Camp Snoopy
| Route 66 | Cities | Beaches |
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Camp Snoopy |
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Games |
Kings Island has the finest Kiddieland of any amusement park in the country. Based just on number and quality of rides, Camp Snoopy even beats Disney World. They've been assembling this collection of classic and clever new rides for 40 years, repainting and retheming them as owners and fads changed. A family can easily spend a whole day in this corner of the park and have an absolutely wonderful time. The costumed Peanuts Clan roams the area, giving hugs and posing for pictures. From an adult viewpoint, some of the theming gets stretched a little thin, like on the log flume and the skating coaster, but to a five year old it all makes sense and they're the intended audience. Adults can accompany their kids on about half of the rides, and five of them are sophisticated enough to attract adults unaccompanied by kids. |
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Boo Blasters on Boo Hill is the latest incarnation of Kings Island's only dark ride. It's a typical laser tag interactive cruise through a haunted mansion with riders shooting ghosts with their laser guns. The theming includes dungeons, dark corridors, graveyard scenes and the villainous ghost Boocifer. It's cleverly done and compares very closely to the one at Carowinds. It is not as good as Kennywood's Ghostwood Manor, currently the best such ride at any seasonal park, or Men In Black, the Universal Studios version that tops everything. But it's definitely worth riding, and on short line days, most kids will want to ride it numerous times. This ride has been here in one form or another since the park opened in 1972. It's the best of the Cedar Fair dark rides, which includes Boo Blasters at Carowinds and Kings Dominion. |
| The Great Pumpkin Coaster is the latest theming of the 1992 junior coaster. It leaves the station, climbs a small lift hill, then navigates four bunny hills. It passes through the station and makes a second circuit before stopping. Large enough to hold an adult (very snugly), it's a great hit with kiddies up to about age eight. With its Halloween theming it fits well next to Boo Blasters. |  |
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Any kid who grows up admiring Snoopy and his flying doghouse will love Snoopy vs. the Red Baron. The Zamperla World War I biplanes are impressive, with fine attention to detail. Using the controls, kiddies can direct the planes to climb or descend during their battle with The Red Baron. |
| Joe Cool's Dodgem School is the rugrat version of the classic bumper car ride. These little one person cars operate pretty well, with quick steering, good speed once they get going in a straight line, and quick recovery from the inevitable jostling of other cars. Since the cars are too small for adults, there are comical scenes while drivers in training get used to pushing down the gas pedal and steering at the same time, or figuring out which way is the general traffic flow. |  |
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The Peanuts 500 is a Grand Prix style road race around a twisting course. The 2010 Venture cars are nicely made and maintained since their 2010 installation. With a two minute ride cycle, rugrat racers have plenty of time to move up through the pack against the other nine drivers. There are hills, ramps, and bridges to lend variety. |
| Snoopy's Junction is a classic kiddie train ride. Instead of the usual engine pulling passenger cars, in this one every kid rides in his or her own engine, engineering it around a winding course with big trees and an expansive lawn. These are beautiful model engines, made by Heinrich Mack of Germany. The long ride time of 2:45 allows for a leisurely meandering around the layout. This ride has been here since 1982 but looks like it was installed yesterday. |  |
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The Whip is an amusement park classic few parks still have. Kennywood has the best adult version in the country. Kings Island doesn't have one of those, but it does have this kiddie version, which it calls Linus' Beetle Bugs. It's a great ride. The cars move down a long line, then whip around the end, and move up along the line to the other end. The lines in between give riders time to catch their breath and brace themselves for the sweeping whip around the next end. Like a roller coaster, expert riders learn to hold their hands high and scream coming around the turns. This is one of the best kiddie versions of this ride still operating. The cars are beautifully finished, nicely upholstered and very comfortable. The only problem with it is the cars are too small for adults. |
| The oddly named Linus Launcher is a ride adults view with envy. This is a classic Zamperla Kite Flyer. You ride it laying down with your head and arms peeking over the front edge. It comes closer to giving you the feeling of flying than any ride in the park. But this is a kiddie ride. Adults can ride it, and many do. But what they really want is their own adult Kite Flyer, one that soars above the treetops in a much larger circle, a sort of conservative Wind Seeker. This is still a great ride, especially for kids. The 1:30 cycle is disappointing, but its an exhiliarating experience while it lasts. It's very smooth. It's been here since 2006 but has been meticulously maintained. |  |
