Paper maps and Season Pass cards

by 'GoBucks89',

"I think you can still buy single day tickets at the booths and they give you a receipt which is your admission to the park? If so, you do not need a smart phone to visit".

That may be true but what about the parking fee which would be free with a pass.

You said your Cedar Point days were over because you don't have a smart phone. I was just saying that you can still visit the park without a smart phone. May not be with a pass though.

And it may be the case that you can access a pass without a smart phone. Would need to talk with guest services. May be ways to access that they don't necessarily make public. From what I have seen, about 10% of adults in US do not have a smart phone. So, you aren't alone. Suspect that skews older though (people who are less likely to visit amusement parks).

And you may be able to print the QR code from a pass and use that for admission.

Just making suggestions for how you can still visit the park without a smart phone.

^^^ like GoBucks89 said..."I still have 4-5 old platinum cards."

We still have older card/season passes with Snoopy and The Joe Cool Club on the upper front corner. Nice memento to keep from Years ago.

For the upcoming 2025 season, we will be pass members for 22 years. ..we don't have 22 yearly passes, but we like what we have!

thanks GoBucks89 for the reminder, I had forgotten something. When I ordered on-line my 2023 gold pass, I needed to print out the voucher, that paper voucher got me into parking, when I used the voucher at the gate, they couldn't supply a card pass as they were out of them. So the paper voucher got me in and worked for the all season meal deals too. So that paper voucher worked for everything when they scanned it.

While I agree that the app and in park WiFi need improvements, what’s the difference between having your nose in a phone to look at the map, or having your nose in a paper map?

To each their own, but we have a nice collection of park maps from all the places we have travelled over the years (Cedar Point is, of course, an every-year destination). Behind the drivers' seat and passenger seat of our Equinox there is an unsustainable stash of these the girls love to look through on road trips, and it's a tangible item that you can actually hold. And keep. Without having to stare at a screen.

And the paper maps also make for a neat historical record of the park as it evolves over the years.

Here is how to view old park maps:

https://tinyurl.com/yp99jk7s

I get the collecting part to an extent. But I also hate clutter and unnecessary things in both my car and house. I also don’t have emotional attachments to many tangible things. What I am referring to is the “having your nose in your phone” complaint. The paper park map did not offer any additional benefit that the map on the app adds, other than you can clutter the storage net behind your passenger seat, in your attic, in the storage totes in the garage, whatever. At the end of the day, when you need to reference the map, your nose would be in your phone looking at the map or in the giant multi-fold paper map looking at the map. I personally prefer the sustainable efforts and reducing waste by eliminating the paper map, if only the park WiFi and app actually functioned properly. I just think some consumers have a hard time with change as technology becomes more prominent in the things we do.

The older my kids have gotten, the more I appreciate the "clutter" our nearly two decades of adventures has accumulated. It will be gone all too soon. In fact, as both our kids are now in high school and middle school, the clutter has exponentially diminished, and while we of course embrace the change, it's still an emotional transition.

No one in this family has ever actually looked at the map for navigational purposes. Ever. If you don't get the point, I guess you don't.

I'm sure Six Flags corporate is really thinking hard about "sustainability" when it comes to eliminating something like paper maps.

Totally get where Kevinj is coming from, and agree that if you're not the sort to care about it, you won't care about it. ;) And that's OK.

I was at Knoebels this past weekend for PPP, and was surprised -- though not really, because Knoebels -- they still had plenty of paper maps in the usual places. I grabbed one and added it to the box of park maps I rarely, if ever, look at, but feel good knowing I have.

I'll also add a 'crossbuzz' link to my post about paper maps back in 2022. Downloading PDFs is a nice alternative, and in many ways more convenient from an archival standpoint. They allow me to be a geeky park map collector without a physical box to make me fear hoarding!

I definitely have a box of old park maps as well as my old season pass cards that I hold onto and enjoy having. I probably even have a handful of old single day admisson tickets in there. I love being able to look back through old stuff like that and look forward to looking through it with my sons when they're older. I hate that most/all stadiums have gone to virtual concert and sporting event tickets because I have a heck of a pile of those too.

