The main attraction behind the scenes is high-speed fiber internet from Heartland Technology Data Center (HTDC).
The new Lost Island Theme Park is going up in Waterloo, Iowa—joining the Lost Island Waterpark as a major family attraction to the Cedar Valley. As the family-owned park moves closer to opening (currently scheduled for this summer), the owners and IT team knew they needed reliable, fast, secure, affordable connectivity.
Instead of blindly signing on with their current provider from other properties, Lost Island did research and met with the HTDC team, which is based in Jesup, Iowa, just a few miles from the theme park.
“We weren’t prepared to settle,” said Luke Reisetter, Director of IT at Lost Island. “We were paying a lot for slow speeds and low bandwidth, and Heartland was able to offer us faster speeds and more bandwidth—for a lower monthly cost.”
A theme park requires connectivity to run nearly every part of the business:
- Point-of-sale (POS) systems at ticketing and concessions
- Security cameras
- Back office processes (email, document storage, marketing, etc.)
- VoIP phones
- Secure facility access
- And more
If connectivity is lost at any time, it hits the bottom line. A down POS system means no sales for that time period, and a disconnected security system leaves a park vulnerable.
It’s not just the Lost Island team that love HTDC. Guests will benefit from blazing-fast speeds when they use the park’s app. “The companion app features park navigation, attraction filters, unlockable avatars and badges, quizzes, and animated videos that become available as guests explore the park,” said Eric Bertch, Owner of Lost Island. “Our fiber access will allow guests seamless use of our companion app without using their own data.”
Compared to their previous internet provider, Heartland is increasing speeds from 25-100 Mbps all the way to 1000Mbps. And we’re doing so at a more than 30% cost savings.
As with any project, there have been ups and downs. You could say it’s been a rollercoaster. Through all the obstacles, we were able to make recommendations on workarounds and adjustments to get fiber connectivity up and running at the park long before opening.
That’s one big benefit of having your internet fiber provider close to Waterloo. “Communication was transparent from start to finish,” Luke said. “Working with a local provider is important because they have close proximity to parks, and if any backend ISP issues arise you can resolve them in a timely manner.”