Snoopy

Marcie916 said:

I don't think Snoopy is unpopular or irrelevant at all. My one gripe about the Peanuts at CP is that, as a kid, I could never find anything with my name on it. Ever. I thought for sure that CP would be the one place I could actually find something with my name on it, spelled the right way, since Marcie is a Peanuts character. Nope. Not one thing with my name on it. Anywhere in the park. There is actually very little with the Marcie character on it either, which I sort of understand since Charlie Brown, Lucy, Sally, PigPen, & Linus are generally more popular characters, but still. Sad face. I have already bought all the things they have with the Marcie character. Every year I hope for a few more things to appear.

And before someone decides to get all high and mighty with their reply and criticize me, I realize this is not a park concern. I just wanted to express my opinion on it, since you know, that's what forum's are generally for.

My favorite is Schroeder. There's never enough Schroeder merchandise in stores, because as you mentioned, Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Linus are the more popular characters. Whenever I see something with Schroeder on it, and it's reasonably priced, I usually get it.

I always liked Violet. So where the hell is she?

Friendly reminder:
Stop quoting the entire length of the post above you. It's not necessary, we can all read, and your webmaster will thank you.

cpworshiper said:

... Snoopy has long since been "dead". He is not known by kids nowadays, and he is not on TV nowadays, except during the holidays. ...

Pre-qualifying here that my observation may cut BOTH ways (in favor of losing/keeping Snoopy) - whether he is recognizable by kids or not really isn't an issue. Try to find a single baby/toddler/rugrat who upon first glimpse of a giant fuzzy beagle mascot would not become immediately mesmerized and absolutely fall in love with him. It could be any fuzzy faced creature - Snoopy or not - and a kid's face will light up like a Christmas Tree.

My point is that a kid who doesn't recognize Snoopy doesn't care that he doesn't recognize Snoopy. He isn't thinking to himself "Who/what in the blazes is this creature I've never seen on TV before? Why can't it be <fill in your modern pop culture mascot of choice here>?" He just sees a cute and friendly dog and cannot break away from staring at it.

So I vote to keep Snoopy around for those of us who do know him and for the smiles he brings to those who don't recognize him, but will once given enough time and exposure.

I think it would be interesting to see How to Train your Dragon or Shrek at CP. Who doesn't love adorable Toothless? And a lot of kids like Shrek too and he is well known.

^ ^ When my kids were little and we took them to Geauga Lake my youngest saw Snoopy walking the midway and had to get his picture with him. That was one happy picture and one mesmerized little kid. He couldn't pronounce Geauga and really didn't care about the lake. At that moment for him Geauga Lake became "Snoopy Park" and stayed Snoopy Park until it closed and we softened the blow by telling him we would take him to the bigger Snoopy Park next year. Kid is 14 now and still roams the Snoopy Boutique and Beagle Bay outfitters and wants his picture with Snoopy on the park bench every year.

My favorite character is Charlie Brown. Me and him are both blockheads.

ValravnCP said:

And a lot of kids like Shrek too and he is well known.

The most well-received Shrek film was Shrek 2, which came out in 2004. A 4 year old seeing that movie would be 17 this year.

The most recent Shrek film was Shrek Forever After, which did less than half the business of Shrek 2 (adjusted for inflation), came out in 2010. A 4 year old seeing that far less popular film would be 11 today. An average 11 year old is 55" tall, which is not only tall enough to ride all the "big rides" at CP, but also too tall to ride anything in Planet or Camp Snoopy.

And while obviously not scientifically-robust, searching "shrek toys" on Amazon yields 1,516 results. Searching "peanuts toys" yields more than 4 times as many results.

How to Train Your Dragon performed worse than any of the four Shrek films (not counting Puss in Boots), and has the same age/height-related issues as Shrek. And searching "how to train your dragon toys" on Amazon yields a meager 1,089 results.

