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| The hot air balloon, the real one, makes its appearance! |
Welcome back to yet another Opening Day review. I’ve been writing these now for over 27 years, and have one for almost every season, with a few exceptions. Opening Day has always been like Christmas Day for me, the opening of another season of Worlds of Fun, where anything is possible. In all those years of writing opening days, since 1999 to be exact, there has never, ever, been a perfect one.
We attended both the Passholder Preview and Opening Day, and were there from before 6pm on preview day, and between 11 and 7 on opening day, so long days. First thing on preview day, it’s a PREVIEW, like a preview at a movie theater is only 2-3 minutes of clips from the entire 2-hour movie, a preview is not intended to be the entire, fully operational park.
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| Planet Snoopy and its fountain were working for opening day! |
So with that being said, about half the rides were operating during the preview. Boomerang and Prowler operated (I think Patriot?), Fjord Fjarlane, Sea Dragon, Nordic Chaser, Scrambler, Flying Dutchman, Le Taxitour, and Bamboozler, I saw operating with my own eyes. Planet Snoopy was open, and about three-quarters of the rides there were operating. I loved the Park President, Dameon Nelson’s announcement prior to opening. He gave a few announcements, including that there would be four more passholder-specific events, and that there would be fireworks at the end of THAT night! We didn’t ride much, because we don’t really ride much anymore. I rode Prowler, though, and that was amazing. I loved having the opportunity to ride it at night, which is when it's best, and then we went out to watch the fireworks, which was a surprisingly good show.
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| Sea Dragon operated both during preview and opening day. I don't recall seeing the mouth and eyes lighting up for at least a while though? |
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| Boomerang in operation |
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| And Prowler operating but with only one train. |
One issue we had during preview was in the soft drinks department. I wanted to get a refillable mug for the season. I went to Gateway Pizza, and they didn’t have any. I went to the Oasis (Mummy’s Yummy’s), and they said they had the mugs but didn’t have them in their computer to order. A friend of mine had the paper cup drink plan, and it worked for her, so she gave me her drink, and I bought a second one. I could be frustrated that I spent $3 needlessly, but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
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| Since the map isn't online yet here is a photo I took of one of the map cases. We were told there should be print maps later this season. |
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| Screenshot of the website showing the list of rides would be closed for maintenance, Mamba, Steelhawk, Snoopy vs. Red Baron, Beagle Brigade and Zulu. |
Moving on to Opening Day. Now, prior to Opening Day and Passholder Preview, Worlds of Fun listed several rides that would be down on their social media and website, including Mamba, Steelhawk, Zulu, Snoopy vs. Red Baron, and Beagle Brigade. We also knew, for several weeks now, that Timber Wolf, Cyclone Sam’s, and Fury of the Nile were under rehab and would not be operating for at least several weeks.
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| The train would not be in operation during preview but would open around 1pm on Opening Day. |
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| Mustang Runner would not be in operation during Preview or Opening Day but would open that Sunday. Funny enough on its first Opening Day, in 2017 it would also not open until Sunday. |
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| Mamba wouldn't open during Preview but would open on Opening Day around 3pm |
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| This small little covered area is new by the old Sky Hi barn and Mustang Runner. I am not sure what it will be used for. |
Should so many rides be down for opening day? Absolutely not. Were there factors outside the park's control that caused it? Probably. For that reason, while I was disappointed like many that so many rides weren’t operating, I again gave them the benefit of the doubt. Why? As many know, Six Flags/Cedar Fair recently sold Worlds of Fun and six other parks to a new company, Enchanted Parks. The sale closed about three weeks ago. From what I know, Six Flags knew for several months that the parks would no longer be its responsibility. What would you do if you were strapped for cash, like Six Flags is, and knew that? Absolutely nothing. Why spend money on, say, buying replacement ride parts for a park you aren’t going to own in a few months? Enchanted Parks had three weeks to order parts, fix the rides, and make the park presentable. All the while, dealing with concerns about Season Passes, Meal Plans, and everyone asking for interviews. Do I think they did actually a dang good job with the situation they were left with? Absolutely.
