Widgets Magazine
Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Oklahoma City Visitors Guide

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    10,031
    Blog Entries
    1

  2. Default Re: Oklahoma City Visitors Guide

    Thanks for posting this, Laramie. This is one of the primary sources for folks deciding what to see/do when visiting Oklahoma City; another being the visitokc.com website, also produced and managed by the OKC Convention and Visitors Bureau.

    I'd only like to point out as folks thumb through this to notice how much ALL of the districts are promoted; even districts that many "hyper-local" folks would believe are ONLY full of locals, while assuming others (especially Bricktown) are ONLY for tourists. The reality is that ALL of our favorite districts are thriving in large part due to the presence of visitors. In doing so they not only contribute to our tax base, but also to our quality of life.

    Many of the districts and businesses we all love couldn't exist without the significant visitor market in OKC, but it is generally unnoticed by locals. When you are sitting in your favorite bar, restaurant or other establishment in places like Plaza, Uptown, Automobile Alley, Paseo et al, it's easy to assume that everyone else in the place is a local just like you, but there is a very good chance that there are also multiple visitors from other places in your midst. And that's a VERY good thing.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Oklahoma City Visitors Guide

    OKC visitors best not rely on I-40 signage to find the place they want to visit. Last week I drove downtown (on I-40) and saw at least 50% of the signs above the hwy had missing letters. Besides the disconnects that will cause, to me it gave a run down look to our city.

  4. Default Re: Oklahoma City Visitors Guide

    Overall it's a great collection of attractions on Oklahoma City without trying to be too biased to one business or another. I expect the next edition in 2024 and 2025 will be even better as venues u/c open (such as OKANA, Oak, and more of downtown).

    Key things I noted as hopefully constructive criticism:

    1) Many of the pictures are OLD. The skyline pics all missed BOK Park Plaza and that's been built for what 5+ years? You'd think they'd use recent/updated pics even if Devon Tower isn't side lit anymore. IMO, current pics of the skyline are much better with FNC and numerous other towers being well lit. Update the book again once BankFirst gets lit and if/when Devon lights it's side - but don't keep using the obvious 2012-2015 era pics of the skyline; OKC has grown since then.

    2) Lack of promotion of the streetcar and public transit in general. I hope this will change once the BRT lite routes get implemented but there were only a few mentions of public transit and that language is as dry as a transit engineer's verbiage who likely writes the Embark website itself. Hire a transit enthusiast to mention the benefits of taking transit in OKC, that you can reach attractions and venues in comfort and safety *unlike many other major cities, that the system is extensive (for the budget), and there are multiple options such as bus, streetcar, trolley, and (soon) BRT. What I just wrote sounds much more exciting/interesting than what was written, shouldn't be too difficult to get excited about transit and OKC's growing offering.

    3) WRWA promotion. OK, most people coming into OKC will be by car but 2nd will be by air, WRWA articles were not much better than Embark's/public transit. If you're going to use a regional map showing major cities, then INCLUDE all of them that touch the state - Little Rock was missing. I'd also included New Orleans, Houston, (if it fits) Austin and San Antonio, and would have added Omaha. Nice to include Chicago since it's the biggest city in OKC's zone but to miss those closer ones is a mistake since they would be most likely to hop a weekend to OKC; sometimes mentioning a city shows you have interest or a connection. For this to be a tourism book, that should have been recognized.

    4) More emphasis should have been made on pics of things to do, shop, and eat. Without directly promoting a business, perhaps a PAGE or two of the canal, chinese and vietnamese food, food from Cafe Kacao (without directly mentioning the business), pics of the Festival de Americas and (IMO) noting Capital Hill as a latin downtown, pics of BBQ, and some shops at Classen Curve (actually, was there no mention of CC, NHP shopping). I think OKC would do well to promote it's upscale shopping a bit better rather than always seemingly going down the antique western route (nothing "modern" about that). Perhaps a mention of the growing Park Avenue high street and/or downtown shopping in general would get more bodies interested when they come to OKC. ..?

    5) was there a mention of OKC's trail system? Im not talking about "hey, OKC has a trail system that has taken 20+ years to build from nothing" that we always hear; but something more organic and exciting like "OKC has a massive trail system where you can traverse the entire city by bicycle or (if you dare) walking". ....

    6) I'd ditch the "getting around" here with a car and emphasize streetcar and public transit (and walking) as options. Again, want to promote OKC and possibly change visitor's opinions for the better, use your PR book to do it.

    7) work on improving the nightlife mentions. Can we promote concert venues, perhaps the hopping nightclubs (or districts), and bar areas better. Perhaps view other cities' PR books to get ideas how they promote destinations/nightlife - OKC is somewhat improperly known (IMO) as a nightlife desert mostly because people just don't know where to go or what OKC has to offer. OKC does good for kid friendly family venue promotion but what about young adults that aren't from OKC (or even those from OKC for that matter)?

    Otherwise, I personally enjoyed the book and the content does appear to be updated from previous editions (other than what I noted).

    Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!

  5. Default Re: Oklahoma City Visitors Guide

    ^^^^^^
    The skyline photo isn't old. It's recent. The BOK building is simply cropped.

  6. Default Re: Oklahoma City Visitors Guide

    So I just got ahold of this and had a few thoughts.

    Why is Scissortail Park dead last in the Things to Do section? That's a crime and a severe oversight. Orr family farm and blue zoo are ahead of it.

    In the sports section, the ENERGY are the first one up? They aren't even around!

    No mention of Streetcar in Getting Around Section/Accessible section.

    You would have thought they would put a pic of Classen Curve area in the Shop til you Drop section, not the outlet mall.

    It would have been nice to dedicate a page to the airport. Show direct flights on a map or something.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Oklahoma City Visitors Guide

    Quote Originally Posted by Richard at Remax View Post
    So I just got ahold of this and had a few thoughts.

    Why is Scissortail Park dead last in the Things to Do section? That's a crime and a severe oversight. Orr family farm and blue zoo are ahead of it.

    In the sports section, the ENERGY are the first one up? They aren't even around!

    No mention of Streetcar in Getting Around Section/Accessible section.

    You would have thought they would put a pic of Classen Curve area in the Shop til you Drop section, not the outlet mall.

    It would have been nice to dedicate a page to the airport. Show direct flights on a map or something.
    Why do VISITORS need to give a single care where the airport flies to? They aren't connecting through OKC or traveling here to fly directly to these places.

  8. Default Re: Oklahoma City Visitors Guide

    If someone requests a guide from out of town they may or may not know if their city has a direct flight

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. 2022 Oklahoma City Aviation2022 Oklahoma City Aviation Thread
    By unfundedrick in forum Transportation
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 01-06-2022, 09:46 PM
  2. Visitors in from out of town
    By warreng88 in forum Ask Anything About OKC
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 09-19-2013, 09:20 AM
  3. Oklahoma City 2012: Visitors and Newcomers Guide
    By okcpulse in forum Ask Anything About OKC
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 07-27-2012, 10:34 PM
  4. Oklahoma Casino Guide
    By okcasinoguru in forum Businesses & Employers
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 11-29-2009, 03:03 PM
  5. Welcome visitors
    By Patrick in forum Announcements & Help Desk
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-06-2006, 08:42 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Single Sign On provided by vBSSO