Zambezi Zinger after it closed permanently at Worlds of Fun, ready to be removed...
I think all discussions in regards to what happened to Worlds of Fun attractions start with Zambezi Zinger. Twenty-one years after its removal it is still one of, if not the most beloved attraction in Worlds of Fun's history. It was obvious at the time of its removal that it wasn't being torn down but systematically removed, and when Jeff told me that it had been sold to a park in South America, the story made some sense. We were finally able to announce the details of its permanent relocation in November 1998 on worldsoffun.org and that announcement is still online thanks to Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20000226022139/http://www.worldsoffun.org:80/nov3-98.html
Read more about Zambezi Zinger: http://www.worldsoffun.org/1973/zambezizinger.html
Zambezi Zinger as Montona Rusa at Parque Del Cafe in Monte Negro, Colombia.
Personally, I have to wonder if anyone at Worlds of Fun at the time believed Zinger would operate again. Jeff was even told that the park that had bought it had originally intended to put the coaster back together with a cherry picker, which at first made it seem almost downright crazy to think the coaster would ever be in one piece again, let alone operate. It is a tribute to Parque del Cafe, that not only did they prove at least a few people wrong, but to their credit Zinger still operates now over twenty years later. Today it continues to operate known as Montana Rusa (Russian Mountain), in Parque Del Cafe in Montenegro, Colombia, South America. I am hoping to have many photos to share with you of it down there soon!
But what about everything else? Sky Hi, Cotton Blossom, Screamroller, Octopus, Omegatron, Safari, Orient Express, Finnish Fling, Schussboomer... and who knows how many others. What happened to them? Did any of them go on to another life somewhere else like Zinger? Or did they go to the great scrapyard in the sky? The answer is Yes and Yes. So let's look at a few and to start, let's begin with the ride, at least for me, that started it all. Ski Hi.
Sky Hi in Americana. The letters from the station are currently in a private collection. We stored them for a few years and though I took photos specifically OF the letters, I have been unable to find them. I do however have the photo above, in which you can see the "HI" in the background.
Sky Hi or Ski Heis depending on where you boarded was manufactured by Von Roll of Switzerland and was known as a Sky Ride 101, but you the reader probably remember it the way I did, as Worlds of Fun's skyway. Guests rode in one of the twenty-five, four-seat, semi-enclosed cars that glided over 70' feet in the air above Americana and Scandinavia. I only remember riding it once, but the image is burnt into my head. By the '90s when I worked at the park it was a question whether it had even existed, in that as so often happens once a ride is removed, it seems to be quickly forgotten. (which is why this website even exists!) At the time, the only details I remember seeing that told me that the ride had ever existed was the visible concrete footer that was at one time located in Europa by Autobahn (or Der Fender Bender at the time). By the summer of 1996, I was dead set on trying to find any evidence that the ride had even existed and if the ride had had a name. We all know the truth today. So we know the ride existed, we know what it was called, we even have photos of it. So what happened to it?
A Sky Hi car that was found just this last fall.
An old Ski Hi car at the park (this was taken in 2003 when Thunderhawk was under construction) I do not believe this car is located in the park any longer.
Here is where we leave the world of fact, and enter into the world of "maybe", First we know Sky Hi was removed after the 1987 season, mid-1987 insurance adjusters, probably on edge from the accident at Six Flags Mid-America came into to examine Worlds of Fun's Sky Hi Cars. Jeff was working at Le Taxi Tour at the time and had a friend of his who was the manager of Sky Hi also at the time, kept calling him to report a new group of cars being condemned for surface rust. At the end of the day, six cars were left to operate (out of the original twenty-five). Worlds of Fun reached out to Six Flags to check out the cars from their defunct Von Roll 101 and found them in worse shape. At this point, Worlds of Fun's condemned cars were mostly rounded up on a flatbed and taken to be scrapped. Jeff barely missed out on a car as he was only minutes too late. (dang it!). I know at least one car was saved by the park as a cherry picker, and at least two cars went into private collections. Now that's the cars. Rumor has that many of the mechanical aspects of the ride may have gone to the Von Roll at the San Diego Zoo (which is still operating to this day). The towers were removed during the 1987-88 offseason, while the concrete footers remained. There were a total of four footers at one time, today two are still visible but you have to know where to look. One is located near Mustang Runner sometimes sticking out of the grass in the center island. The other is located just under lift one on Voyager, there was a third, near Autobahn that used to be visible until at least the mid-'90s, but was removed at some point in the late '90s. The large 3-foot wooden letters from the Ski Hi station were also saved and are currently in a private collection. We did store the letters and several other park signs for a while, and we did take several photos of them, but after much searching... I have yet to find them.