So now that you know how we ended up with the opening day, let's take a look at how it actually went. We arrived just before opening, around 10:45 am, with the opening scheduled at 11. We noted that C lot had been re-sealed, repainted, and looked nice; it smelled nice too, love that smell! Walking into the gate from C lot, I noticed several new themed signs, which was a nice touch, but a detail I don’t think most noticed is that the lights attached to each sign are actually themed to the area portrayed on the sign. Awesome. Jeff went in to use the bathroom next to the old ranger station, and commented once again that the bathrooms, especially that one, need some assistance.
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| Newely sealed parking lot with new stripes. |
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| A few of the new themed signs |
Security was much tighter than in previous years, much like the Disney and Universal parks down here in Orlando, Florida. You walk through a scanner, and if it detects anything suspicious, you'll undergo a secondary screening. I experienced that secondary screening process twice! Moving past security, I saw several Peanuts characters at the entrance, and the ambassadors (thank you, Jesus) were all very friendly. The night before, I had noted they had a guest relations employee with a large sign right around the balloon to assist guests with questions regarding their passes. Very nice and thoughtful touch. Guest Relations had a line, but it wasn’t exceptionally long, which was actually rather surprising.
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Near the entrance balloon a guest services employee holds a sign that says "Season Pass Questions? You're Talking to the Right Humans"
 | | New themed signage at the "turnstiles" |
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| Updated security screening near the main entrance. |
The first thing I noticed upon entering the park was the large boards welcoming guests and outlining what to expect in the upcoming season. It mentioned several new and returning shows, Squawk!, Summerdaze Dance Party, Rewind: A Retro Review (Moulin Rouge), The Great American Train Adventure show (train robbery show), Splash Crew at Oceans of Fun, and Rhythm Nights. Another board advertised the upcoming festivals, including Kidzfest, Fan Fest, Haunt, Celebrate Americana 250, Coasters After Dark, and my favorite… Oktoberfest! Oktoberfest at Worlds of Fun dates back to the inaugural 1973 season, so I love that!
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| Entrance signage, this displaying the different shows for the upcoming season. |
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| And this one for the upcoming festivals. |
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| New cannas planted |
After entering the park proper, the first ride I was drawn to was Voyager, which had its main drop re-painted bright blue in the off-season (looks great!) and was testing at that time. I figured it would open soon; unfortunately, as far as I am aware, it wouldn't open at all on Saturday but would open on Sunday. I was mildly disappointed as this was basically “my” ride for two seasons, but again, I’ll be back. We went into Gateway Pizza to purchase a season drink bottle, which, if you recall, we had tried to purchase the night before. It wasn’t a problem, and we refilled it about 4-5 times throughout the rest of the day without any difficulty whatsoever. A friend of mine wasn’t able to purchase an all-season drink bottle, so I am guessing they are still having some technical difficulties.
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| Voyager 2025 |
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| Voyager 2026, yeah that's even more drastically brighter than I expected. |
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| Norma's Menu is below for 2026 |
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| Norma's Menu for 2026 |
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| All Season drink bottle. The daily one is red. |
One detail that did surprise me is that the entrance planters around the big Silver Maples were unplanted. I’m just mentioning that because it surprised me, as they always seem to be planted for opening day with something.
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| Gateway Gardens entrance area |
One other detail I noticed that I liked was the signage around the park "Protect are Worlds" stating that anyone noticing line jumping or disorderly behavior can text their location to 816 227 6779. These were located in restaurants, and ride queues throughout the park.
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| Signage like this is around the park |
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| I don't have to say anything here, but another common sight. |
Our first stop was the Orient/East Asia, since we never even made it there the night before. Buildings and structures as a whole appear spruced up and newly repainted, and several theming updates have been made to building details. It’s easier to show those than explain them, so take a look at the photos below. The only detail I noticed that I don't have photos of is the addition of tiny asian paper lamps to the location formerly known as Panda Express (Rangoon Refresher). I was pleased to see the original yellow asian benches still around, too, as some know those are original to the park.
