Mt. Olympus Map... Simply Amazing!!

http://www.mtolympusthemepark.com/small/index_flash.html

This is possibly the best park map I've ever seen. I tip my hat to the people that created this.

i'm not sure what to put here..

Best as in hardest to use?

Closing my eyes, taking a deep breath and counting to X...

It's a park map that links to attractions. Not really that hard to do.

Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.

In all fairness, the animation is kind of cute if you have high speed and it does not annoy you that the whole map won't fit on your screen and if you realize you can only scroll at a reasonable speed if you put your cursor in the corners. The site itself is missing info you would want (schedule anyone?) and looks like some kid's high school project. It looks like someone put a lot of thought, time, and effort into it; but did not know what they were doing. However, I like the park and won't hold that against them. It is ironic however that GG's site is doing a much better job of promoting Hades than the park's own website.

But it's got DIY pop-ups!

Then again...you order tacky website, you get tacky website. Drive down the Dell's main drag and you'll see how the website BLENDS with the resort community itself.

As long as they can build Hellacoasters...I ain't mad.

-'Playa

NOTE: Severe fecal impaction may render the above words highly debatable.

Drive down the Dell's main drag and you'll see how the website BLENDS with the resort community itself.

HA! That was great! I never thought about it that way before, but that town is built out of pop ups.

I think Absolutely Reliable summed up the website juuust right.

Dorney Park no more than a couple weeks ago had their park map animated as well.

An animated park map is nice & really cool if it's an option & not the only choice. But it should be done a little more logically. It should take up a larger portion of the screen & the whole interactivity portion is useless. That's what the "rides & attractions" part of a site is all about.

They have the right idea, but the execution was piss poor.

The map and site suck. Period.

I think it a cool idea (just like Atari and RCT3), but sorry the site is crap, and I'd rather go and learn about the attractions on the "ride and attractions" page.

Single Riders ONLY? I don't understand?

Kennywood Team Member Since 2003 Kennywood is CLOSED

I'm not sure, but my guess is they are referring to the go-karts on that one.

Takes forever to load (ethernet) and I'm sure it crashes dial-up users (yes they do exist). IMHO it is ok, but not as user-friendly as it should be. Seemed sluggish moving left or right.

However they have great coasters and tracks so I guess I can forgive the site. :)

If you aren't on highspeed it sucks. It's great on cable though.

Chuck

the "Single Riders ONLY" was on the HADES information page.

Kennywood Team Member Since 2003 Kennywood is CLOSED

I have wireless, (54 Mbps 802.11g which is fast, even though I could be faster)which is connected to cable (10 Mbps), I have had no problems, simple fact is the page is CRAP! :(

Form should follow function.

If Mount Olympus was going to spend $15,000, say, on a website, even an initial buildout, you'd think they'd include basic information like this:

*Schedule of operation - calendar and hours (even if it's a loose, laid back mom and pop schedule)
*Easy to access highway maps and directions to the park
*Pictures of the rides
*Hotel information, amenities

The graphics are fabulous, though. Like icing on an empty cake box.

In the future they're probably going to expand the site to include information. ;)

Bill *** Edited 5/6/2005 6:41:04 AM UTC by Bill*** *** Edited 5/6/2005 7:08:52 AM UTC by Bill***

Hotel information, amenities

They actually sell the hell out of their hotel(s). Like most things on the site, it's just not exactly easy nor intuitive to find.

Click 'lodging' in the top bar then in the new info that opens up in the main area you can either:

A. Click the last line and visit the Treasure Island website (which gives all the info you could want on the hotel)

or

B. Click the first tab in the main window, wait for the main window to change again, then click the last line which takes you to the same Treasure Island site.

Not exactly efficient, but the info is there.

Easy to access highway maps and directions to the park

Just click the 'directions' in the main orange tool bar. The main window updates to general driections from the main nearby cities. You can click on those and a new window opens to mapquest with the park's info already filled in.

Again, sucky design making the user take several unnecessary steps to get the info.

Pictures of the rides

Admittedly, this one is hit or miss, but still...

Click 'Rides & Attractions' in the main orange bar. On the goofy animated map, click the ride you're interested in. The info that pops up often includes a picture of the ride.

Schedule of operation - calendar and hours

Yeah, that's a pretty obvious omission.

---

Don't get me wrong, the site sucks. It's a perfect guide for what not to do with Flash on your site. It's confusing, hard to navigate and the changes taking place in the main window are slow and annoying.

*** Edited 5/6/2005 6:12:26 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

coasterimage - lordgonchar

I'm on dial-up and it didn't take too long to load. I'm used to waiting for stuff like that to generate. It could be my computer (G4), but the map also seemed to move ok.