Sponge Bob Takes on the Mall of America
Mall of America officials announced today that they are teaming up with Nickelodeon to be the face of their new amusement park. Nickelodeon will bring their network characters, such as SpongeBob SquarePants, to the former Camp Snoopy.
Both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press ran a story about the amusement park deal on their websites today, along with images of SpongeBob SquarePants. The Star Tribune reported that mall officials signed a branding-rights deal with Nickelodeon in which their popular cartoon characters will replace Peanuts and the Gang.
The Pioneer Press reported that the new park will be the first-ever Nickelodeon-themed amusement park when it's unveiled in spring 2008. They also reported that Nickelodeon, which is seen in nearly 92 million households, will also open a 4,000-square-foot Nick store at the mall, offering t-shirts and souvenirs.
Both stories discussed plans for new rides, two of which are a freefall tower and an upside-down roller coaster. They also each mentioned that the amusement park at the Mall of America has gone without a theme since last year after the mall was unable to reach an agreement with Cedar Fair LP, an Ohio-based company that has exclusive license from United Media to use the Snoopy name at several amusement parks it owns or operates. For the past year the amusement park has simply been called "The Park at MOA."