Fred Rogers Productions and Palace Entertainment Announce Expansion of Partnership to Span Theme Park Locations
Fred Rogers Productions, the producer of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and other hit PBS KIDS series, and Palace Entertainment, a leading theme and water park operator in the United States and Australia, announce a new multi-year licensing deal across six Palace Entertainment parks throughout the United States. This new licensing deal will allow both organizations to bring programming from extremely popular family-friendly properties including Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Alma’s Way, Donkey Hodie and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood to family-oriented Palace Entertainment amusement parks throughout the country.
Park guests will now be able to enjoy immersive experiences and interactions with characters from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood including meet and greets, weeks-long special events, shows and more. For the first time ever, Daniel Tiger and his neighborhood friends will make appearances at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Adventureland Resort in Altoona, Iowa; and Castle Park in Riverside, California. Daniel and friends from the Neighborhood of Make-Believe will also expand the entertainment offerings at Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut; Idlewild & SoakZone outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Story Land in Glen, New Hampshire.
Palace Entertainment selected a partnership with Fred Rogers Productions due to the organization’s mission and the rising popularity of its thoughtful content on PBS KIDS, which sees nearly a billion streams per year. The theme park operator plans to expand its multi-year, multi-park partnership with more news to be announced, as the parks continue to build on these character experiences with more interactive experiences for guests to enjoy.
“Our new relationship with Palace Entertainment will bring our characters and brands to families across the country,” said Christopher Arnold, Fred Rogers Productions’ Chief Operating Officer. “The experiences we create together will foster moments of joy and connection for all families.”
Dutch Wonderland will be among the first parks to celebrate the new partnership with five characters from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood coming to the park for the first time during its expanded Happy Hauntings Halloween event this fall. Coming on the heels of a massive investment in the event in 2023, the park continues to expand its family-friendly seasonal event offerings. Beginning Saturday, September 14, Daniel Tiger and five friends from the Neighborhood of Make-Believe will be at the park for meet and greets. The characters will rotate on a bi-weekly basis until the final weekend, October 26 and 27, which will feature meet and greets with Daniel Tiger, Katerina Kittycat, Miss Elaina, O the Owl and Prince Wednesday.
“We are always looking for new ways to offer our visitors unique entertainment and more reasons to visit,” said Palace Entertainment Chief Executive Officer John Reilly. “Fred Rogers Productions values the same family-friendly entertainment as our organization, they are a natural fit to help us bring beloved IP characters to six of our amusement parks across the country.”
Fred Rogers Productions builds on the legacy of Fred Rogers by creating quality children’s media that models an enthusiasm for learning and earns the trust of parents and caregivers. The non-profit’s commitment to celebrating the wonders, challenges and possibilities of childhood can be seen in each of its current children’s series, from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, which builds on the legacy of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and helps to teach life lessons, to Donkey Hodie, which teaches kids persistence, resilience and problem-solving skills, to Alma’s Way, which promotes the development of critical thinking skills.
