Whenever I ask, “What past ride should Worlds of Fun bring back?” The first answers are usually either Zambezi Zinger or Orient Express. But the first non-coaster ride most people suggest is a ride that has been gone far longer than either Zinger or Express - the Sky Hi.
It surprises me that in nearly 24 years of writing editorials and blogs, I have never once written about the ride that for me started both my great love of Worlds of Fun but also my foray into researching Worlds of Fun history. In 1983 when I first visited the park, one of the last rides we rode was the Sky Hi. I would only ever ride it this one time. When we boarded in Americana it was already dark, and I can still remember the yellow incandescent light casting the shadows inside the barn queue area, and the painted handrails (I think they were green). I also remember being absolutely terrified of the ride. I was five years old (almost 6) and scared of everything - especially heights. But for some reason, halfway through the ride, I peeked out and saw the most beautiful view I had ever seen - Worlds of Fun literally glowing at night. There was something truly magical about it.
That story, and the millions just like it, are the reason why I feel preserving Worlds of Fun history is so vital. The rides make the stories and the stories make our lives.
But what about the ride? Sky Hi (or as it was known in Scandinavia, “Ski Heis”) was a common ride in the theme park world of the 1960s and 1970s. Sky Hi was a Von Roll SkyRide 101 (or VR101). Von Roll Holding AG is a Swiss company known more commonly for its ski lifts, which is, for all intents and purposes, what Sky Hi was. Disneyland opened the first VR101 in 1956, and the trend spread to every major city and state that tried to copy Disneyland in their local municipalities. Astroworld, Six Flags over Texas, Marriott’s Great America, and Worlds of Fun all had them - Cedar Point originally had two! There were 38 total operating in the United States at the VR101 peak - today there are only 10.
In terms of comparison to other VR101’s, Worlds of Fun’s Sky Hi was pretty average. Sky Hi had four towers (the tallest standing 70 feet high) and a total length stretching 1,160 feet long. The ride incorporated a total of 25, four-seat gondola cabins that could be stored on either the Americana or Scandinavia sides of the park. The motor for the ride was housed in Scandinavia, with the counterweight and bull (drive) wheel in Americana. By comparison, the San Diego Zoo Skyfari’s tallest tower is 190 feet tall, and the longest VR101 is at Busch Gardens Tampa which has eight towers and operates 62 cabins. Both are still in operation today!
One of the more fascinating details of Sky Hi is that on the 1971 concept art it shows the cabins as hot air balloons. That may not seem entirely feasible, but the unusual orb-shaped cabins that operated at Six Flags New England makes it seem not completely out of the realm of possibility. I am sure logistics factored into the choice to use the typical four-seat cabins that ran on many of the other VR101’s across the country. While VR101 cabins may all seem identical - they are not. Worlds of Fun’s cabins specifically were manufactured by Gangloff A.G. of Bern Switzerland. Many other VR101’s operated with cabins manufactured by CWA or Carrosseriewerke Aarburg (also of Switzerland) which produced the cabins at nearby Six Flags Mid-America. To the average rider the differences between the two types of cabins is negligible, but it’s an interesting footnote.
Regardless of the manufacturer, it was the Von Roll cabins in general that would cause the eventual demise of Sky Hi. By the 1980’s insurance companies were getting nervous about Von Roll SkyRides - too many accidents. An accident at Six Flags Mid-America in 1978 killed three guests when a cabin detached from the wire and fell to the ground. My husband, Jeff Mast, was working as manager of Le Taxi Tour (today’s modern lead) one day in the summer of 1987, while a friend of his, Kelly (remember him from two blogs ago?), was manager of Sky Hi. That was the day the insurance adjusters came to condemn the Sky Hi cabins. Jeff recalls receiving several calls from Kelly as the number of total cabins dwindled down to six. Six total cabins. On a ride that could operate 25. Worlds of Fun didn’t immediately give up the ship; they looked for safe replacements, but when none were to be found Sky Hi closed for good the summer of 1987.