An old park site plan that shows the location of the Ski Hi footer next to the exit of Der Fender Bender/Autobahn.
Before, note the Sky Hi support by Lift One of Viking Voyager
Today, the same location, the concrete pad is still there from the support. This is viewable from Chickie and Pete's.
Read More about Sky Hi/Ski Heis: http://www.worldsoffun.org/1973/skyhi.html
If it seems like Sky Hi was parted out all over the place, you would be right and that so often happens when rides are removed. Another great example is with Orient Express. Though its removal is far more recent. As most know, most of Orient Express was scrapped. Not all of it was though. Parts of the actual ride structure are still visible throughout the park, and I am not just talking about the "Chicken Exit" sign at Timber Wolf.
Chicken Exit sign from Orient Express inside the Timber Wolf station today.
There is a cherry picker "car", that usually sits by Timber Wolf and is still painted red, from the C-Block catwalk. The three dragon logo heads were saved too, one is still in the General Manager's office at the park (this was the one on the outside of the station). The other two went to private collections these include the dragon head above the tunnel entrance and the dragon head from the ride queue line entranceway.
Orient Express dragon head from the exterior of the Orient Express station. It is currently in the General Manager's office, but we were allowed to borrow it for the park's 40th-anniversary history display at Tivoli.
Here it is in its original location.
As most know the Orient Express station is still used as a haunt, Lore of the Vampire, but as some may not know the light poles around Spinning Dragons were recycled from Orient Express's queue line. In addition, a small staircase, possibly from Express's lift hill is located near the unloading station on Viking Voyager.
Light poles in the Orient Express queue line.
The same (or one of the same) light poles today in the Spinning Dragons queue line.
This stairway has been moved around a little since this photo was taken, but if you click on the photo you can still plainly see the red steps from Orient Express.
The last aspect of Express is the ride's three trains. While it's likely most of the trains were parted out to various other operating Arrow coasters in the Cedar Fair chain, one lead car was saved, completely intact with its final season paint job and was donated to the National Roller Coaster Museum. It is still currently on display at the National Roller Coaster Museum archives in Plainview Tx. Another part of a car was used for the Extreme Home Makeover Season Two in 2005.
Kansas City Star Article from 2005 in regards to the Extreme Home Makeover. By the way, it's Boomerang not Mamba.
Lead car from a train on Orient Express on display and in storage at the National Roller Coaster Museum Archives in Plainview, Tx.
Another Arrow also lives on in the park, and that's one of the park's original Arrow attractions, The Safari. (the park opened with three attractions produced by Arrow Development, two are still operating, Viking Voyager and Le Taxi Tour). The Safari was originally located where Prowler is today, but its queue house still stands and is still used by Zulu. Safari was a "drive it yourself" ride similar to Taxis, but in this case, the cars were two-seat "safari car" themed. Riders would drive slowly through a jungle-themed attraction complete with fiberglass animals. The ride itself was removed after the 1978 season. For a ride that has been gone now for forty years, you would say that there couldn't possibly be anything left from it. Nope, there is quite a bit left and one that is still incredibly popular and still located in the park. See those fiberglass animals were pretty well built, and after the ride was removed scattered throughout Africa. I specifically remember the Hippo and Tiger. There was another one though, a silverback gorilla that is still located, to this day in the African section of the park. People love it, unaware of its long history with the park.
