UO to discontinue Paper Park Maps

[Paulio]

Honestly, a park map is much easier than downloading and using the app, but nowadays when every person owns an iPhone, it makes sense for UO to discontinue it. Don't need to have some park maps lying around when the park hours are over.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Honestly, a park map is much easier than downloading and using the app, but nowadays when every person owns an iPhone, it makes sense for UO to discontinue it. Don't need to have some park maps lying around when the park hours are over.

Sure, but blasting a ton of confetti into the air during Mardi Gras and Holiday parade is fine...? That stuff goes all over the place, into landscaping, water, drainage canals, trees, buildings, etc.

 

[Brian G.]

Sure, but blasting a ton of confetti into the air during Mardi Gras and Holiday parade is fine...? That stuff goes all over the place, into landscaping, water, drainage canals, trees, buildings, etc.

And if we cut that, cue the cutz talk.

 

[Tbad556]

Sure, but blasting a ton of confetti into the air during Mardi Gras and Holiday parade is fine...? That stuff goes all over the place, into landscaping, water, drainage canals, trees, buildings, etc.

You can make improvements while still having more to work towards fixing. These aren't all or nothing situations.

 

[GAcoaster]

Back in the 1980's/90's before Time Warner acquired Six Flags, my local park (Great Adventure) didn't offer any printed maps except the poster maps that they sold for $1.25 each ($2.95 in today's dollars). People either bought them or they just went to the map and information kiosks throughout the park. It wasn't ideal, but it meant the cost of printing maps was covered by the guests as an upcharge and offered a (now) treasured souvenir of your trip.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

And if we cut that, cue the cutz talk.

I mean, you can make improvements while still having more to work towards fixing. These aren't all or nothing situations.

I'm just trying to put some perspective as to why I don't believe this is a "green initiative" by the company.

Just a shame we will never get an Epic Universe map unless they do some sort of commemorative souvenir version for $14.99 + tax.

 

[belloq87]

Just a shame we will never get an Epic Universe map unless they do some sort of commemorative souvenir version for $14.99 + tax.

That was one of my first thoughts, as well. My theme park OCD isn't going to like having park maps of every park I've ever visited... except Epic Universe!

 

[Legacy]

I'm just trying to put some perspective as to why I don't believe this is a "green initiative" by the company.

Just a shame we will never get an Epic Universe map unless they do some sort of commemorative souvenir version for $14.99 + tax.

Just because it isn’t a “green initiative” that doesn’t mean there’s a green benefit.

 

[Justin Hofstetter]

Exactly my point. I'm simply pointing out that Universal operates like a corporation... purely for profit. They've been getting away with stuff like this for years because they've built some great goodwill over the past few years, but are finally "cashing in" on this goodwill by being greedy in some parts... and not a single peep from the fan community outside a few of us that are met with resistance.

Pair this with reduced entertainment offerings, increased prices (Universal increased tickets back in October... not a single complaint/outcry), and short park hours, you can see why some of us fans are starting to express our discontent towards Universal over the past year or so.

Plus, not a word about the next Nighttime Spectacular in USF's Lagoon.................. How do we know that UOR's really working on that????? Or if EU will be done on time and done well???? I don't trust UOR at the moment!! They sure don't look better than WDW at the Moment!


I don't mean to trash the Earth but I love Guidemaps!

 

[sonoma15]

Plus, not a word about the next Nighttime Spectacular in USF's Lagoon.................. How do we know that UOR's really working on that????? Or if EU will be done on time and done well???? I don't trust UOR at the moment!! They sure don't look better than WDW at the Moment!


I don't mean to trash the Earth but I love Guidemaps!

They've been working on it overnight and recently installed the new show platform. That's how we know they are really working on it.

 

[Mad Dog]

Just because most people have a smartphone doesn't necessarily mean they want to carry one around in the parks with their face in it all the time while they're trying to relax and enjoy a vacation. I've read a few articles in the past months that were saying that internal WDW surveys were showing the main objection to Genie + were complaints from guests that they didn't want to have to use smartphones in the parks while on vacation. I get that. Not everyone is smartphone dependent or glued to it as a near addiction. Leave the phone in the room and enjoy the parks, or at least many of us feel that way.

