Oceans of Fun turns 40!

Worlds of Fun management, including Lamar Hunt, Jack Steadman and Lee Derrough in Hawaiian shirts at Oceans of Fun's grand opening. 

 With it being the 40th Anniversary of Oceans of Fun it seems almost obligatory to write an Oceans of Fun blog. Today, most guests just write Oceans of Fun off as a “typical water park” but I find that statement to neither be true today nor 40 years ago when Oceans of Fun opened. 40 years ago the idea of opening a water park in the midwest, an area with snow and ice in the winter seemed crazy, yet today it isn’t even just the only water park in the Kansas City area. I have also found Oceans to not be your typical water park today either. Most water parks whether added on to an amusement park or not, feel like gigantic concrete jungles, with little to no grass, little to no shade, and attractions seemingly piled on top of each other. Oceans of Fun due to its plan and also its maturity seems to never suffer from any of that, there is not only grass, but large mature trees, and some attractions can almost be described as a hike from each other. And I like it that way.

The Oceans of Fun Gate in 1987

Landscaping between Caribbean Cooler and Diamond Head. Photo from "At-the-Park" Magazine from 1993.

And it was intended to be that way too: in an article just before Oceans of Fun’s opening Tom Steadman, manager of Research and Development was quoted “ We have a beautiful setting with the trees and the terrain… this is very secluded and serene. We designed I that way intentionally” (Smith, 1982, p. C1)

Between the gate and Trader Nick's in 1999. 

If that seems familiar it should, as it “rhymes” right along with the story of Worlds of Fun itself. The idea of Worlds of Fun was conceived when Jack Steadman first visited Disneyland in 1957, whereas the idea of Oceans of Fun was born after a visit by Lee Derrough to Wet ’n Wild in Orlando 20 years later in 1977. 

Surf City Wave Pool under construction.

Surf City Wave Pool 1982.

On May 22, 1982, Oceans of Fun opened to Kansas Citians on a very chilly wet day. Enclosed in its gates were attractions many of us would be familiar with today. The highlight was and still is Surf City Wave Pool built by WaveTek. Surf City was one of only a dozen or so wave pools of its kind at the time, it  reached over two-thirds the size of a football field, contained over a million gallons of water, and originally reached a maximum depth of 9 feet (today it has been reduced to about 6 feet). One of my favorite memories of Surf City, besides all the candy merchants… was the music. You could always tell when the waves were going to start as the The Safaris  “Wipeout” would come over the loudspeakers just prior. According to a May 18th Kansas City Star article, the theme from Jaws was planned to come over the speakers when the waves ended. Everyone OUT OF THE WATER.

Castaway Cove under construction

Not far from Surf City Wave Pool is Oceans of Fun’s only remaining, mostly unmodified original attraction, Castaway Cove and Belly Up Bar. For guests 21 years and over, Castaway Cove offers even today a 2,500 square foot swimming pool, and probably the most popular attraction is its half in the water/half dry land “belly up” bar.  

Kayak's at Bucaneer's Bay in 1993. (From At-the-Park magazine)

Ski Show at Bucaneer's Bay in 1982. 

Everything else at Oceans of Fun has changed over the years and mostly in good ways. The original five-acre Buccaneer Bay was briefly home to a ski show and for many years kayaking and boating until it was closed off in 2019. A little known fact is that the water from Buccaneer Bay is connected to the Fury of the Nile and can be pumped in either direction. (In and out of Nile). This is why Nile water sometimes looks (and smells) like lake water. Buccaneer Bay’s original neighbor the 1.5 acres Neptune’s Lagoon has been long gone, replaced in 1992 by Coconut Cove. Neptune’s Lagoon offered a “natural” lake play area and was composed of a rock base covered by 12-18 inches of “tropical” sand, imported from the “exotic” Kaw River. It offered a maximum advertised depth of 5.5 feet. I remember Neptune’s Lagoon well and loved its sand bottom and sand beaches, and the play areas that were later added in 1983. I suppose I can appreciate it being replaced though as Neptune’s Lagoon was far from sanitary I am sure, and probably would appear gross to many modern water park goers today. 

Belly Hai/Knee Hai play area in 1982.

