Upcoming OTPN Survey: How Are We Doing?
Our yearly Orlando Theme Park News appreciation survey is coming up soon.
Every year we ask our Readers what they think about our site, including things like our appearance, our updates, reviews, photo-reports, guest posts, etc. We really value our Readers' comments and opinions, and we take the results of these surveys very seriously. Even though this particular survey should be made available in the next few days, today we would like to hear a few comments from our Readers regarding our appearance. In fact, we have made some minor changes to the overall look of our site, but it is starting to look a little too "busy" in our opinion. That being said, we would like to know if YOU feel the same way or if you think the site looks great (or, at least acceptable...) as it is today. For example, what do you think about our new slideshow? What about our completely redesigned header? And our logo? Would you like to see a new one?
If you have some time, feel free to share your comments at the bottom of this post. After receiving a good number of comments, we will reward our Readers with our official Disney California Adventure review.
1 thing I would love to see added to the mobile site is a chance to zoom into the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI love what are doing. I like the new 'Did you know' and would love to see that go to other then the Disney parks.
ReplyDeleteThe headers are sometimes misleading in that it tells we are getting a photo update of new stuff in a park but then we get a huge walkthrough with many non update photo's. Although I like 'm both it would be great if you had a separate section for the new stuff with the additional walkthrough separate.
Your title says 'Covering All of Central Florida's Attraction & Theme Parks' but you exclude Holiday decorations in the park and Harry Potter so your claim isn't right and although I respect your believes I think you should consider that slogan.
Furthermore I would love to see some opinionated stuff on the site.
For a lot of countries in the World the theme parks aren't the only pull to come. Many love so shop and dine off property and I would love to know what is going on at The Mall at Millenia, the Florida Mall and the outlet malls and the many food offerings so maybe you could include that a bit?
I like the new slide show and I'm happy the site works on my ipad! I too agree that the website is a little busy but over all I like it. The blue background is nice but maybe lighten it a bit so you can see the older posts link at the bottom of the page better. I like the new tabs at the top. I just noticed the weather in Orlando section is blank.
ReplyDeleteKeep to the theme parks, like your title states:
ReplyDeleteOrlando THEME PARK News
I feel like you guys need to not favorite the MK as much but visit the other 3 as well. Like recently we finally got a DHS update, thank god, it was long over due.
I hope we get a lot of photo updates for the new "Disney Springs" project and avatar, like you did for the new fantasyland.
I come here for Disney, but seeing a little universal is nice too!
Keep up the good work!
I would love to see the tabs at the top be a little more functional. Have one for Disney parks and then put the posts for Disney under those. Have one for LEGOLAND, Universal, etc. This would let everyone quickly go to the parks they want to see and show the most recent items for those parks. Overall, I love this site although since I am truly only interested in Disney stuff(my kids are a little young still for Universal, etc.) it is geared towards what I am looking for.
ReplyDeleteThe Did you know? sections lately have been awesome. Even as a long time Disney fan, I find myself still learning pieces here and there.
Perhaps since everyone doesn't get to go as often as I do, some tips would also be helpful, like crowd levels at different times of year, ideas for how to see the parks in the best order (like for MK - starting in fantasy land before it gets bogged down in the middle of the day), or more info about the different restaurants and suggestions(try the sci-fi dine it at DHS, one of my favorites).
My last suggestion is to let your readers do more of the heavy lifting. I go to the Disney parks for a couple days about once a month, and would be happy to send some photos of Epcot, DHS, etc for the updates. They might not be the quality we are currently getting (I do most with my phone), but the amount of info would explode. You could label them as submitted by a reader, and all is well. Then people could focus in on your updates as they wanted or see everything from as many sources as possible.
This is one of my favorite sites and although I've tried to make suggestions, it doesn't mean I don't absolutely love what you do on a regular basis. Keep up the great work!
First off you guys are really great and I can say from all your readers that we truly appreciate what you do for us. We all love the Orlando parks and unfortunately can't stay updated with projects like you can. So thank you for keeping us updated.
ReplyDeleteYour website is really good in my opinion. I really like the background and the blue hues, they are very relaxing on the eyes and keep the photos important. I like the Georgia font.
As always though, there is always room for improvement. Some suggestions I have are:
- Make categories on the side such as "OTPN Reviews", "Updates", "Notifications", "Did you know that" etc. so it is easier to find what one is looking for.
- Please, please, please organized some of your archived photos so we can easily go back and look at your fantastic library of photos. For example, we can click on "The Land Pavilion" and get a full photo tour of the pavilion and the little details from the queues to shops to restaurants. For reference I would look at PhotosMagiques and TDRFan. I can't believe no one has made a website like that for WDW.
- Regarding your header at the top with your latest four articles, it is a little too narrow in my opinion. I didn't realize what it was for. I think it needs to be more square with text so we can realize what type of article we are going on. Also, it is kind of distracting having it rotate so much.
- I know you guys need sponsors and I don't know if you would be allowed to do this but I would move all the sponsors together maybe at the bottom or to the side.
- The logo at the header is fine but not too creative in my opinion. I would't stress about it but if you could come up with a more creative logo I think it would be more cohesive. Also I would make it blue to match the rest of the site. Also, just curious but does the header have Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney, and Hong Kong Disneyland even though this is ORLANDO Theme Park News? Just wondering.
- Maybe some more updates on Disney Springs? Little hotel projects? More of the minor details. I understand that there is a lot of ground to cover though so just focusing on the major projects is fine too.
Please don't take my suggestions as criticisms. I love your site so much and is easily my favorite Disney site. You guys put so much work in and it is greatly appreciated. Thanks for all you do and I wish all the best for you.
Also, please don't change your slogan as Don suggested and don't take anything inconsiderate and bullying readers say too seriously.
ReplyDeleteHave u thought about adding a forum to the site? I would love to show my pictures of Disney World and Universal studios from 20 years ago.
ReplyDelete@All who responded: Thank you very, very much for your comments. We really appreciated that, and we will take these comment into consideration as we try to make our site better.
ReplyDelete@Last Anonymous: Thank you for your great comments. There is a lot we can gather from them. Regarding the slogan, we have changed it up a little bit because we wanted to make it sound a little better. You'll see.
@Savo: We would LOVE if you could send them to us so that we can post them on our main site (with your name and all the info you want to be associated with them)! Please, let us know, as we love vintage theme park photos!!
Firstly, I'll just say how much I love this site. I visit it every day and always look forward to each update.
ReplyDeleteTo anyone who has been following your posts for several years, such as myself, I wouldn't really look to change too much with the appearance and layout. I'm used to this layout now, and never have any trouble finding what I'm looking for
Although I agree with Don in that the theme parks are not the only lure for international visitors like myself, this is Orlando THEME PARK news: if you want to find out about other aspects of Orlando, look elsewhere. Trying to cover too much on the website would threaten your ability to keep on top of all that is happening in the parks.
I agree that MK does appear to dominate your updates somewhat: a more even spread of the parks would be better.
The "did you know?" posts are wonderful and MUST be continued and expanded.
I also enjoyed the posts of other, less well known Central Florida attractions (St Augustine, for example) and hope you can find a way to expand this feature.
I'd also like to see the water parks featured, although I accept that taking photos in water parks could create guest privacy problems
Finally, although I wouldn't be keen to see shopping malls / restaurant reviews on this site, I would like to see occasional updates of the small entertainment offerings, such as the mini golf courses, I-fly, Whirlydome etc
At the end of the day its your site: do whatever you want. you've got it right so far, you keep us all coming back for more, no need for a drastic overhaul!