Knott's Peanuts Celebration 2022

Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA

Welcome back to everyone’s favorite Berry Farm! Today, we’re exploring what Knott’s has to offer at this year’s Peanuts Celebration! This seasonal (or perhaps off-seasonal) event first debuted just four years ago, and though it’s the most low-key of Knott’s “Seasons of Fun,” it’s still a wonderfully enjoyable, charming, and entertaining event. With plenty of shows, a few specialty attractions, and its own share of specialty gourmet food items, the Peanuts Celebration is a great way to take in the spirit of Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, Sally, and all the gang.

Welcome back to the Berry Farm! Now no longer Scary or Merry—at least until the fall!

The park has been decorated in bright and colorful banners, pennants, and signage, some of which double as photo ops. The ambiance throughout Knott’s is one of cheer and innocence, because that’s what the Peanuts convey. And far from limiting activities and events to Camp Snoopy, the Peanuts Celebration truly is a park-wide party, spreading through all of the park’s lands for plenty of revelry.

The Peanuts Celebration kicks off the first “Season of Fun” of the year.

It’s where guests can celebrate Snoopy and the gang!

The classic details recalling the Peanuts comics and cartoon are a lovely touch, and the Vince Guaraldi jazz that orchestrates the soundtrack of the park deepens the nostalgia and enjoyment. Though this event is catered more towards kids, it’s something the whole family can enjoy, because at this point, everyone has grown up with the Peanuts!

All sorts of odes to Peanuts abound in the park, including cute little details like this perch booth dressed up as one of Lucy’s doctor’s booth.

It’s Your Life, Charlie Brown!

There are numerous shows put on as a part of the Peanuts Celebration, and after a couple of years with no or limited entertainment options due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s good to see Knott’s quality stage productions returning.

Dink Martin and the dancing Martinettes are here for a festive retrospective on Charlie Brown!

New and headlining for Knott’s at this year’s Peanuts Celebration is It’s Your Life, Charlie Brown! This retrospective of everyone’s favorite “lovable loser” (even though he’s only in third grade, which makes it either odd or presciently morbid?) takes the format of a cheesy, mid-century talk and variety show hosted by one “Dink Martin,” who is joined by a cast of dancers to perform a few song and dance numbers through the show.

After a quick intro, Dink brings out Charlie Brown for a quick recap of some of the things he’s best known for—including always missing that football. The show winds through Charlie Brown’s friendships, starting with his best beagle, Snoopy, of course, and eventually including Linus, Lucy, Sally, Franklin, and Peppermint Patty. Each of them gives a testimonial message to him “anonymously” (some more successfully than others) so that he can guess who they are before they come out, and the on-stage reunion of sorts is corny but heart-warming. At the end of the day, it’s the joy that the gang has in being together that matters—a spirit that is enough to make an emotional Dink Martin break down and cry ugly tears.

Dink gets very teary eyed over Charlie Brown’s friendship with his lovable Snoopy.

The whole gang eventually comes out to cheer good ol’ Chuck!

It’s Your Life, Charlie Brown! is definitely a cute though not spectacular show. It plays twice at the Calico Stage in the early afternoon hours before eventually ceding to the nighttime Woodstock’s Music Festival performances.

Music Goes Round and Around

Over at the Camp Snoopy Theater, there’s Music Goes Round and Around, a “new” but really repackaged show from the iteration that ran at the Calico Stage previously. The premise of this show is relatively familiar. Sally has a report on the history of music, and it’s due tomorrow! She can’t believe why her teacher would give her three weeks to prepare for it and only one day to do it (ha… kids procrastination humor!), so she’s hoping someone can help.

Oh no! Sally has a music history assignment due tomorrow, and she doesn’t now what to do! Fortunately, Schroeder is here to provide some lessons!

That someone ends up being the resident musical genius of the Peanuts gang, Schroeder! Joined by the two singing and dancing hosts on stage, and with a little help from Snoopy, Schroeder helps enlighten Charlie Brown’s younger sister on the rich background behind three genres of music—swing, bluegrass, and rock & roll.

First, there’s some musical information on swing.

Rock & roll rounds out the lyrical lessons.

Each segment features its own series of songs, wardrobe changes for the hosts, and plenty of energy. The bluegrass segment even turns a little interactive, with guests invited to join in the line dancing that’s being learned on stage. By the end of it all, Sally has had a great lesson in the joys and development of some of America’s most well known 20th century musical styles, and the audience has enjoyed another joyful Peanuts performance!

It’s a very cute show reimagined for a smaller stage!

Music Goes Round and Around has several showings (there were four on opening Saturday), starting from late morning into late afternoon.

