Opening Day Review
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| Heading up Worlds of Fun avenue we have these new banners celebrating the different worlds at Worlds of Fun |
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| Main gate around opening |
Welcome to our 22nd Opening Day Review! Since 1999, I have been writing opening day reviews every season, with a few exceptions (mostly from when we worked as seasonal ambassadors at the park). I never wrote them with the intention to be historical, but over time, they certainly have become so. Needless to say, I’ve been to and written about some doozies. This year wasn’t one of them, and in fact, I would have to say that this year was probably one of the smoothest.
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| Found on each map case, is a list of all the live entertainment options for 2025 and their opening dates. |
Before I continue, probably my favorite quote that illustrates opening day fiascos comes from the movie Jurassic Park. In it, John Hammond, the park's owner, states that when Disneyland opened, nothing worked. Ian Malcom responds, “Yeah, but John, if Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.” So, good news… no one got eaten…
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This season we saw much more signage celebrating Opening Day
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| Hanging baskets at the park entrance |
In fact… not only did no one get eaten but almost every ride operated on opening day, a miracle as far as I am concerned. The only ride that did not operate, other than Timber Wolf which we already knew, was Viking Voyager. More on that soon.
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| Voyager was the only ride not in operation, more on that later. |
So we arrived at the park around 10:30 after eating breakfast with my sister at Waffle House. We parked in C lot, there was not a big rush to get in the park, but it wasn’t dead either. We arrived at the gate just a little before 11, 10:54 is my photo time stamp. This year, guests were allowed into the park before the 11 opening, and I guess there was an opening day ribbon cutting which we missed. I wish we had known!
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| Opening Day photo op! |
The park had a great opening day photo op set up which I loved, it’s the little things. Jeff didn’t want a photo at opening but I finally succeeded in suckering him into… fix that… getting him to agree to a photo later that night.
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| Grand Carrousel was again running without a band organ. |
In the Gateway Gardens area, Fjord Fjarlane and Grand Carrousel were both operating. I did get over to Grand Carrousel on Sunday and no band organ. That’s a bit sad for a lover of all things historical.
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Crowds moving over the S/O bridge
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| You can see the supports for the new shade structures here. |
After stopping for a couple of conversions we headed towards the Orient/East Asia section, (yes it will always be the Orient to me), across the S/O (Scandi/Orient) bridge. Spinning Dragons and Bamboozler were both running, later on in the day we checked out the Spinning Dragons queue line as the park is adding shade structures to the line, a feature VERY much needed! When Jeff worked on Spinning Dragons in 2006 guests would pass out from heat exhaustion in the queue line during the summer.
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Dragon's Delights was shuttered, and has no signage. (previously Panda Express until 2023)
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The old Rangoon Refresher/Panda Express was shuttered, I am hoping there are plans to re-open it and re-introduce Asian food to this section of the park. Heck, any kind of food would be helpful as the remaining full-service restaurants are getting overwhelmed on busier days.
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Steelhawk was operational
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| new operational screen at Patriot, there is also one at Spinning Dragons. Photo by Robby Lowe. |
We headed out of the Orient and into Americana, I was pleasantly surprised to see Steelhawk running on opening day. It appeared to have run all day without any difficulties. Patriot, being a super dependable B&M was also running, and a friend of mine told me about a new system they have running in both Patriot’s and Spinning Dragon’s stations. The park has added a screen so that both ambassadors and guests can see what seats are locked and unlocked and also keeps track of how long the train has been sitting in the station. Hopefully, this helps with capacity or throughput (how many riders a ride can handle in an hour).
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| Rotisserie Chicken plate at River City Grill |
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| Chicken strips |
We would end up eating later in the day at River City Grill, which I am happy to note still has all of the old Cotton Blossom photos in it. I had the 1/4 rotisserie chicken, which is new this year, Jeff had the chicken strips. The rotisserie chicken was VERY good, and the mac and cheese I had with it had very good flavor but was a little cold. Jeff’s Chicken strips were tasty (I tried one), but seemed to have too much coating on them, but they weren’t as dry as they appear from first appearances. Another friend of mine had the corndog meal (I don’t know why but I just love that you have the option of a corn dog meal), and she said it was great. Cotton Blossom BBQ… scratch that River City Grill remains on top for me for food service options in the park.
