One of my favorite photos of Worlds of Fun showing Victrix and Viking Voyager. It was used very often in 1970's park literature and was one of the first old photos I found of the park. Consequently for those that remember the very first "Gone But Not Forgotten" page it was located at the very top.
Five years ago I wrote a blog entitled “9 Old Rides”, it has since then become my, by far, most read blog entry, so much so that I decided for Worlds of Fun’s forty-fifth anniversary I would go back and revisit these same rides, and take a look at them in a sort of “where are they now” fashion.
A key point I made at the time was that I had spent so much time in the past looking backward, and very little time on the attractions that were still there and their equally important history. As history is made every day, the five years that have passed have added a great deal of history to rides that already had forty years of it five years ago.
Of course, then there are the three rides that aren’t there anymore, that really are … history. I thought that would be a good place to start, not to dwell on the fact that they are gone, but simply because for these three rides the book is finished and closed.
In 2013, the park celebrated its fortieth birthday, just the very next year, 2014 the first of the original nine rides left bit the dust, with the removal of Octopus. I won’t spend much time going over the harried story of the Octopus, simply put it was quite a vagabond moving around and changing names more frequently than almost any ride in park history. Funny enough, due to its one-year temporary-removal from the park in the 1997 season, it wasn’t until 2014 that it “technically” celebrated forty years with the park. The story with Octopus is that its manufacturer, Oregon Rides (which replaced Eyerly Aircraft the original manufacturer of Octopus), was no longer making parts of it. Octopus would be dismantled one final time at Worlds of Fun, while it’s central hub, and possibly some of its cars went on to Valleyfair to be used in its own Monster ride.
Two years later, in 2015 the second original ride went… and that wasn’t one many lost any sleep over, Krazy Kars the park’s children’s bumper car ride. Originally know as Crashem Bashem, Krazy Kars changed names in the mid-90's. Long in the tooth, and with the park already home to a wide assortment of many brand new children’s and family rides, it wasn’t a great loss. It was replaced in 2017 by Mustang Runner, which funny enough is more of a replacement on par with Octopus.
Of course, the last original ride removal is the one that is the freshest and that was in 2017 with the removal of the Finnish Fling. I personally, was never a fan of Fling as fas as ride experience itself, and it was without a doubt a love it or hate it type ride. No one ever likes to contemplate the removal of a ride at Worlds of Fun, and especially one with a great deal of history (since there are now a total of three operating Chance Rotors in the country). Still, I will be the first to admit that its replacement Nordic Chaser is fun and probably quite a bit more universally enjoyable than its predecessor was.
So onto the remaining six… which ones are they you may ask? The original six rides left over from 1973 include in alphabetical order:
Autobahn/Der Fender Bender
Flying Dutchman
Le Taxi Tour
Scandi Scrambler
Viking Voyager
Worlds of Fun Railroad (ELI)
Autobahn/Der Fender Bender (DFB)
Autobahn in 2013 with about six cars operating...
Last year, with just a. few more...
Back in 2013, when we went around and tried to ride all the original rides on May 26th… one of the few rides we didn’t ride, and the only one that we didn’t ride simply because we were too tall (because Krazy Kars had a maximum height requirement), was Autobahn. Why? Because if I remember at the time it was closed to clean the floors because the roof leaked and the floors had to be dried prior to the ride opening for the day. That… and the fact it was running only six cars. Poor Autobahn has gone through a lot of changes over the years, most of them not all that positive. As mentioned in the previous editorial there is the fact that the floor itself is only about half the size of what it once was. Then there was the name change in 1995 from Der Fender Bender to Autobahn, which I have yet to figure out the “why”. Some good news though, first Autobahn still operates. Second of all, it operates with far more cars today then it did back in 2013. On Opening Day 2018 it operated with 14 total cars. With the rehab of Europa, that coincided with the addition of Falcon’s Flight in 2017 the whole area looks much cleaner and brighter. The area around Autobahn received all new concrete, a few new trees, (to replace the Cottonwoods lost), and some new paint. Personally, I wouldn't mind if the park moved Autobahn to another location in the park, and used the area for something... more interesting. Of course, there lies the problem, if Autobahn was moved and re-named would it still be an original ride? Yes, those are the things I deliberate over when I have probably fifty thousand other more useful things I could be doing...