Marcie Meet-and-Greet

Also new this year is a character greeting photo op that has never been featured at Knott’s Berry Farm before. It’s Marcie, the quietly bookish and kind best friend of Peppermint Patty who is intellectual and unassuming in contrast to her tomboy companion.

Obviously, Camp Snoopy is a prime attraction during the Peanuts Celebration.

There’s a brand new Peanuts character to meet this year. Not new to Peanuts, but new to Knott’s!

Marcie can be found at the Meet & Greet Headquarters in Camp Snoopy, right next to the Camp Snoopy Theater. Similar to Pig Pen’s photo op at the Ghost Town Livery, Marcie has alternating on/off shifts every half an hour from park opening through mid afternoon. The little set around her offers cute backdrops too, and she’s a great addition to the Peanuts crowd!

It’s Marcie, Peppermint Patty’s best friend!

“Take Care with Peanuts” Exhibit at Calico Town Hall

The Peanuts Celebration has also featured a sort of museum display in the Town Hall in the past, and this year is no different. The actual contents have been reconfigured a little to feature Charles Schulz’s more environmental side, highlighting his subtle messages about appreciating and caring for nature. There are only comics instead of video, with less of an emphasis on lingering in the indoor setting because of still-present Coronavirus concerns. Guests can take in the ambiance and read through the exhibits in a relatively short amount of time before continuing with their day.

Town Hall features a refreshed and new Peanuts exhibit this year.

It focuses on Charles Schulz’s ecological side and how he expressed that in his comics.

Peanuts Sketch School

Just next door is a returning favorite of the Peanuts Celebration, Sketch School! Here, at the Bird Cage Theatre, guests can learn how to draw their favorite Peanuts characters, from Snoopy and Charlie Brown to Linus and Lucy and more. The line-up rotates, so the illustratively-inclined can return for a different lesson throughout the day.

On our visit, we had the pleasure of Richard—who bears a suspicious resemblance to both Ghost Town Alive!’s Bixby Knolls and Tom Shackleford from last fall’s Scary Farm Show, Invitation to Terror—as our artist. Through an easy-paced 15-20 minutes, Richard guided guests to sketching their Peanuts character in the same manner that Charles Schulz did—with rough lines that never sought to be perfect and simple gestures to round out the features.

Here, Richard (or perhaps another artist depending on schedule) teaches guests who to draw their favorite Peanuts characters!

Sketch School is another regular “show,” running just about every hour (on the half hour) from morning through mid-late afternoon.

Spike’s Silent Disco

The entertainment at the Peanuts Celebration seem organized between daytime activities and evening ones. In Fiesta Village, Spike’s Silent Disco began around dusk and ran through the end of the evening. In the dance floor area, guests could check out a headphone that offered one of three channels of music. Rather than blaring music loudly, only the people on the dance floor could hear the tunes. The event was hosted by “Cactus Jack,” a chill emcee with a surfer dude vibe, and it provided a unique way to dance the night away.

It’s all hosted by “Cactus Jack,” who DJ’s the soiree in a way.

Tomasina

At the Calico Stage, our opening weekend visit coincided with the only weekend of Tomasina, the former resident Disneyland performer who has been a fixture at Knott’s entertainment the past couple of years. For the rest of the month, the nighttime slot at the Calico Stage will feature Woodstock’s Music Festival and the band Jelly of the Month Club playing during the weekends (see past updates for their awesomeness), but for our Saturday visit, it was Tomasina.

Fortunately, this wasn’t a normal Tomasina concert (not that that’s bad; it would just be different from the plan of the rest of the event). In addition to the singer’s high-energy cover song performance of well known rock and pop songs, elements of Woodstock’s Music Festival were incorporated, including appearances by the Peanuts characters.

However, they still incorporated some of the gags that accompany the Jelly of the Month performances, like this DEVO spoof.

Snoopy stole the show as Jimi Houndrix as well as BEAG-O, saving it also after Charlie Brown attempted a guitar solo so wretched that the likes of “Anderson Cooper” and “Simon Cowell” had to chime in. The finale with Charlie Brown’s Peanuts friends also provided a raucous crescendo. But probably our favorite part of then show were the segments including Woodstock himself rocking out to the music in his little bird bath. Embracing his rockstar alter ego, Birdie Van Halen, Woodstock even had his own guitar to shred, plus a hilariously entertaining Muppet-like drop-out exit.

Birdie Van Halen rocks out as part of the show, disappearing in an adorably Muppet-like drop when at the end of his segments.

Charlie Brown tries a guitar solo, but much like kicking a football, he fails miserably.

Never fear! Jimi Houndrix is here to save the day!

The evening performances were a fantastic part of the Peanuts Celebration, and Woodstock’s Music Festival can be seen twice a night on Saturdays and Sundays only.

The set closes out with Charlie Brown and his Peanuts friends jamming out!