 

[IzzyB]

They actually killed a lot of the value of their park maps when they quit putting the show times on them a couple of years ago. That was always the quickest way to find out the times of the shows when you were in an area. Now, with the app, it takes forever, if you're lucky enough to find it, to navigate to the show times.....And their web site isn't much better than their app. It actually took a few steps back during the last redesign. The previous design was easier to navigate. The present is just a confusing mishmash that sends you all over the place. They really need to hire better designers, that have a modicum of common sense. Bet most of those designing the app and web site have never been in a Universal Orlando park.....and......................there's nearly always comments on how well the new Epic rides will operate during opening. I think an equally important issue is will Universal get their operations act together by then. Operations are still not up to their pre 2020 level. It's tough to find out when anything is and the employees seem to be generally poorly informed concerning park operations. It's long past due to keep blaming covid and the hurricane for closed attractions/shows, capacity issues, operation problems and shorter park hours.

Perfect example is today at Leaky cauldron they push you to order via app. Now this has nothing to do with green clearly money and less employees yet there was just a TON of employees standing around doing nothing. Fine I will sit down and scan QR at table. Dumb QR takes me to ALL restaurants, not even the ones in the park I am in literally all that I have to scroll thru. What is the point of a QR that doesn't take you to the place I am at. So order everything much harder as now instead of my kids looking at the menu I have to read everything off and slowly enter orders. Ok, finally done. Scan annual pass, oh wait it is so dark you can't scan the AP. Got my daughter to put a light on it, it doesn't tell you it was successful, it brings you back to the cart where it has a link to scan the pass. So I finally decide to move to the next screen maybe it is there. Suntotal totally was missing. Decided to get up and walk up there as as walking subtotal with discount finally shows. I was almost to register when it popped up. That is how long it took to go from blank to subtotal. Order and it spins and spins and spins. Walk up again and was just ready to order, talking to lady and it FINALLY appears. But oh wait even though I scanned from table it wants to tell me that I have arrived and then once I do that what table number. What the heck is the QR for? Overall it was an extremely bad experience just to order dinner. Also employees when asked can't we just order here (no line) said well you can but it will take longer, really why? It would have been way faster if I just ordered there. Not like the food is coming any faster still sitting here waiting for my food.

Genuinely asking as I’ve never had issues with the app, but keep seeing the discussions about it. What’s hard about the showtimes setup? The home page has a prominent “shows” button which then gives both a map and list option with showtimes. Within seconds, I was able to see that Bourne runs at 12:45, 1:30, 2:15, 3:15, 4, 4:45, 5:30, and 6:15 today. I feel like I'm missing something with all of these talks. It's the same amount of taps as the WDW app and more prominently displayed on the home screen. I get the nostalgia and collector elements of being sad that the maps are gone and it's not a masterpiece of an app or something, but I've never found it challenging to navigate.

The filtering is the first annoying part to me. It is all 3 parks and so I have to scroll thru meaningless information to get to what I want or set the filter every single time I click on rides and shows. The map is too tiny for me to be meaningful and the not showing future shows for the next day.

I actually would have zero issues with going green if they had a better app and they had maps for sale for kids. That is my two major issues. The app also doesn't always work. Maps around the park with the show times would also be nice for people that don't have tech

 

[Mad Dog]

and they wonder why attendance has gone flat since April, while all over the US tourism is booming. One constant in Orlando is that both WDW & Universal have made the guest experience more complicated and confusing as they embrace phones to be the central need to experience the parks. All the while, both have cut guest experiences. Hey, maybe all that's inter related. The tekkies kind of forget that one of the prime reasons to vacation is to relax and experience leisure and entertainment while leaving the work day stuff in the room or at home......And I doubt Universal gives a damn about green. It's all about cost and profit.

 

[Tbad556]

The filtering is the first annoying part to me. It is all 3 parks and so I have to scroll thru meaningless information to get to what I want or set the filter every single time I click on rides and shows. The map is too tiny for me to be meaningful and the not showing future shows for the next day.

