Nickelodeon Experiences

Nickelodeon Experiences are attractions that are based to Nickelodeon shows and characters. The first Nick Experience was opened on June 7, 1990 with Universal Studios Florida as Nickelodeon Studios. 
From that point on, companies like Paramount Parks/Cedar Fair and Universal Parks & Resorts have been creating these experiences. Experiences range from themed lands to a park or a hotel.
==History ==
===Universal Parks & Resorts===
In November 1988, Nickelodeon joined the USF team to make its very first production studio. In spring 1989, they filmed its first show there, Super Sloppy Double Dare. 
On June 7, 1990, the studio (along with the park) officially opened. The facility was a working studio where many Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon GAS shows were produced, with the first being Double Dare. 
It consisted of soundstages 18 and 19, along with a central building between them that housed both Nickelodeon production offices, dressing rooms, makeup rooms, the Gak Kitchen, and the Game Lab live show located on Stage 17 for guests of Universal Studios Florida. 
Soundstage 21, located directly behind Stages 17 and 18, was also part of the production facility in the early 1990s when a larger sound stage was needed for the taping of Nickelodeon/Global Guts. 
Stage 21 was not "owned" or part of the studio contract Nickelodeon had with Universal, but was leased separately for the time of their productions on it.By the summer of 2001, Nickelodeon Studios was down to a double-digit number of employees and had begun to see a decline in visitors. The majority of Nickelodeon production had moved to the Nickelodeon On Sunsetfacility in Hollywood, California. 
Nickelodeon Studios permanently closed its doors on Saturday April 30, 2005, after Nickelodeon had gradually moved its administration to the MTV Networks headquarters in Santa Monica, California, and One Astor Plaza in New York City and its live-action production arm to the Nickelodeon On Sunset. The final program taped there was Nickelodeon SPLAT! on August 17, 2004.
The Funtastic World of Hanna Barbera was one of Universal Studios Florida's original attractions, opening with the park on June 7, 1990, along with Nickelodeon Studios). In 1998, Universal officials noticed that the ride had lost a large percentage of its operating capacity, and began work on a new attraction to replace it with which would be based on modern cartoons rather than older animation. 
Universal then brought up the idea of opening a Nickelodeon themed simulator ride. In the early 2000s (decade), a contract was granted with Viacom and Nickelodeon to retheme the ride as "The Nicktoon Blast". In 2001, when it was decided the newest Nicktoon character Jimmy Neutron would host the ride, and it was secretly greenlit as "Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast". Production on the ride film and conceptual art of the new look for the ride was done in 2001 through very early 2003.
In July 2002, Universal officially confirmed that they would not renew their contract for the Hanna-Barbera ride and that it would be replaced by "Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast" in 2003. Universal announced on March 14, 2011 that Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast started operating on peak season days on April 1, 2011 until the ride's permanent closure on August 18, 2011.
After Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast's closure, the park added a parade that featured the Nickelodeon shows SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer called the Universal Superstar Parade.
A store in the park called the Universal Cartoon Store,which sold Nickelodeon merchandise. On May 28, 2012, the Universal Cartoon Store was replaced with a SpongeBob SquarePants themed store called SpongeBob StorePants,which sells SpongeBob merchandise. SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Dora, Boots, Diego, and Baby Jaguar are still meetable characters in the park.
Meanwhile, at Universal Studios Hollywood, Totally Nickelodeon opened. It was an interactive game show theater, that was located in the Upper Lot area at Universal Studios Hollywood, and opened in 1997, replacing Flintstones Musical Revue. It allowed the members to play games on stage. 
The show featured 3 games and was inspired by the Nickelodeon channel. It closed in 2000 to make way for Rugrats Magic Adventure.The show lasted for about a year before being closed in 2001 for Shrek 4-D.Adjacent from that,The Warlord Tower was removed for Nickelodeon Blast Zone in 2001.
It included an outdoor water play area (Blast Zone) and an indoor foam ball play area (Wild Thornberrys Adventure Temple). The area was closed for a complete rebranding into The Adventures Of Curious George which was closed in 2013 for The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter. SpongeBob, Dora, and Diego are still meetable characters in the park.
===Paramount Parks===
When Paramount Parks owned California's Great Adventure, Kings Island, and Kings Dominion, they took out a section of their Hanna Barbera areas. Nickelodeon Splat City was a themed area inside of California's Great America (1995-2002), Kings Island (1995-2000), and Kings Dominion (1995-1999). 
It was based on many Nickelodeon shows, such as Double Dare, which had attractions that involved getting wet or messy.Eventually,these lands grew into Nickelodeon Universe (KI) or Nickelodeon Central (All ;KI for 4 yrs.) while Canada's Wonderland and Carowinds also got a land named Nickelodeon Central. On June 14, 2005, Viacom announced intentions to split into two companies (Viacom and CBS Corporation) with CBS inheriting Paramount Parks.
Seven months later, on January 26, 2006, CBS announced that the theme parks were for sale. On June 30, 2006, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company purchased Kings Island and the rest of Paramount Parks for approximately $1.24 billion. Nickelodeon's presence remained in the parks through 2009, when Cedar Fair changed the kids' area to a Peanuts theme.
===Other American attractions===
In 1994, Nickelodeon teamed up with the New York Mets to create Nickelodeon Extreme Baseball at Shea, a small theme park outside of Shea Stadium in Queens, NY. It operated at least until 1995.
Ms. Whaples co-founded the Holiday Inn Family Suites Resort fourteen years ago with a partnership team that includes U.S. Senator and Astronaut John Glenn and Henri Landwirth, founder of Give Kids the World, a Central Florida charity that provides comprehensive free resort stays for terminally ill children and their families. 
