Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure Observation Report- Observational Study on the Length of Time to Purchase Tickets at the Two Parks

1. Introduction

At the combined parks of Universal Studios (US) and Islands of Adventure (IoA) patrons have been complaining that it takes too long to both purchase park tickets and then get through the entrance lines. According to managers of the park patrons have been giving conflicting data as to which is actually having a problem. Some say that US is slower than IoA where others disagree and claim IoA is indeed the slower of the parks. To get to the truth behind the issue we conducted an observational usability study where we spent a minimum of 30 minutes at each park’s ticket purchase and entrance lines measuring the time interactions relative to time.

When evaluating the ticket lines we timed interactions at the purchase window from the time the purchaser began conversation to the time they left with their tickets and receipt. Along with measuring the data in time we also were careful to take note on the gender of the purchaser and the amount of people in their group. Groups were broken up between male, female, and kids or children. As measuring who is technically a child and who is not can be difficult in an observational study, we deemed that anyone accompanied by parents, and therefore being free of financial responsibility, were children.

When measuring the entrance lines to the two parks we collected data on people in groups of five. When measuring in terms of time we started the clock when the first person began the entrance process and stopped it when the fifth person in that same line made it through the gate. We made note of the group’s total time and the amount of males, females, and children (measured by the same criteria as above). We chose to record entrance times in terms of five person groups ...

... middle of paper ...

...tremely difficult to see what held up the different lines from one scenario to the next. We think that things may have been related to the finger scanning machines but could not make accurate conclusions from our vantage points. Though both parks forced our observers to walk around to getter a better view of the patrons entering the park it was for very different reasons. At IoA our observers had to maneuver themselves around the crowd to get a decent view of the line that was otherwise blocked by the large lines forming early in the morning. However, by the time we got US the lines had thinned significantly, even to the point where some gates were empty of patrons trying to get in. Because of this our observers had to move far from the documenter in order to retrieve accurate data as often as possible.

4. Analyzed Data

5. Raw Data

6. Graphs and Charts