As far as areas specifically for kids Oceans of Fun had that too, before the expansion of Crocodile Isle (1991) and Captain Kidds (1995) a smaller kids area known as Belly Hai and Knee Hai came complete with mini slides, water cannons, and small wading pool.  

Diamond Head with it's original slide signs.  Photo from At-the-Park. 

And then there is Diamond Head. Diamond Head which is easy to forget was Oceans of Fun’s first and only slide complex when the park opened in 1982. Originally there were plans for more, but probably with a growing budget (the park was originally planned for $6 million, but the final cost was $7.25 million), the slides planned were pared down to the three 400-foot long slides on Diamond Head. And who can forget their names? Waikiki Wipeout, Honolulu Lulu, and Maui Wowee. Supposedly they were lined up from least thrilling to most, but I am not sure there is any credit to that story, that’s just what I was told as a kid.

The photo is taken from Typhoon which wasn't added until 1983, but is the only photo that I have showing Neptune's Lagoon. 

Same photo a closer look at Neptune's Lagoon. 

According to stories and reviews when the park first opened most guests weren’t impressed with Diamond Head, but looking back on my personal experience I thought they were some of the most thrilling slides in the park, I always felt like I was about to be flung out!

Oceans of Fun Gate in 1999.

Diamond Head slides again in 1999.  

Diamond Head’s slides were refinished back in 2008 but were finally removed following the 2019 season, having lasted nearly 40 years, and replaced by Riptide Racers in 2021.

In the beginning… 40 years ago that was Oceans of Fun.

The bright green astroturf used to cover the surfaces around attractions. This photo was taken in 1987 when Caribbean Cooler opened. 

 A multitude of attractions would be added over the years, today the park has grown from only three water slides to over a dozen from Typhoon to Predator’s Plunge to Aruba Tuba and then some. Neptune’s Lagoon is long gone, and Surf City Wave Pool has drastically changed over the years too. Oceans of Fun fills some of my earliest memories, I miss the bathing houses being named “Wahine” and “Kanaka” (woman and man in Hawaiian) I spied that on the Honolulu Airport bathrooms this last January and it took me back. I miss the aqua-colored plastic storage tubes, the green astroturf, and the tropical ambassador shirts, a lot has changed over the years. Still, at the heart of it, Oceans of Fun hasn’t changed all that much, it’s still just as beautiful a park today as it was all those years ago and it’s still just as popular. Here is to another decade of good times.  

Original Oceans of Fun Ambassador costume.

First of two Oceans of Fun Ambassador costume tops we have in our collection.

Smith, G.B. (1982). Any Park Expansion will keep regional customers in mind. Kansas City Times, C1.

Burnes, B. (1982). Fit to be tide: The surf’s up in Missouri! Kansas City Star,  B1

Rassenfoss. J. (1982). Surf’s up - but goosebumps are too. Kansas City Star, 23A

Hobart, K. (1982). A Change of place for landlubbers. Independence Examiner, p. 4

From Foam Mountains to Outer Space: Part IV

This is not Worlds of Fun, it's Cedar Point!  Gemini is in the background.

 Last episode we looked at Berenstain Bear Country, Cedar Fair’s first sojourn into kid’s areas at Worlds of Fun. Even in 1997, the writing was on the wall for the future, as Cedar Fair had purchased Knott’s Berry Farm and obtained rights to Knott’s Camp Snoopy along with the park in 1996. Snoopy is a far more recognized intellectual property than the Berenstain Bears and Cedar Fair wasted no time in installing Snoopy and Co. at its flagship park, Cedar Point. The first time I visited Cedar Point, in 1999, Camp Snoopy was the newest expansion and I was impressed with the quality. It seemed years away from Worlds of Fun which had only added Bear Country two years prior.

2001 Worlds of Fun Fun Guide.

The twist though is that Camp Snoopy would be introduced to Worlds of Fun, replacing Bear Country in 2001. It wouldn’t be the first time that Snoopy would come to Worlds of Fun. Back in 1978 Worlds of Fun’s costume designer Dawna Welborn created the very first in-park Snoopy costume, and Snoopy paired up with the then park mascots, Sam, Dan’l, and Grrrtrude for the year 1978.

Snoopy at Worlds of Fun in 1978, with Sam Panda, Gertrude Gorilla and Dan'l Coon. 

