New logos all around for CFEC

Some of you have probably already seen the new chainwide CFEC logos that the Paramount Parks are now sporting (and a few of the original CFLP parks are using for their new press releases), but now appears that the waterparks are following suit.

The two "non-Knotts" stand alone waterparks (OOF and SoakCity-CP) have both received new logos that use the design that the Knott's Soak City USAs have been using since they were introduced.

I personally like the new logos, but was curious on what the rest of the readers think about the streamlining of logos for the CFEC parks and waterparks.

Edit to fix link

*** Edited 3/4/2007 4:10:49 AM UTC by Swoosh***

I like the new logo for OOF and SC since they old SC logo was kind of bland, but I don't recall the logo for OOF. About the logos for the parks, I think they're kind of bland and would like to see some sort of differences between different parks, but I guess that they're trying to streamline them now. I just like a little individuality in logos.

Oceans of Fun's old logo was a wave and then the words in the Worlds of Fun font. To be quite honest I am surprised it took this long for CP's Soak City to change over.

Do you guys mean this pick for the new Soak City Logo.

http://soakcity.cedarpoint.com/

. *** Edited 3/4/2007 1:43:58 PM UTC by Coasterkid200***

^No thats the new one, the old one is this one:
http://www.amusementpark.com/APImages/logos/soak_logo_200.gif

Yea it looks a lot better.

I like the old logos a little better, but the new ones aren't bad.

They're kinda dull, especially the park logos. I like to see a little individuality... makes things seem less corporate and more unique. I guess using the same logo saves money.

Do we really need another stupid acronym? Isn't "CF" or "Cedar Fair" adequate?

And I agree with Rob, the logos are bland.

Not only that, but the "parks" logo seems to do a disservice to the parks by showing a coaster but nothing else. Why didn't they design something that shows their parks to be a little more multi-faceted? It's no secret that coasters are a huge part of Cedar Point but I think many of the company's other parks have a lot more than coasters to claim as an asset.

Yeah, good point - BUT...

If you were to play the "relationship" game and ask what the first word someone thought of when someone mentioned Amusement Park - I'm betting the majority of people would say a rollercoaster.

Being a graphic designer, I love the Cedar Fair logo - and it's simplistic graphic. Maybe that's just me - but I think a rollercoaster symbolizes an amusement park over anything else?

-Jeff-

It perfectly symbolizes an amusement park, but as parks try to make it clear that they cater to the entire family and not just thrill-seekers (to which coasters are marketed), I would think that something more "universal" would work. How about something with a carousel horse, a Ferris wheel silhouette or something spinny as well?

The logos are crap. There is no style, class, or individuality.

One of the things that *used* to set Cedar Fair parks apart from other chains is that they didn't feel like a chain. Each park seemed to have it's own identity. In contrast to Six Flags where the "real" name of the park is downplayed. I remember Great Adventure's old rainbow logo with "Great Adventure" in large letters and "Six Flags" in small font. Now you have the standard clip-art like flag symbol with the big Six Flags and the name of the park is barely visible.

Sadly, Cedar Fair seems to moving towards this, both with the logos and with the commonality of restaurant and ride names.

Edit: Rob, You mean like Cedar Point's old logo showing the train and ferris wheel with the "old west" block printing? Now that was a nice logo.

*** Edited 3/5/2007 4:22:13 PM UTC by millrace***

I forget Cedar Point's old logo, but it sounds a lot like what I'm talking about.

I agree that CF's parks seem to feel like individual entities rather than parts of a chain. GL, CP, Dorney and Knotts (the four CF properties I have been to- six if you count PKI and PKD) are all unique, and the parks do a good job of proving that (see, I AM capable of saying something nice about CF!) But as I said before, the new logo works against what is one of the company's best assets. Each park's individuality should be put on display, not shoved into the background in an attempt to streamline. Streamlining works with retail stores, not amusement parks.

Didn't CF officially drop the paramount name from the parks? If so then why are we still reffering to them as "PKI" or "PKD" when they should revert back to just plain old "KI" or "KD" instead?

Because I've been referring to them that way for years and old habits are hard to break. Why, does it bother you THAT much?

One of the attractions to WDW to me is how all the attractions AND hotels each have their own and unique logo.

Establishments that offer similar experiences each time such as eating at a McDonald's or shopping for towels at Target (don't forget your towel) should be emblazened with a similar logo as it creates security with the product or services offered.

Theme parks, however, due to the nature of the business, offer different (yet similar) experiences and should be touted as such. I know, a majority of the public will not travel across country like coaster nerds like us, but theme parks should be treated as individual destinations, not stores.

If they keep this up- I won't have to keep buying shot glasses, as one will represent them all.

Right. Retail and other chains have to establish a common look. As for amusements, I doubt that any OH resident is going to go to Kansas City and think, "Gee, we have a great time at their Sandusky place so this one has to be good." I think people visit amusement parks because they're THERE, not so much because of the brand (Disney excluded).

I recently wrote a thread at another site about Cedar Fair and brand imaging. It was originally intended to be my way of showing that I am obviously not allowed to enjoy and talk about amusement parks for fun anymore, but it ended up being one of my better written posts in quite some time.

The article in a nutshell without all of my nastiness went something like this: Because everyone I work with knows me as the Roller Coaster Nut, no one really found it unusual when I asked 20 different people if they could name three different amusement park chains. Not a single one of them named Cedar Fair. Disney, Six Flags and Sea World were the top three vote getters. Heck, some couldn't even name three chains. The main point I found interesting though was that many people do not realize that Cedar Fair is a chain despite Ohio having three Cedar Fair parks. People here know Cedar Point as an individual park. When you tell people that they own Geauga Lake and Kings Island, many of them are surprised. Tell the same people that they own parks in California and Missouri and the same people are even more surprised. So is the whole "brand imaging" concept that important to a company? Will the roller coaster logo and words with flags over the i's become Cedar Fair's brand image? Is Snoopy a brand image? Does anyone even care? ;)

Ray P.

I find it interesting that nearly all Cedar Fair parks have that same logo font with the flags over the i except for Valleyfair. And Cedar Fair uses the Valleyfair font for its corporate logo. That same image probably dates back to when Cedar Point and Valleyfair first joined together.