Removing nick characters

Not sure of what category to place this information, but screamscape

is reporting that cedar fair may be removing the nickelodeon characters

from the former paramount parks and most likely adding the peanut

characters for 2009. This would mean a-lot of re-theming of rides

and some shows.

I'm glad to see they're removing those annoying screaming bright orange animals. I have to hear them blaring through my house 24/7. It's good to be able to get away from them every now and then.

-TedFuzz

Probably better discussed over at coasterbuzz.

Then again, it is screamscape, where integrity never stands in the way of a good story.

Clearly, you never visited Geauga Lake after Cedar Fair de-Six-Flags-ified Loony Tunes Boomtown. It was quite a low rent conversion. Very tawdry. They didn't even bother to put up a token Snoopy. So if CF wants to strip out the Nick theming on the cheap, they know how to do it.

Ensign Smith said:
They didn't even bother to put up a token Snoopy.

Actually, they re-themed seven of those rides. They even renamed the area! It is now called "Planet Snoopy!" Of course they moved the area too. But it has been done before, and it can be done again.

It is actually kind of funny to see rides that used to be themed to Loony Tunes be themed to Peanuts.

-Sam

Wiseacre. ;)

I can't say I'm a fan of the Nickelodeon characters, but Kings Island has Hanna-Barberra characters as well (at least as of last year), and I really like those. Scooby-Doo is the best :)

I think the issue is a question of whether or not it's a good deal for Cedar Fair, and does it create enough equity in the form of attracting visitors to make it worth their time. From what I hear about the licensing deal, any licensing deal with Nick, they get substantial cuts on all of the merchandise, far more than what UFS gets for the Snoopy junk. Consider that merchandise is a significant component of per cap spending. If selling Nick junk, even if it's more Nick junk, makes less money than selling some Snoopy junk, the choice is pretty obvious.

Considering how much Nick there is at all the former Paramount proporties, rides and otherwise, I wonder what the cost is to debrand everything. Then how far do they go. Do they make it generic like Flight Deck and Back Lot Stunt Coaster? Or do they retheme it to snoopy?

The only coherence in the theme is that they license a bunch of Nick characters, which have nothing in common other than being reasonably identifiable Nick characters. Like I said, I don't know what the collective value in that is in terms of attracting families.

But you still have to ask yourself what it is exactly that entitled Kings Island to getting a Golden Ticket for having the best kids area (if you take any stock in that sort of thing).

Amen to the people praising their demise. Nick characters are annoying, ugly and aimed at the lowest common denominator. I feel old, but remember when cartoon characters (ie snoopy ) were supposed to be cute?

I don't think your opinion means much to the bazillions of kids who recognize and love those characters. Heck, I love SpongeBob and he came out well into my adulthood. Nick characters are some of the strongest brands ever.

At issue is whether or not their price is worth it to Cedar Fair. It won't come down to anything else. I just don't have the faith that they'll actually dig in and do the math before making any real decisions.

If this is in fact the course CF is charting for the park, it will be interesting to see how they play this. They've spent the entire season praising KI's history and talking about returning it to its roots. So how will the Cincy crowd react when the Nick characters come out and -- instead of reinstating the Hanna-Barbera theming, which the park actually once featured -- they bring in Snoopy & Gang, which has no history there?

I myself would be devastated if they removed the Nick stuff. We just spend 4 days at Kings Island and everytime a Nick character

came out my kids' eyes lit up.

Its funny because I always hear people complaining about the Nick characters but that is what kids today can relate to, anyone with kids from ages 3-7 can relate to what I am talking about. On Friday and Saturday some of those kids rides had as long of lines as some of the "grown up" rides at Cedar Point. As many times as we have been to CP this year we never had to wait in line at Planet Snoopy or Kiddie Kingdom, and that includes opening day.

Cedar Fair is gonna to do what there gonna do, but I hope they look into all the factors before they make a big mistake.

I think one other thing that might come into play is...who else has the licensing rights...and does that conflict with Cedar Fair. The Nick hotel down in Orlando is making a big sensation...and they are looking at expanding that around the country.

Cedar Fair has hotels. If a Nick hotel was in a Cedar Fair market would that be good for Cedar Fair...or bad? Would it make a difference at all? I don't really know the answer but it is worth throwing into the mix.

Frankly, I don't think Cedar Fair has taken full advantage of the Peanuts characters. They will never be Mickey Mouse...but Snoopy and the Gang are pretty darn popular even after the death of their creator.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2008-04-15-licensing-chart_N.htm

Nickelodeon & Viacom Cons. Prod. = #6

Peanuts = #30

-Tambo

Wow... $5.5 billion versus $1.2 billion.

To be honest, with the pervasiveness of Nick (hotels, Burger King promotions, movies, its own TV station) I expected it to do better than 4.5 times Snoopy.

Apparently there is something to be said for being timeless.

Exactly. And I just noticed that South Park is included in that as well, which I have little doubt accounts for a huge portion of that $5.5 billion. I'd be interested to see a straight-up Nick-only versus Peanuts comparison.