From Foam Mountains to Outer Space: An evolution of Worlds of Fun's children's areas Part II

 We left off in our last episode in 1986, with Scandinavia still being the home to about half of the park’s children's rides and several popular children’s attractions such as Half Pint’s Peak and Humpty’s Haven.  (read more in Part 1 of the series here: https://unwof.blogspot.com/2021/10/foam-mountains-to-outer-space-evolution.html)

1987 Souvenir Map

Multiple changes were afoot in 1987 though. First, Silly Serpent (originally Funicular) would be permanently removed after the 1986 season. Also, the park would replace Aerodrome with the first planned, centrally located children’s area, Pandamonium!

A look at the Aerodrome just prior to its conversion to Pandamonium. Photo is shot from Screamroller's lift hill by Jeff Mast. 

Aerodrome opened as a park expansion in 1978 and was themed to flight, from the thrilling Barnstormer a 100-foot-tall biplane ride, to Lucky Lindy’s Lunch Counter. Aerodrome wasn’t designed as a kid's area, but it did have a children's ride, with the 1974 Red Baron being relocated from its original location in Scandinavia. Today, nearly 45 years later Red Baron is still located in the same spot it was relocated to in 1978! 

Red Baron in the Aerodrome

PandAm Airlines in Pandamonium.  It is the same exact ride, in the same exact location, and in this case shot from nearly the same angle.  

It might seem odd for a kid’s ride to be mixed in with a thrill ride, but at this point, Hunt was still following its original plan to distribute children’s rides through the park instead of having them in one single kiddie area like so many parks did. That all changed with Pandamonium. The big question though is why Hunt didn’t instead expand on their already existing pseudo-kiddie area, Half Pint’s Peak and Humpty’s Haven in Scandinavia? I think there are several possibilities for that. One, there was already kid-friendly entertainment at the old Flying Circus Theater. Also, there were two kids’ rides already in the area that didn’t need to be moved (Crashem Bashem and Red Baron). And last, the Aerodrome area offered I believe more room for expansion in the future.  

Rainbow Brite at the Rainbow Pavilion (Flying Circus Theater), in 1986. Photo by Debbie Reasoner. 

One of the most memorable additions to Pandamonium was the introduction of a whole new themed character, P.J. Panda. Worlds of Fun had introduced Sam Panda back in 1975 but P.J. was intended to be the smaller, more kid-sized version and would become so iconic for kids that P.J. was virtually synonymous for an entire generation.  

P.J. Panda was introduced with Pandamonium.  You can see Flying Circus Theater and Screamroller in the background.

 Along with P.J. came four new rides, Either Oar a small canoe ride, Swing-a-Ling a circular swing ride, Too Too Train a small kiddie train ride, and Turntyke a small circular kiddie car ride. Two new climbing and activity areas were added too including HabiTot, and Kiddie-opolis (which lasted only until 1992). 

Kiddie-opolis play area (those big red balls were a pain to try to walk across!).

Press release for Pandamonium's announcement.

In addition to new rides, several attractions were re-themed and re-painted to fit with a more kid-centric area. Lucky Lyndy’s Lunch Counter became Kid’s Stuff, Cockpit Coolers became Soda Sipper, and even Red Baron received its first-ever (but far from last) re-name PandAm Airlines, a tribute to Pan Am Airlines.

 

 

The Tomato-Plant Octopus ride.  You can see the tower for Kid's Stuff (old Lucky Lyndy's Lunch Counter) in the background.

Pandamonium looking from the back of the area towards Either Oar on the left side, with the entrance to Octopus on the right. 

Then there was Octopus. Octopus would replace the thrilling Barnstormer in the then Aerodrome in 1984 and be re-named Tailspinner.  When Aerodrome transitioned to Pandamonium one would think the thrill ride Octopus would be moved out too. Nope. Octopus stayed exactly where it was and was re-named back to Octopus. An interesting personal story is that I first rode Octopus in Pandamonium, in 1987 the year Pandamonium opened. I had a brave moment, for a 9-year-old me. Suffice to say it was the first and last brave moment not only of that day, or that season but probably for the next decade. It terrified me.  

A lot of places have changed appearances drastically over the years, but none more than this view. Today, Detonator is located where Head over Wheels (kiddie Ferris wheel) is in this photo.

Turntyke along with Swing a Ling is one of two Pandamonium expansion rides still in operation today.

Another attraction that received the “new paint new theme” treatment was Flying Circus Theater, in actuality though the changes with it had already been coming for several years. In 1983 it became Treehouse Hollow for the ShirtTales, and in 1986 became the Rainbow Pavilion when the park welcomed Rainbow Brite. 

Wacky Worm was part of the 1993 Pandamonium expansion.  An interesting point is that in early photos Screamroller in in the background, but 1993 it's Timber Wolf.  Also of note, the colored light blocks out in front of Wacky Worm spelled out "A.C.E' for the American Coaster Enthusiasts. 

Either Oar was one of four rides introduced with Pandamonium.  It would last until 2000, and would be replaced by Woodstock's Airmail in 2001.  (Today's Kite Eating Tree)

Pandamonium with its block-colored lights and colors would stay around for the next decade. Changes would come in 1993 which would see the re-addition of Tot’s Yachts (from Scandinavia), as well as the addition of a new kiddie coaster, Wacky Worm. 1993 would also see the introduction of the park’s bird show, Rainforest Follies to the Flying Circus Theater r-named again to Panda Pavilion. It like so many other park attractions would meet its end with Cedar Fair and Berenstain Bears in 1997, sort of, as we will look at in our next blog.

