Planet Snoopy Thoughts

JTaylor said:
Pete, I was just there on Sunday and my 3 year old who is 42" tall could not drive any of the car rides with me riding with him. He could ride along sure, but was very disappointed when told he had to ride in the passenger seat.

Wow, that is a dumb change of policy. When I was a kid they let me drive the car and my mom or dad sat next to me, just like at Disney.

They should worry about the 48" kids driving, not the smaller kids driving. As soon as I was that tall the Turnpike Cars turned into Demolition Derby Cars, with lots of yelling from the ride ops.

Space Ranger Spin...at the Magic Kingdom. There is a new ride at the Disney Studios that is similar but, as I understand it, even more fun.

I think it is safe money that my 5 year old and I enjoy the Buzz ride equally. And, even my wife enjoyed it along with my 1 1/2 year old last time we were in the Kingdom. Obviously the 1 1/2 year old didn't "play" along but she loved all of the colors and the movement. Teens get a kick out of the competitive element of the game too...which makes it high on the re-rideability scale. I've skipped Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain the last five years since my first child was born but I've ridden the Buzz ride every trip there.

Pete said:
As soon as I was that tall the Turnpike Cars turned into Demolition Derby Cars, with lots of yelling from the ride ops.

Funny story from this weekend. On Antique Cars, there was one that just wasn't moving as fast as the others (by a considerable amount). Well, my friends got that one, and I got the one behind them. They were given the usual "headstart", but throughout the course I was slowly gaining on them. When I caught up to them, I didn't hit them, but rather eased up on their bumper. When I put the pedal all the way down, they could feel it going faster.

Safety Restraint System: The Ride

Two words: Kings Island.

Planet Snoopy is nice - don't get me wrong, but it looks a lot less nice when you realize thats the best the park has. It's a very nice area, as a "starter", but there needs to be something else to fill the gap between that and the coasters. Kings Island did this perfectly on a relatively cheap budget.

I realize that really little kids don't know how similar Planet Snoopy and Camp Snoopy are, or that all the rides basically just go around in circles, and can still have plenty of fun. But there is a group of kids in there that are too big for the rides in Planet Snoopy or Camp Snoopy, but aren't tall enough for, or maybe not brave enough for, the bigger coasters. At Kings Island, even I had fun in the kids area! The Haunted Manor dark ride was great, and sure it was no haunted mansion, but it was still very fun nonetheless (remember that the focus of the ride is shooting targets, so you don't focus on much else). Runaway Reptar was a great kiddie coaster, Avatar's Air-bender was great, the list could go on and on. Their rides attracted a much wider range of ages than Camp/Planet Snoopy seems to. All of their rides were original, and it looked like thought was actually put into designing it and picking out attractions rather than just plopping the cheapest in a circular pad.

It would really be a crime to get rid of the Nickelodeon themeing, because it was far better than CP's kiddie areas. I really don't understand why CF is so insistent on sticking with Snoopy? All the kids these days seem to know all about Nickelodean, but do they really know Snoopy? I'd say not... What I would like to see (and I know this is probably dreaming), but I'd love to see an entire revamp of the Gemini midway, including Camp Snoopy. I'd love to see Camp Snoopy replaced with a Nickelodeon themed area with more middle ground attractions, such as a dark ride, maybe a mini-log ride, etc. I think a general refresh for that whole area could be good. *Sigh* if only that would ever happen...

If you are counting on Nickelodeon in your dreams you are going to be experiencing a nightmare.

I don't think there is anything wrong with Peanuts characters. They are certainly family friendly and are probably second only to Disney characters the world over in terms of popularity/fame.

And, I really don't take issue with Planet or Camp Snoopy.

But, point well taken on Haunted Manor and those types of attractions to fill the gap.

I think that Cedar Point really doesnt have to appeal to Smaller kids all that much...I mean Cedar point isn't really known for that now disney that is what they are aiming for. So it really isn't fair to compare Disney's children rides, and Cedar Points children rides...

I agree that Cp could use a place for the kids to just run around, my son loved to throw baseballs at the old playground along with digging in the gravel and the tree slide. We could let him play and not worry that he would run off because it was mostly closed in.

As for a dark ride that would be great, how about something like Scooby Doo's Haunted Castle. It is a indoor shooting gallery, somewhat like in frontier town, my son loves to do that and we as a family really enjoyed that ride at KI.

Cp could call it Snoopy's Haunted Dog House, nobody has ever seen inside Snoopy's dog House, maybe it is haunted and that is why he sleeps on top.

I think that Cedar Point needs a good attraction that everyone in the family can ride. It does seem that a lot of the attractions are either for the little kids or the adults.

I also think they need a log flume. Its a fun ride that most family members can ride, including the younger kids. It would be nice to see the log flume have a theme to it as well. Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knotts is a great example of what a themed log flume can be. (I do suspect that CF inherited the ride with the themeing.)

