Saturday, March 24, 2018

ATTENTION BEAGLE SCOUTS!!!! The History of Camp Snoopy



Carowinds is set to open Camp Snoopy for 2018, it's first location in over 15 years.  In honor of that, we would like to showcase the history of Camp Snoopy in this special blog post.


Although the first Camp Snoopy opened in 1983, the story begins at around 1982 when Knotts Berry Farm was in need of a new hook for their ice skating show.  They approached Charles Schulz who created the Peanuts comic strip for the rights to use Snoopy in their next ice skating show.  Schulz then lit up and said, "Oooo....do you think my daughter [Jill] can be in the show as Snoopy?"  Immediately they got the ok to use Snoopy in the park, and was a hit in 1982.  So much so that in 1983, they decided to keep Snoopy and expand his presence to the park (after all, he wanted a new doghouse).  And thus, construction began on the first Camp Snoopy.

When it opened in 1983, attractions include a huge lake, a playground, and some kiddie rides including the Red Baron, the Timberline Twister, and a miniature train.  Camp Snoopy was the first of its kind kiddieland where kids can ride with their parents.

"I'm in love with Snoopy," said Marion Knott, "and I'm glad Snoopy is going to have a camp and stay with us."

When it opened, it was a pretty big deal.  Snoopy officially marked his territory in the theme park industry (in more ways than one since he's a dog......).  Promotional tie ins began.  Especially at McDonald's.  They began selling official Camp Snoopy Glasses for collectors.  Each one designed by Schulz himself.

Over the years, more Peanuts characters were added to the bunch instead of just Snoopy.  Charlie Brown and Lucy joined in 1984 followed by Linus in 1985.  By the early 1990's, the gang included Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Sally, sometimes Woodstock, and of course.....SNOOPY!

In the 90's, Knotts joined up with the Mall of America, which was starting to open up.  The center of the mall would be an indoor amusement park, making the park the second Camp Snoopy to open.  The Mall of America was already a big deal when it opened, so Camp Snoopy easily was a hit for them too.  Rides include Charlie Brown's Kite Eating Tree, the Pepsi Ripsaw Roller Coaster, a Ferris Wheel and Carousel, and the iconic Snoopy Bounce, where a giant Snoopy waves hello.  Plus some thrill rides that teens and adults could ride such as the Treetop Tumbler, the Log Chute, and later The Mighty Axe.  The success of Camp Snoopy may also be due to the fact that Schulz originally grew up in Minnesota, bringing both Schulz and the Peanuts Gang back home.

In 1997, Knotts was acquired by Cedar Fair, who owns and operates Cedar Point and Valleyfair.  This acquisition added Knotts Berry Farm and Knotts Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America to the chain.  Plans then began at Cedar Fair to retire the now aging Berenstain Bears by replacing them with the Peanuts Gang.  Starting with Cedar Point  the concept was first going to be Point Snoopy bearing resemblance to Camp Snoopy, but they easily decided to keep the Camp Snoopy name.  Other original plans such as water rides and a play area never made the cut, but when opened in 1999, Camp Snoopy at Cedar Point had a wide variety of rides including a Tilt a Whirl, Snoopy Bounce, and to keep up with Cedar Point's coaster popularity, a family roller coaster called Woodstock Express.

Slowly but surely Camp Snoopy was added to other Cedar Fair owned parks.  First Dorney Park in 2000, then Worlds of Fun in 2001.  Michigan's Adventure and Geauga Lake had Snoopy, but no Camp Snoopy.  Valleyfair under contract was not allowed to use Snoopy due to close proximity to Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America (it would take until 2011).

In 2006, a new era of Snoopy began.  Cedar Fair could no longer come to an agreement with the Mall of America that year.  Camp Snoopy would become generic.  The rides wiped off any reference to the Peanuts characters, and the Snoopy Bounce in that location would become deflated...forever.  The icon of the park, forever gone but not forgotten.

In 2008, Cedar Point opened a whole new area called Planet Snoopy.  Unlike Camp Snoopy, Planet Snoopy focused more on outer space and bright colors.  Cedar Point at that time was the only park to feature both Camp and Planet Snoopy.  When Cedar Fair bought the Paramount Parks, the idea of Planet Snoopy became widespread and opened in place of Nickelodeon Universe in each of these parks in 2010.  One year later, however, Camp Snoopy in Dorney Park and Worlds of Fun closed and were upgraded to the newer, more colorful, Planet Snoopy, making the Camp Snoopys in Cedar Point and Knotts the last two remaining.

That didn't stop those two locations though.  Peppermint Patty was added to the character roster.  Franklin would soon find a home their too in the early 2010's.  And officially in 2018, Pig Pen joined the gang.  In 2008, a new family coaster was added to the Knotts location called Sierra Sidewinder.  In 2014, both parks expanded their areas to make them fresh and new.  Knotts added a few more exciting rides such as Linus Launcher, Pig Pen's Mud Buggies, and newly re-themed rides (although their Snoopy Bounce went away too).  Meanwhile, Cedar Point's Camp Snoopy re-themed some of their rides and added Woodstock's Airmail as well as moved the entrance to the kiddie coaster, Jr. Gemini, re-themed it, and renamed it Wilderness Run, bringing a grand total of two coasters in Camp Snoopy.

