Creating an "Iconic Photo Op"

This was mentioned in the 2012 Improvements thread, and I was really thinking about it.

For the most part, the main group photo backdrop for the roving park photographers at the front entrance seems to be the Midway Carousel, which I guess is fine on its own, but not really very dramatic or really properly epic for a park of the magnitude of Cedar Point.

Kings Island and Kings Dominion have the Eiffel Towers.Wonderland has the mountain. Disney's got the castles. Without drastically changing the front entrance of the park, is there really any sort of way Cedar Point can add something iconic along those lines?

And even if you did, I'm really not sure what you could put that would work. Unless you put something tower-like at the end of the main midway, it'd be hard to put up something that wouldn't also obscure the main view of the park, short of a giant-sized ball fountain or something more along the lines of the Universal Globe Fountain than a "weenie" as it was called in the other thread.

Really, though, some sort of large fountain, maybe with a stylized coaster skyline or something, seems like the least obtrusive yet most plausible option. The jumping fountain is too far down the midway to work in this sort of situation, and not really as "classic" as a ball fountain or more ordinary fountain anyway. But it's still probably cheaper than adding a tower.

With the big screen gone, the photo op would at Celebration Plaza with the great view of Millennium Force as the backdrop.

With the right camera settings, a photo in front of Giant Wheel with it's new light package could be awesome.

I know a lot of people on here would love a new wooden coaster in place of DT right on the beach. If that were to happen, how great would that photo op be of Giant Wheel in front of a nice woodie right on the lake?

I think the OP is referring the entrance plaza. Right now, when you enter the park and there are photographers circling around asking you if you want your picture taken, there really isn't anything iconic for it to be taken in front of. To me, the most iconic image of Cedar Point is the skyline you see as you drive down the causeway. Not many parks offer you that kind of view but at the same time you really can't get your picture taken in front of that (well, not easily and not in a way that the park can benefit).

I feel the whole entrance plaza needs redone (to the extreme of that, the whole main midway but that's a battle best fought another day). I've gotten a satellite view and have been messing around with the entrance plaza to which I've come up with some pretty neat concepts. Unfortunately, I haven't been to the park since they closed Geauga Lake and it would be much easier to visualize this stuff if I could physically see what I'm working with. Right now, a couple of the concepts involve moving the carousel and adding a fountain in it's place. I have a couple of ideas for the fountain design (definitely unique to Cedar Point) and a time period set (I thought about making it modern looking but that'd only date it 10-15 years from now). I'd add live entertainment; like barbershop quartets, bands, and comedic period characters (like the streetmosphere characters at the Disney-MGM Studios). I've also been considering how this new entrance plaza could blend in with a possible boardwalk area by the beach.

Honestly, as excited as I get designing this stuff, I only get depressed knowing it'll never happen and usually never finish. Maybe I'll visit the park this year and get inspired, IDK.

I think CP should have their photographers in spots that actually make a good picture. Like they do at Dinsey with the Kodak spots. I understand that the employees sare just following orders by standing in the front of the park, but it is just so annoying. I do not want to buy a picture with the CP enterance in the background. Why can't CP have their photographers stand in spots that will actually create a good picture?

Cedar Point has something Iconic. We have Top Thrill Dragster in the middle of Cedar Point! :)

When people first enter a park; they're excited, have more energy and are more willing to get their picture taken. As the day rolls on; people get tired, irritable, spend too much money and are less likely to get their pictures taken. Basically, they want to get you while your willing.

I'm sure it generates decent revenue, but I'd rather see the photographers go away entirely. The people they had at Kings Island were insanely aggressive this past weekend. A simple no thanks wasn't good enough, they'd apparently all been trained to physically impede you until you stopped for a picture. I can't imagine I'm the only one who gets really annoyed by that sort of thing.

^They annoy me very much but I don't think I would go as far as to say they should do away with the park photographers. I just think they should do away with the Las Vegas strip style begging for your business. One of the things I love about Disney parks is that they don't even ask you, they just smile as you walk by knowing that if you really want your picture taken, you will stop for them.

^Not to mention the photographers at Disney parks just don't have you smile. They'll have you do poses and make into a show to get you excited about it.

^Very true. They actually make you give them your bags/backpacks so that the photo does not have anything in it except for happy people. The DPI team at Disney World is downright amazing at what they do. That whole operation down there blows my mind as to how advanced their technology is and how serious they take photography.

That sounds much more enjoyable than the "shakedown" method deployed at KI.

Not only that, but if you have a camera, they'll take a photo for you if you ask, and they actually know how to use a nice SLR and compose a shot. On one hand, they want to sell you a photo, but they also want you to create a nice memory, believing that's worth something as well.

I personally like the corkscrew loop over the midway for a picture. Snap the picture right as the train goes overhead.

I have never had an issue with CP photographers being too aggressive. I just say "no thank you" and just keep walking. Can't recall any of them pursuing it further.

Its great that the Disney photographers will take pictures with your camera. Keeps you from having to spend a lot of money to buy their pictures. One photographer even took a minute or two to adjust the setting on my camera to get a better picture.

Disney has a huge advantage that their parks are incredibly picturesque. Many times specifically designed to be so. Other parks (including CP) are more utiltarian.

I found out last year from someone who worked at KI that the one reason they are so agressive is they have a certain quota to meet before they can take a break. Knowing this we always take a few seconds and let them snap a pic of us, kinda helping them have a good day too :)

I'm pretty sure in the Cedar Fair parks that the entire operation is contracted out to Kodak or something, they have a favorable revenue sharing arrangement. Not sure if anything changes with Kodak's "restructuring effort" underway.

It's contracted out to Kaman's Art Shoppes. They also handle all the caricature protraits, face painitng, tattoos, hair braiding, etc. at the park.

So is Kaman doing all of the parks now? Because just recently it was Kodak at Cedar Point.