There are bad maps, then there are Disney maps

There Are Bad Maps, Then There Are Disney Maps

October 22nd, 2007 · 15 Comments · Uncategorized

Dan emailed me a link to these maps that Disney has up for their “Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 13K” run. Take a look at the 13k and the 6.5k maps. They are both really horrible, but take a look at this part of the 13k map.

I’m not sure what happens under that hat with the route, but I’m sure it is magic! I’ve tried to piece together the route from both runs, but I’m at a loss.

Tags: Cartography·disney·horrible·map

15 responses so far ↓

1 Erin // Oct 22, 2007 at 11:26 am

Disney’s course maps are awesome! I am running the Tower of Terror 13K and cannot wait to run over those MGM buildings, across the grass, through the bushes, and then into the magical hat!
2 Brian // Oct 22, 2007 at 11:28 am

I guess that is what you get when you take a marker to a promotional image of the park, and call it a map.
3 Bill P. // Oct 22, 2007 at 11:30 am

We should be thanking them.

Just think, all this time we’ve been overlooking the outstanding mapping capabilities of MS Paint.

Thanks for the much need laugh.
4 matt // Oct 22, 2007 at 12:41 pm

clearly they’ve used representations:

http://blogs.esri.com/Support/photos/mc_oct07/images/316/original.aspx
5 Michael M // Oct 22, 2007 at 12:46 pm

I wonder how much Disney pays its cartographers …
6 Bill // Oct 22, 2007 at 1:12 pm

Pay?
7 Dan // Oct 23, 2007 at 3:32 am

I still can’t believe a company with Disney’s resources put these maps up on their website- they are hilarious.
8 Murky // Oct 23, 2007 at 6:08 am

when i grow up, i want to be a Disney cartographer.
9 Jake // Oct 23, 2007 at 6:11 am

Cartographer?

Looks like imagineers gone wild!
10 Bill // Oct 23, 2007 at 6:35 am

@Murky

Looks like you’d be the first one!
11 brad // Oct 23, 2007 at 12:01 pm

Seems appropriate for the “Twilight Zone” run that the 6.5 k begins and ends in the misty void surrounding the Disney complex.
12 Joe // Oct 23, 2007 at 12:02 pm

I think when you enter the hat you get sodomized by the broomsticks from Fantasia.
13 Dale // Oct 24, 2007 at 7:10 am

These maps are almost as bad as the 5k race maps handed out at the ESRI user conference. Photocopied CAD drawing with the route drawn by Sharpie and Post-It notes for labels.

Disney only has the expectation of good cartography because they are rich, but ESRI makes friggin’ mapping software!
14 Canuck // Oct 24, 2007 at 8:03 am

Can’t believe that! They could make such nice maps with the graphics they have of their properties as a base. Really looks like someone’s bad MS Paint job!
15 That looks like a GIS map // Jun 9, 2008 at 7:53 pm

[...] being better than a Disney map shouldn’t be [...]