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| Torii Gate was re-added in 2018, but the East Asia signage is new. |
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| The front of Rickshaw Richards with new detail, and original 1973 bench. |
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| Photo from 1973, same benches. Photo by Stephanie Wattenbarger. |
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| Orient/East Asia pond, this is the same pond that is behind them in the prior photo from 1973. |
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| The ever dependable, nearly 50 year old Bamboozler. |
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| This structure was originally built in 1979 for Beetle Bumps kiddie ride. In 2014 it was remodeled into the Coca-Cola Freestyle. This year it had new detailing added. |
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| You can see new detail added to the exterior to Rickshaw Richards here. It looks like that's a Tricolor Beech tree. |
Ripcord was still standing, but the cables and signage had been removed. I don’t know exactly what’s going on with Ripcord, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it were removed, as most parks have been removing this type of attraction in recent years. I mean, Ripcord has been there longer now than its predecessor, Cotton Blossom! Crazy.
Moving on to Americana, to no one’s surprise, Patriot was operating. If there is one consistent coaster at Worlds of Fun operations-wise, it's Patriot; it runs like the Swiss coaster that it is. Skyliner (the Ferris Wheel) was also in operation, and honestly, that was shocking.
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| Patriot... as dependable as a Swiss watch. |
Nothing new to report in Patriot Landing shops, though I noticed the new wooden cut-out magnets for all the different coasters and almost bought a couple, very nice.
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| I actually kind of like these, each coaster had one. |
River City Grill was not open, so we weren’t able to get a shot of any of the menus there. Steelhawk was also not in operation, but, again, it was on the list previously released by the park prior to opening.
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| Steelhawk closed. |
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| River City Grill |
Front Street was pretty much unchanged. I noticed they had planted some young cannas (you can just see the green leaves, no flowers yet), and I checked out the shops. I noticed nothing especially remarkable merchandise-wise, but did notice a change to the Shake Shop. Actually, a friend pointed this out to me (KC Will-San check out his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@kcwillsanchannel). Shake Shop has been re-named to Udder Delights. Why? Because the menu has expanded beyond milkshakes, and why this is important is that the name is historically relevant. Prospectors, which is the building behind Front Street and which I usually call Blue Bronco, was originally built in 1981 as an ice cream parlor, known until 1995 as Udder Delights. I love that they brought the name back.
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| The NEW Udder Delights. |
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| The NEW Udder Delights menu. |
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Americana Arcade 2023
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| Same view, same place 2026 |
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New Funtier Arcade circa 2000
 | | Americana Arcade (Same building, shot from a different direction) from 2026. |
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Across from that is the Timber Wolf entrance, and, as the park mentioned, it is coming back after a partial re-track by Gravity Group using their engineered pre-cut track (approximately 400 feet, per the park) sometime in June. I hope to make it back for that. Yes, Timber Wolf isn’t the same ride as it was when it opened in 1989, but at least it's still around. I mentioned to a couple of people on opening day that had Timber Wolf been removed, that would have made Wacky Worm/Cosmic Coaster the park’s oldest coaster, which opened in 1993.
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| Timber Wolf entrance 2026 |
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| Timber Wolf from Planet Snoopy |
So, as I am sure many saw, I posted an elated message about the banner stating that Bicentennial Square is returning. There are some who have questioned why I was so excited about that, since Thunderhawk and Omegatron obviously aren’t coming back, and most likely neither are any of the games. So why? Because, for once, the park is visibly recognizing Bicentennial Square; for the last decade, it's been like that area never even existed, and the recognition of it makes me very happy; it’s a step in the right direction as far as I am concerned. I have also been told that the exit to Timber Wolf will be rerouted back to its original location at the rear of Bicentennial Square.
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| Bicentennial Square banner |
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What Bicentennial Square looked like in 2000
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| The same view today, 2026 |
Another detail I noticed had changed on the park map for 2026 was the partial re-name of Cyclone Sadies. NOT Cyclone Sam’s (which we will talk about in a minute), Cyclone Sadie’s predates Sam’s and actually started out as the park’s fun house, which originally opened as the 9th Street Incline (it became known as Cyclone Sadie's Saloon in 1980). Cyclone Sadies would become an arcade in 1989, and then an antique photo location in 2000, and in 2023 it was further transformed into a general store, and last year it was given back its name, partially, Cyclone Sadie’s General Store. This year, the name was changed again to Cyclone Sadie’s Saloon, and from what I was told, it would be used for indoor skits/shows. Right next door to Cyclone Sadie's, up a few stairs is a new themed "funeral parlor", which I am guessing is going to be used in the various skits that run in the Wild West section of Americana.