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Whirlybirds are more than a kiddie ride. At this basic level, two passengers sit in the bubble like cars and pedal along a track elevated above the center of Camp Snoopy. But the potential here is so much greater. These could be classic people movers. One thing Kings Island has always lacked is a connecting ride to allow visitors to get off their feet and move from one corner of the park to the other without having to walk. Disney has its railroad, Indiana Beach has its chair lift, and Busch Gardens has both its aerial tram and its railroad. They have multiple stations and people can get on and off anywhere they please. Kings Island could do that. This track could wind above the park, with stations at Rivertown, The Beast, Windseeker, Coney Mall, Oktoberfest, Action Zone, the front gate, and back here at Kiddieland. With modern computer technology, riders could push a button to turn right into the station and the unloading dock, or could continue straight, pedalling right past the station. The Whirlybirds could become an icon of Kings Island, cruising past every major ride in the park. They're cute, comfortable and photogenic. When being pedalled, the helicopter blades on the roof rotate slowly. This would be a feature no other park in the country would have. |
| The Flying Ace Aerial Chase is actually a Vekoma suspended coaster and is the greatest suspended kiddie coaster in the world. It's obviously short, but this is a very smooth ride which is a fine way to introduce a child to the world of big time steel coasters. It's also a fine coaster for those adults who don't like inversions or 100 foot first drops. You do come through two semi helices and there are just hints of Gs rounding several of the curves, but there's nothing here to give Grandma a migraine. The cars and yolks are very comfortable. |  |
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The Grand Carousel is not technically in Camp Snoopy. It's around the Eiffel Tower from The Great Pumpkin Coaster. But it's worth the extra steps. This is one of the nation's finest remaining carousels, originally built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company for Coney Island in 1926, then moved to Kings Island in 1972. There's an original Wurlitzer Organ and 48 hand carved, hand painted horses totally restored in 2008. 28 of the horses move up and down while 20 stand motionless. You can't bring a child to Kings Island without taking a photo of them on this carousel. Buses of carousel fans stop here just to see it. |
| Race for Your Life Charlie Brown is the thinly themed log flume. But this 1968 Arrow flume is still a great ride for both adults and kids. It starts off by cranking you in your four seater log up a lift hill, then sends you off wandering through the trees with occasional splashes, tight turns or slight drops. It's bumpy enough to amuse everyone and will get you just wet enough to cool you off after a hot day in the sun. Then, at the end, as shown here, a conveyor belt pulls you up a second lift hill and you come sliding down with a huge splash. This was built 40 years ago as an adult ride but in the 21st Century functions just fine as a kiddieland ride, located as it is on the edge of Camp Snoopy. |  |
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Surf Dog is another of those kiddie rides adults love. Technically, it's a skating coaster. You sit in rows facing each other in this gondola. It glides back and forth along a track which rises high on both ends with another hump in the middle. While the main carriage is gliding back and forth, the whole gondola rotates. Young kids should ride in the two innermost rows, but older ones can sit to the outside, where the action gets impressive. This is sort of a Big Time version of the Rockin Tugs seen in some other Kiddeielands. |
Woodstock Express is a great way to wind up your day at Camp Snoopy, because Dad can enjoy this coaster for its nostalgic value while the kiddies are getting their first taste of a big time thrill ride. In the 21st Century, wooden coasters have left this style of ride far behind. But for much of the 20th Century, every park had one of these. When Kings Island opened in 1972 this was a featured ride, named Little Beast. Like all of its 20th Century brethren, it does not take up much room, but is very carefully folded back and through itself. Its graceful curves, sudden drops and pacing keep it entertaining, and the tunnel adds a little extra effect. Adults used to The Beast and Racers can relax and just enjoy the ride here, but kiddies stepping up from The Great Pumpkin Coaster and Flying Ace Aerial Chase will have a blast. They can work on keeping their eyes open, raising their hands above their heads, and swaying on the turns. For preschool and in the lower grades, this will be the highlight of each visit. Once they've mastered and feel comfortable here, they'll be ready to move up to the Racer and then on to the Beast. This is also a photographer's dream, with its intricate wooden framework, shadows, and alternating curves and straights. As the sun moves across the sky, the ride takes on different coloring and shading. This particular photo was taken with a telephoto lens from the Eiffel Tower. You can also get some good angles from the fence behind Joe Cool's Dodgem School (that's its roof shown here), the back of the First Aid building across from Boo Blasters, and through the chain link fence along the parking lot. These smaller wooden coasters are easier to keep painted like this, which adds to their graceful beauty. Because it is built on perfectly level ground and is very compact, this is a popular ride with modelers. |
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