Flying Dutchman
Flying Dutchman, like its neighbor in Europa, Le Taxi Tour, has been pretty much going on its merry way for the last five years, doing the same thing its been doing for the last forty-five years. For those that don’t know Dutchman was manufactured by Intamin AG, way before they got around to putting together rides like Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster and there really aren’t that many of them. Six Flags has a few, though it seems like every time I see one at a Six Flags it isn’t operating, and of course, Kentucky Kingdom has there version as well, but its boats are shaped like dutch shoes rather than dutch boats. Besides regular maintenance, and the new coat of paint the boats received this year, the biggest change I can think of in the last five years was that its original sign was replaced. From what I have heard the old one, which was wood and over forty years old by then literally rotted away, and was replaced temporarily in 2015 with a banner at its entrance. In 2016, the banner was replaced with a more permanent sign. But I guess I still miss the old one. I have numerous personal experiences with Dutchman, I operated it several times back in 1994, when the control panel was on the shed, causing operators to have their backs turned while starting and stopping the ride. Most notably for me though, Dutchman was my first “Thrill” ride, way back in 1993 when I visited the park as part of band competition I was talked into riding it… before then I was afraid of almost everything, including roller coasters, but also anything even remotely thrilling fit the bill too. For some reason, I agreed to try Dutchman and ended up really enjoying it, so much so I ended up riding it almost every day while I worked at the park in 1994 after I got off from my shift.
The "temporary" dutchman sign in 2015.
The "new" dutchman sign from 2016.
Le Taxi Tour
What always makes the history of Taxis so interesting isn’t so much its history at Worlds of Fun (though it has that too), but its direct ties to its parent company, Arrow Development. There are two Arrow rides still operating at the park today, both of which are original, the other being Voyager. When writing up the page on Taxi’s which you can visit here:
http://www.worldsoffun.org/1973/letaxitour.html I did quite a bit of research on the Arrow antique car type. Arrow first manufactured the antique car ride in 1962 for of course… Six Flags over Texas. I mention it in such a way because Six Flags over Texas was quite literally a first-ever for several prototype Arrow rides. Arrow didn’t introduce the French taxi design until 1968 at Astroworld in Houston (a park which is now defunct). So in 1973 Arrow was already well versed in not only the antique car style ride but also the French taxi design. Arrow was quite the proliferator of amusement park rides in the 1970’s and 1980’s. I’ve said it countless times and I probably will say it countless times more, but they quite literally built the amusement Industry of the 1970’s all by themselves. Herein lies what is so fascinating about Taxis and Voyager really. Arrows are vanishing by the bucketful across the country. Of course, Orient Express, probably Worlds of Fun’s most famous Arrow ride vanished in 2003, but I'm not just talking about their coasters. Antique car rides like Taxis simply takes up so much space that I am shocked that it has made it this long and I hope it will continue to operate at the park for many more years. Just last year, in 2017 Worlds of Fun turned Taxi’s into a Winterfest themed attraction the “12 Days of Christmas” a quite innovative take on the “drive-thru Christmas lights display”. I sadly, didn’t get a chance to ride it, but loved the idea, and loved that they took this favorite family attraction and gave it a new, brightly colored twist.
For those that have seen the black and white Silly Serpent photo making its rounds on the web, it's the same guy, Kelly, from that picture that is hopping the Taxi in this one, I believe taken on the very same day!
One of my favorite stories about Taxis is how it almost didn’t become one of the nine old rides, let alone one of six for this year. In 1994, with the success of Timber Wolf, Hunt Midwest went once again looking for the biggest, newest, attraction for its park. In so doing they signed a contract for what would have been the world’s longest racing wooden coaster. As many know, (because I have told this story so many times) it was to be called the Vampire. We know this because of trademarks filed for by Hunt Midwest and then abandoned the next year. When Cedar Fair bought the park in 1995, they canceled the contract, and Vampire never came to be. However, had it been built it would have been at least partially located where Taxi's is today.
Take me home... to the place... that I love...
