Trip Report: Worlds of Fun
Kansas City, Missouri - 08/04/2002
"Never seen a chicken-chute like that one before!"
It
was another scorching day in Missouri. Once again my day started with a nearly
200 mile drive, diagonally Northwest across Missouri to Kansas City. I never
got anywhere near the central city, but apparently Kansas City is a bit like
Columbus, Ohio in that the actual city limits cover most of the metro area (unlike
places like Cincinnati, Cleveland and Chicago, where the actual city is only
a very small part of the metro area, most of which is made up of suburban cities).
This was where what had been an entirely IR-70 trip shifted to less familiar
Interstate numbers. Notably IR-435.
Like Six Flags St. Louis, Worlds of Fun is clearly visible from the expressway.
The older part of the park is visible as a sort of generic tangle of park bits
and pieces sticking up through the trees. Then the Cedar Fair addition sticks
out like a sore thumb: Mamba appears to run the entire width of the freeway
side of the park. In true Cedar Fair fashion, Mamba and Detonator
have been located so as to give the park an unmistakable skyline. Mamba
is no bigger than Magnum XL-200, but because of its location it sure
has a more dramatic look as you aproach the park. I wish I could have gotten
a photo of that angle, but I was busy driving.
Worlds of Fun charges only a ridiculous $7 for parking compared to the outrageous
$8 at Six Flags. Upon entering I was directed by cones to the very back of a
parking lot which suffers from the same problem as the lot at Holiday World:
most of the aisles are "blind"...that is, if you turn down a row and
don't find a parking space in that row, you must back out. This may be fine
at 9am when attendants are directing people to fill in all the spaces, but by
the time I got to the park there were no such amenities. And it's not as though
Worlds of Fun needs to conserve parking space; I don't think I have ever seen
a park with quite as many lots that are quite as big as the ones at Worlds of
Fun! I opted to park in a second lot, up the hill from the first, right next
to the ramp and stairway leading down to the park's entrance plaza.
Only it isn't the entrance plaza. It's a very long path tucked in between the
administration buildings and the Orient Express roller coaster. It reminds
me of the entrance path to Hersheypark with the themed shops and restaurants
tucked in between the parking lot and the ticket booth, except that here it
was nothing more than a corridor. Finally after a lot of walking I reached the
customer service booth, where I presented my Cedar Point season pass and was
given a ticket. I entered the park to find...picnic shelters. Wha...?
I
walked and I walked. I spotted a merchandise shop, then finally came upon the
first ride. It was a Huss Swing Around, and when I saw the name I just had to
ride it. They call it the "Fijord Fairlane." Unfortunately, the name
was the best thing about the ride; the cycle left a lot to be desired. I guess
this IS a Cedar Fair park. But then, that should have been obvious as soon as
I saw the gigantic "so-high" sign full of legalese and the now infamous
sentence about safety restraints, and the secondary sign full of legalese about
medical conditions. You know, the lawyers are ruining this business...!
My ride ended almost before it began, and I continued on
down the midway. I was carrying the video camera, so I avoided the flume, skipped
the Sea Dragon and the Rotor and took a ride on the Monster,
here misidentified as an Octopus. Come on, folks, an Octopus,
as the name suggests, has eight arms...a Monster has only six!
[Footnote 1]
I
proceeded directly into Africa for a ride on the park's Enterprise. This
one is a Huss model, just like the one at Cedar Point right down to the orange
secondary latch (strap with dog-clip and eye-bolt on the back of the tub) on
the tub door. It runs like the one at Cedar Point, too, getting up in a hurry,
coming down in a rush.
Now wait a minute. At about this time, half-baked in the heat, my half-baked
brain came up with (you guessed it) a half-baked idea. Somehow I was under the
impression that Worlds of Fun was supposed to be themed around the classic story,
"Around the World in 80 Days." Hence the balloon motif (now with Snoopy
in the basket instead of Mr. Phogg). So I'm trying to remember the story. Because
something doesn't seem quite right. Since the story involves circumnavigating
the globe, a simple loop arrangement should work well. If I remember correctly,
Phogg began in London, proceeded to Europe, then through Northern Africa and
across to India. From there he went to Hong Kong, then to Japan, then across
the Pacific to the United States, across North America by train, then across
the Atlantic to return to England. Now, a look at the map shows areas themed
to Europe, Africa, America...and Scandinavia. Scandinavia? What about India?
