Which park will acquire the Hanna-Barbera license?

[YuYuYuuki]

Since KECO folded in the early 1990s, and Paramount removed the Hanna-Barbera license in 2006, Hanna-Barbera hasn't been seen in theme parks ever since Camp Cartoon at Six Flags Great America was rethemed in 2018. What park do you think will own the rights to HB? I bet it'll be Six Flags, IF they ever decide to renew the license. Universal might still own the rights, but they've rarely done ANYTHING with it.

If AT&T buys Six Flags (which I really, REALLY want to happen!), they'll own the rights to HB. That means they can bring back the Enchanted Voyage with newer characters like the Phantom Virus, and use the action characters like Space Ghost and Birdman in more intense rides (I want a Birdman themed flying coaster!)

Or maybe today's kids just don't care about Hanna-Barbera, because Boomerang has become a ****show and rarely airs classic cartoons. Aside from Scooby Doo, Hanna-Barbera is literally an outsider in these kids' eyes. Mention Fred Flintstone and they'll be like "Who?" (Then there's the "GRAND DAD" meme, but that's a different story.)

[CoastersRZ]

I think AT&T has enough on their plate at the moment, to consider purchasing Six Flags.  First I have heard of that rumor.

I don`t think any parks would be interested in paying for the rights for Hanna Barbera.  The characters simply are not relevant with the youth today.

[coaster sally]

49 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

I think AT&T has enough on their plate at the moment, to consider purchasing Six Flags.  First I have heard of that rumor.

I don`t think any parks would be interested in paying for the rights for Hanna Barbera.  The characters simply are not relevant with the youth today.

Peanuts are not relevant today.

[IndyGuy4KI]

2 hours ago, coaster sally said:

Peanuts are not relevant today.

Having three kids, I can tell you first hand that the theming on the rides in PS is no way going to change a kids enjoyment of the rids. The kids do not care, they just want to ride. It is 95% the parents who care about the theme of the area and convince the kids it should be something different.

[coaster sally]

8 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Having three kids, I can tell you first hand that the theming on the rides in PS is no way going to change a kids enjoyment of the rids. The kids do not care, they just want to ride. It is 95% the parents who care about the theme of the area and convince the kids it should be something different.

I don't understand.  I am saying that peanuts is irrelevant today like Hanna Barbara characters.

[Shaggy]

1 hour ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Having three kids, I can tell you first hand that the theming on the rides in PS is no way going to change a kids enjoyment of the rids. The kids do not care, they just want to ride. It is 95% the parents who care about the theme of the area and convince the kids it should be something different.

I agree with this, generally speaking. 

When it comes to generic kids rides (flat rides, etc) No matter the name/theme, children will either want to ride a kids attraction - or not.  Heck - most kids/parents refer to standard attractions in terms of what they are, or do... "Momma, Daddy - I want to ride the airplanes!", "Jimmy, do you wanna go on the motorcycles?", "Little Emily loves the merry-go-round." etc. etc. etc.  At most of today's parks - outside Disney and/or Universal - the names and themes of rides is mostly a secondary overlay.  Licensed characters only play an important part on story-driven, or character-driven attractions (dark rides, flumes etc.)

Now, there's something to be said for the costumed characters themselves.  Young kids DO want to "meet" certain characters at parks (and many "big" kids too!  LOL)  Also, I think the licensing of characters plays an important part in the ability to market and sell merchandise.

When KI was built, Taft's interest was to capitalize off the immense popularity of the HB characters they owned.  That's the main reason KI exists on the scale that it does.  HB was a HUGE, necessary draw in those formative years.  IMO, as the seasons passed, KI developed enough of a solid reputation that they outgrew & outlasted the need for the characters on whose backs it was built.

Its also worth noting that its all very generational.  For me personally, as an adult, I will always feel there's something lacking at KI without the HB characters - because they were such an important part of the park in the years I first visited.  For those adults that first attended KI as children in the Paramount years, they likely feel there's something missing without the Nickelodeon theme.  When/if the day comes that the Peanuts leave KI - kids that have first visited KI as kids with those characters may always reminisce about them.

