. Bigné, L. Andreu, "Waiting time effects on the leisure experience and visitor emotions", Progress in Tourism Marketing, , pp. 255, 2006.
[52] J. Dawes, J. Rowley, "The waiting experience: towards service quality in the leisure industry", International journal of contemporary hospitality management, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 16-21, 1996.
[53] D. Dickson, R. Ford, B. Laval, "Managing real and virtual waits in hospitality and service organizations", Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 52-68, 2005.
[54] P. Pearce, "Towards the better management of tourist queues", Tourism management, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 279-284, 1989.
[55] P. Riganti, P. Nijkamp, "Congestion in popular tourist areas: a multiattribute experimental choice analysis of willingness-to-wait in Amsterdam", Tourism economics, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 25-44, 2008.
[56] J. Rowley, "Measuring total customer experience in museums", International journal of contemporary Hospitality management, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 303-308, 1999.
[57] J. Sulek, R. Hensley, "The Relative Importance of Food, Atmosphere, and Fairness of Wait:", Cornell hospitality quarterly, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 235-247, 2004.
[58] R. Rendeiro Martín-Cejas, "Tourism service quality begins at the airport", Tourism Management, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 874-877, 2006.
[59] H. Minton, "Waiting and queuing in the check-in hall: An ethnographic study of queuing and waiting for check-in services at Manchester Airport", Journal of Airport Management, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 249-264, 2008.
[60] R. De Lange, I. Samoilovich, B. Van der Rhee, "Virtual queuing at airport security lanes", European Journal of Operational Research, 2012.
[61] L. Álvarez, G. Mejía, "Simulation study of priority passes in a theme park in Colombia", Proceedings of the 2012 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference G. Lim and J.W. Herrmann eds, 2012.
[62] S. Clavé, "The Port Aventura theme park and the restructuring of coastal tourist areas in Catalonia", European Urban and Regional Studies, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 257-262, 1997.
[63] G. McClung, "Theme park selection: Factors influencing attendance", Tourism Management, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 132-140, 1991.
[64] T. Tone, K. Kohara, "A Study of the Effects of Congestion Information and a Priority Boarding Pass in a Theme Park with Multi-Agents", IEEJ Transactions on Electronics, Information and Systems, vol. 127, pp. 407-415, 2007.
[65] Empire State Building Company L.L.C. http://www.esbnyc.com/local/es/observatory.asp. 2012.
[66] Roma Pass. http://www.romapass.it/p.aspx?l=en&tid=33&hi=queue. 2008
[67] V. Kostami, A. Ward, "Managing service systems with an offline waiting option and customer abandonment", Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 644-656, 2009.
[68] R. Cope III, R. Cope, H. Davis, "Disney’s Virtual Queues: A Strategic Opportunity To Co-Brand Services?", Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), vol. 6, no. 10, 2011.
[69] B. Barnes, http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/01/07/disneyparks- customers-will-use-bracelets-encoded-with-credit-data-makepurchases- avoid-lines/t6gluXbK2ZXOJK7Tkm2iPM/story.html, 2013.
[70] Strecker, http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/01/09/disney-park-wristbandmy- magic-plus/, 2013.
[71] K. Mcguire, S. Kimes, "The perceived fairness of waitlist-management techniques for restaurants", Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 121-134, 2006.
[72] B. Avi-Itzhak, H. Levy, "On measuring fairness in queues", Advances in Applied Probability, pp. 919-936, 2004.
[73] R. Bennett, "Queues, customer characteristics and policies for managing waiting-lines in supermarkets", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 78-87, 1998.
[74] A. Rafaeli, E. Kedmi, D. Vashdi, G. Barron, "Queues and fairness: A multiple study experimental investigation", Manuscript under Review, http://iew3.technion.ac.il/Home/Users/anatr/JAP-Fairness Submission.pdf, 2005.
[75] R. Setoodeh, "Step Right Up!—Amusement-Park Visitors Pay Premium to Avoid Long Lines; Some Have-nots Are Miffed", Wall Street Journal, pp. B1, 2004.
[76] Biege,http://goireland.about.com/od/travelingtoireland/qt/ryanair_priorit y_boarding.htm, 2012.
[77] H. Chao, R. Wilson, "Priority Service: Pricing, Investment, and Market Organization", The American Economic Review, vol. 77, no. 5, pp. 899- 916, 1987.
[78] Y. Alotaibi, F. Liu, "Average Waiting Time of Customers in a New Queue System with Different Classes", Business Process Management Journal, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 7-7, 2012.
[79] J. Swarbrooke, S. Horner, Consumer behaviour in tourism, 2nd edn, Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam; Boston, 2007.
[80] L. Moutinho, "Consumer behaviour in tourism", European journal of marketing, vol. 21, no. 10, pp. 5-44, 1993.
[81] E. Sirakaya, A. Woodside, "Building and testing theories of decision making by travellers", Tourism management, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 815-832, 2005.
[82] J. Hornik, "Situational effects on the consumption of time", The Journal of Marketing, , pp. 44-55, 1982.
[83] E. Mayo, L. Jarvis, The psychology of leisure travel. Effective marketing and selling of travel services. CBI Publishing Company, Inc, 1981.
[84] J. Howard, J. Sheth, "The theory of buyer behavior", New York: John Wiley and Sons.9-28, 1969.
[85] D. Gilbert, C. Cooper, "An examination of the consumer behaviour process related to tourism.", Progress in tourism, recreation and hospitality management.Volume 3., , pp. 78-105, 1991.
[86] A. Pizam, Y. Mansfeld, Consumer behavior in travel and tourism, The Haworth Hospitality Press, New York, 1999.
[87] S. Wahab, L. Crampon, L. Rothfield,”Tourism marketing: a destinationorientated programme for the marketing of international tourism”, Tourism International Press, London, 1976.
[88] S. Um, J. Crompton, "Attitude determinants in tourism destination choice", Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 432-448, 1990.
[89] M. Solomon, Comportamiento del consumidor, Pearson Educación, 7 ed., México, 2008.
[90] P. Haynes, "Hating to wait: Managing the final service encounter", Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 20-26, 1990.
[91] M. Anitsal, I. Anitsal, "Impact of customers' personality traits in retail environments.", Academy of Strategic Management Journal, vol. 8, pp. 39-50, 2009.
[92] R. Hurley, "Customer service behavior in retail settings: a study of the effect of service provider personality", Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 115-127, 1998.
[93] K. Wong, P. Cheung, "Strategic theming in theme park marketing", Journal of Vacation Marketing, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 319-332, 1999.
[94] A. Zins, "Leisure traveler choice models of theme hotels using psychographics", Journal of Travel research, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 3-15, 1998.
[95] A. Lew, B. McKercher, "Modeling tourist movements: A local destination analysis", Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 403-423, 2006.
[96] C. Schewe, R. Calantone, "Psychographic segmentation of tourists", Journal of Travel Research, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 14-20, 1978.G.