Amusement Park Maps

The high point of the summer vacation, for many a kid, was an all-day trip to the nearest amusement park. Roller coasters, getting wet on the log ride, sometimes a cartoon character not named Mickey, and junk food on the midway trying to win stuffed bear. As a very young child growing up near Detroit, the park of choice was Boblo Island. Operating 1898 to 1993, boarding the SS Columbia or SS Ste. Clair riverboat ferries for the 18-mile trip downriver to the island park was always an adventure.

Later, my parents got more adventurous and were willing to make the 4-hour drive to Ceder Point, on Lake Erie, in Sandusky, Ohio. Being a young cartophile, the first thing I always did upon entering the park was purchase a map. Then carefully plan a course through the park that would most efficiently get me on all my favorite rides.

The amusement park aficionados at Theme Park Brochurs have pulled together maps and brochures from amusement parks all over the country. Their earliest map is from 1931! Unfortunately, they do not have a Cedar Point map from the late 1960s or early 1970s which would have been the first time I was there. Here is a map from 1980 (as a teen and young adult, being able to drive to Cedar Point with my buddies (or even better, a girl!) was a special kind of independence.)


Click map to enlarge

I first visited Kings Island, near Cincinnati, sometime around 1972 (the date for this map):


Click map to enlarge

It wasn't until I moved down here with my children that we visited regularly. I think I enjoyed it as much (if not more) then them. For a couple years we purchased season passes, and sometimes I would even sneak down on my own, without the kids, to ride some of the roller coasters that they were to small ride themselves. Every year, amusement parks try to top each other with the most thrilling hi-tech ride, but my favorites are still the old wooden roller coasters like the Blue Streak at Cedar Point or The Beast at Kings Island.

Of the two maps above, I still prefer the "cartoon" style of the 1972 Kings Island map. That is the style I remember and loved from my first visits to Cedar Point. The map from 1980 may have been clearer, and more accurate, but it certainly lacks charm. The single map from Boblo Island (1987) is so ugly, I cannot bring myself to reprint it here.

Also, here is an opportunity to pimp my friend Pat's blog, wherein he documents his amazing feat last summer, 12 Parks. 69 new coasters. 14 days in his Blog of Unintended Consequences.

Via Boing Boing

Safari - Disney Style

My friend, Nancy, went to Disney World and brought back this terrific map postcard! A map of the Kilimanjaro Safaris' Harambe Wildlife Reserve, part of the Disney Animal Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida:

Daily excursions from sunrise to sundown. You will encounter many of Africa's wild creatures on the journey of a lifetime! Elephants, the Big Cats, herds of Antelope, Giraffe, Hippos, Tommies, Bongo, white and black Rhinos just to name a few.

Harambe qualifies as one of those imaginary countries I write about from time to time. I haven't been to Disney's newest "land", however according to Wikipedia, the official backstory says that it was once part of a Dutch colony, but a peaceful revolution made Harambe self-governing in 1963. Perhaps it is somewhere near Nova Hibernia...

Map Pillows

Decorative Geographic Pillows from Burchfield's Golf Gallery:





Via Cafe Cartolina

Montana: Top of the Continent

Tuesday is one of the two final two stops on the Democratic Presidential Primary tour, Montana, "Big Sky Country." Here are my two Montana postcards:



South Dakota is also voting on Tuesday, and Puerto Rico voted on Sunday... but I don't have postcards from those places (perhaps you can do something about that...).



While reading about Montana, I was intrigued by an interesting feature of Glacier National Park in that state. Triple Divide Peak, a mountain in the park, is effectively the apex of the North American continent. The mountain sends waters towards the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Ocean via the Hudson Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean via the Gulf of Mexico. The peak of that mountain "tri-sects" the continent.



Ocean drainage basins provide another interesting way to draw borders around the world.

Mount Tamalpais State Park - Trail Map Bandana

From my map ephemera collection: This is a trail map from Mount Tamalpais State Park in California, just north of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. The park offers "6,300 acres of redwood groves, oak woodlands, grassland slopes, chaparral and rocky ridges. Offering spectacular views of the nearby Pacific and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area, from its ridges, slopes and the 2,571-foot high, East Peak."

The trail map is printed on a cotton bandana. The value is that even if it rains, your map will still be readable! Unfortunately, I have never been there. This map was given to me by a friend.

Coincidentally, just as I was preparing to post this image, I saw this post from our friends at Contours: the National Geographic Maps blog.

Nat Geo Maps to Launch National Trails Database



"TOPO!® Explorer, launching in May, will present users with detailed topographic maps, aerial photography, a hybrid map made from the two, and an extensive, freely browsable, online database of trail descriptions, recommendations and unique points of interest."

A handy tool for hikers and backpackers.