TwistedWicker77:

What I am referring to is the “having your nose in your phone” complaint.

For me, it's the fact that the phone represents, to some extent, life's responsibilities that I'd prefer to put to the side when enjoying a leisurely activity. If I have to constantly refer to my phone's screen, that means I'm doing something I'm obligated to do on a day-to-day basis, and I might see a notification that reminds me of some obligation that I'd prefer to think about at a later date. Sometimes it's nice to just put the phone away for a while.

The paper park map did not offer any additional benefit that the map on the app adds...

I couldn't disagree more. Our kids don't have unfettered access to electronic devices, and it's nice to hand everyone their own map they can peruse and refer to when getting around an unfamiliar place. A few weeks back we were at our local Renaissance Festival, and both of our kids, even the sometimes disinterested 12 year old, enjoyed and found pride in navigating us around the park to our next destination.

We do the same when camping, or pretty much any large outdoor venue that we're not familiar with. And specifically when camping at a new place, we like to take the map and go on a walk, noting on the map sites we think might be nice for a future stay.

As far as being sustainable, sure, I get that angle. But most folks are buying new phones every few years at least, a behavior I would think has a pretty substantial environmental footprint relative to printed maps, which sort of literally grow on trees.

All that said, as Jeff touched on, when digital maps/apps are done well and take advantage of the format, I do welcome the option. I'd just prefer that not be the only option.

Last CP paper map we had was about 7 years ago. It wasn't used to navigate but found a nice home as a poster on the back of our son's closet door. He would often point to various favorite points of interest and even say "that's not there anymore" about certain attractions. Long ago thrown away along with the Amish Country maps and any other flyer\tour guide he snagged somewhere.

Just yesterday we did our first ever visit to the Toledo Zoo. No paper maps to be found, just virtual. By the way, very impressed with that zoo, never realized the scope and beauty of it, always thought it may be a "smallish" zoo.

Kevinj:

…and while we of course embrace the change, it's still an emotional transition.

Seems like a lot of you like the memories that paper maps provide. That’s cool. But, the “emotional transitions” are like ripping off a band aid. You’ll be fine in the long run, and if a paper park map is what brings back the memories and not the digital photos you took on your phone, then I don’t know what to tell you.

I'm sure Six Flags corporate is really thinking hard about "sustainability" when it comes to eliminating something like paper maps.

I’m also not sure why anyone would think Six Flags didn’t have sustainability in mind when eliminating paper maps. I remember how many maps used to litter the restricted areas and midways when I worked in rides or as a sweep. Corporations have a social responsibility to help operate more sustainably. The Six Flags site lays out their sustainability efforts.

djDaemon:

But most folks are buying new phones every few years at least, a behavior I would think has a pretty substantial environmental footprint relative to printed maps, which sort of literally grow on trees.

Almost everybody has a phone, and nobody purchases a phone just to look at a park map. I think we all know that. Phone companies also offer buy back programs to recycle the old devices, but that’s a different conversation for another time.

If I have to constantly refer to my phone's screen, that means I'm doing something I'm obligated to do on a day-to-day basis, and I might see a notification that reminds me of some obligation that I'd prefer to think about at a later date.

This statement further proves my point. I agree that putting your phone away is a great way to disconnect. I practice it very often too. However, I don’t know about you, but regardless if that’s what WE practice, I challenge you to look at the many people waiting in line whose “noses are in their phone” anyway.

…relative to printed maps, which sort of literally grow on trees.

It makes more sense to reduce one time use waste (paper maps), and utilize devices that we use every single day (phones that are not one time use). Also, reducing cutting down trees for one time use products helps the environmental footprint.

My point is, not everybody is collecting paper maps for wall posters or memorabilia. People are picking them up at the front gate, looking at them a couple of times throughout their visit, and then throwing them away or on the ground. I think that is what helped lead to the decision to eliminate them.

