You down with S-N-OO-P?

[NewD4y20]

I think Snoopy themes have to go. Is he there to attract more grandparents and great grandparents into the park or what?

[SonofBaconator]

No.

Snoopy is a timeless character that has been in the hearts of families for decades. I'm 21 and still love the Peanuts. In fact I still have all my Peanuts VHS tapes in my media drawer that I crack out during each holiday season.

Snoopy has been a great brand for the park and the chain as a whole so he's not going anywhere anytime soon. 

Kinda rude to say that only the elderly like Snoopy.

[VortexBFForever]

As much as I loved Nickelodeon Universe, I enjoy Planet Snoopy too! Peanuts was a part of my childhood, as I had a few comic books that I read quite frequently, and I still have a VHS tape with “It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown” lying around somewhere that I used to watch all the time (even when it wasn’t Christmas!).

 I don’t think Snoopy or the Peanuts gang is leaving KI anytime soon.  

[King Ding Dong]

@NewD4y20 Maybe you could suggest some other IP that is relevant across generations and isn’t already controlled and/or licenced by competitors in the industry.  

[teenageninja]

It's a fine IP, not great.  It has a lot of history, so it doesn't have a lot of turnover like the Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network properties.  I know my niece and nephew don't really care for Peanuts though.

[BoddaH1994]

1 hour ago, King Ding Dong said:

@NewD4y20 Maybe you could suggest some other IP that is relevant across generations and isn’t already controlled and/or licenced by competitors in the industry.  

Planet Fidget Spinner. It’s the only way. 

But seriously, Peanuts has grown on me. I think that Charlie Brown Christmas Spectacular was what got me to turn the corner. I think it would be hard to find an IP that could last for 10 years that’s not taken.

[Phantom Theater]

I think that Snoopy is a great fit for the park. Nickelodeon was aging VERY quickly. All of the themes that were in Nick U would be extremely outdated at this time. The fact Mall of America still has Nick Universe baffles me. I don't think there would be any other relevant IP to replace Snoopy, they'd probably have to go the generic route and I don't think anyone wants that. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

Kids might get a little more excited for something newer, but the only people I see complain about Snoopy is the parents. The kids enjoy seeing a character and they don't seem to care what character is on the side of the ride or what it is called. 

[fyrfyter]

The fact Mall of America still has Nick Universe baffles me

Nickelodeon is making a comeback. They are going back to the things that made them popular in the late 80s/early 90s. Double Dare is back. With a new host. Marc Summers is now the announcer.

I heard that other similar game shows and some of the scripted stuff will be making a return as well.

[SonofBaconator]

4 minutes ago, fyrfyter said:

 

Nickelodeon is making a comeback. They are going back to the things that made them popular in the late 80s/early 90s. Double Dare is back. With a new host. Marc Summers is now the announcer.

I heard that other similar game shows and some of the scripted stuff will be making a return as well.

 

True, but Nickelodeon became extremely popular during the 90s babies generation. With the exception of Spongebob, I doubt kids today would recognize Timmy Turner, Jimmy Neutron, the Rugrats, the Wild Thornberries, etc like the kids of my generation did. 

The Peanuts, while not as popular, have lasted a lot longer and are multi-generational- similar to Sesame Street. In a way, you had to grow up in the time Nickelodeon shows came out to fully appreciate them where as the Peanuts characters can reach people from different time periods. 

At the end of the day, its all about recognizable brands- more people across multiple generations could easily identify Snoopy in a picture before they could point out Tommy from Rugrats or Huckleberry Hound from the Hanna Barbera days.

[fyrfyter]

I’m not disputing that. But I think if they find success from things that were around when we were younger, more things will probably make a return.

[medford]

11 hours ago, NewD4y20 said:

I think Snoopy themes have to go. Is he there to attract more grandparents and great grandparents into the park or what?

Yes.

 

And since I can't post 1 word responses, that is exactly why Snoopy is a great tie in.  For the kids, the ones with $0 disposable income to shell out, the trade marks don't really matter all that much.  By the time they are old enough to care what "looks cool" they'll have outgrown Planet Snoopy anyways and will be off riding the bigger rides around the parks.  For the younger gneration, Snoopy is timeless, its on every Christmas, Halloween, Easter and perhaps a few other times.  It has a recently released movie that was fantastic.  Its seen on blimps, and TV commercials and all kinds of places that you don't think about.  For a parent and grandparent, they're going to be much quicker to spend a little money on a t-shirt for junior with Snoopy on it, than on some Nick Character that they've never heard of, or perhaps don't let their kids watch.  I mean, if they could get Disney Characters, that would be ideal, but since that is not going to happen, Snoopy and the Gang are the next best thing.  Who else has a collection of characters that not only are relatable to kids today, but actually enjoyed by the parents and grandparents who bring them.  Nick has what, Sponge Bob that is now old enough to be relatable to both kids and parents, but few grandparents have any real connection to Sponge Bob.  All of Nick's other older characters are no longer relevant today.

The only reason they have any sort of character tie in to their kids area is to generate more revenue thru the sale of merchandise that also includes those characters.  My oldest, now 10, first recognized snoopy and the peanuts from going to Kings Island when he was 2, almost 3.  Soon enough he'd spot one around town, either at a Mike's car wash, on the side of a blimp, Met Life add, etc... and would quickly blurt out Kings Island.  This happened often enough that you begin to realize how many times, as an adult, you'd gloss over an add with the Peanuts on them.  It works.