James Street Trio

Over in the Boardwalk, at the Boardwalk BBQ stage, the James Street Trio provide smooth, dulcet jazz tunes in tribute to the soundtrack of the Peanuts. Channelling their Vince Guaraldi Trio, they entertain diners with easy listening and instantly familiar tunes from Peanuts cartoons. Their laid back music offerings were a contrast to a lot of the other more high energy music elsewhere in the park.

The James Street Trio only plays on weekends, three times an evening.

The Mighty Tornados

The Wagon Camp was home to the bluegrass / country outfit. Last Saturday, it was The Mighty Tornadoes taking the stage, though moving forward, it looks like this slot will be reserved for former Disney and now Knott’s favorites, Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies. Similar to the other nighttime bands, this is a weekend-only schedule, but in this case, weekend does include a couple of Friday performances each week.

Peanuts Cowboy Jamboree

One item that we did miss was the Peanuts Cowboy Jamboree, which operates on the weekends from mid-morning to mid-late afternoon. Like in past years, this is really a chance for children to play games and friendly sporting type competitions (a different one each showing) with a couple of their favorite Peanuts characters. This takes place at Calico Park.

Calico Park was home to fun activities and games throughout the days with the Peanuts characters.

That covers Knott’s extensive entertainment line-up, though you’ll notice that many of the shows only play on Saturday and Sunday (mainly the evening ones). Now for the rest the Peanuts Celebration…

Food

For the Peanuts Celebration, Knott’s has come up with specialty food dishes at many of its dining establishments. These are full sized options as opposed to the snack size shares at events such as the Boysenberry Festival, but they’re pretty tasty. We sampled food at Ghost Town’s Sutter’s Grill (which seems to always be a winning food local for any specialty gourmet Knott’s offering) and at the Grizzly Creek Lodge in Camp Snoopy. They were all delicious.

The Chicken Parmesan Grilled Cheese Sandwich from Sutter’s Grill was pretty good.

So was the Bacon and Jelly Cheeseburger at Sutter’s Grill, but missed opportunity not use boysenberry jam.

Grizzly Creek Restaurant had a tasty Mac n Cheese Sloppy Joe and a refreshing Boysenberry Icee!

Beagle Bonanza Returns

In Camp Snoopy, the Grand Sierra Railroad is once again transformed into a train ride to Beagle Bonanza, the little fair that the Peanuts characters visit featuring Snoopy and his extended family. This overlay hasn’t changed since its debut four years ago, but it’s still really adorable, and it’s a can’t-miss for both kids and longtime Peanuts fans.

The Beagle Bonanza has once again taken over the Grand Sierra Railroad, and it’s super charming.

Peanuts on the Boardwalk

Finally, we stop by the Boardwalk, where a sunny style of Peanuts was abound on our opening weekend visit. Over by the Sky Cabin, K-NOT Radio played its hilarious, quick-witted, incredibly clever brand of melodrama radio, but with a Peanuts flavor mixed in! This daily feature is a hoot to listen to, and it provides snickering entertainment from late morning through late afternoon.

K-NOT Radio has returned to Knott’s, and it’s got a Peanuts-centric playlist this time!

In addition to some fun cutout photo ops that I just, frankly, missed photographing, guests could pose with actual Peanuts characters in Charleston Circle, which offered a couple of meet and greets on opposite sides of the fountain.

Lucy and… this is embarrassing, but I honestly can’t remember who the other character is… greet guests at Charleston Circle.

On the other side of the fountain, Sally and… Linus? greet other guests.

There were lots of fun details and furnishings in the Boardwalk to celebrate the event, and it’s those touches that have really elevated Knott’s to the great status it has pulled itself to over the past decade, reclaiming the high quality and charm that was persistent during the park’s Knott family-run years.

There are fun little details, like this classic looking radio on top of the HangTime souvenir store.

That does it from this year’s look at the Peanuts Celebration. For more information, including show schedules, visit the Knott’s web site. The event continues its run daily, now through Sunday, March 6th. And although the weekdays have a pared down line-up compared to Saturdays and Sundays, and although this even certainly doesn’t receive as much fanfare as the Boysenberry Festival, Ghost Town Alive!, Knott’s Scary Farm, and Knott’s Merry Farm, it’s still a really wonderful production put on by a dedicated and heartfelt Knott’s team that keeps looking to up the guest experience and enhance the park’s value. And that hard work continues to pay off, as more and more people continue to visit and see what a great theme park exists not too far from the world’s most famous theme park.

Everyone involved with this year’s Peanuts Celebration deserves a tip of the hat for their great contributions. Events like this make Knott’s a fantastic year-round destination, and we’re happy to continue to support the fine work that the Knott’s folks do!