Then there are the additions of Camp Snoopy and this big unthemed area back
by Mamba. But then, Cedar Fair isn't known for theming...
Getting
back to Africa, the next ride I came to was totally obscured by its queue house
and entrance sign. Although it is 125' tall and painted in bright orange and
yellow, the Boomerang is completely invisible as you approach the entrance.
Which, I suppose, is, annoyingly, how things are in these 1970's parks. Oh,
sure, Boomerang has only been here a few years...but I'll bet a little
research could turn up a connection with the dearly-departed Zambezi Zinger.
I honestly don't think Cedar Fair would have hidden this coaster on purpose
unless they were re-using an existing structure...I'll bet Boomerang uses
the Zinger's queue house.
Anyway, I walked through the empty queue house and sat in the waiting train.
Seconds later I was dragged up Lift #1, and a minute later I was exiting the
train. Worlds of Fun's Boomerang is a newer model, better than most, with the
rounded front cars as on the one at Darien Lake. These are the cars where long-legged
people tend to bang their knees when sitting in the front seats. I'm just short
enough that while my knees touch, it really isn't too bad. The worst thing about
this ride is the obnoxious recording that plays over the exit path telling you
to go look at your on-ride photo.
I
passed under a railroad bridge, turning back for a moment to see that the Boomerang
really does look splendid when you look at it from the uncovered end. Here it
appeared that if I continued bearing left as I had done since I entered the
park I would end up on the rapids ride. Which might feel good in the heat, but
my camera certainly wouldn't appreciate it. So I went to the right instead.
This took me up a path alongside the rapids ride and behind a large shed, apparently
where Worlds of Fun plays the Sumer Spectacular laser show. On around the corner
I spotted a pink diner that looked oddly familiar. It was Coasters Diner,
and after my experience at Valleyfair!, I am sorry I didn't go inside and look
at the photos. On the outside the place looks very familiar, in fact it appears
to be identical to the one located at the center of Cedar Point beneath the
Iron Dragon pretzel knot. I had left "Africa" and entered the
"Cedar Point" themed area of the park. Accordingly, next to me was
a 205-foot-tall steel out-and-back roller coaster with silver supports and red
track. Er, I hate to say this, but Magnum XL-200's track is orange. Anyway,
this is Mamba, and it looks like a stylized copy of Magnum XL-200.
It is also my first "pure Morgan" coaster. I've ridden Phantom's
Revenge, of course, so I've ridden in Morgan seats on Morgan track, but
this is the first time I'd ridden over an all-Morgan chassis. The cars are mechanically
the same as the Arrow Runaway Train cars except that they sit up a bit
higher because the axles are below the center beam instead of sandwiched in
between the center beam and the car body. I also noticed that each axle has
a single shock absorber tying its end to the center beam; I suppose that reduces
the axle hunt often seen on Runaway Trains. When I boarded the train I noticed
the conspicuous absence of grab handles, or any finishing details for that matter.
I fastened the retracting seat belt, which jammed twice as I was trying to deal
with it, as if to demonstrate why retracting seat belts are infrequently used
on amusement rides. Then I pulled down the lap bar and noticed that its geometry
is more like the PTC wood coaster trains than like the Arrow Runaway Trains,
in that for any particular distance from my stomach, the end of the bar is higher
above my lap than in the Arrow train. The train is cavernous on the inside,
with seats that are considerably bigger than on the Arrow coasters. It also
seems that the seats are higher from the car floor, so it's a bit like riding
in an enormous Fiberglas bathtub. 
