Hello MZATUG Fam,
In anticipation of re-opening with limited capacity, I'm building some timed entry facilities. I've build them a few different ways in the past but I'd love to see more examples. Currently debating a time slot per screen vs one screen and using text/blackouts on the map.
Can I see your maps?!
We do things in all one screen for our timed entry needs. Our map looks similar to how you are doing it.
Thanks! The capacities are very up-in-the-air. It's likely they will be determined by the Mayor or Governor for Chicago. Because of the size and create-your-own-adventure layout of our building we will likely have to do some soft-closes and clear the building a few times per day so at the moment the plan is to do 3hr blocks, clearing the building and re-opening for each block. In case it ends up being Shedd-enforced limit instead of a harder government-enforced limit I'll probably also have an hourly facility on the back-burner in case we aren't clearing the building, but just spreading out entry times. As for the number of tickets in each of those time slots...I have NO IDEA so I'll build big and hold as needed.
It looks like you are on the right track. Timed Entry was my life at the Perot Museum and I am also building it out for the zoo right now. I have two recommendations that I have learned from the past. One is what you stated...overbuild your Timed Zones and use various Hold Code maps to bring it to your timed size. As you know, you can't easily add to the Zone. We are planning for 500 per slot. I am building it for 2000 and will use Hold Codes to bring it down. Two...consider an "Untimed Zone" where you can put things that you don't want exposed to the Web. We have CityPASS redemption and Comps there. You will always need some work-around for special circumstances that arise.
One last thought, you may wish to add an earlier zone or later zone. Give yourself the flexibility for an 8am slot or a 6pm slot or whatever your times are- you know the operating teams will be creative It took me nearly an entire day to build-out the zoo!
One last thing I thought of...Members. Our Membership Director wanted to allocate times for members, so I built a Zone for Public & a Zone for Members. Based on which tickets are in the zone allows it to be visible online.
Good luck!!
Ha, great minds think alike. I tacked a GA slot at the end too. Good call on the member versions, hadn't thought of that. I think our houses will be so big I should go with a screen for each time like you have, as opposed to one screen and scrolling. Thank you for sharing!
Word of warning...applying Hold Codes to these giant Facilities can take a while. I timed it once and it took about 90 seconds to apply the Hold Code Map at the Perot to the General Admission Perf.
As a one-off, it isn't too bad. I would build the entire year at once and calculated that to be about 9 hours of Hold Codes being applied. I learned to not do more than about 30 Perfs at once in Season Maintenance or things would lock up!
One last example - this is the Perot Museum with Timed Entry every 30 minutes:
Ha, I am all too familiar with this pain. I traced and recreated the script to apply hold code maps in SSMS if you want it. Not a whole lot faster but it won't crash the application :)
Beautiful, thanks! The hardest part will be picking the colors.
Oooo, I would love to take a look, Amanda! One of my back-burner projects is to script out applying hold code maps in a SQL context where I can select the perfs in finer detail than what you get in Season Maintenance.