Scandi(a) Scramble(r)
Probably of all the original rides, I love this one the most because of the memories I have of riding it as a child. Its one of the VERY few rides that is still there I can vividly remember riding over and over and over again. I loved it. Scrambler was built by ELI Bridge, a company still very much in business and famous not only for its Scrambler rides but also its Ferris Wheels, as Skyliner at Worlds of Fun is also an ELI Bridge ride. Scrambler opened like the other five original rides on May 26, 1973, in its current location known then as Scandia Scramble. In 1988, the name changed slightly and it became known as Scandia Scrambler. Over the years it went through various color changes from the original stainless steel, to sporting the original “Worlds of Fun colors” by the late 1980’s. Finally, a change did occur for Scrambler when Octopus was moved from its spot on the hill in Pandamonium to Scandinavia in 1998, Scrambler was displaced to the leftover pad in Americana were Incredi-O-Dome had been only the year prior. Supposably, the park had looked at trying to put Scrambler inside the bright yellow dome, to make an indoor ride, but it just barely didn’t fit. We really all thought that would be the end of the Scrambler because for many seasons it didn’t even get put together and back in operation until June. Recently though, with the removal of Octopus in 2015 Scrambler came home. It not only received most of its original name back, now known as Scandi Scrambler, it also received a major retrofit, complete with a full lighting package and paint job. Thankfully at least these last few years it has been open and operating on opening day and is still a popular family-style thrill ride.
Viking Voyager
Probably the ride I have been looking forward to talking about the most. While Scrambler is my favorite ride as a child, Voyager is today my favorite ride because of the memories it holds for me as an adult. I operated the ride twice, once for the 1994 season and once for the 2006 season. It also funny enough is home to my platinum diamond engagement ring, which I lost one chilly, damp, October day cleaning the pumps out of the ever growing pile of leaves. True story. Otherwise, why is Voyager so important? When Worlds of Fun opened it did have three roller coasters, but really only two superstars, Zinger and Voyager. Of Course, Zinger has been gone now for almost as long as it operated (let that one sink in…), but Voyager thankfully is not only still with us but has faired probably the best as far as upgrades to original attractions over the last five years. Just listing some of the known updates to Voyager, includes footer work, replacement of the control system, replacement/update to the pumps, and after decades of in-operation, getting the ride's filter system back up and running (the Voyager filter building is right next to Scrambler), not bad for a forty-five year old ride. And for those thinking they are a dime a dozen, that might have been true at one time, when over 40 different Arrow long flumes operating across the United States, however in the last two decades that number has dropped to twenty (not to mention the non-Arrow log flumes that have been removed too), its enough to give one pause. The simple answer is that log flumes are expensive to upkeep, and take up a lot of space. Thankfully, Worlds of Fun has lots of space and hopefully will keep investing in Voyager, as it was and likely still is, one of the parks most popular rides.
Worlds of Fun Railroad
Amazingly, ELI looks about the same today as it did when this photo was taken in the 1970's
A few weeks ago I asked what was the ride that received the most rides from the 1980 press release, of course, that was Viking Voyager. What surprised me is that it wasn’t the train. I had always thought, everyone rides the train right? What you may not know is that it was number five, listed right behind all the rides everyone re-rides over and over again, the coasters. In fact, four of the six original rides that are still left made the top ten (Autobahn, Le Taxi Tour, and Voyager). Still, there is something about the train, sure the spiel is fun, the ride is relaxing but its pulled by a real steam locomotive and who can not help loving ELI? And it's been that way since the very beginning. Originally, the engineers on ELI were old steam train engineers themselves, including John Graves, who is immortalized on the Train Engineers Emeritus plaque at the Depot and was quoted forty-five years ago with a statement that was true then as it is true now…
John Graves lubricating the rods (that connect the driving wheels) on ELI
“Graves explained that the most enjoyable aspect of his work is being able to talk trains with many of the train passengers. “I’d rather do that than anything else” he continued with a smile…” (Worlds of Fun’s Steam Train Got its Name from a Chillicothe Horse” Chillicothe Constitution-Tribute Sept 5, 1973).
I don't like publishing photos of myself, and in fact have only done so maybe 2-3 times in the last twenty years, but I figured we are equally a piece of ELI's history as anyone else.