Good for you TW77, I don't think you grasp what Kevin is saying and that's fine. Some people aren't impressed by a sunset either, not a knock on your intelligence.

Anyway the physical maps along with passes are gone to save money, the environment is a bonus virtue signal. My beloved Dave Matthews Band would send special "Warehouse" tickets that got you into the show and were souvenir like. I enjoyed hanging onto them and placing them with posters I had gotten. Welp those days are gone too. Even Ticket Master you now have to pay extra for a physical ticket. Shows were much more enjoyable when I didn't have to fumble around with my phone with drinks in hand (Lanyard with ticket was clutch). Big perk of staying at Breakers was leaving the phone behind, seems that will be impossible years from now.

This particular topic isn't really a Cedar Point issue, it's the rapid change of.... everything. I think folks have a right not to like it and miss when the world was a lil more "Real".

TwistedWicker77:

I think that is what helped lead to the decision to eliminate them.

The paper maps were eliminated for one reason and one reason only - cost. Any other claim by a business is lip service and virtue signaling. The same goes for SF installing solar over a couple parks' parking lots - it's a business move aided by some combination of projected utility savings and federal and state incentives. I'm glad they're doing it, but I don't buy for one second that they're doing it "because it's the right thing to do."

As for the rest of the argument, you seem oddly defensive, so I'll just bow out and reiterate that just because you don't see the move away from paper maps as having meaningful downsides, others do.

The thing is, I grasp the concept. Wanting physical items for keepsake is understandable. But again, the paper park maps were a waste of money when there are other alternatives to access a park map. Especially when they would be littered everywhere, every day, every time. Simply print off a map at home. That way, you can access it, keep it as long as you want, and then you are helping reduce the waste while those who want to access it from their phones can do that instead.

Listen, folks have a right to not like whatever they want. But when people start to downplay one way of doing things to support an older (more outdated and less sustainable) way of doing things, it becomes silly when they don’t outweigh the good with the bad. Especially when they take the matter to Guest Services. I’m seeing both sides of things. I’m just not seeing that reciprocated by those who struggle with “emotional transitions”.

My turn now (raises hand).

Twisted Wicked77 stated: "My point is, not everybody is collecting paper maps for wall posters or memorabilia. People are picking them up at the front gate, looking at them a couple of times throughout their visit, and then throwing them away or on the ground. I think that is what helped lead to the decision to eliminate them."

They were collecting/ throwing them on the ground for decades. I know the guy that prints these yearly for the park. Anyhow these brochures were printed regularly up through the 2019 season. Then six weeks before the 2020 operating season a little thing called COVID came along and there was a HUGE pushback w/ paper materials (IE magazines in doctors offices) during this time period being out in the open due to the fear of spreading the virus, remember that? THIS is what led to their demise, nothing else. There was a limited effort in 2021 to print them again but the virus was still going around so this along w/ yes probably cost cutting moves by the park and seeing they could do without them sealed their demise. There see, we all can be right. :P

If you’re going to cherry pick, at least read what you quoted. I said:

…I think that is what helped lead to the decision to eliminate them.

When the company realized they could make cuts for things that aren’t making them money, they took the opportunity to make those cuts. I work in an industry where our supply chain was negatively impacted by COVID. But your poor argument has not made you “right”, no matter how special your attempt made you feel.

djDaemon:

As for the rest of the argument, you seem oddly defensive, so I'll just bow out and reiterate that just because you don't see the move away from paper maps as having meaningful downsides, others do.

Where does it seem I’m “oddly defensive”? In other words, there’s no argument against what I said. Got it 😉

You’re literally trying to argue against the decision to get rid of paper maps for a digital map. I’m not going to repeat myself about the waste paper maps caused, especially since you made it clear you’re not going to “buy it for one second”. They’re maps and you have more than one way to access them when you need to - Your phone and the large ones on the midway that are scattered throughout the park. What more do you need and at what cost?

I'm just waiting for the 'I miss Mapquest' posts and for the longing for the mimeograph warmth and smell of freshly minted copies of quizzes in school.