Then in 2018, a big surprise:  Carowinds out of the blue decided to retheme Planet Snoopy into Camp Snoopy.  While some of the changes were more of a downgrade (the area is smaller, and some rides moved away), new enhancements were added including 6 new rides and attractions.  They also brought back the iconic canoe logo used throughout the 90's into the early 00's.
Michigan's Adventure, though they have the characters and a Snoopy Boutique, did not have a Snoopy area.  In fact, Michigan's Adventure is a park Cedar Fair hardly invests in.  But that all changed in 2020 when Camp Snoopy was announced for the park.  At last Snoopy found a true home at Michigan's Adventure, and this one brought the total of 4 Camp Snoopy lands throughout the country.  6 brand new rides and attractions including a family coaster, Woodstock Express. 
The 2020's also opened up with one more surprise: Snoopy's brother Spike was added to the roster of meet and greet characters.  These changes came as Cedar Fair, as a whole, celebrates 150 years with Cedar Point opening in 1870 as a beach resort and Knotts Berry Farm celebrating 100 years as originally a jelly and jam shop. It begs the question, why go back to Camp Snoopy...why not Planet Snoopy?  Especially now with the Snoopy in Space promotion in 2019?  Simple.  As colorful as Planet Snoopy is, it's just a bunch of rides with Snoopy and the Peanuts gang plastered over the "carnival rides".  People are now realizing how beautiful of a theme Camp Snoopy is.  Not only is Snoopy the theme, the overall theme is the idea of a campground.  The wilderness feel and the idea of it being a campground makes it more beautiful than Planet Snoopy.  Perhaps Dorney Park and Worlds of Fun made a mistake getting rid of Camp Snoopy.  Who knows.

Spike, however, would not end up being the last surprise for 2020, as one big surprise happened that put a negative impact of Camp Snoopy: The novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 began hitting the entire world, and because of how fast it spread and how deadly it could become for elderly and those with pre-existing conditions, mass gatherings for the year 2020 came to a screeching halt.  Even though Mchigan's Adventure was all set to open Camp Snoopy in 2020, it was decided to only open the waterpark section of the park, pushing Camp Snoopy's opening date to 2021.  The other parks to open this year would only be Cedar Point, Kings Island, Dorney Park, and Worlds of Fun, making Cedar Point's Camp Snoopy the only one to operate that year.  The parks that did operate were at reduced capacity, reduced hours, and masks were mandatory to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, a vaccine came through and plans to open all the parks in 2021 came into fruition, and Camp Snoopy will be the new attraction of Michigan's Adventure.  However, a slight cutback was made: the new Woodstock Express roller coaster would end up being a relocated coaster from the park itself known as the Big Dipper, so no new coasters were added to the park.  Still, the new area seemed promising as everything else was according to their plan.   



From March of 2020 to May 2021, Knott's Berry Farm was closed due to COVID, but once it opened back up, Camp Snoopy was in full swing again.  While hints of a potential Giga Coaster started to spread as rumor, another new character debuted at Knott's Berry Farm's Camp Snoopy....Marcie.  It is believed that we could see another new character once a year as part of their Peanuts Celebration.  

But Cedar Fair was starting to take pages from Parques Reunidos, the owners of parks such as Kennywood, Idlewild, and Dutch Wonderland.  Other mascot characters began appearing at some of the Cedar Fair properties.  Dorney Park had the return of Alfundo the Clown and a new character named Morgan.  Canada's Wonderland had the return of Major Mackenzie.  Cedar Point's Casatway Bay phased out the Peanuts gang completely and replaced them with new original characters such as Gordy the Turtle.  Knott's had the return of some of their older characters like Whittles and characters from Knotts' Beary Tales.  This doesn't mean that the Peanuts gang were appearing less at these parks; it just opens up a diversity of different characters for the parks.  Cedar Point made some small but significant changes to Camp Snoopy too.  The very last iconic Snoopy Bounce was gone.  Perhaps due to the changing of times with safety concerns of bounce houses; both due to Covid but also the damning amount of news stories about bounce houses being lifted away and landing hard killing children.  Just to be clear, no incidents were officially released to the public about the Snoopy Bounce and most of these incidents happened at homes or smaller party rental companies, but with the recent stories about these bounce houses, enough was enough and it was time to retire an icon.  Replaced with Twin Arrow Acres which is a resting area with wooden teepee tents and a bond fire.   

But in 2023, Kings Island surprised everyone with the announcement of part of their Planet Snoopy becoming Camp Snoopy.  This will cause a refresh in the area will bring with it Beagle Scouts Acres and a new family roller coaster called Snoopy's Soap Box Racers.  Meanwhile over at Knott's Berry Farm, the family coaster Timberline Twister closed down, and they began teasing a potential new attraction to expand their Camp Snoopy.  What that plan is remains unknown, but what is known is that Camp Snoopy is to open at Kings Island next year.  This brings a total of 5 Camp Snoopys in total: Cedar Point, Kings Island, Carowinds, Knotts Berry Farm, and Michigan's Adventure.  Both Cedar Point and Kings Island will have both Camp Snoopy and Planet Snoopy.

And then.....a shake up nobody saw in their bingo card:  Cedar Fair merged with Six Flags.  At this point it is unclear what that means for Camp Snoopy whether some will close while others will open, but one thing is for sure that the Peanuts brand is at the moment still staying under the new Six Flags brand.  The history of Camp Snoopy may or may not have an ending, but only time will tell.

Camp Snoopy continues to entertain and delight children of all ages along side it's newer offspring Planet Snoopy.  There still is some charm and magic left in seeing the rustic looking Scoutmaster Snoopy greeting guests daily.  Not fake magic like that Mouse House tends to be....true magic.