Throwing in my 2 cents to say that my 2 daughters, who are 5 and 7, fell in love with Snoopy the first time they saw him. My 7-year-old, upon seeing Snoopy at every Cedar Fair park, screams SNOOOOOPY! not unlike Will Ferrell screaming Santa's name in "Elf." I am not even sure that they knew who the Peanuts characters were when they first met them years ago, but they responded to the fuzziness and gentleness of the characters. As a 42-year-old, the Peanuts characters hit the right note of nostalgia for me and gentle fun for my kids.

Snoopy has been around longer. OF COURSE there are more toys. This isn't about toys. Not sure what height has to do with anything either. Shrek is from our generation and Snoopy is not.

I think DJs point is very relevant, the popularity is going to drive more investment by manufacturers.
There may be more classic toys from the past, but new toys quantity is driven by consumers demand.

XS NightClub said:
I think DJs point is very relevant, the popularity is going to drive more investment by manufacturers.
There may be more classic toys from the past, but new toys quantity is driven by consumers demand.

Yeah I agree. I find nothing wrong with Snoopy but I can understand the want to have something new.

ValravnCP said:

Not sure what height has to do with anything either. Shrek is from our generation and Snoopy is not.

First, what is "our generation"?

Second, height/age means everything. As I said, a 4 year old who watched and fell in love with Shrek when it came out is now 20 years old. "Kids" who are 20 are not headed to CP for the family stuff. They're going to ride big roller coasters.

Last year, I started a similar topic. Now I can see the absurdity. Forgive my ignorance.

Little kids now adays still watch Shrek. But it was just a thought. Personally I would rather take a picture with Snoopy than an ugly ogre. Though I would rather take my picture with a dragon like toothless than a dog.

Kids watch snoopy.

Despicable Minions would be a better choice than Shrek. Also, Smurfs have made a few films recently, and that IP is not even close to modern.

Heck, Boss Baby is doing business as a film but the characters are not really special. The same could be said about last summers Secret Life of Pets.

Just because a film is well received, doesn't mean the IP is going to be successful elsewhere. Finding an IP that has been successful for decades is much more valuable than whatever the new popular movie is.

djDaemon said:

The most well-received Shrek film was Shrek 2, which came out in 2004. A 4 year old seeing that movie would be 17 this year.

The most recent Shrek film was Shrek Forever After, which did less than half the business of Shrek 2 (adjusted for inflation), came out in 2010. A 4 year old seeing that far less popular film would be 11 today. An average 11 year old is 55" tall, which is not only tall enough to ride all the "big rides" at CP, but also too tall to ride anything in Planet or Camp Snoopy.

And while obviously not scientifically-robust, searching "shrek toys" on Amazon yields 1,516 results. Searching "peanuts toys" yields more than 4 times as many results.

How to Train Your Dragon performed worse than any of the four Shrek films (not counting Puss in Boots), and has the same age/height-related issues as Shrek. And searching "how to train your dragon toys" on Amazon yields a meager 1,089 results.

^Quite dank..excellent choice sir.

When babies are born they know of no cartoon characters. When they become toddlers they may or may not watch one of the Charlie Brown specials, or the movie, but so what? They can be introduced to Peanuts at the park and fall in love with the characters there. TV hardly has to be the source of discovery of an imaginary character that a child likes. Matter of fact, TV should probably be at the bottom of the list of where a child gets their pop culture from.

With ogres and dragons you don't have the same generality as you do with a Beagle. If someone isn't familiar with Shrek an ogre they know nothing about doesn't mean much. Same with a dragon. Ogres and dragons are not part of daily life. A dog is different. Everyone knows what a dog is and will identify on some level with a cartoon dog whether they are familiar with the cartoon or not. It's a dog. Most of us either have one or know someone that does and being the 5th most popular registered dog breed in 2016 Beagles in particular are going to be easy to identify with even if you've never heard of Snoopy. I'm sure there are plenty of kids unfamiliar with Snoopy arriving at the park asking their parents for something from the Snoopy Boutique on the way out of the park.