As I've mentioned, this year Snoopy and the Peanuts gang take over the duties as Kings Dominion's park mascot. The park has been promoting an all-new kids area called Planet Snoopy, which has also been introduced at several other parks owned by parent company Cedar Fair. From looking at other park's websites, it seems that Kings Dominion's Planet Snoopy hasn't quite got the same attention as Kings Island, Carowinds or any of the other Cedar Fair parks.
Planet Snoopy now covers the area formerly called Nickelodeon Central. Four attractions have been given an overhaul. Nickelodeon Space Surfer, a giant swing ride, has been given a new color scheme and rechristened Flying Ace. The water playground known as Green Slime Zone is now called Snoopy's Splashdance. A nice reference to a mid-80's Peanuts special, but just a new sign was added - nothing else. Paramount Showplace, which recently housed a live show featuring Nickelodeon characters and originally presented a dolphin show is now Peanuts Showplace where the show Camp Snoopy Day can be seen. (Except on Thursdays, which is when we were there.)
The most effort has been put into the Rugrats Turnpike which is now Joe Cool's Driving School. It's pretty neat...and we have enough pictures of it to share it with you tomorrow in it's own post.
This is Elias following Snoopy's footprints along a path leading to the Joe Cool's Driving School attraction.
An odd addition to Planet Snoopy is this giant moon bounce which isn't listed on the park's website or in the guide map at the park. It didn't look open when we passed by it, either.
One of my favorite spots in the original layout of the park was the old Hanna-Barbera toy store. Of course, that's gone now. But so is the lame-o Nickelodon store that was in the space for a while. Now the building is home to Snoopy Boutique, an awesome shop which I easily could have dropped $300 bucks in.
The outside of Snoopy Boutique is lined with these large comic strip frames. Great picture opportunities.
Among all the really cool stuff they have in the store, there are plush of all of Snoopy's brothers and sisters. Where else are you gonna be able to take home your own Marbles, Spike, Andy, Belle or Olaf? Well played Cedar Fair merchandising department...well played!
And look at this....Franklin and Pig Pen even get their own plush! How cool is that? Franklin never gets any love!
The strangest thing in Planet Snoopy is that instead of playing the jazzy Vince Guaraldi Peanuts music that everyone instantly associates with Charlie Brown cartoons, through out Planet Snoopy they were playing Hannah Montana songs. Schroeder would be mortified!
They are off to a good start with Planet Snoopy, but they need to keep going with the rest of the kids section and bring it all together under one Snoop! Some of the other kiddie rides need a Peanuts makeover. Perhaps next year we'll see the rest of Kings Dominion's kiddie section get the same attention as other parks in the chain. Until then...Good Grief!
Gimme An 'F' (1984) Somehow, this low-brow cheerleader comedy for the 80's had escaped being a fixture of my youth. I imagine, had I seen it at an impressionable age I would have a fondness for it to this day, however coming to this flick this late in life - I found the tale of a troubled cheerleading squad trying to outsmart the leader of a cheerleading camp - a bit tedious but overall just not funny. However, you've gotta give big 80's credit to any movie that enforces stereotypes by playing a gong sound every time Asian businessmen characters arrive on screen.