Snoopy in 2001

Opening Day 2001 was warm and humid for early April, but what I remember most was being pleasantly surprised with the quality of the new Camp Snoopy. Looking back I am surprised by my overall pleasant reaction. However, that could be that it also followed several plain ugly park additions over the two prior years. Boomerang, Coasters Drive-In, and Grand Prix Raceway were never the highlight of WoF expansion history. So though “only just” a kid’s area Camp Snoopy was created with care and gave the appearance that it wasn’t just a paint job, though in reality much of it was exactly that. 

Entrance to Camp Snoopy.

Campground Theater, previously Bear Country Museum.  

Entrance to Beagle Bay Outfitters.

While nearly every ride and attraction from Pandamonium/Bear Country would remain in the transition to Camp Snoopy, at the same time many of them would be drastically changed, cosmetically at least. At the Bear Country Museum the exterior received a paint job, and minor theming changes (the telescope was removed), the interior had all of its Bear Country exhibits removed, and most theming elements removed. After a paint job and some minor re-modeling, it became Beagle Bay Outfitters and Campground Theater. The Spooky Old Tree was re-painted, kites were added and it became the Kite Eating Tree. The Bear Country TreeHouse was completely demolished and a Camp Snoopy Bounce House was added in its place. Probably the most laughable re-name though goes to the ride that STILL hadn’t moved and was known at the time as Kiddy Hawk Airlines. According to the 2001 park map it was re-named back to Red Baron. According to the ride’s SIGN itself though… it appeared to have a more unique name. Red Bacon.

Does this ride EVER change?! Spoiler alert... it doesn't.  But it isn't known as Red Bacon anymore either.

Snoopy Bounce... let's all contemplate a moonwalk bounce house occupying the space of Barnstormer, Octopus and the Bear Family Treehouse.  Today's Woodstock Gliders is located in the same place. 

Camp Snoopy would introduce two new rides to the area, and expand the play area again by a total of one acre. New to Camp Snoopy would be the S&S Mini Drop Tower known then as Woodstock’s Airmail (today it is the Kite Eating Tree) and it would replace Either Oar a mini kid’s canoe ride that was introduced with Pandamonium. The second expansion was a Zamperla Junior Flying Carpet, known as Camp Bus, then and now. Both rides were a step up from the traditional kiddie rides allowing adults to ride with children.

Woodstock's Airmail produced by S&S of Utah.  Today it's the Kite Eating Tree.

Camp Bus, it's still pretty much the same. 

Probably the biggest change with Camp Snoopy though was the introduction of an entirely new aesthetic. Everything became forest green and redwood tree red. The old circular fountain would change forever and become instead a waterfall with Snoopy and Woodstock paddling away in a canoe. And then there were the character introductions. Of course Snoopy wasn’t really “new” but the whole Peanut’s Gang was, and even today they remain recognizable and well-loved.  

The new Camp Snoopy fountain. 

Spooky Old Tree became the Kite Eating Tree (still just a plastic slide) 

Affordable psychiatric advice....

Camp Snoopy would be with us for longer than Bear Country, 10 years, and in that time it would see a few expansions. In 2003, in its first major Halloweekends expansions, the park took the 1978 Lucky Lyndy’s Lunch Counter building and transformed it, its last time, into Magical House on Boo Hill, an adorable and ingenious take on a not-super-scary haunted house. In 2005, the park expanded further with the foam ball playhouse, Peanut’s Playhouse.

Peanut's Playhouse in the winter of 2010/2011 

Magical House on Boo Hill which was one of my favorite attractions.

In 2011 Camp Snoopy would be replaced and Snoopy would go to outer space. Snoopy himself would remain but unlike the last three renovations, almost nothing else would stay the same. But that’s for our last chapter…

Camp Snoopy at night.

Part III: Berenstain Bear Country: http://unwof.blogspot.com/2022/02/from-foam-mountains-to-outer-space-part.html

Part II: Pandamonium: http://unwof.blogspot.com/2021/12/from-foam-mountains-to-outer-space.html

Part I: Half Pint's Peak/Humpty's Haven: http://unwof.blogspot.com/2021/10/foam-mountains-to-outer-space-evolution.html