[Oldiesmann]

Some kids do care. My oldest niece (who will be 3 in a few months) is obsessed with Snoopy. She's got several stuffed Snoopys and loves watching The Peanuts Movie, even though she's not old enough to understand most of it.

[MDMC01]

I grew up with Hanna Barbara and Nickelodeon areas at KI, but I'm cool with Snoopy and his friends residing at KI and other Cedar Fair parks. I do appreciate how (barring the short-lived Nickelodeon Universe) Planet Snoopy unified the kids area as it used to be split between Hanna Barbara and Nickelodeon. It also helped that all the rides were rethemed, not just the former HB ones (for example, during the Nick Universe makeover, Runaway Reptar stayed as it was, but The Beastie became Fairly Odd Coaster).

Finally, speaking of the Peanuts gang, it was cool to see Schroader at Cedar Point last July. 

[BeeastFarmer]

I might be in the minority here, but I would love to see a return of The Beastie.  I'm a nostalgia nut, but I have to admit the HB characters are obscure enough to not bring in the money that Peanuts do.  Plus, I think HB is now a part of the Warner universe.  If FUN could get license rights, I'd hate to think of FUN indirectly benefitting SIX.  lol

[Joshua]

It was amazing that many of us got to see Scooby Doo and Spongebob in the park, and those are memories that'll never go away, but we also need to remember why those characters were there in the first place, through Taft Broadcasting and Viacom's stakes in the parks. Though the park -- and likewise, the HB characters -- have changed owners since the 1970s, KI was able to retain the licenses to utilize an ever-dwindling number of the characters for a considerable amount of time, even throughout Paramount's tenure. 

Through the parks, Taft and Viacom were given an additional platform to promote their IPs. It wasn't just about the GP's familiarity with the characters, it was also about strengthening that familiarity. The park promoted the IP and, in a few cases, namely The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family, IP promoted the park. (These shows aired on WKRC, a Taft channel, an ABC affiliate at the time.)

Had these media-based corporations not had ownership of the park, I'm not quite certain we would've had any cartoon (or picture book) character as famous as Fred Flintstone, Scooby Doo, and most certainly not Reptar nor Tommy and Chucky. The licenses to these IPs, especially when the Smurfs and the Nicktoon characters were in their prime, would be too costly. We might've ended up with picture book characters, like Berenstain Bear Country at Cedar Point, or maybe the park would've created its own generic characters for its kiddy land. (Though this conjecture is moot as KI as we know it might not have existed without Taft Broadcasting.) 

Snoopy may not be as popular now as some of the aforementioned characters were when they walked the park, but he's a worthy successor. His holiday specials are timeless, he's been a beloved character for decades, and he's a wholesome character that makes this new, strange place accessible for those young, future thrillseekers. It also helps keep The Peanuts alive. Kids may not know them as well because they don't currently have a television series on the air, but they're getting to know them through the park, the way many of us got to know Scooby, Fred, and Jabberjaw. Yes, Jabberjaw. Many seem to forget that a) many of the HB characters that inhabited the park in the late 80s/early 90s were unfamiliar to children at the time  b) many of us discovered a lot of these characters by coming to the park and c) it wasn't these characters that drew us to the park in the first place. 

As children, our early experiences with the park come when our parents take us there. Even as we get older and we start asking to go, it's probably the rides, not the characters, that draw us there. By the time we outgrow the characters, we outgrow that area of the park. 

[purdude86]

Yea as many stated it would be nearly impossible for them to find an IP to use that would be as timeless that isn’t taken. Can’t use Mickey or other Disney characters, DC and Marvel are both taken, and most other big characters fade in popularity and recognition too quickly. If Nickelodeon was still the theme most kids probably would t recognize most of the theming that would be there now.

[SonofBaconator]

1 hour ago, purdude86 said:

Yea as many stated it would be nearly impossible for them to find an IP to use that would be as timeless that isn’t taken. Can’t use Mickey or other Disney characters, DC and Marvel are both taken, and most other big characters fade in popularity and recognition too quickly. If Nickelodeon was still the theme most kids probably would t recognize most of the theming that would be there now.

Even timeless characters like Looney Tunes have since been forgotten. The Peanuts are, for lack of a better term, basic and easily marketable to almost everyone. 

[disco2000]

Apple wouldn't be investing in creating new Peanuts content if they didn't believe it wouldn't make them money...

http://www.fox19.com/2018/12/14/apple-strikes-deal-produce-new-peanuts-content/

[Joshua]

5 hours ago, disco2000 said:

Apple wouldn't be investing in creating new Peanuts content if they didn't believe it wouldn't make them money...

http://www.fox19.com/2018/12/14/apple-strikes-deal-produce-new-peanuts-content/

And the movie that Fox/Blue Sky made a few years ago was charming as it can get. The contemporary pop songs used throughout felt out of place for The Peanuts, but the story and characters were pure Schulz. 

[King Ding Dong]

Apple to bring Charlie Brown and the Peanuts to its streaming service

STEM content with astronaut Snoopy will be an Apple exclusive.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/12/apple-to-bring-charlie-brown-and-the-peanuts-to-its-streaming-service/

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

PBS Kids Island anyone?? Curious George ride, Super Why ride, Clifford Ride, Caillou Ride, etc! Probably Just me, but I grew up with PBS Kids and was obsessed!