Ed Rudman, co-founder and chairman of Pell Rudman, a 23-year-old wealth management firm located in Boston and nine other cities, has been an independent director of the hotel since its opening. 
He has now expanded his role by joining the partnership along with Miller Global Properties, a Denver-based real estate company which develops, acquires, operates and owns hotels, office buildings and mixed use properties throughout the United States and Europe.
The property was developed and is owned by Miller Global Properties which is co-chaired by Eyal Ofer. Miller Global Properties also owns the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa.
The original hotel opened on July 7, 1999, and was branded the "Holiday Inn Family Suites"; which featured both "KidSuites" (rooms decorated to match specific themes) as well as suites such as movie-themed "CineSuites" and romance-themed "Sweetheart Suites" (which featured, among other amenities, heart-shaped whirlpools). 
The original hotel was themed on Railroads with a mascot named JJ, an anthropomorphic bear which was seen in every attraction. In October 9, 2003, Holiday Inn and Nickelodeon announced a partnership and renovation of the hotel,which would transform it into the Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn.
The hotel opened on March 9, 2005 and dropped Holiday Inn from it in 2009. In 2008, they opened the 4-D Experience theater at the resort, where SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D was included in the original lineup. 
In 2010, Dora and Diego 4-D: Catch the Robot Butterfly, was added to the 4-D experience. In 2013, SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D: The Great Jelly Rescue, replaced the original SpongeBob 4-D. 
In 2014, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles laser maze, was added in the Mall. In 2016 however, the hotel was rebranded as the Holiday Inn Suites Resort and Waterpark. They announced that as part of the rebranding, Nickelodeon experiences would no longer be offered. SpongeBob and Dora 4-D, were replaced by Looney Tunes: Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner 4-D, and Thomas the Tank Engine 4-D. The Laser Challenge was rethemed to Batman.
On January 9, 2006, Mall of America management announced that talks between MOA and Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. (which owns the national rights to amusement-park branding of the Peanuts license) had broken down, primarily over the mall's rights to effectively market its park within and outside the United States, and effective January 19, the park's Peanuts branding would end, the park being temporarily renamed "The Park at MOA" while new branding was being applied.The new branding was, of course, Nickelodeon. The park's new licensing deal and name, "Nickelodeon Universe", was announced on July 25, 2007.
Construction began on August 27, 2007, work was completed in sections so 80 percent to 90 percent of the park remained accessible at all times.
Nickelodeon Universe was completed on March 15, 2008. Even though the Nickelodeon cable channel changed their logo in September 2009, Nickelodeon Universe still continued to use a variant of the splat logo.The old logo was phased out after the new, all-text Nickelodeon Universe logo was revealed in an ad for the park's New Year's Eve event.The new logo has now replaced all of the old logos on the website,and in the park.
On January 13, 2010. Norwegian Cruise Lines announced a partnership with Nickelodeon.This allowed Norwegian to add Nickelodeon Experiences like a pajama breakfast with a show and a SpongeBob kids' water-play area to the Norwegian Breakaway, Getaway, Epic, Gem, and Jewel. The Nickelodeon experiences were removed from the ships in the beginning of 2016.
===Across the world===
In 1997, Alton Towers opened Nickelodeon Outta Control,which closed the following year.Sega World Sydney opened Nickelodeon TV Machine in April 1997(One month after the park's opening), but it closed with the park in November 2000 and it was demolished in 2008.
In 2002, Dreamworld opened an area of their park called Nickelodeon Central.The area consisted of 7 rides,until Blue Skidoo was added the following year raising the ride total to 8.
In 2008, Nick-O-Round was rethemed as The Backyardigans' Mighty-Go-Round and SpongeBob Flypants was added. In 2010, Dora's Sea Planes was closed and removed,which foreshadowed the end for the area.
In 2011, the Nickelodeon contract was terminated and the area was temporarily rethemed as Kids' World, until DreamWorld struck a deal with DreamWorks Animation.In their water park, White Water World, they had a kids' water-play area called Nickelodeon Pipeline Plunge which opened with the park on December 8, 2006 but Nickelodeon theming was removed in 2011 because of the termination of Nickelodeon's contract.
It is still open under the name of Pipeline Plunge. In 2007, Movie Park Germany opened their Nickelodeon Land called "Nickland". In 2010, the Backyardigans' Hip Hopper was rethemed as the Wonder Pets' Flyboat.
In the 2013, Dora's Adventure Express was removed for TMNT:License To Drive which opened that June,Danny Phantom:Ghost Zone was rethemed as Fairy World Spin,and Teenage Robot Roundabout was rethemed as Team Umizoomi:Numbler Tumbler.
In 2010, Pleasure Beach Blackpool closed their kids' area, Beaver Creek,for a Nickelodeon Land which opened in May 2011.
Another Nickelodeon Land was opened at Madrid Amuesment Park in April 2014. It is currently the newest Nick Land to date.In 2011, Nickelodeon entertainment began at Sea World in Australia. That park also added SpongeBob 4-D that same year. 
In 2015, the Beach Break Bay area, was completely demolished, and was turned into Nickelodeon Land. The only remaining attractions were the Carousel,and the Air Sea Explorer. Both of these became Dora's Fiesta Carousel,and Boots' Banana Boogie.
==Gallery==
nick1.jpg|Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast Promotional Art
nick2.jpg|SpongeBob Splash Bash(Germany)
nick3.jpg|Rugrats Runaway Reptar(DreamWorld)
nick4.jpg|Avatar Airbender(Kings Island)
Category:Nickelodeon
Category:Theme park attractions