The
brakes released and we started our really noisy trip up the lift hill. Sitting
as I was in the 3rd seat (my customary seat on Magnum; figured I wanted
to do a fair comparison here...) I was right over the second axle, and I noticed
a lot of strange bumps and rattles on the lift hill. It was also a little odd
to look down on Detonator from Mamba's lift hill, knowing that
at Cedar Point Power Tower is 100' taller than Magnum. At the
top, the track started down at a shallow angle that seemed to hold back the
front of the train far longer than the faster rollover on Magnum. Then the drop
straightened out for the 200' plunge. The train rattled and buzzed, making strange
rumbling and rattling sounds. The peak of the second hill was more like Magnum's
third hill, lifting us all out of our seats gently but effectively. Another
hill did this again, then we dove into Mamba's turnaround, a giant helix
that reminds me of the turnaround helix on Superman: Ride of Steel at
Darien Lake. Like Superman, Mamba spends way too much time in this helix.
It then slides through a mid-course block brake and the obligatory
bunny-hopping finale, then a quick "victory lap" around the entrance
plaza. Magnum does this as well, but Magnum has its block brake
at this point and takes this curve much more slowly than Mamba does.
I kind of like the way Mamba cruises around the plaza, using light trim
braking on the mid-course. By comparison, Magnum comes to a near stop
on its mid-course block brake and takes a slow lap. But it's a funny thing,
I actually prefer the way Magnum does it because on Magnum it's
paced out so that the feeling is that there is no mid-course block brake: the
coaster is from the top of the lift to the block brake, then the curve after
the block brake is just a way to get from the end of the ride back to the station.
Mamba has a light trim on the mid-course block brake, but that makes
for a big flat spot out in the middle of the ride after the helix in place of
Magnum's non-stop action. Even if Mamba weren't trimmed at all
it would lose something to that block brake. I guess I just want to have it
both ways...I want the near-brakeless [Footnote 2]
non-stop action of Magnum, but I want Mamba's high-speed station
return. And with three train operation (admittedly on this day Mamba
was only running two) that's pretty much not an option; there has to be a block
brake somewhere.
My conclusion was that Mamba feels like a "poor man's Magnum
XL-200". It's a more consistent ride than Magnum from seat to
seat, but the whole ride has a feel to it that to my eyes and ears just feels
"cheap." It isn't, of course; if anything it's more tightly engineered
and better fabricated than Magnum. But the cars have an odd rattle to
them, they have a kind of an unfinished feel, and it just gives the overall
feeling that you're riding in an Escort instead of a Town Car. A lot of it is
the oversized train and the lack of grab bars, I think. The lack of an automatic
lap bar release (operators have to stomp on pedals to get riders out) doesn't
help either. It's a great ride, though, and a fitting anchor for this end of
the park.
From Mamba I walked past the shed and apparently into America. I took
a ride on the train, a Crown steam train that seems to do an awful lot of excess
chugging and blowing and other noisy steam engine stuff that the old plantation
engines at Cedar Point never seem to do. This was a narrated non-stop train
ride in which the conductor got to tell a few jokes, including a few that I've
heard recently on Paddlewheel Excursions. I particularly appreciated
the opening story about the park employee who rode the train and got hit by
a tree because she had her hand out...that is, she was bushwhacked.
One thing led to another, and finally I arrived at Timber Wolf. When
this wood coaster opened, it got rave reviews, which is a pretty significant
accomplishment for a Summers/Dinn coaster. I took a seat in the train and soon
found out why. The bad news is that there is a trim brake on the ride's first
drop, which in my book is an unforgiveable sin for any coaster, especially a
wood coaster. A brake on the first drop is not a proper fix for any problem.
But the first drop is followed by a hill with some very nice airtime over the
peak, and a layout that is actually somewhat interesting. Compared to the wood
coasters at Six Flags St. Louis, Timber Wolf is a compact coaster...but
then, compared to the wood coasters at Six Flags St. Louis, so is just about
everything else short of Shivering Timbers. The bottom line is, Timber
Wolf is a decent, but not spectacuar coaster, and like so many wood coasters
on this trip it runs a little rough and has trains with not enough cushioning
inside.
