The death of park maps (aka bitter old man yells at cloud)

Natas,

My thoughts exactly.

I still have a vivid memory of my 1989 Cedar Point “Getaway Guide” showing up in the mailbox in the winter after calling 1-800-BEST-FUN (saw it on TV). For a 13 year old it was essentially the “reveal” of Magnum XL-200.

I’m quite sure I freaked out in the best way possible, called all my KI coaster buddies (who didn’t believe me that a 200’ coaster was being built), and I studied every inch of that guide until we made the trip to Sandusky that summer. That picture of the kids on the Magnum train literally in space above the earth was so cool.

I also miss the brochures. Whenever we traveled, I made a mad dash for the little kiosks in the hotel lobbies, hoping for at least one decent amusement park.

Sometimes they folded open with tons of great photos of the rides. These were how I learned about parks like BGT and SFOG, and I used them to convince my awesome parents to take us there. I remember staring for hours at a single photo of the SFOG “Freefall”, trying to figure out how it worked. These were my only window into the amusement park world outside of Kings Island.

My dad knew I loved these brochures and used to pick them up on business trips for me. Great memories.

It's interesting, as I continue to read the different replies in this thread, I wonder how many people are more in the camp of being irritated with technology that's made the old and familiar obsolete vs. those who just miss the nostalgia of the hand drawn maps (and other tangible brochures and memorabilia) and this thread is a means to reminisce.

I get that some folks don't have smartphones (or don't want to bring them inside the park), so this isn't really aimed at you.

As I mentioned on page 1, I have a pretty sizeable collection of maps and brochures that I enjoy checking out every once in a blue moon. My favorite is a large 1978 souvenir map of Kings Dominion that I've had since I was a kid (at one time I had a 1979 or 1980 Hershey map as well, but disappeared some years ago). I also fondly remember taking as many park brochures as I could find from those displays in hotel lobbies and such. But I really don't miss lugging paper maps around the park, they get all crumpled up and/or wet by the end of the day. In the days when I collected them, I'd pick one up upon park entry to use for the day, then grab another as a souvenir on the way out...then toss the ratty one when I got home.

I really liked using the in-app map at Hershey, as I was able to navigate my way around and watch as GPS updated my location in real-time. I can also search for anything rather than scouring the entire map, negating the need to view the whole park zoomed out on a 4 inch screen. Add in the more-or-less accurate wait times and other useful things like that, and I'd argue there is no need for printed maps...other than as a souvenir. But similarly, I don't see much of a need for elaborate park brochures either, other than for a personal souvenir...which has got to be a pretty niche thing. My whole thing with brochures as a kid was drooling over the roller coaster photos, but now with nearly any photo of any coaster I could ever want available on the device in my pocket at all times, who cares?

But in keeping with the subtitle of this thread (bitter old man yells at cloud), complaining about obsolescence is not entirely lost on me; I get it. As a guy who loathes the idea that manual transmissions will eventually be a thing of the past, even while completely understanding that modern automatic transmissions (and electric cars) are all more efficient, better performing, faster, and cheaper to manufacture, I still refuse to not have at least one manual transmission vehicle in my garage. You can argue with me until you're blue in the face about how much better an automatic is, it doesn't matter...you will never convince me that one is more enjoyable to drive.

Just broke out my map collection so I could share this:

And I found this as well, I forgot I picked this up on my last visit in 2006. I remember being surprised they were giving these out, I didn't think they were making them anymore, even back then. Not a big fan of the art in this one though.

Vater:

I wonder how many people are more in the camp of being irritated with technology that's made the old and familiar obsolete vs. those who just miss the nostalgia of the hand drawn maps (and other tangible brochures and memorabilia) and this thread is a means to reminisce.

I think 90% of it for me is nostalgia. But every once in a blue moon the paper "interface" is just easier to use. For example, the menus during Epcot festivals are a pain in the tuchas to navigate on a phone, while the little booklet is much easier to deal with. It reminds me a little bit of this classic Ikea commercial:

On the manual vs. automatic thing, I'm 100% with you. When the kids were teens, I advocated for buying a beater stick to teach them how to drive one. (Beater == don't care if they burn out the clutch.) "You can't even find them anymore! Why would anyone want to do that!" I decided that was not the marital hill I wanted to die on.

Fast forward to last night. My eldest is doing field work near Johannesburg for her anthropology graduate program, and asked us the following:

If Poppa’s corvette hasn’t been sold could I practice driving stick shift on it so if I go back to South Africa I can drive

No, you cannot practice on your grandfather's mint condition 50th anniversary 'vette. However, I still claim victory on the question.