Unlike every other ride at the park which is "push the button and it goes" (or at least some variation of that), ELI is just as fun to operate as it is to ride, which I think in a way makes it even more for fun both the operator and the rider. As many know ELI has been Worlds of Fun’s one and only steam engine from day one. It was named after an old line on the Chicago, Burlington, Quincy Line (CB&Q), and while I believe there may be some truth in that ELI wasn’t the engines originally intended name, it HAS been ELI since May 26, 1973, and will always be ELI. ELI is a true steam engine and runs on the same basic concept of steam engines from the earliest iron horses, however, instead of burning coal or oil, ELI burns propane. For the park’s 46th season, ELI has been brought back to its crowning glory and was re-painted its original candy apple green color. Here’s to many more years with Worlds of Fun’s beloved steam train, and one of the park’s favorite crowd pleasures.
But Wait There's More!
Five years ago we celebrated these rides 40th anniversary, this year they turned 45th, but you know in that time two more existing rides turned 40 years old too, and I figured it would be time to give them just a bit of credit, because history is history, and even more so when it is an IS ride and not a WAS ride.
The park opened in 1973 with 60 brand new and exciting things to do. The next year saw the first capital expansion and with it the ride I always call the honorable mention of the original rides, Red Baron.
Red Baron
Today located in Planet Snoopy, Red Baron is Worlds of Fun’s 7th Oldest Ride, and though its “just” a children’s ride it has been moved around and re-named probably more times than any reasonable person should count, so of course, I did. Manufactured by Bradley & Kaye (the same company that produced Barnstormer and Le Carrousel) It was originally added to Scandinavia, behind where Baltic Bazaar was, about where the Grand Pavilion is today. In 1978, with the addition of Aerodrome, it was moved to its current location and has been there ever since. It has however changed names, many times over. It has been known as Red Baron, Pandam Airlines (in tribute to PanAm Airlines), Kiddy Hawk Airlines, Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron, and now just Red Baron. And here is the most amazing fact… As a children’s ride, added now 44 years ago, it has been ridden by not possibly, but quite probably by now three generations of Worlds of Fun visitors. Grandparents today could be putting their grandchildren on the very ride they themselves once rode as children. Insert "WOW" emoji here...
Bamboozler
Separating Red Baron and Bamboozler was the addition of Screamroller in 1976, which of course was removed in 1988 to make way for Timber Wolf. In 1977, Worlds of Fun’s newest capital expansion was a “New Attraction in Every World”. That included the addition of Wobble Wheel in Americana (replaced by Cyclone Sam’s), Bounce-A-Roos (another story in itself but removed in 2010), Micro-Moto-Bahn (removed also in 2010) and Singapore Sling. Today it's known as Bamboozler. A Hrubetz Round Up ride it was added where the entrance to Orient Express would be three years later. In fact, the same queue line entrance for Sling was re-used for Express! In 1980, it was moved to Americana and became Whirligig and in 1986 it was moved back to the Orient as Bamboozler. No one ever calls it Bamboozler though, its usually referred to as Boozler, and in a twist of fate uses the same station once used by the Oriental Octopus. As a basic flat ride, I love telling its story since its rather interesting since it has been moved around and re-named just a few times.
However since I have been busy reminiscing, I can't help but recall another moment, this one back in 1997 when I had a long-ago conversation with a fellow ambassador in the Ambam (employee break area) then located in Pandamonium. My interest in the park's history was such that I knew absolutely nothing but didn't yet realize that fact, it was during this conversation I learned that Bamboozler was originally named the Singapore Sling. Prior to that point my memory was such that Bamboozler had always been... Bamboozler. It was quite possibly the first conversation I ever had regarding Worlds of Fun history with someone who was equally as interested, and though neither Jeff or myself can remember clear enough to be sure, we are both fairly certain it was between us, though we wouldn't officially meet until over a year later. .
The story of the Singapore Sling and “maybe” Jeff highlights an important point to me. At one point, many years ago all I was researching was the when and where, Singapore Sling was added in 1977, Orient Express in 1980, Cotton Blossom was removed in 1995, so on and so forth. And trust me, finding some of those dates and years wasn’t exactly all that easy, and involved hours pouring in front of old newspapers. I thought that was difficult and time-consuming. Recently, I have found that the more interesting stories are the real stories, the personal stories, I have several, Jeff has several, friends of mine have several and I love hearing them all, they make my own memories so much more vivid. But you know what, I have found the personal stories sometimes the hardest ones to find. I never get tired of hearing them, and I hope by sharing mine, it will make the memories of those reading this come alive once again. The park’s anniversary is just an excuse, but what a wonderful excuse to have.
