Peanuts

Peanuts is an American comic strip written and illustrated by one of the world's most famous cartoonists, the late Charles M. Schulz. Peanuts is one of the most popular comic strip series, with the first comic being written in 1950 and the final being written in 2000 before Schulz's passing.

The comic strip mainly follows the daily life of Charlie Brown, a meek and down-on-his luck character who often finds himself in predicaments such as getting his kite tangled up in a tree and having a football pulled out from under him just before he kicks it. Other characters in the *Peanuts* franchise include the World’s Most Famous Beagle, Snoopy; philosophical Linus and his crabby big sister Lucy; piano-playing Schroeder; attention-grabbing Sally; pals Franklin, Peppermint Patty, Marcie and dust cloud Pigpen.

The Peanuts comic strip has since grown into a multimedia franchise featuring animated television specials such as seasonal classics A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, stage productions such as You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, feature films such as the Peanuts Movie, and books. The comic strip has also inspired theme park attractions at the Cedar Fair amusement parks including Cedar Point, Kings Island and Canada's Wonderland to name a few, public art projects, and a wide range of merchandising including plush dolls, toys and clothing.

## History With The Parade

Peanuts was first represented in the parade in 1997, not with a float, but rather with the MetLife blimp. From 1997 to 2000, MetLife's Snoopy One blimp flew over the nighttime spectacle, providing aerial shots of the parade from above the clouds. After 2002, there wouldn't be a blimp providing aerial shots of the parade again.

The first Peanuts float was featured in the 2009 parade to promote Planet Snoopy, the newest kids area at Canada's Wonderland, After Cedar Fair bought the park, they would merge the former Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera and Nickelodeon Central, two separate kids areas, into one new area altogether; Planet Snoopy, now themed to the Peanuts Gang. Planet Snoopy is currently one of the two main kids areas in the park, with the other being Kidzville.

The float featured walk-around versions of Snoopy and Charlie Brown in front of a whole amusement park, where all the rides seen on the floats are animated replicas of the real rides in the area. Rides showcased included The Pumpkin Patch, Lucy's Tugboat, Snoopy Vs Red Baron, and even a working Ghoster Coaster, which used to be Scooby-Doo's back when it was the Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera.

As Canada's Wonderland would keep sponsoring floats over the years, Snoopy and occasionally Charlie Brown would serve as escorts.

In 2015, the first official Peanuts float would debut, which is a float to promote the previously-mentioned Peanuts Movie. The float featured many characters from the strips, and of course, the walk-around versions of Charlie Brown and his beloved beagle would ride on the float as well. The float's sponsors were the companies behind the film, 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios, and even Canada's Wonderland because why not?

In 2019, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and Charlie Brown would be featured in the Winterfest float, skating on a frozen pond. They would remain there until the float's retirement in 2021.

The Peanuts Gang played a major role in the 2020 parade telecast. That same year, a new float debuted to promote Canada's Wonderland's new addition to Planet Snoopy, Beagle Brigade Airfield, which info about that float can be read here.

In 2024, Snoopy will be featured as a big balloon. More info can be read here.

## See Also

* Beagle Brigade Airfield
* Winterfest At Canada's Wonderland