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.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.
You can make improvements while still having more to work towards fixing. These aren't all or nothing situations.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.
I'm just trying to put some perspective as to why I don't believe this is a "green initiative" by the company.I mean, you can make improvements while still having more to work towards fixing. These aren't all or nothing situations.
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!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.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.
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!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.
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.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!
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.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.
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.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.
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.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 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.
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.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.
(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.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.
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.
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.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.