Idlewild's Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood: Smashing Success

In March 2014, when Idlewild announced the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood attraction would be closed in 2014 and reopen as Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood in 2015, most people were not happy at all. The ride opened this past Wednesday for the park's Adventure Days and officially to the public today. The park did an INCREDIBLE job keeping the spirit of Mister Rogers alive in the transformation. Many articles and pictures can be found on the park's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/idlewildpark?fref=ts

Not a single person had anything negative to say about the attraction (that I heard). A few neat things that the articles don't mention (or I remember them mentioning):

-The two trolleys were completely rehab'd and one was made wheelchair accessible.

-When guests board the trolley, they are asked to "imagine Daniel Tiger is there with them" and Daniel's voice is played on the trolley so he sort of guides the trolley through the neighborhood, along with the trolley driver.

-The characters are all in 2D to reflect how they look on the animated show

-The castle, museum-go-round (though transformed into Elaina's bedroom) and treehouse are the only scenes that remain from the old ride. Corny's Factory was converted into a house. The platypus mound and castle playground were removed. The clock was destroyed by a tree in winter 2013 so a replica was built.

A new Daniel Tiger show is also debuting in the kiddieland area.

Kids and adults will all love the new attraction. Idlewild definitely made a wise investment that will draw people from all over. I was so impressed with the attraction, I can't stop talking about it!

I grew up on Mr. Rogers, but my kids LOVE Daniel Tiger. If we're in the neighborhood, there's a distinct chance we'll check it out.

It's a pretty good show. Really does Fred Rogers' original premise justice. I think Simon is already over it, but it was fun while it lasted.

The Mr. Rogers trolley was one of my all-time favorite amusement park rides and I was definitely sad when I heard it was going. Luckily, I had visited the park earlier that year so I had great last-minute memories.

However, I am also a fan of the new show and I think it is great for Idlewild to integrate Daniel into this unique attraction. I am making a special trip to the park in June to ride it and can't wait. I suspect the ridership will be different and expect that the audience participation aspects of the ride will be much livelier now than they were when the kids didn't know who the characters were.