Amusement Park News

Ohio's Kings Island Theme Park, renowned for its multiple family-friendly attractions, has greatly expanded its Planet Snoopy area, the key component for this demographic. From the new Snoopy's Soap Box Racers coaster to the Beagle Scout Acres play area and new food options, there's plenty afoot for kids and their parents this summer.

Snoopy's Soap Box Racers is a Vekoma Family Boomerang. It's the second such coaster to open in the U.S. this year, the first being the Thanksgiving-themed Good Gravy! located in Indiana, at Holiday World theme park.

According to Kings Island communications director Chad Showalter, Camp Snoopy's expansion and new features “allows us to introduce a new coaster to our lineup…it provides a different experience than our other kids' coasters.”

Snoopy's Soap Box Racers pulls its riders backward up a 75-foot lift before releasing them and sending the train back through the ride's station. The train crosses over itself, stalls at the top of a second spike before going in the opposite direction. Riders go in both directions over the length of the ride, which features 672-feet of track and a top speed of 37 miles per hour. The installation is approximately 50 feet shorter than that of Vekoma's Good Gravy at Holiday World, and features a tighter layout. It rises just over 70 feet in height.



Kids need only to be 36 inches tall to ride on the 20-passenger train. Each train car has a unique design that ties into different Peanuts characters. The attraction also includes a sculpture of Snoopy's friend, Franklin, positioned in a watchtower, the better to watch the soap box derby unfold. Showalter calls the ride a great starter for raising kids to enjoy coasters. It's the 15th coaster at King's Island, and both parents and kids can ride it.

Vekoma's VP of sales and marketing, Richardo Tonding Etges, relates that “The creation of 10 different cars for this coaster, each with different patterns and colors, was actually a big achievement.” The detailed process involved a time-sensitive back and forth between Vekoma, Peanuts, and the park itself. “Smooth collaboration with the client team was key to achieving the expected goals. The creative intent was brilliant, and I believe we did a great job by delivering and executing [it],” he says.

Other rides located near the new coaster have received revamps and new names to fit the Camp Snoopy theme. The log flume, previously called Race for Your Life Charlie Brown, is now Charlie Brown's Rushing River Log Ride, which still takes riders on a cruise in a hollowed log raft that ends with a quick and thrilling dive down Wishy-Washy Falls.

The inverted steel coaster Flying Ace Aerial Chase, also from Vekoma, is now renamed Woodstock's Air Rail. It features fresh paint in the colors of a tree, and cars in a bright Woodstock yellow. The coaster, which reaches a top speed of just 25 miles per hour, follows the story of Woodstock, placed in charge of delivering Camp Snoopy's mail, who needs a helping hand from riders with the task.



The Woodstock Gliders flying scooters are individually controlled cars which can be directed up and down by the riders. These scooters are now called Franklin's Flyers, the first ride named for that Peanuts character, and themed to be gliders created by Franklin himself to allow his friends a bird's eye view of the camp.

Without changing its name, the Linus Launcher ride is now included as part of Camp Snoopy, capturing the story of Snoopy snatching up Linus' beloved blanket and sending Linus after it.



Each of these rides were once painted in bright shades of orange and blue but are now sporting more muted browns and greens to fit the theme of an outdoorsy Camp Snoopy.

Another revamp is a large open area in Camp Snoopy named Beagle Scout Acres. This area provides a lot of activities for kids. Showalter explains that parents asked for both more shade and an interactive play area for kids, and their desires have been realized with the revamp of a space once used as a performance pavilion and petting zoo location. The vast area “allows kids to burn off some energy while letting parents sit in the shade and recharge,” he says.

The play area includes a variety of fun tunnels and gentle climbing mounds; kids will be able to meet costumed Peanuts characters dressed in camping gear while enjoying an interactive play area that also includes slides and a grassy area. They can also follow footprint paths made by Peanuts characters, and even engage in guided themed activities such as raising a flag on a flagpole, lighting a campfire, or sounding the camp bugle. The unique mix of themed activities, character interactions, and interactive play area combined with family rest spot makes Beagle Scout Acres a brand new, inclusive concept.

Pigpen's Mess Hall is another new feature at Camp Snoopy, a walk-up counter-service dining spot with food such as a desert sandwich of fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich topped with powdered sugar and strawberry filling, called a “hobo pie;” and treats like a s'mores brownie. There's also a Cheesy Meatwurst sausage and hot dogs on hand.

Overall, the Camp Snoopy revamp and expansion should provide plenty of fresh, fun attractions and activities for younger kids and their parents to explore and enjoy.