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| Funeral Parlor in the old Cyclone Sadies Saloon location. |
Now onto Cyclone Sam’s: as mentioned by the park, part of its indoor ride experience is being updated and will hopefully be back soon. I did notice on preview night that a purple light was coming out from under the exit doors, so it is definitely not just sitting there dark and shuttered.
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| Cyclone Sam's entrance with banner |
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| Let there be light! and Let it be purple! |
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| I don't know, I thought it was totally cute. (Yes I am a girl) |
Gold Rush Pizza, formerly Vittle Griddle, is open for business and, unlike last year, when it served only snacks, is now also serving pizza. The menus weren’t working, so I wasn’t able to get a photo of the menu here. The former Prospector’s Burritos next door has now simply become known as Prospector’s with a drastic menu change. Prior to this season, it served burritos and bowls in a Chipotle-style. The menu has changed to chicken sandwiches and corn dogs. The corn dog I had there was a) huge and b) tasted good, so no complaints.
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| Gold Rush, formerly Vittle Griddle. |
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| Prospector's, formerly Blue Bronco, originally Udder Delights. |
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| Prospector's Menu |
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| Corndog and Chips from Prospectors. |
So let's talk about the elephant in the room here for a minute. The Dining Plan. I know a lot of people are very upset that the Dining Plan is being dropped by Enchanted Parks. I get it, many were planning their seasons around it, and it's frustrating when it feels like the park just completely ruined all of your plans. I am sure they did not make the choice lightly and most likely felt they had no other option. If you bought the dining plan (which I almost did last fall, too), you paid Six Flags. Six Flags has your $100 or whatever you paid. Six Flags didn’t hand over the money to Enchanted Parks that people paid for the Dining Plan. To honor the Dining Plan, Enchanted Parks would have had to feed every Dining Plan participant for free all season. And though I may be the messiah, Enchanted Parks is not Jesus Christ and cannot multiply loaves and fish. If we want Enchanted to have any chance of succeeding… financially, that’s not a good way to start. I believe they have done the best they could. They are returning the money guests paid out of their own pockets. Another detail that I don’t think most have noticed is that they have DROPPED food prices throughout the park on an average of $1-2 per item. On average, that's about a 6-12% drop in price, while on average, food prices are increasing by 3% everywhere else.
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| I almost called this Pizzo Pizza... man a decade late for that. Gateway Pizza. |
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| Gateway Pizza Menu 2026 |
Around 1 p.m., the train finally opened to the public, so we rode on the very first public ride of ELI and the Worlds of Fun Railroad. It had to close briefly after our ride to trim some of the bushes, as many guests, including us, were literally bushwhacked. If you caught my ode to Bicentennial Square post on social media, you might also have seen my “how dare they” post about the Depot schedule board. Original to the park, the Depot Schedule board was always a fun read. Martha Stradley was always hanging around the station just a bit too much… I’ll post a photo of what it looked like last season for those who never noticed it. So I was told that it is being refurbished and will be back with the new train show this season. Awesome. Also, if you have a chance, take note of the old ELI Engineer’s Emeritus plaque, which honors several of ELI’s past engineers who have passed away. It's a small detail, and I am glad it's still there.
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| A photo of the Time Schedule I took a few years ago (It was there last year). |
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| Here it is missing opening day 2026, you can see the Eli Emeritus plaque next to it (it's still there). There is a close up image further down. |
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| If you look closely you can just make out the Time Schedule board behind all those guests. Photo from the 1980 Ambam yearbook. |
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| The ELI Engineer Emeritus plaque which is still on the station. |
Planet Snoopy, now we didn’t go into Planet Snoopy on opening day, but we did during Preview. Red Baron, which is one of the park’s oldest rides (opening in 1974), was listed on the website as non-operational, but it was all (or mostly) in one piece. Also not operational was Beagle Brigade, which was not fully assembled and had its cars sitting in the old Peanut’s Playhouse structure. Also not operational during Preview night were Woodstock Gliders, Snoopy’s Rocket Express (the aerial tram ride), and Cosmic Coaster; all other kiddie rides were operational.
