Knott's Peanuts Celebration 2020
Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA
Happy Saturday, folks! Today, we’re stopping by Knott’s Berry Farm to take a look at this year’s Peanut’s Celebration! This is the third year that Knott’s is celebrating the characters of the legendary Charles Schulz, and this family-friendly even has never been better! With seasonal food, entertaining shows, fun photo ops, and even a couple of cute attraction overlays, the event is a fantastic day of revelry for the entire family. Lets take a look at what’s happening this year!
Front Gate
Just as Knott’s has for each of their seasonal events, Peanuts Celebration features some fun photo ops featuring classic scenes. This year’s batch recycles from previous years, but they’re still fun to pose with. And if you still need a little help with things, head over to the merch booth next to the exit to get some mementos (they’ll cost you more than a nickel, though!).
Camp Snoopy
Naturally, the home of Peanuts at Knott’s Berry Farm throughout the year is decorated for the occasion, with a variety of backdrops for both photos and interactive experiences. New this year is a Child to Teacher Translator, which records your voice (at the microphone on the bottom right) and plays it back in wonky trumpet vocal style. There are also little photo op backdrops, quaint theming, and even Snoopy’s propeller plane that he flew against the Red Baron. It all makes for a charming atmosphere!
Beagle Bonanza at the Grand Sierra Railroad
Speaking of charming, the Beagle Bonanza is back at Camp Snoopy’s Grand Sierra Railroad. This Peanuts Celebration overlay takes guests on a trip to Snoopy’s big celebration, where all dogs are allowed, and all humans too! The Peanuts gang has joined the party, with Charlie Brown and all of his friends on hand to enjoy the festivities. The ride is also a chance to meet Snoopy’s entire extended family, including favorites like Spike, Olaf, and Belle.
The Beagle Bonanza is a gem of a ride in Camp Snoopy.
Everyone’s lining up to attend!
Love the set pieces on the ride, and shout out to the Knott’s carpentry and paint and lighting crew for creating all of these awesome set pieces!
Everyone has fun at the Daisy Hill Farm!
PigPen’s Pig Pen
Over in Ghost Town, at the Livery Stable, PigPen can once again be found, along with his farm animal friends. Horses and little piglets are part of the experience, with some available to for guests to pet and snap a photo with. Of course, the star of the show, PigPen, is there too, just waiting to take photos with new friends!
Welcome to the Livery Stable, home to horses.
Here is his neeeiiighbor. Guests can pet him.
Wittle piggies!!
And PigPen is so happy to see people!
Pigskin Peanuts
In the Calico City Hall building, this year’s Peanuts history exhibit features Charles Schulz’s [American] football-related content. Everyone knows of the most famous instance of course—Charlie Brown consistently having the football yanked from him by Lucy just as he’s about to kick it. The running gag was a classic for decades. But Schulz also sketched football scenes with Woodstock and his gang and showcased the rest of the Peanuts friends having their own various football experiences.
The museum type space of the Pigskin Peanuts exhibit offers a lot of great insight into Charles Schulz’s hobbies and beliefs.
The big feature is center screen, where various football-related Peanuts cartoons cycle throughout the day. Whether it’s the children participating in a football drills contest or Woodstock’s football team steamrolling a variety of animal opponents (cats, bison, and pigs are among their victims), the cartoons bring back a classic nostalgia and adorable magic that only Charles Schulz could bring!
Calico Park Activities
In Calico Park, there are a variety of things to do throughout the course of the day. Snoopy’s brother, Spike, can be seen hanging out in between organized activities, posing for photos and greeting children. A lot of guest seem to mistake him for Snoopy, which is understandable, but remember—Spike has a moustache, and sleepier eyes!
This is Spike, everyone! Spike. He lives on Sparky’s Ranch. But he is not Sparky or Snoopy.
But every hour or so, the Peanuts Cowboy Jamboree invites children to compete in pony races around some sawhorse cattle scattered across the Calico Park plains. This is geared toward children 3-9 (the age range asked to participate), and there are a couple of races per show. Franklin and Linus also help out, leading the giddyup crowd around the turns.
The Cowboy Jamboree is definitely a guest participation event!
Kite Eating Trees
A charming element throughout the park is the proliferation of Kite Eating Trees, which seem to sprout up only during this time of the year. Whether it be Ghost Town, Camp Snoopy, the Boardwalk, or Fiesta Village, there seems to be a lot of vegetation that devour the flying toys.
Woodstock’s Bird’s-Eye View
Also, for the duration of the Peanuts Celebration, the Sky Cabin has been rebranded as Woodstock’s Bird’s-Eye View. It’s the same ride, just with a different exterior paint scheme, and it’s a fun way to get an aerial view of the park!
The towering Sky Cabin with Supreme Scream in the background.