It is amazing how so many things in our lives that we depend on and love one day can be almost entirely forgotten the next day.. So it is with Sky Hi. The world forgot it. Quickly. In 1988 the Scandinavian station became a picnic pavilion, Tivoli East (which it still is today). In 1988 the Americana station became a short-lived arcade, then a Season Pass holder renewal booth, then a midway games location (which it remains today).
When I went to work at the park in 1994 I questioned whether the ride I remembered as a child had even existed at all, or had it all been simply a dream? The only evidence I could find was the concrete footer that was next to the bumper cars (Der Fender Bender). The footer was there then, but no longer . No one I talked to that summer knew what I was talking about. In 1996 when I went back with my senior class trip I asked the ambassador working at the Icicle stand (an old tiny snack stand near Tivoli) and she, no surprise, didn’t know either.
That’s when I started researching Worlds of Fun history. I combed every local Mid-Continent library vertical file. Finally my dad took me to the Missouri Valley Room at the Downtown Library which had a 1973 souvenir map in it’s collection and I rediscovered the Sky Hi.
Then I begin rediscovering Sky Hi in the park. Like so many past rides it left its own gigantic footprints that 30+ years haven’t been able to erase. Both stations are still there. Two of the concrete pylon footers, one under Voyager and one near the Train depot, are still there. The 70-foot pylons themselves, and brightly colored cabins are long gone, but the memories remain.
One fascinating detail a recent reader mentioned about Sky Hi is that the cars would detach from the cable when they entered the station and then reattach on the way out. Once inside the station they were controlled exclusively by the ambassadors working the ride. There were three ambassador positions in each station. The first was “Catch” - the ambassador would catch the car as it came in and unload it. The second was “Swing” - swinging the car around the track and starting the loading process. The third and last was “Trip” - the ambassador would finish loading the car, lock it, and roll the cabin into the trip. The trip was a metal bar that would stop each cabin, it would then automatically release each cabin allowing safe spacing between the release of each cabin. The trip could also be manually controlled by the ambassador in that position. Once the trip was released the cabin would roll onto the cable, reattach and be sent airborne. While in the station the cars were on a track, but there was no motor to move them around the station itself except for human hands and arms - so as you can imagine it was a very physically demanding job!
Jeff Mast, who worked both the Sky Hi and Ski Heis, recalls how they could also control the number of cabins based on the size of the line of guests. Since the Scandinavia Ski Heis station was located next to Tivoli they would frequently add more cabins on when a show let out, neglecting to inform the Americana sky Hi station that more cabins than usual were inbound. I’m sure that led to quite a scramble!
Sky Hi was removed mid-season 1987 - it is gone and it was forgotten (by many) but no longer. Von Roll hasn’t completely gone the way of the dodo either. In 1996 Doppelmayr (an international manufacturer of ropeways and people movers) bought Von Roll’s gondola lifts and cable car division. In 2020 Doppelmayr would bring the VR101 into the 21st century with Skyliner, a gondola transportation system at the Walt Disney World resort. Are we seeing history repeat itself? Will a whole new batch of cable car rides make it to theme parks across the country like they did when Disneyland opened the first Von Roll SkyRide 101 in 1954? I doubt it. There is no mass millionaire frenzy to build Disneyland-esque parks like there was back in the 60s and 70s. But who knows, maybe Sky Hi could fly at Worlds of Fun again someday. Here’s hoping!
So why Ski HI? Writing every blog I’ve ever written has been fun, but this one was written as a therapeutic “getting my mind off stuff” kind of project. Sky Hi has ALWAYS been my favorite memory at Worlds of Fun. A few days before I starting writing this I was diagnosed, a second time, with breast cancer. I am going in for surgery possibly as this blog is being read. Recently, I was told how amazing all the work and research I’ve done on Worlds of Fun is, and my answer was… “sure, I guess”. I am never sure how to respond, since I do all of this because it’s fun (and let’s all be honest I am not David McCullough lol). I have never done any of this to be thanked. Worlds of Fun has always been my happy place, even more than that, it’s made me smile when I REALLY needed to smile. I feel I shouldn’t be thanked for anything but thanking Worlds of Fun, it’s staff and everyone else instead. Thanks for making me smile, for the memories, and for the fun. Hopefully that will continue on for years to come too!