The most fascinating detail about this photo is the date, March 23, 1996.  This is the latest documented appearance of P.J.  By the 1996 season the Bearenstain Bears would begin appearing in the park. 

Pandamonium though is an interesting expansion to consider when looking at the last years of Hunt Midwest and Worlds of Fun. It in many ways symbolizes the shift, Hunt Midwest continued to operate kids rides OUTSIDE Pandamonium but would never again add a kids' ride outside of it as they had in prior years. Hunt Midwest was just beginning to follow the trend of other parks, instead of doing what they always did best, their own thing. For this reason, Pandamonium is in many ways not only a major turning point for park kid’s areas but also for the park as a whole in itself too.  

1971-2021: 50 Years Ago the Fun Began

 A few months ago, on August 4th, we looked at the beginning of the idea that was Worlds of Fun. Today, we look at what was the beginning of the very real place. Like every groundbreaking ceremony, there was the “teaser” element, which in Worlds of Fun’s case involved releasing 3,000 helium balloons, each with two tickets good for entrance to the park in 1973. There was also the just as necessary collection of who’s who in Kansas City in attendance too. Some names we recognize today, Mayor Charles B. Wheeler Jr., Jack W. Steadman, Lamar Hunt along with a long list of various Clay County judges and Chamber of Commerce members.  

Pushing the plunger to release the 3,000 balloons!  From left to right: 1) Stan McIlvaine (General Manager of Mid-America Enterprises), 2) Edward J. Bauman (Clay County presiding judge), 3) Mayor Charles B. Wheeler, Jr. 4) Richard K. Degenhardt (Executive Vice-President of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce),  Lamar Hunt (Board Chairman of Mid-America Enterprises), George W. Lehr (Jackson County presiding judge), Jack W. Steadman (President of Mid-America Enterprises), and Al Lambino (project architect of Randall Duell & Associates)

And in color thanks to Adam Hoffman. 

But if you will humor me my favorite aspect of the event was one small detail. Not the shovels, or tiny balloons but the big balloon that was introduced that day. In August Worlds of Fun received its name, but in November Worlds of Fun received its icon, the hot air balloon. It was November 10th that the hot air balloon we all know and love was introduced to the public. In 2007 Cedar Fair attempted to change that, and homogenize the park’s logo, but the very next year the hot air balloon was back and it was back to stay. It's been modified and altered more than once over the years, but the hot balloon is synonymous with Worlds of Fun, and that aspect was born today, 50 years ago. 

The original ascending balloon Worlds of Fun logo.  A fascinating detail is that the "W" of Worlds of Fun, is actually the lowercase "w" in the font used (Partridge Font).

 

Possibly one of my favorite quotes from the November 11th edition of the Kansas City Times coverage of the ceremonies is from Jack Steadman himself:

“We chose the large multi-colored ascension balloon as our symbol because it represents fun, adventure, and travel reminiscent of the movie Around the World in 80 Days. These are the things that we want Worlds of Fun to represent.”  (Roberts, 1971, p. 1)

Victrix concept art.  Victrix was located in the same lake as Sea Dragon is today.  You can see the outline of the keel when the water is clear. 

The park design was further elaborated on at the groundbreaking too. There were the usual suspects, ones that made it into the final park, a speedracer (Zambezi Zinger), a flume ride (Viking Voyager), Cotton Blossom, and Victrix. But several attractions mentioned, never made it to the final product. Of these the two most tantalizing include a “huge carousel” and “a living floral display area patterned after the Copenhagen's renowned Tivoli Gardens”. Though there may never have been a specific Tivoli Gardens area, the over-arching concept of an entertaining, yet also naturally beautiful park lived on and lives on still today. 

Portions of the Tivoli Gardens area, which later became simply the Ski Heis station in Scandinavia.  Like so many of these drawings, the places existed in a much less grander scale. 

Another fascinating detail is that November 10th wasn’t even the first day of construction. Worlds of Fun’s physical construction began over two months prior, on September 1st, 1971! The actual grand groundbreaking ceremony was delayed due to schedule conflicts, and construction had to start because the park was scheduled to open in less than 18 months. Probably a good idea as park opening was still delayed from the original schedule. Worlds of Fun was originally planned to open in April 1973, but didn’t open until the end of May! We can thank the completely unpredictable and sometimes disastrous Kansas City weather for that. No surprise there.  

Another view of the groundbreaking photo above.  What this tells me though is that somewhere there is video footage of it. 

Still, we look on and celebrate November 10th as the beginning of the physical park we still know almost 50 years after it opened. Worlds of Fun would follow a trend of corporate parks that started in the 1960s and continue into the mid-1970s, and as we saw back in August Worlds of Fun borrowed from a variety of parks that proceeded it. I would like to think though that some of the best aspects of the park were when Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman deviated from the norm. It was those differences, that make Worlds of Fun unique, magical even. And there Lamar Hunt borrowed from the very best of theme parks when he was quoted stating: “ When a family enters our park it will truly feel it has left the real world behind and walked into a world of fantasy and fun.” (Roberts, 1971, p. 1) Though the jury is still out on modern history, for those of us that grew up with park during the Hunt years, I think it’s safe to say Lamar and Jack got exactly what they wanted, and so did we.

Souvenir detonator from Worlds of Fun Groundbreaking.  

And there they are on a table on the day of groundbreaking.  (This is the same photo as above, just cropped.)

 

Roberts, J. (1971, Nov. 11). Gala Start for Fun World. Kansas City Times, p. 1-2.