Going back out of Planet Snoopy, Detonator was running on Opening Day, but only with one tower, as far as I could see. Mustang Runner was not operational on opening day but would open on Sunday afterward (Thank you, Kim Flores).
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| Detonator was operating but only with one tower. |
Moving into Europa. Oh, Europa… totally needs some love, I say it every year and will keep saying it. I miss the trees that used to line the walkway to Autobahn, you know, the old island trees? Autobahn itself looked like… well, Autobahn. It was running, with 9 cars that were running exceptionally slowly. This isn’t Le Taxitour version 2.0, it's bumper cars. I did like the new entrance sign for Autobahn, though. Flying Dutchman and Le Taxitour were both open (and were open during preview night). I absolutely love the new blue lights on Dutchman. I just wish the park would add the lights back to the tower. I’ll include a photo of what that looked like so people know what I’m talking about.
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Flying Dutchman in 1999, when it still had lights on the tower.
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| Flying Dutchman with new blue lights from 2026. |
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| Autobahn |
The biggest piece of news in Europa concerns the restaurant there. Last known as Let Them Eat Cake, it was a funnel cake restaurant that I think maybe opened a handful of times. Before that, it went through a BUNCH of name changes, but was originally Le Poulet Bone until 1978 (French for Chicken Bone), and was then known as Cafe Internationale until Cedar Fair took over and re-named it (the first time) to Pizza Patio in 1996. Anyway, there is a banner there that says “Staying Tuned for exciting news about our new menu”, so hopefully it will reopen, we will see. The old Caffee sign is still there. I actually have a photo of it there from 1973, so I always check on it. Please, nobody take it!
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| Banner on the Pizza Patio restaurant in Europa. |
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Cafe International from 1979, note the same sign in the upper right hand corner.
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Here it is from 2026
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| Moulin Rouge, I do miss an opening day show here. |
Moving into Africa. The floral clock isn’t flowering, but at least it has its hands, and the shrubs around it are trimmed, so hopefully flowers soon? Auntie Annie's next door was closed but had a banner stating it was under refurbishment and would be open soon.
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| Floral Clock, sort of. |
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| Auntie Anne's |
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| Yeah another one because it was cute. I almost played this game to try to win it. |
Boomerang was operational both during the preview and on opening day, and, of course, that was the coaster that had no problems… go figure. The new Zambezi Zinger next door did open for opening day (pretty quickly, but I don’t have an exact time). It began cycling its second train almost immediately, but it ran empty for a few hours. It opened with both trains later in the day.
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| Boomerang and Zinger operating side by side |
Zulu was not operational, but Worlds of Fun already listed this ride as closed so no surprise. Jeff, who was one of its first managers, thinks it was the hydraulic motor of the ride, which was visibly missing. The Prowler was running, but with only one train.
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| I knew it wouldn't be open but I was surprised it was as much assembled as it is here. To put it lightly ... there have been years it has been in MANY pieces on opening day. |
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| New Titan Track on Prowler. |
Serengeti Station, which was the old Big Game Hunt turned theater in 2023, is currently empty. On the entrance sign out front, it had the "Squawk!" Bird Show logo on it, so I hope it's coming back this year.
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| Gorilla Grill, formerly Congo Clearing. |
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| Gorilla Grill menu |
Gorilla Grill (Congo Clearing) and Big Jacks’ were both open during preview and on Saturday. Last year, I mentioned in my opening-day review that there were few dining options open; this year seems to be going better in that department.
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| I am VERY excited about this... did I say I was excited about this? |
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| Nile without any boats or water. |
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| Oasis, formerly Mummy's Yummy's |
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| Oasis menu |
Moving onward and upward towards Fury of the Nile and Mamba. Fury of the Nile is probably one of my favorite recent news stories; it's finally getting refurbished! Thank the Lord! There was a crane behind the ride, so obviously, work has been happening. From what I have heard, they are removing and updating many of the weirs (the fancy name for the obstacles at the bottom of the trough that create the waves). Removing is actually a good thing here, as Jeff, who was again one of Nile’s first managers, recalls that there were far fewer when it opened. I’m betting that the thought was that adding more weirs would improve the ride and instead made it worse and worse. I have also been told that at least some of the geysers are returning. Hopefully. I’m from Missouri, I’ll believe it when I see it.