Across
from Timber Wolf is the new Thunderhawk, a Huss Top Spin with
a set of fountains out front. When I saw the gratuitous drenching the riders
were getting, I opted not to participate. But I did notice that the ride was
making those same squeaking noises that Tomb Raider was making early
in the season. It is becoming apparent that Top Spin + Gratuitous Soaking
= Squeaking and groaning noises.
Another unique attraction at Worlds of Fun is "Cyclone Sam's CloudProofer
2000." It's nothing more or less than a Chance Wipeout set up in a
building with special lighting, sound, and wind effects. The Wipeout is a pretty
dramatic ride to begin with. The ceiling seems awfully close once the ride gets
up in the air, and the total package is really quite neat.
The park has a small lagoon tucked away in a quiet corner. The lagoon is the
centerpiece for the park's Skycoaster, and it looks like the area is
intended to serve as a kind of "pleasure pier" area, with a Himalaya-type
ride, and a path leading up a hill to a (disused today and easy to miss) Eli
Ferris wheel. The Himalaya was also down when I walked past, but it looked
like that might be only a brief closure.
One more ride deserves special mention. Worlds of Fun has a set of very nice
bumper cars, with few enough cars on the floor that they would build up quite
a bit of speed. The "offline" side of the arena seems awfully big,
and makes me wonder if they once had two bumper car setups so that they could
load one and run the other.
I ventured into the kiddie ghetto, as I always do in an effort to see the whole
park. Here, the whole place is known as Camp Snoopy, and it's a combination
of Camp Snoopy as seen at Cedar Point, and Peanuts Playground,
also as seen at Cedar Point. I had to laugh when I saw the Woodstock Express.
It's a train, as is the one at Cedar Point. But at Worlds of Fun it isn't Vekoma-built
and gravity powered. It does have a bell, though! Worlds of Fun does have a
kiddie coaster, though, it's a Fajume' Wacky Worm. I didn't get to ride
it because I'm too tall to ride unaccompanied and none of the local kids were
willing to ride with this strange bearded man. But the ride deserves special
mention not only for the canvas apple covering part of the ride, but because
the fencing has been altered
from the factory configuration specifically to address my Dad's favorite ride
safety concern.
That
left one more world to explore, that of the Orient. The Orient presented a few
surprises, such as a Round-Up ride, not something one would expect to
find in a 1972 vintage theme park. Nearby, a large round blue structure looked
like it might have once been something interesting, and I found myself speculating
that perhaps it had once been a performance shed. Finally I came upon the Orient
Express, the very first coaster to employ a boomerang element. 
I
noticed that as on Timber Wolf there is a platform exit at the downtrack
end of the platform. I've seen chicken chutes before, but this is the only one
I have seen which is clearly marked, "CHICKEN EXIT" complete
with a little picture of a chicken. As it turns out I probably could have saved
myself a bit of pain and discomfort by simply going out through that door. I
sat in the front of the last car, as I often do on Arrow loopers. As the train
left the station I felt a rhythmic "thump...thump...thump" just ahead
of my feet which continued for the entire ride. The ride was beyond rough, to
the point of being downright horrid. Orient Express was by far the worst
ride I encountered on this trip. I thought perhaps I could chalk it up to a
blown out wheel, but after the ride I checked both of the road wheels directly
ahead of my seat and both appeared to be like new. Which neatly blew that theory.
And after that body-banging I didn't feel like trying another seat, although
there was no wait for the ride. Instead I ignored the fact that I was practically
standing at the park gate and reversed my path, returning through the park for
more rides on Timber Wolf and Mamba. Finally I decided to call
it a day, and make the drive to Des Moines.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Footnote 1: Before someone points out that
Spiders are supposed to have eight limbs, I should point out that Eyerly Spiders
only have six. [Return to text]
Footnote 2: Magnum does have a trim brake
before the turnaround...but it isn't a block brake. [Return
to text]
--DCAjr
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