The Peanuts wrap around the Sky Cabin is great!
It’s pretty adorable, really.
Peanuts Celebration Merchandise
As with any seasonal event, there has to be souvenirs and merchandise for sale. This is a strategy that Disneyland has perfected with its seasonal events, which have catered to Annual Passholders and relied upon the notion of limited time exclusivity to sell. Knott’s has borrowed the practice as well, putting forth hats, shirts, and plushes that help commemorate this Peanuts Celebration!
Buy all the things.
T-shirts, hats, lanyards, pins…
Plushes and fuzzy things are also available.
Peanuts Celebration Specialty Food
Also similar to Disney, Knott’s has slowly been improving their seasonal food game, offering specialty dishes during various promotions throughout the year to entice the local Season Passholder demographic to return and sample different types of more gourmet theme park fare.
This includes a variety of sweets and savories, ranting from loaded burgers and hot dogs to portable “gourmet junk food” cone type items to cookies and cakes and diabetic shakes! We really enjoyed the Pulled Pork Mac-N-Cheese, available at Wagon Wheel Pizza across from the Ghostrider station building. The Everything Peanut Shake at Coasters Diner and Cable Car Kitchen was also among our top favorites.
Knott’s “gourmet carnival food” items can be hit or miss at times. The Pulled Pork Mac-N-Cheese is a hit!
Shows
Not everyone is an entertainment person at theme parks, but I’ve personally always enjoyed checking out the various productions that Knott’s puts on. This year features one new show and several returning ones (although a couple are new to me, since I wasn’t able to attend last year). Located throughout the park and taking place throughout the day, these offerings provide plenty of great performances worth returning for (if you’re a Season Passholder)!
Happiness Is…
This year’s new show is the daytime production at the Calico Stage, traditionally home to The Hanging and the main Christmas show during the winter. Happiness Is… is a light-hearted, fun-loving celebration of the power and joy of friendship and being there for each other. Featuring Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy, plus a quartet of singers and dancers, the family-oriented show offers each character’s take on the things that make them happy, be they material or intangible.
Performers and Peanuts characters give a spirited show at Happiness Is…
Linus encourages everyone to Siiiiiing… Sing out loud!
The show is fun, but I wouldn’t call it particularly ground-breaking or clever. It’s meant to be an uplifting performance designed to warm the heart and stir appreciation, and to that end, it does just that!
It’s a high energy and very perky show.
Space Beagle
Space Beagle at the Camp Snoopy Theatre was last year’s new debut, but I never had a chance to see it. Expecting another child-friendly and cutesy production, I was surprised and impressed by how comedic and clever this production actually was! With Lucy and Charlie Brown cheering Snoopy on as he flies to become the first dog on the moon, Space Beagle is filled with catchy songs, punny lyrics, and even some adorable Woodstock cameos as extraterrestrials!
Space Beagle is one of the best shows in the park.
Everything begins when the announcer calls out to Roger Roger. Turns out Roger Roger is a person… a scientist at NASA who pops in on the big screen on the top left corner from time to time. He bears a suspicious resemblance to one certain Clay Mayfield, but the Ghost Town Alive anti-hero is certainly no science person, so it’s gotta be a coincidence. On the other hand, not a coincidence is NASA’s interest in having Snoopy pilot a rocket to the moon—much to Lucy Van Pelt’s chagrin.
Fortunately, Snoopy is prepared. Assisted by some NASA technicians, he transforms his humble doghouse into a spaceship and take it all the way too the moon, all while Charlie Brown and Lucy sing along. The fun isn’t all for children, though. Humorous references that adults would get, like Lucy calling out Beyonce, a snippet of Europe’s “Final Countdown” before blast-off, and even a momentous acknowledgement that “the beagle has landed” give adults a few things to chuckle over too.
It’s charming, fun, smart, and very catchy!
It’s a fantastic show whose tunes are still in my head even a week later. Go see it, and you’ll be “bow wow barking on the moon” too!
Peanuts Sketch School
Peanuts Sketch School is back again for the third year in a row, and once again, it’s led by Deputy Mayor Milton Howell—I mean animator Noel. This group participation piece at Ghost Town’s Bird Cage Theatre is similar to the Animation Academy at Disney California Adventure, where guests learn to draw their favorite franchise characters! At Knott’s rather than draw Disney characters, guests sketch out a Peanuts character of the show, with Noel guiding the steps long the way!
It’s Noel! He’s going to each us how to draw.
Kids are encouraged to participate and park themselves right on the stage, and everyone is given a pencil, a clipboard, and a sketch paper sheet to practice along. As the segment proceeds, Noel offers insight on how Charles Schulz used to draw the characters and general information on bringing drawings to life as well (he used to be an animator on The Simpsons, after all). It’s a very fun activity that happens about once an hour throughout the entire day.
