this is what you call a prototype. they are doing this to get feedback and see what should be changed

... No. No it's not.

This is the 2011 park map that will be used in the Park Guide given to guests when they enter the park.

Go ahead and tweet them about what you don't like, and what they can improve in this "prototype."

As if they care.

You'll get the response similar to that shown here earlier: "It's a map of the attractions, not each tree.."

Fine, fine public relations indeed. Nothing like someone with an apparent 'tude and snarky, sarcastic response to head up your communication with fans, right? Sigh. Not in a million years at Holiday World, Dollywood, Darien Lake, nor any large corporate park helmed by Disney, Universal, or Seaworld... But what else would one expect from the company who would accuse those here of thievery and deceit in order to enter Carowinds?

And I say again: The job of public relations is to smile at the stupidity, and to courteously redirect patrons to the positive (or, to not say anything at all). What passes for acceptable communication between a park representative and a guest? It certainly wouldn't fly if a ride operator had such an attitude... But something tells me that this salaried worker in charge of the park's Twitter needn't fear much backlash. A shame.

Wouldn't you say that the The Beast, or Flight Deck, or Adventure Express is misrepresented by appearing in a field?[/b] For a park that has always been so highly thought of for its use of natural landscaping, this is just sort of a surprise.

Guest looks at map: probably doesn't notice or care about the lack of trees.

Guest gets to ride: "Oh hey, natural landscaping."

No one is losing sleep over the trees not being on the map.

And as far the tweet about trees, seems like they were just having fun joking about how people on here are taking the lack of trees so seriously.

By the way, I wouldn't be surprised to see that kind of comment come from a place like Holiday World. There used to a member on here called Uncle Henry who received a VERY lovely email from Paula at HW. She was very courteous to him. Note: There's sarcasm in that, her email was pretty nasty.

I have worked with the public for decades...it has always seemed to be an unwritten rule that you only make fun of the customers BEHIND their backs!

I didn't see anything wrong with that Tweet, in fact I saw it as them addressing what was said in the Tweet about the lack of trees, while having a little bit of fun, like Gordon Bombay said. Not everything has to be taken completely seriously, it was a message to a fan over Twitter. The message from the fan, was kind of taking a joking jab at the map and the park jabbed back. It's all in good fun, lighten up.

In regards to the lack of theme areas being clearly marked; it is a pet peeve for me, and probably the biggest pet peeve that I have with the CF style maps. However, the only two areas in the park which are not kind of "obvious" are Action Zone, and Oktoberfest. Coney Mall, Planet Snoopy, and X-Base all have signs. Rivertown may no longer have any signs, but it is clearly marked as nearly every restaraunt in Rivertown begins with the name Rivertown. The water tank on top of the Trading Post is another good indicator. All in all though, Oktoberfest might as well just be merged with I-Street as it no longer has its own identity, and Action Zone seems to be the "ehh" section of the park anyways.

I noticed that the majority of the errors on the map are all centered around Action Zone (DT-DZ spiral, no loop on Invertigo, the car game, which is close to the AZ border, and the AZ bathrooms are probably around 100ft long). Aside from this, I do like the new map.

Do I like the new map? No, I much prefer the older one.

Do I really care that much? No, it's just a map.

Yeah, it sucks that Kings Island is much more exaggerated, colorless, and treeless, but come on, it's a map. Kings Island itself is just the same as last year, if anything, it's much better. Who here uses a park map anyway? And honestly, who cares?

Enjoy the park. Happy April!

Guest looks at map: probably doesn't notice or care about the lack of trees.

Guest gets to ride: "Oh hey, natural landscaping."

No one is losing sleep over the trees not being on the map.

And as far the tweet about trees, seems like they were just having fun joking about how people on here are taking the lack of trees so seriously.

We need a like button.

I like how they have a wall going around Boomerang Bay lol...

Looks just like Cedar Points map regarding the wall...

oh well - I like the map but I do wish they would label the themed areas even though they are all losing their theme nowadays.

I guess this is an improvement over last year's map, even with its new myriad of faults, but it isn't the best. I wish they had made up a new style that reflected the old 1979 map. I like it a lot for some reason, even though Racer was represented as a condiment coaster.

Guest looks at map: probably doesn't notice or care about the lack of trees.

Guest gets to ride: "Oh hey, natural landscaping."

No one is losing sleep over the trees not being on the map.

And as far the tweet about trees, seems like they were just having fun joking about how people on here are taking the lack of trees so seriously.

We need a like button.

We have a "agree" and "disagree" button on the forums i moderate for the bluejackets. I would tend to think it would not take a lot of effort to add that here as well. Just sayin

I'm not a big fan of the Like buttons...only for the fact that I think it is nicer for someone to actually take a second and tell me why they like (or dislike) a post.

Well, I will agree with a lot of people- I liked the 1998-2010 maps better visually. But, this map is still quite accurate and appears very easy to navigate, which is what a map is supposed to do. And, in spite of being exaggerated, the coaster layouts seem a little more accurate to me. In the 2010 map, Vortex was going backwards and some coasters didn't even complete a circuit- not the case for 2011. Sure, they are EXAGGERATED, but the layouts are indeed correct here...except for one. And that's the biggest irk I have of all:

WHY DOES Invertigo NOT HAVE A LOOP!?!? Pretty...darn...big...error.

I'm quite honestly surprised that Kings Island didn't get this new style of map until this year. This style, which Cedar Fair uses for most of their parks, is quite honestly pretty cool, especially with the distortion of the coaster lift hills and tower rides. I do like the 1998-2010 style maps, which are done by Citigraph, but this is a move I surely saw coming to unify things for synergy through CF.

Talk about late... Great America's 2011 map is still Citigraph. Carowinds' has yet to be released.

Carowinds has yet to be released? Didn't they open today - there had to be something for guests didn't there?

Carowinds has their maps; they just haven't put the online version up on the website yet.

Also, does no one else find it weird that Kings Island and Carowinds are the only parks with the newer Cedar Fair site design and not the old Paramount site design?

i went to look @ kd site, & @ first i thought i was in the wrong place cause of the paramount style design.

^^ Yeah, the two of the three* parks with the old map most recently had the new style of website. Strange.

I was at both Carowinds and Kings Dominion this weekend, they switched to the Cedar Fair style maps. I like them minus the fact they don't have categories for food, rides, games, etc.

How do they list it? Are all of the names just plopped onto the map?

I spy with my little eye WindSeeker and no Action Theatre behind it?

good eye

Maybe this pic was taken before the announcement of Dinosaurs Alive, because now we know that it is located behind The Racer which happens to cover up the Dinosaurs Alive logo

Shouldn't this thread be locked? And welcome to KIC jester!

But if it were, where would the peeps who claim that the currently released map is only a teaser awaiting the reopening/redevelopment of something or other post their stuff?

Terp, who wonders while he wanders

thank you

Shouldn't this thread be locked? And welcome to KIC jester!