The African Gorilla, a 1973 original from The Safari attraction!
That isn't it either. At least two cars have survived too. One is frequently on display at the Hunt Midwest Subtropolis, usually during its annual Ground Hog Run. It looks to the normal observer like an unusual yellow golf cart, but like so many things first appearances are deceiving. The other one is in a private collection. The last part of the Safari story is a part urban legend, and the story goes that after Safari was removed the remaining cars were buried and covered by what is now today K Lot. (which didn't exist when the park first opened). No one really knows if this is true or not, but it's fascinating none the less.
A Safari Car on display during the annual Groundhog Run, a friend of mine got a photo with it this last January, but this photo was taken in 2014.
Read More about The Safari: http://www.worldsoffun.org/1973/safari.html
Since we are talking about Arrows lets continue that discussion with yet another Worlds of Fun Arrow, the Screamroller, or Extremeroller after 1983. Screamroller was one of the most mass-produced coaster models at the time, the Arrow Corkscrew. There are still several still operating throughout the United States and the world. Screamroller was removed after the 1988 season and was replaced by Timber Wolf. Being only twelve years old, Screamroller really wasn't all that old in terms of coasters and was sold, like Zinger, to a park halfway around the world, this time in Taiwan, known as Formosa Fun Coast. It operated there until 2004 and was removed and left sitting in pieces in the park's parking lot for several more years before it was finally scrapped. At Worlds of Fun Screamroller's memory is still alive now thirty-five years after it was removed. Timber Wolf continues to use the exact same station, and the gates to the train still do not line up to the Timber Wolf trains, as they were designed for a completely different coaster. Many of Screamroller's concrete footers are downright easy to see, one is located under the lift hill, another is located in the landscaping pond near Timber Wolf's brake run, hidden, somewhat under a few limestone landscaping rocks.
Footers from the Screamroller/Extremeroller both of these are next to the lift hill and are visible from the normal Timber Wolf exit. Photos by Michael Parsons
Read More About Screamroller/Extremeroller: http://www.worldsoffun.org/1976/screamroller.html
The EXT height requirement sign, which we stored along with the Sky Hi Letters for several years.
EXT fiberglass body and stand-up pods.
What about the smaller rides though? Octopus, Finnish Fling, Omegatron, even Schussboomer? Let's start with Schussboomer, a mid-size compact coaster located where Grand Carrousel is today Fascinating enough, the old Festhaus Picnic Pavilion, the one with the blue and white tent, also incorporated the original wooden Schussboomer queue house. What was left standing in 2010 was demolished to make way for Grand Carrousel. Schussboomer as a fact was bought used, it was manufactured as a portable fair-style coaster, that could be moved from location to location so it was never permanently attached to the ground like most other coasters at Worlds of Fun have been and are. It is known that Schussboomer was scrapped following its removal after the 1984 season.
In the background, you can see the Schussboomer queue house, which was re-used for the Festhaus Picnic Pavilion that you can see below. The flag poles weren't removed immediately following Schussboomer's removal and lasted until at least 1994.
Festhaus Picnic Pavilion entrance used the same wooden trellis, it was removed after the 2010 season and the Grand Carousel stands in its place today.
Read more about Schussboomer: http://www.worldsoffun.org/1973/schussboomer.htmlOctopus, Fling and Omegatron all share this dubious distinction of being scrapped after their removal at least partially. Omegatron sat after its disassembly following the 2001 season, in the Oceans of Fun parking lot, it was finally, quite literally thrown in the dumpster along with Orient Express in 2003. Octopus was the only ride in this list that wasn't thrown in its entirety in the dumpster. Since its parent company is no longer producing parts, Octopus was "parted out" to the Monster at Valleyfair in Minneapolis, Mn. (also owned by Cedar Fair)
An Omegatron car ready to be thrown in the dumpster, quite literally. (2003)
An Octopus car in our private collection.
