Kansas City Star article from November 5, 1972. An ironic detail is in the lower right hand corner, advising readers that the NEW Kansas City Airport would be opening on November 11th. 
A clearer view of the same photo from the article. Worlds of Fun is starting to take on an appearance that is recognizable. Notice how Der Fender Bender (Autobahn) only has half a roof so far!
Vittle Griddle from the same time period. 
Moulin Rouge from about the same time period.
The details are at the heart of it all, and that is my major takeaway from this article. Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman knew then that if the rides got people through the gate it was the attention to detail that kept them coming back. So they didn’t design a cookie-cutter park.
 |
| Kopter from 1976, located in Scandinavia. |
To highlight this point are my two main takeaways from this article. This first pertains to the plan for children's rides in the park. Manager of Public Relations David Holt is quoted stating “Our feeling is to make it a real family experience by having something along the way for the children”. Instead of specific and separate children’s areas like most parks had, they intermingled the children’s rides with the adult rides. The three original children’s rides were Kopter in Scandinavia, Crashem Bashem in Americana and Funicular in Europa. This concept was apparent through the 1980s and into the 1990s too when you could find Micro Moto Bahn in Scandinavia, Beetle Bumps in the Orient, and Pony Promenade in Americana just to name a few. Starting in the late 1970’s Hunt did start adding more concentrated areas for children such as Half Pint’s Peak or Pandamonium but the “sprinkled through the park concept” lasted until Cedar Fair went ahead and centralized all the rides in around 1998.
 |
| This is actually one of my favorite construction photos, but was shot far earlier than November 1972. However, it illustrates the unique aspect of the old bridges at the park. These are the pylons before they became bridges. |
 |
| And one of the train bridges. |
The other major takeaway is about the train trestles, “We tried to be authentic and tried to keep in a lot of details” Holt would be quoted saying. Today the trestles are nearly the same traditional-style structures as they were in 1973, with the exception of the Fury of the Nile trestle which is a very large set of pre-cast water culverts. I’ve always loved the unique detail of the bridges, but beyond the fact of them being train bridges is the concept of going beyond the bare minimum necessary to create something truly unique. It was that attention to detail that always set Worlds of Fun apart, after all, Jack Steadman stated in August 1971 that they planned to have the most beautiful and exciting park ever built. To do so the devil had to be in the details.
 |
| The back of the 1973 brochure, and there were two different versions that I stumbled on accidentally! One was printed in 1972 and shows a spring opening, the second is printed in 1973 and shows a May 26, 1973 opening date. |
I’d always like to think that Jack got precisely what he wanted and for many of us that grew up with it it WAS the most beautiful park in the country. Worlds of Fun’s opening wasn’t without a few challenges, the upcoming winter of 1972/73 highlighted that absolute demand for excellence, it was one of the most brutal winters on record for Kansas City and saw not only a record ice storm in January but then also necessitated jackhammers to break through frozen ground to plant the trees that we still see today. It was the same cold winter that would delay Worlds of Fun’s opening day. At this point, 50 years ago, opening day was still slated for Spring 1973, but thanks to that wonderful Missouri weather became late May by the time everything was said and done.
No comments:
Post a Comment