I actually would have zero issues with going green if they had a better app and they had maps for sale for kids. That is my two major issues. The app also doesn't always work. Maps around the park with the show times would also be nice for people that don't have tech

I'm still just confused how that's any worse than a regular map where you have to skim the entire thing to find what you're looking for. You can scroll the showtimes from top to bottom in no more than 10 seconds. And the map can easily be zoomed in. I just genuinely don't see these as big hurdles.

As for the wanting maps for children or exceptions:



I'm just so bored of every single thing on here being the most negative, devastating change ever and the end of times and clear evidence of leadership sinking the parks and so on. Even new parks like EU and Great Britain instantly turn into nitpicking to the point where it doesn't even feel like a forum for fans of theme parks.

Things are evolving. Things move forward over time. It happens. This is the trend of all parks, restaurants, tourism as a whole, etc. Universal isn't some weird outlier. It can be a bummer without being a massive outrage.

 

[Brian G.]

I'm just so bored of every single thing on here being the most negative, devastating change ever and the end of times and clear evidence of leadership sinking the parks and so on.

This is my biggest gripe with many of the discussions. There are absolutely fair points about keeping paper maps, just like there are absolutely fair points about cutting them but it's also not that big of a deal.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Not going to doom and gloom it, because at USH the parks are doing fine without maps but it sucks like you take away a little souvenir for what?

 

[Tbad556]

This is my biggest gripe with many of the discussions. There are absolutely fair points about keeping paper maps, just like there are absolutely fair points about cutting them but it's also not that big of a deal.

Absolutely. I grew up collecting them. I get it. I also collected sporting event tickets, concert tickets, etc. It's a bummer to see them go, but it's not exclusive to one industry/place nor is it a surprise. We've been headed this way for a loooong time as a society. I've seen QR code-only menus for nearly half a decade in some restaurants. A lot of financial transactions are going digital. Etc.

There are valid gripes to have, but when everything is made out to be a mountain of a scenario, the real complaints lose their seriousness.

 

[Nico]

Even new parks like EU and Great Britain instantly turn into nitpicking to the point where it doesn't even feel like a forum for fans of theme parks.

(Edit: Sorry this got long.) I think this highlights my mindset on the issue. Fans/collectors have every right to be bummed by the change, or have a desire not be on phones all vacation. I share both sentiments. We should demand more from corporate conglomerates.

But it’s really hard for me to say I’m super excited at this insane level of investment and growth and also say management as a whole needs to go. (I don’t think that’s what you all believe, but that feels like the essence of some posts.)

I have heard rumors about the management of certain departments. Maybe a change would benefit parkgoer experience. I think that’s normal at any company.

Honestly, I think they are doing pretty well for this time period where they have an insane amount of aggressive expansion, plus still dealing with the impact of the pandemic like other companies. I honestly thought it would be bumpier. But I also understand why that may worry people about EU’s opening.


(Side note: I just found a box of old maps from when my dad went to Universal and Disneyland as a kid. I’ll take pics soon.)

 

[Brian G.]

Absolutely. I grew up collecting them. I get it. I also collected sporting event tickets, concert tickets, etc. It's a bummer to see them go, but it's not exclusive to one industry/place nor is it a surprise. We've been headed this way for a loooong time as a society. I've seen QR code-only menus for nearly half a decade in some restaurants. There are valid gripes to have, but when everything is made out to be a mountain of a scenario, the real complaints lose their seriousness.

In a perfect world, I wish Universal slowly took the maps away while updating the app - which despite its issues, I think is still more than usable.

...but I understand not everyone likes using tech, so at least the paper map option is available at GS.

 

[Tbad556]

In a perfect world, I wish Universal slowly took the maps away while updating the app - which despite its issues, I think is still more than usable.

...but I understand not everyone likes using tech, so at least the paper map option is available at GS.

Absolutely. It would be a different story if an alternate option wasn't available at GS, but there is. Transitions in tech are wonky and usually could be dealt with better. I don't think most would argue that.