Of course, not all of those smaller flat rides went to the dump or were parted out. A few did go onto another life just like Screamroller and Zinger. Wing Ding, Worlds of Fun's shortest-lived ride, only operating for two seasons (in 1979 and 1981), was sold by the park to a carnival circuit where it lives on even today, even though it is currently not operational. It never even had its "Worlds of Fun" logo paint job removed!
A car from Wing Ding in an undisclosed location
Another ride, is like Finnish Fling a recent removal, though unlike Fling it still operates to this day, and that is Le Carousel. Added to Europa in 1979, Le Carousel was Europa's last addition until it's replacement Falcon's Flight was added in 2017. Worlds of Fun sold the Bradley & Kaye Le Carousel to Carolyn's Country Cousins in nearby Liberty, Mo. They renovated Le Carousel and it's still enjoyed by all ages who come to pick pumpkins, eat those awesome pumpkin donuts and ride the carousel!
At Worlds of Fun...
At its new home, Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch.
The last attractions I'm going to look at in this editorial are probably the ones I have the least knowledge about in regards to their last resting places but are ones that are frequently asked about and that's Cotton Blossom and Victrix. Cotton Blossom and Victrix were the park's two full-sized MGM props bought at the 1970 MGM Backlot auction, Cotton Blossom was from Show Boat and Victrix from All the Brothers Were Valiant (among many others). Victrix was removed after the 1992 season, with Cotton Blossom's removal being after the 1995 season. Today Sea Dragon and Ripcord stand in their places respectively.
The outline of Victrix is still plain to see in the Sea Dragon lake, even when there is water present.
Both were made of wood, primarily, it's not hard to imagine how they went. It's also fairly telling where their final resting place would be, which was the park dump. It might be a bit morbid but I have thought about the last moments of Cotton Blossom on numerous occasions. What is not easy to determine is the fate of the parts of each ship NOT made of wood. Knowing what I know about the park... and how things easily vanish, especially for attractions that are obviously going to the cutting room floor, it doesn't take any imagination to determine that not everything went to the dump. In fact, Jeff and I have a steel cleat from Cotton Blossom, which attests to the fact that someone, and probably several someones scavenged parts from one or both ships while, or just before they were demolished. I have heard that someone saved the Cotton Blossom sign, the one that went between the two smokestacks. I don't know who, and I don't know where it is. (and I wish I did) Like Sky Hi's concrete footers still remaining the base for both the Cotton Blossom and Victrix still, exist. When the Sea Dragon lake is drained it's still easy to see the outline of the Victrix keel (you can also see if the water is clear).
A little difficult to see, but if you look to the left of the loading dock in the water you can see the grid pattern that was the foundation of Cotton Blossom. Today, this is no longer visible.
Back when Cotton Blossom and the park was under construction in 1972/73, this is that same grid pattern foundation under construction.
Read More about Victrix: http://www.worldsoffun.org/1973/victrix.html
Read More about Cotton Blossom: http://www.worldsoffun.org/1973/cottonblossom.html
Until a few years ago you could also see the outline of the original Cotton Blossom support, but with the lake being re-lined, it is currently impossible to be able to see any longer. Hopefully someday, like so many other things discussed in this article, we will know the location of many of the park's artifacts. Someone asked a few days ago if I knew what happened to the Flying Dutchman sign, hoping that it hung in someone's bar somewhere. I know for a fact that in probably more than just a few cases park signs and artifacts have and are being used for decorative purposes. This is why I continue to hope that while the rides and attractions themselves may be long gone, their memories are not all that are left to us.
3 comments:
THANKS for the trip down memory lane. I often wonder what happen to some of my Favorate rides.
I no longer love in KC, But when I get back there, which sadly to say Isn't often enough I go to WTF, IF it's in season. I miss the orient Xpress....I really do.
I was involved in an accident on the Schussboomer around ‘73-74, at the age of about 7 years old.
I wonder why they didn't just buy some brand new cars for the gondola ride to replace the old ones. That was a great ride that allowed you to get a birds eye view of the park. Loved it.
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