Here we are, drawing Snoopy.
Great job to the kids who participated!
After the show, Noel is even available for photo ops and to offer encouragement and praise to the children’s work. It’s a lovely and wonderful opportunity to translate one’s love for Peanuts into something self-made and savable!
Spike’s Discoteca de Silencio
Last year also introduced a silent disco concept in Fiesta Village, and Spike Discoteca de Silencio is back again this year! Starting at 5:00, guests can check out a pair of wireless headphones tuned to one of three channels. Guests are able to toggle through them, going through an EDM setlist, a pop Top 40 series, and something a bit more dubsteppy.
Lucy is here to bailar!
Lucy and Sally are also on hand to dance and mingle with the crowd, and guests might even spy another familiar Ghost Town Alive actor in a different role as emcee of this little party. Do note that unfortunately, only guests with headphones are allowed onto the dance floor. Those who do not check out a head phone must stay outside the silent disco perimeter.
And she’s not the only one having a great, spirited time!
Woodstock’s Music Festival
Finally, Woodstock’s Music Festival caps off the other huge highlight of the Peanuts Celebration’s show schedule (in addition to Space Beagle). Once again headlined by Orange County and Long Beach group, Jelly of the Month Club, this show offers two sets in Calico Park, at 5:30 and 7:30 in the evening.
The Peanuts gang joins SoCal’s Jelly of the Month Club at night.
In case you’re unfamiliar, if you love artists like Weird “Al” Yankovic, you’ll love Jelly of the Month Club. A family friendly band, they nonetheless offer a mix of original and satirical songs done in a mixture of musical styles—from rock, ska, and blues to jazz, ragtime, and surf punk / rockabilly. Mic Dangerously handles the vocal and guitar, while Mr. Crumb joins on vocals and guitar and also offers ukelele, keyboard and spoons. Dr. Todd handles keyboard duties as well, plus vocals, horn, and percussion. James Kee rocks the upright bass and acoustic bass. And finally, Scotty Wittenberg handles the drums and percussion and backing vocals.
For the Peanuts Celebration, the group has offered a good heaping of satirical songs themed to dogs—presumably in honor of Snoopy. From Jimi Houndrix to Queen’s “Bone-hemian” Rhapsody to Sir Barks-A-Lot to the DEVO-inspired bandn, Beag-O (with “Whippets”), there’s a lot of fantastic musical references that will delight kids with their energy and earnest lyrics and put a smile on adults remembering classic songs of their youth.
Snoopy is here too, in a variety of dog pun displays.
Queen.
Sir Barks-A-Lot literally shakes his pupper booty.
I kind of love this so much.
There are non-spoofs as well, though they’re just about as silly as the satires. A song about moustaches features a variety of outrageous facial hair arrangements on the big screen overhead. Another about pi counts the irrational number out to what has to be at least twenty digits after the decimal. There’s a song about Rock Paper Scissors too—one that initially makes history when Charlie Brown “got a rock” and manages to beat Linus’ scissors! Too bad he’s later beaten by paper, which conveniently avoids the scissors while on the stage. In the show we saw, they also played their original rendition of “Carnival,” a song that was remixed and incorporated into a recurring light show on HangTime during Knott’s Scary Farm this past fall.
Yes, these former Sublime and other surf punk / ska / funk rock bands made a song about math seem interesting.
They did the same for Rochambeau.
Also absolutely adorable are the Woodstock puppets that appear in a couple of stage locations throughout the show. Some stand on the giant speaker boxes, while others rock out and even add some instrumentals from the next or bird fountain. The mixture of all sorts of theatrical mediums works pretty well, creating a thoroughly entertaining and absolutely charming show that will leave adults as enchanted as the kids!
I LOVED the Woodstock puppeteering.
It’s Woodstock’s festival, so he and his friends will certainly rock!
Everything ended in spectacular fashion when Paw-Prince bathed the dearly beloved at the Calico Stage under a cool purple light, and a guitar shredding Snoopy took the stage and showed off his sweet licks. It was definitely a climactic and thrilling way to end this amazing show!
Ending things on a high note.
Snoopy with the epic guitar riff finale!!
Knott’s Peanuts Celebration started last Saturday, February 25, and runs through Sunday, March 1, Saturdays and Sundays only, plus Monday, February 10; Friday, February 14; and Monday, February 17. The festivities are included in the price of standard admission or the Berry Farm Season Pass. This year’s Celebration is longer than ever, and we love that Knott’s now has a bona-fide solid fifth seasonal event to entertain guests. If you’ve never gone before, go check it out! If you have kids, we can be pretty confident that you’ll love seeing the experiences at this event through those young ones’ eyes. It’s a terrific way to kick off Knott’s 100 year anniversary!
Catawampus says MOO!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
