Every once and a while Kevin Yee actually has something worthwhile to offer:
Orlando Map
Here’s an unusual publication for your consideration: it’s a foldout map in the traditional size (the kind of thing you might buy at a convenience store when visiting a new city), but geared toward the Orlando theme park visitor specifically. It’s not a street map of all of Orlando. Rather, it shows the major arteries (and routes from the airports) but really focuses in on the tourist zones—primarily, the US-192 (Kissimmee) and SR-535 areas which border Walt Disney World, and the famous International Drive zone near SeaWorld and Universal.
The front of the map, seen full size.Having easy access to the streets alone might be worth the $15 price tag (it’s sold in the UK, but the American price including shipping is $15), but that’s not what caught my eye in this map. What really got me excited was the presence of restaurant information on those off-property tourist streets. That’s right, you now can have easy access to a complete accounting of what lies just around the corner. I had tried something like this in my now-defunct WDW Menu Book, but with far less panache and skill. It is highly gratifying to find a slick version of the vision that had been only in my head. One minor quibble: it would have been nice to have an alphabetical index of the restaurants, to make it easier to look up locations “by craving” (rather than vice versa), but this is not a major consideration.
Other parts of the map show the villas in the area—this must be of particular interest to the British visitors—and average temperatures and rainfall by month. The creator Steve Munns is a professional cartographer, and it shows. There is nothing amateur about this creation. It’s slick, glossy, and just about perfect for the visitor driving around Orlando. He spent over 600 hours creating this labor of love, and it shows.
A close up.The map is made of some thick material advertised as tear-proof. It also looks to me like it would be at least a little water-resistant. This is a map designed for hard use in the field. In any event, it’s extremely high quality, and for the drivers new to Orlando, this seems a prudent purchase indeed. To order from the USA, visit this link: http://www.orlandomaps.co.uk/orderusa.html.
Orlando Map
Here’s an unusual publication for your consideration: it’s a foldout map in the traditional size (the kind of thing you might buy at a convenience store when visiting a new city), but geared toward the Orlando theme park visitor specifically. It’s not a street map of all of Orlando. Rather, it shows the major arteries (and routes from the airports) but really focuses in on the tourist zones—primarily, the US-192 (Kissimmee) and SR-535 areas which border Walt Disney World, and the famous International Drive zone near SeaWorld and Universal.
The front of the map, seen full size.
Other parts of the map show the villas in the area—this must be of particular interest to the British visitors—and average temperatures and rainfall by month. The creator Steve Munns is a professional cartographer, and it shows. There is nothing amateur about this creation. It’s slick, glossy, and just about perfect for the visitor driving around Orlando. He spent over 600 hours creating this labor of love, and it shows.
A close up.