But that having been said - most of us... no matter what it was called at the time - remember our childhood rides on the Scooby Doo... errr... Beastie... errr... Fairly Odd Coaster... errr... Woodstock Express... 

Finally... outside of non-kids coasters or theme-driven attractions, most people (enthusiasts and KI buffs excluded) don't remember the names of the attractions either.  For instance, I was recently privy to a conversation where the persons were talking about how KI used to have a "big log ride" and a "small log ride."  In reality, they were remembering Kentons Cove Keelboat Canal and the Kings Mill Log Flume.  Had I spoken up and corrected them on the names, I guarantee neither would have registered with them.

[IBEW_Sparky]

@Shaggy, another good example of a ride that park goers of ALL ages generalize is the Dodge-Ems.  it doesn't matter if you name that ride Dodge-Ems, Rough Riders, Joe Cool's Dodgem School, or The I-275/I-71 Interchange At Rush Hour, 90% percent of people say "Let's go ride the bumper cars".

[IndyGuy4KI]

2 hours ago, Shaggy said:

Now, there's something to be said for the costumed characters themselves.  Young kids DO want to "meet" certain characters at parks (and many "big" kids too!  LOL)  Also, I think the licensing of characters plays an important part in the ability to market and sell merchandise.

I totally agree with this.

[YuYuYuuki]

I think part of the reason why I want the Phantom Virus to be in the parks despite him being a one-off Scooby monster is because he's nostalgia to many cryptic millennial-Gen Z'ers, and perhaps younger.

[YuYuYuuki]

The reason HB is not relevant with the kids of today is because WB does NOTHING to popularize them. The Flintstones are only known through cereal and vitamins (and a popular Internet meme.) Scooby Doo is the only one who's popular right now. Yogi Bear failed due to Yo Yogi and the live-action movie. Boomerang stopped playing classic cartoons. THIS is why HB isn't relevant anymore. Hopefully Jellystone will change that.

[purdude86]

Yea I think it has the potential to come back if they wanted to. Scooby Doo is still well known and the new Scoob! Movie seemed to be trying to set up a HB universe. If they continue on from it they could make them more popular and known again. 
Currently though they aren’t worth the cost of licensing. I would argue that, while they aren’t extremely popular, the Peanuts are more known and relevant than non-Scooby HB characters because of the holiday specials. 

[SonofBaconator]

HB and the Taft parks worked together like a peanut butter cup- both helped the other. HB got to promote their brand across multiple parks and parks got to capitalize on that attracting guests to see the characters they saw on tv. 

HB's current problem is that they're not as timeless because less of their work comes out. Warner Brothers was more than happy to focus on properties like Scooby Doo while other properties like Yogi Bear, Wally Gator, Snagglepus, and others were hardly touched at all. 

The Peanuts is a different story, while not super popular with this new generation they stayed pretty much the same throughout their existence coming out with multiple specials each decade. Now there's not as many specials as their used to be which I believe is why they're lost some of their popularity. Peanuts has the rare advantage of not being owned by a studio like Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal, etc so they're able to have complete control of their characters. When it comes to exposure you do see them on Apple Tv but that's not a platform widely accessible to everyone.

[Winterfestguy]

KK in their 4D theater with the moving seats has Yogi Bears Picnic movie - the movie has been very popular with guests this season.  Could something be in the works to bring more characters other than King Louie to KK?

[MisterSG1]

Moreso in response to Shaggy’s long post initially, although I grew up in Canada’s Wonderland’s HB land, let me mention something as a millennial. The problem there as a very young kid, next to Fred Flintstone and possibly Barney Rubble, I was pretty clueless on who anyone was. My parents who are both born in the second half of the baby boomer period probably enjoyed it more than me. When they said, “Look, it’s Barney”, I thought back then they were speaking about someone who let’s just say looks more like Dino.  

I do recall very very long ago, being afraid of the Jabberjaws mascot as he ate the hat right off my head, you may think it’s funny but it was terrifying for me.