That Kings Dominion map reminds me of the kitschy old postcards from the opening scene of National Lampoon's Vacation. I love it.

It’s another cost cutting move at the expense of customer satisfaction snd convenience. Plus the maps have always been goodwill souvenirs that may encourage future visits when customers look back at them.

Kings Island has theirs on the wall beside guest relations now instead of in a display in the entrance walkway This is a smart move to reduce waste by moving them from the high traffic oath, but still make them available to the people that really want them

That Kings Dominion map from 79 or 80 posted above is my favorite all time map style. I have the ones from KD, Kings Island and Carowinds from 79 or 80. The coaster and track ride layouts are no where accurate but the artwork is SUPER creative and there is SO much going on to look at in those maps.

Those were souvenir maps that cost .75 I would gladly pay every year for that quality of a souvenir map.

About collecting brochures and maps, even when I was a teenager, just before the internet was financially accessible to every home, I remember a few times a year when I would ride my bike to AAA and stand there for hours looking at and grabbing up park brochures. My backpack was much heavier coming home.

It's a fond memory, but I am so glad the internet exists now so everything I see is updated and current.

Brian Noble:

No, you cannot practice on your grandfather's mint condition 50th anniversary 'vette.

Oof. Yeah, no way in hell. I just started teaching my son how to drive, and I pushed for him to learn on a manual and he was receptive to the idea. He did well his first time out, in an empty lot where he couldn't get above 2nd, but I have no problem with him practicing on my 2011 Jetta. Might wind up being his eventually, anyway...unbeknownst to him.

I'm currently restoring a 1979 Triumph Spitfire and I love the idea of him (and my daughter) being able to take it for a spin when it's done...and when they've had enough seat time in a manual.

super7*:

It’s another cost cutting move at the expense of customer satisfaction snd convenience.

I think you underestimate the expense involved in building and maintaining an app and the dynamic features involved. Also, some folks consider having something on their phone more convenient than getting a paper thing, much in the same way that most people don't mess with cash anymore.

Vater:

I wonder how many people are more in the camp of being irritated with technology that's made the old and familiar obsolete vs. those who just miss the nostalgia of the hand drawn maps

super7*:
It’s another cost cutting move at the expense of customer satisfaction snd convenience.

Guess I left out "being irritated...period." But it does tie in nicely with the thread title.

Carousel Rabbit:

Not only is my box of past maps enjoyable as a nostalgia exercise,

This. I have about eight boxes of archived maps – the oldest of which are now starting to become really interesting given how much the parks in question have changed since.

super7*:

It’s another cost cutting move at the expense of customer satisfaction snd convenience.

I still think the bigger reason to move away from printed maps is research and feedback that the general public would rather just use their phone instead of having to carry a map around all day. Because as Jeff mentioned, why spend the cost associated with an app if nobody wants it?

99er:

Because as Jeff mentioned, why spend the cost associated with a hotel if nobody wants it?

Slight fix.

As much as I miss the days of anxiously awaiting vacation packages to come in the mail I generally don’t have a problem with maps on phones. The exception being parks that don’t allow phones as loose articles on certain rides. Then it is nice to have paper maps and showtimes to carry around so that you can leave the phone in a locker, car, etc.

Vater:

You can argue with me until you're blue in the face about how much better an automatic is, it doesn't matter...you will never convince me that one is more enjoyable to drive

Ditto on that. If some day I need to succumb for my primary driver, there'll also be a Z or Miata or something less practical involved.

Just spent a week at camp with my youngest driving through the laurel highlands with a load of gear in my wife's Rav4 hybrid and still got 44MPG. Those hills and curves were a hell of a lot more fun a couple years ago when I took the Audi, though.

Of note: I used GPS and not a paper map. (full circle complete.)

I am happy to report that we just got back from Kings Island and they were handing out paper maps again.

Maybe this is just because it's their 50th, the ironic part is that I don't need a map for Kings Island, but we got a couple for keeps anyway!

I need to revise my stance after my visit to Dollywood yesterday. I’m very glad they had park maps available because the one in the app was not nearly as useful (especially in the spots where Wi-Fi sucked, which was just about everywhere). And that that park is confusing as hell.

At Kings Dominion they only had map kiosks or you had your phone, and it was annoying because I didn't want to get the app or whatever issue I had at the time to get it. Just have a damn paper map and a place to recycle it on the way out the door or around the park.

Not a fan at all of using your phone to navigate around an amusement park. All hail the paper map!