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| Sand Dune Diner (formerly Coasters Diner) |
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| Coasters Menu |
Around 2:00, we arrived around Mamba, and it was cycling its one train. I noticed when they sent it out with a test rider, so I stuck around. The crowd started growing around 2:30, and Mamba finally opened to the public around 3. I got in line almost immediately, figuring with the length it would be about an hour wait, and waited about 15 minutes before the ride went down. A lot of folks exited the line almost immediately, but I stayed put, realizing the line was moving because people kept exiting, and I knew from experience that, most times, coasters go down, it's usually pretty short. We waited about 30 minutes, and Mamba went back up again. Waited about another 15 mins for my turn, and rode in 1:3. At the time, Mamba’s trims were very, very light, if at all, and it was an awesome ride. I heard that the trim brakes were turned back on on Sunday, so we shall see.
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| Waiting for Mamba to open at 2:23 PM |
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| Mamba cycling empty trains |
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| Mamba in operation with one train. |
Backtracking a bit to Scandinavia, except for Voyager, pretty much every ride was operating there both during previews and opening day. Scrambler seemed to take a couple of hours to open on opening day, which I thought was odd. One little detail we were let in on is found in Scandinavia. We were told that there are 9 little gnomes/vikings scattered throughout Scandinavia. They aren’t very big, maybe 2-3” tall tops, and are not in easily accessible areas (so someone can’t easily walk off with one of them). We spent about 30 minutes and found 7 of them, it’s pretty fun! A friend of mine mentioned they should make an official game out of it, where if you find all of them you get a sticker or something, which sounded like a good idea. The only thing is, I’m not sure how you would prove you found them all?
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| I am not going to give away any locations of these but they are all in Scandinavia that we could find. |
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| Tree cut down in Scandinavia from last season |
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| New Trees |
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| Sipping Chalet was open which was surprising. |
In lower Scandinavia, they had cut down a couple of trees last season, so I was happy to see that they had replanted several more in the same center islands. I also noticed that Tivoli is missing its sign, so I am guessing that it is being replaced. Next week marks the beginning of the Festival of Music, and Tivoli is still being used for it, so I am guessing there will be new signage next week. Last thing, we noticed that the newish bar, Vikings Wharf, was open both during preview and opening day! That was surprising, and we were told they are adding bar stools, so that with the multiple screens they have, it might make this a good place to be during World Cup or Royals/Chiefs games, for that matter.
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| This used to be known as Nordic Nook and I usually still call it that, but at least it's being used for something. |
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| Viking Wharf menu |
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| Tivoli with no signage. |
One detail I absolutely loved on both days we were at the park was the REAL hot air balloon modeled after the original balloon logo. It disappeared after Grand Carnival was discontinued, and I am glad to see it making a comeback. Supposedly, it will take off and fly over the park at the end of the day (weather permitting) later in the season, which should be fun!
On the way out, each guest was handed a complimentary park ticket to return anytime before September 7th, due to the multiple technical difficulties the park experienced throughout the day. Personally, I didn’t find this opening day particularly dreadful, and my opinion wouldn’t have changed based on whether I was given a free ticket to return or not, but I understand why they did it, and honestly, that gesture proved more to me about Enchanted Parks and their management decisions than anything else I’ve seen. It meant they cared, and for the first time in a long time, it's nice to have a corporate parent that actually does care.
So, here ends my 23rd opening-day review. Now this should come as no surprise to anyone, I am biased towards Worlds of Fun. So do I give them the benefit of the doubt on a lot of things? Yes, I do, but that’s because I want to see them continue to open for many more years to come. Having lived in Kansas City for 38 years of my life, I know that Kansas Citians have a tendency to destroy the things they love most. I wish they wouldn’t, but it’s a fact. Appreciate what you have, and for all the bumps and problems we experienced on opening day, we still had fun and look forward to coming back many more times this season! See you at the park.
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