KidZania's interactive city optimizes the visitor experience with Panasonic

The Japanese company has brought its self-service kiosk solutions to this Mexican children's theme park. He has been in charge of the design, structure and image of the support, as well as the touch monitor, card payment terminal, thermal printer for receipts and bracelets with RFID.

Kidzania is an interactive theme park that has recently been opened in Guadalajara (Mexico) and that sets its sights on the little ones. To improve the experience of visitors, solutions have been implemented to streamline the process of buying tickets and the delivery of identification bracelets for children and their adult companions. The option chosen has been the digital self-service kiosks integrated by Panasonic.

Of Mexican origin and with presence in more than 21 Countries, KidZania is one of the fastest growing children's entertainment brands. The installation represents an interactive city for children of 1 to 14 years old and mix inspiration, fun and learning through activities with role-playing games. Children can explore it at a scale of more than 7.000 square meters of surface area, where they experience about a hundred professions.

"KidZania Guadalajara is our newest park and represents the first model 4.0 of the concept of this small interactive city. It's a much more digital and fun space, with renewed experiences for visitors", says Eduardo Guevara, Global Technology Director at KidZania.

As part of this new proposal, KidZania sought to optimize the experience of the public when purchasing their tickets. The main objective is to reduce the waiting time through a 'line busting' system simple and efficient enough for the public to choose their tickets, pay them by credit or debit card, get your ticket and receive the safety bracelets that link the members of a family or group so that the identification or location of children is quick and accurate.

KidZania raised this need with the B2B Solutions group of Panasonic Mexico to know the possibilities of the self-service kiosk solutions that the Japanese company has recently implemented in the fast food and retail sectors.

Panasonic developed a concept tailored to kidZania's needs, integrating from the design, structure and image of the kiosk, up to the touch monitor, card payment terminal, thermal printer for receipts and bracelet printer with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). The software and design of the graphical user interface were created by the KidZania team and incorporated into the Panasonic solution.

According to Dario Delgado, QSR And Retail New Business Development Manager at Panasonic, the kiosk project in KidZania Guadalajara had three phases of integration.

The first focused on hardware, through development, integration and consolidation of components according to customer specifications; the second, with the installation of software developed by Kidzania; and the third, with the assembly of the kiosks, panasonic Engineering Center testing and certification.

In the first stage of the project, it was decided to implement a solution with five modules of self-service kiosks in KidZania Guadalajara.

RFID Technology

When buying tickets, the system assigns a number to the transaction and a code that activates the RFID chip integrated in each bracelet. All bracelets in the same transaction form a group and share the same code, so that each family or school group is easily identified through the radio frequency reader antennas (RF) installed throughout KidZania Guadalajara.

With the bracelets it is possible to control the access and exit of minors so that they do not do so without the company of the authorized adults of their group; or, locate a child who has separated, since in each area of the 'city' there are RFID reader antennas that help to know precisely the location of all visitors. The use of RF technology offers a great range, certainty in its operation and is not intrusive with visitors.

The system of identification bracelets and RFID reader antennas is developed by KidZania and is part of its preventive security strategy that is complemented by a video surveillance system, security personnel and the training received by employees in charge of customer service.

"One of our priorities is the safety of our visitors., ago 20 years we started with the concept of a safety bracelet to be sure that the minor who enters with a responsible adult will leave the park accompanied by the same person", comments Eduardo Guevara.

"In KidZania Guadalajara we evolved the concept and now the bracelet has integrated information such as the name of the visitor, if you are a member of our program or part of a special activity. It is a more aesthetic device and generates a sense of belonging by displaying the visitor's name.", says KidZania's Head of Global Technology.

Visitor data and their identity are protected by the strict security regulations that KidZania has implemented in compliance with the GUIDELINES OF THE GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) of the European Union.

Project expansion

By integrating the solution of digital self-service kiosks, KidZania Guadalajara meets the three objectives set by the Global Technology team.

The first, offer a better service to the visitor through the reduction of the waiting time in the purchase of ticket. Second, begin with the process of modernization in the attention to the public. and, last, optimize operating costs by reorienting supervisory staff who were previously dedicated to selling tickets and who are now focused on making the visitor experience satisfactory.
The KidZania team is working on defining the metrics to evaluate the performance of this solution.

Thanks to these first results, KidZania has decided that Panasonic will integrate a similar solution, with eight self-service kiosk modules, for KidZania Dallas, a new centre that will open this autumn at the Stonebriar Centre in Frisco, Texas.

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