Another good ride might be a interactive dark ride. A great theme idea would be Snoopy trying to fight the Red Barron. Cedar Fair hasn't done too well with themed rides in the past, but I think they need to consider adding rides like this in the future. I'm not saying that the theme needs to be Disney in quality. However, it would be nice if they could add at least simple story lines to the rides they add in the future. Having a relevant Peanuts comic strip by the rides in Planet Snoopy is a small step in the right direction.

Kings Island won a Golden Ticket for the best childrens' area. Cedar Fair needs to take some of the concepts of what makes it so good, and add it to Cedar Point.

OKSIRYDOC said:
I think that Cedar Point really doesnt have to appeal to Smaller kids all that much...I mean Cedar point isn't really known for that now disney that is what they are aiming for. So it really isn't fair to compare Disney's children rides, and Cedar Points children rides...

I used to think that too until I had kids. Now it is more fun for me to see them having a good time like I used to when I was a kid. I don't know how often I would go to CP if I didn't have kids but I'm sure it wouldn't be as often as I do now. I can't even begin to describe how I feel when my 8 year old tells me on Monday that she can't wait for next weekend so we can go to Halloweekends. It's true the CP doesn't have to appeal to smaller kids, but they do have to appeal to parents.

How about an interactive log flume dark ride? Think Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion with Log Flumes instead of moving chairs/cars with waterproof laser guns.

:)

Disney makes money hand over fist on families who visit their parks. Is it fruitless for Cedar Point to TRY to appeal to that segment? I don't think so.

Again, I would bet good money that a family of four with two kids under 6 years old will spend more money in the park than four teenagers. Which set of customers would Cedar Point want? Well, they probably want all 8 visitors...true...but they certainly don't want to alienate the bigger spenders.

How about a log flume themed to the snoopy movie where they went to camp and had the river race?

Chief Wahoo said:
I don't think there is anything wrong with Peanuts characters. They are certainly family friendly and are probably second only to Disney characters the world over in terms of popularity/fame.

Well but popular and famous to who? The kids, or the parents? Whenever I go over to a neighbor's house, their young kids are always watching Nickelodeon something. I can't remember the last time I've heard a kid talking about Snoopy, but often see a kid wearing a Spongebob t-shirt, watching the show on tv, Fairly Odd Parents lunch box, etc. That's the trend I see (obviously other people may see it differently).

And no, I really don't like the Nickelodeon characters, but the kids seem to, and for a kiddie area, isn't that the point?

Chief Wahoo said:

I don't think there is anything wrong with Peanuts characters. They are certainly family friendly and are probably second only to Disney characters the world over in terms of popularity/fame.

They are famous, but that doesn't mean they'll draw people in. Little kids love Nickelodeon. When I went to Universal when I was a kid the only thing I wanted to do was go to Nickelodeon Studios. Thats all I cared about. I didn't care about King Kong or Jaws. Nickelodeon would be reason enough for kids to beg their parents to go to any park.

^No one is argueing that Peanuts is more "known" to kids then Nick characters, one could argue that on a character by character comparison Snoopy, Linus, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Woodstalk are more well known to a wider range of kids then any Nick character but Spongebob and maybe the Rugrats because Nick changes shows so quickly but as a whole the Nick brand is stronger.

However, the Great Pumpkin and A Charlie Brown Christmas are "must sees" every holiday for a lot of people every year. Kids know those characters, and recognize them because they see them twice every year. They may not "love" them as much as Dora but they know who they are. I will again bring up my comparission of the Dr. Seuss characters, kids go crazy for them at IoA, and he has been dead for over 10 years now with his body of work being much shorter. In short, Snoopy, the Grinch, and Spongebob will probably be known and loved 25 years from now, but I dont think that will be the case with most of the Nick characters.

I presented my six year old with a quiz for this thread's benefit. Out of any stackup I could think of -- Snoopy vs Dora, Charlie Brown vs Blue, etc. -- the Nick characters won hands down.

It's anecdotal, but since I actually have a child I thought I'd put her to work for the greater good. :)

^Give her a Charlie Brown vs. Doug, Snoopy vs. Magellen the Dragon, etc. My point remains, very few Nick characters cross generations like Peanuts, you will have to retheme your Nick area about once every 10 years to keep up to date. That said, those characters will be in their prime more popular then Charlie Brown and Snoopy will be.

^^ - you forgot to test her real knowledge.

Kirk v Picard

Spock v Tuvak

Uhura v 7 of 9

LOL. I have not yet revealed to her the Final Frontier. As advanced as she is in her amusement park experience, TV-wise she's still stuck on Noggin.

Although I already know which classic ST episode she'll watch first: Tribbles!