And I agree with points such as kids would understand rides as for example, the planes, the trains, the cars, the balloons, and so on.

Outside of the kids area, I’m sure most guests over the years could probably refer to a ride by its in park name, for example Shake, Rattle, and Roll is not easily describable by a noun such as “bumper cars” or “swings”. Only park enthusiasts would know what that ride is actually called.

For example, Wonderland used to have an Eyerly Monster called “Shiva’s Fury”, some called it by its name, and others called it by “octopus”, but only true park enthusiasts would know that it is technically called a Monster.

 

But I got ahead of myself, when I was a kid, it was about the rides and really HB was an afterthought. I only ever saw Scooby Doo on TV when we were introduced to Teletoon in 1997. (kind of like a Canadian version of Cartoon Network)

 

Most importantly, even since then, look at how TV has changed over the years from this period. When I was a kid, the main networks, even canadian networks had before and after school programming blocks. Bugs and Tweety on Global TV was a 5pm staple In Canada for many years on Saturday. There were Looney Tunes shorts on every day in these morning programming blocks I’m speaking of. Nowadays none of that exists, in the US this happened because of E/I requirements, and eventually canadian networks phased out cartoons as well. Forget HB, I’d say most kids these days don’t even know who Bugs Bunny or the Road Runner are, which makes me think “Space Jam Legacy” is more intended for people who grew up with the original 25 years ago.

If there’s any kind of irony in all this, it’s that Peanuts probably have the best accessibility in this day and age compared to HB or Looney Tunes. In fact, to this day, the classic Peanuts specials still air on network TV for everyone to enjoy, like The Great Pumpkin, or the Thanksgiving special, and of course the Christmas Special. It was awesome seeing Charlie Brown dressed up like he is in that special at Winterfest and his pathetic but lovable Christmas tree.

As for reminiscing for Nickelodeon, let’s be honest, that entire period was simply a flash in the pan, kids may remember taking their picture with Dora and Diego but not much more. HB has been at both Wonderland and KI until the mid 2000s so there’s a different effect of nostalgia there.

One final note, as for Beastie….Woodstock, whatever. In Wonderland although there has been different names over the years, that identical ride has always been known as “Ghoster Coaster” since the beginning 40 years ago.

[shark6495]

Having three kids, I can tell you first hand that the theming on the rides in PS is no way going to change a kids enjoyment of the rids. The kids do not care, they just want to ride. It is 95% the parents who care about the theme of the area and convince the kids it should be something different.

I don’t disagree with this completely but just want to add… the theming does add something to the rides for the kids. I’ve seen my middle kid have to ride things with snoopy because he loves the peanuts movie and the has a stuffed snoopy. (Very similar to the way he and my oldest react at Disney seeing themed rides - we need to ride dumbo or Nemo or etc). However my oldest (8) gets nothing out of the current PS theming as he never really liked the peanuts ride. However if there was a teen Titans go or Ben 10 ride…..

Also as a parent to a fresh third kid (10 months)….. I’m looking forward to the day where all 3 kids can walk into the park and enjoy rides….


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[King Ding Dong]

5 hours ago, shark6495 said:

Also as a parent to a fresh third kid (10 months)….. I’m looking forward to the day where all 3 kids can walk into the park and enjoy rides….

I thought you were going to say drop them off for some free babysitting.  

[shark6495]

I thought you were going to say drop them off for some free babysitting.  

Well ya know…. Tomatoes tomahtos


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[DeltaFlyer]

On 7/5/2021 at 12:35 PM, Winterfestguy said:

KK in their 4D theater with the moving seats has Yogi Bears Picnic movie - the movie has been very popular with guests this season.  Could something be in the works to bring more characters other than King Louie to KK?

I really liked this movie when I was there a few weeks ago. The films for the 4D theaters are produced/licensed by a company like SimEx Iwerks: https://simex-iwerks.com/shows/yogi-bear-4d-experience/

 

They really do have a lot of shows that they license! https://simex-iwerks.com/shows/see-all-top-4d-experiences/