What happened to Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America?
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Not much remains today of Camp Snoopy, the woodsy indoor theme park where Charlie Brown and the gang once came to life inside the Mall of America.
The giant red dog bowl where groups met up, the Snoopy bounce house, the whimsical fountain — all were replaced years ago by the characters and branding of Nickelodeon Universe.
But Camp Snoopy still conjures nostalgic memories for the people who grew up visiting this unique attraction. People at the mall can still experience pieces of the original park, like the Log Chute.
Sam Kennedy, who grew up in Hudson, Wis., was just tall enough to climb aboard the log ride when his parents first took him there. The North Woods lumber camp-themed water flume ride is flanked by animatronics that sing, cook and perform other folksy chores.
These days, Kennedy finds them charming. At the time, they were terrifying.
"I remember going into the section with Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox," Kennedy said. "And when Babe blew mist out of her nostrils, I started freaking out and I was crying."
Despite his terror, the ride is now a happy "core memory," he said. He asked Curious Minnesota, the Strib's community-driven reporting project fueled by reader questions: What happened to Camp Snoopy?
Snoopy and friends disappeared in 2006 because the Mall of America was unable to secure a licensing agreement to keep the characters at the park. For about two years, the park had no character branding, until a new deal brought in Nickelodeon. The park has now been Nickelodeon Universe for longer than it was ever Camp Snoopy.
The rise of Camp Snoopy
Camp Snoopy opened on the same day as the Mall of America: Aug. 11, 1992.
For many of the estimated 150,000 people who flocked to the mall on opening day, the indoor park was the main attraction. It was operated by California theme park company Knott's Berry Farm.
"When I grow up, I want to tell my kids I was the very first to go to Knott's Camp Snoopy," 10-year-old Charlotte Campbell told an Orange County Register reporter. Some attendees that day drove hundreds of miles to be there.
The megamall and its indoor theme park were unlike anything else in the country at the time. With 4.2 million square feet of space and 7 acres of theme park, it wasn't just a mall.
"It immediately shifted Mall of America into this entertainment destination for families, versus being your typical shopping center," said Jill Renslow, the mall's chief business development and marketing officer.
It was designed to feel outdoorsy, Renslow said. Skylights let in natural light, and gently sloping floors and live plants made visitors feel like they weren't indoors.
Peanuts characters joined in the North Woods fun, too. They were pictured canoeing and sometimes dressed in camp-style vests and hats.
Martha Feind, now a Bloomington Historical Society volunteer, worked in the Macy's wedding registry department at the mall when it first opened.
She remembered the excitement over the park's theme being tied to Peanuts, created by St. Paul's own Charles Schulz. She had grown up with his characters.
"They always played that up and everyone was very excited because he was a hometown hero," she said. The park helped pass on a love of Peanuts to another generation, she said.
The band of merry comic characters ruled Camp Snoopy for 13 years. Then legal logistics got in the way.
In 2005, the mall's management took over Camp Snoopy. The mall terminated a contract with amusement park operator Cedar Fair, which had purchased Knott's Berry Farm. Mall spokesperson Julie Hansen told reporters at the time that they wanted to streamline operations and give themselves flexibility to make changes.
The takeover had a sticking point, however. Cedar Fair, which is now part of Six Flags, had exclusive rights to use Peanuts characters in U.S. theme parks.
The mall and Cedar Fair worked to come to an agreement that would allow the park to keep its characters, but negotiations broke down. In January 2006, the mall announced that Snoopy, Charlie Brown and friends would have to go.
A major sticking point was the mall wanting to keep the Peanuts theme and promote the park more aggressively in some markets, Hansen told the Star Tribune in 2006.
"Cedar Fair wouldn't let us advertise the park the way we wanted to or needed to in order to promote the business," she said.
The end of a Peanuts-themed era
On January 18, 2006, a Mall of America worker rolled Snoopy's red dog house out of the park. The Peanuts gang was leaving.
Some of the fixtures were sent to other parks to be repurposed, Renslow said.
But the park didn't become Nickelodeon Universe overnight. For about two years, the park operated without a branding partner as "The Park at MOA."
That gave the mall time to talk to media companies and figure out the best partner, Renslow said.
In came Nickelodeon. The Nickelodeon partnership offered the park use of characters across many shows — from SpongeBob SquarePants to Dora the Explorer — versus a more limited Peanuts family, Renslow said.
"Even though the door closed with the Peanuts characters and we had to move on, a new door opened with Nickelodeon," she said. "And we've actually now, to date, been with Nickelodeon longer than we were with Camp Snoopy."
At the time, marketing experts hailed the Nickelodeon branding as an opportunity to reach a wider, more international audience.
"Peanuts and the Gang just aren't relevant to the current generation of young children," one consultant told the Star Tribune in 2007. "They stayed the same, and their marketing strategy never progressed. They were of a time, and that time has passed."
Snoopy nostalgia remains
That may have been true then, but that generation, now called Gen Z, has warmed up to Snoopy in a big way since.
Many have gone wild for the character now called timeless, getting Snoopy tattoos and snapping up merch featuring the 1950s beagle.
"Snoopy is such a comfort character," 25-year-old Kate Glavan told the Star Tribune in January.
Nostalgia for the Peanuts-themed park is also alive and well.
"Don't get us wrong, we have no qualms with [Nickelodeon] and we love SpongeBob just as much as anyone, but it just feels weird calling something so special and magical to our childhoods anything other than what it was when we were younger," one Redditor wrote on a thread memorializing Camp Snoopy's smell (decidedly chlorine and cinnamon buns).
"While it's a better place today than it was back then, it will always be Camp Snoopy to us," they added.
Responding to a photo of the Snoopy fountain, another commenter chimed in:
"I am kind of near tears right now looking at it. Maybe a really powerful yearning feeling," they wrote. "It's like seeing an old friend again."
Do you have Camp Snoopy photos or memories to share? Leave a comment or send us a note at curious@startribune.com.
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