Since the 1990s, Nickelodeon, a worldwide children's television network and franchise, owned by Paramount Global, has had an involvement in the creation and theming of amusement parksrides.
In 1995, Nickelodeon Splat City opened at three former Paramount Parks: California's Great America, Kings Dominion and Kings Island. These attractions were inspired by the game shows that aired on the television network and generally involved slime. In 1999, Kings Dominion closed Nickelodeon Splat City in preparation for the opening of its 2000 attraction, Nickelodeon Central. Nickelodeon Central brought a retheme of many of the park's children's rides as well as the addition of new ones. Kings Island followed suit, closing its Splat City in 2000 and opening Nickelodeon Central in 2001. This area would later be expanded and renamed Nickelodeon Universe in 2006.
In 2002, Australian theme park Dreamworld opened Nickelodeon Central.[1] In 2003, Nickelodeon Central opened at California's Great America, Canada's Wonderland and Carowinds, and Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast opened in Universal Studios Florida. Expansions of these areas took place in 2005, 2006 and 2008 for Carowinds, Kings Island and Dreamworld, respectively. The Kings Island area was also renamed to Nickelodeon Universe at the same time. In 2007, Movie Park Germany opened a similar area entitled Nickland. In 2007, it was announced that Nickelodeon Universe would be opening in Mall of America in 2008, replacing Camp Snoopy. In 2009 and 2010, Cedar Fair terminated their contract with Nickelodeon resulting in all of the areas being rethemed to Planet Snoopy. In early 2011, at a cost of £10 million, Pleasure Beach Blackpool opened Nickelodeon Land.[2][3] By mid-2011, Dreamworld had closed their Nickelodeon Central and rethemed it to the generic Kid's World theme (it was later revealed that the park had struck a deal with DreamWorks Animation).[4][5] In 2012, Universal's Superstar Parade had its first performance which features floats based on SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer and later opened a SpongeBob gift shop in Woody Woodpecker's Kidzone. In September 2016, it was announced that a new Nickelodeon Universe would open in the upcoming American Dream Meadowlands mall and entertainment complex owned by the Triple Five Group, which also owns the Mall of America. Nickelodeon Universe American Dream opened to visitors on 25 October 2019.[6]
Below is a list of all of the attractions at Nickelodeon themed areas around the world. The dates shown in the columns refer to the opening and closing dates for the ride under that name. It does not mean that the ride was closed and/or removed.
A variety of Nickelodeon costumed characters have been showcased at theme parks, parades, and other themed-entertainment experiences. Since the mid-2000s, a majority of the listed costumes have been designed and fabricated by Custom Characters Inc., a company that Nickelodeon Experience Design often collaborates with.[45]