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| Cyclone Sam's |
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Detonator
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| Mustang Runner |
Pretty much the rest of Americana was uneventful, everything was running by the time we made it to that area, around noon, Skyliner, Patriot, Cyclone Sam’s, Detonator, Mustang Runner, and of course the train. We were told by a friend of ours that Cyclone Sam’s was running with the lights on…. Really?
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Timber Wolf's old entrance (which was also Screamroller's entrance)
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| Further fencing at the Timber Wolf exit |
Of course, then there is the elephant in the room, Timber Wolf so let's talk a little bit about it. First, we really don’t know much more than anyone else, we are sure Worlds of Fun is discussing options, so I doubt the park is just letting it sit and pretending it doesn’t exist. Admittedly, it was a bit sad seeing it sitting there, the old 1976 entrance and queue line behind a newly added fence. All signage has been removed, but I wouldn’t take that as a requiem for a funeral as of yet.
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| Planet Snoopy Entrance |
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| I haven't seen Woodstock all that often |
Planet Snoopy was, of course open. I was relatively surprised with the vast amount of Peanut’s characters out, throughout the park and in Planet Snoopy. We saw Franklin, Pig Pen, Linus, Charlie Brown, Snoopy (duh), and even Woodstock! It appears they have set up the old foam ball factory/Peanut’s Playhouse as a character meet and greet area. Turns out that it’s also the best spot for Mamba photos in the park!
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| Mamba shot from Peanut's Playhouse |
All the rides in Planet Snoopy were running that we could tell. Detonator was also running but with just one tower. They had it set up with an external air compressor system so it appears that they wanted to try to get it running while probably trying to resolve some issue with this nearly 30-year-old ride. Man, that’s crazy. 30 years old.
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| On the train with Michelle, aka KC Gal |
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| Jeff loves these rocking chairs by Depot |
At this point, we rode the train, which is always fun. The Great American Train Adventure, or train robbery show starts on May 23rd this year, which is earlier than previous years, and we will be at the park that weekend so we will hopefully bring some coverage of that! They have speakers set up at Yumma Yucca Mesa (where the robbery occurs on the train), so hopefully audio will be improved. For those interested in the other engine, Levi, it is still being worked on.
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| KC Will checking out the photo at the General Store |
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| Coloring puzzles |
The General store by the train was also open on Saturday, and it's fast becoming one of my favorite stores in the park, it has lots of unique merchandise, including lots of steam trains and Eli-specific merchandise, and it's just a fun store to visit. The sloping ceiling from when this was a fun house (Cyclone Sadies) is still easily visible, and the park has a fun old wall phone set up with a fun recording to listen to. It’s free, definitely check it out if you haven’t. The general store also has gemstone mining.
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Gold Rush, formerly Gold Rush Pizza, formerly Vittle Griddle
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Last thing in Americana, the old counter service restaurant, which I still call Vittle Griddle, but has been called Gold Rush Pizza since 2019 is no longer serving Pizza, and isn’t actually serving even full meals anymore. The Menu at Gold Rush is now limited to turkey legs, pretzels, pickles, and other snacks.
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New clock on Autobahn
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So we next headed to Europa, Europa has been struggling with appearance since I first started dot org, like 27 years ago, and though the park keeps trying to update it, and the parts they have worked on look great, overall … well it’s Europa. Autobahn was running 10 cars, which might seem like a small number, but is better than I’ve seen it in recent years. So improvement. The outside of Autobahn has received some updates too. A Volkswagon Bug was added last year with some new signage. The park added a FUNCTIONAL clock to the top of Autobahn’s tower this year too, it looks sharp.
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New electronic info board in Europa. There were several of these throughout the park.
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The drink stand next door, Biergarten was closed when we went through, and the old Falcon’s Flight pad looks pretty much like it did last year. Across from it we noticed one of several new electronic info boards, it wasn't functional yet, but I am assuming it will display park schedule and ride wait time information. Fancy. Flying Dutchman and Taxis were both running, which was good to see as they also are original 1973 rides, but we noticed a change on Taxis. So now the ambassadors can no longer “hop” the Taxis to bring them from unloading to the loading area. They now have to sit down in the rider's seat, and buckle the safety belt (sigh), before they can drive it forward to the loading area. Talk about a capacity killer… The ambassadors now also have a small wooden wedge they put under the gas pedal when loading the cars to keep riders from speeding off, and that’s a nice addition.
Like last season Moulin Rouge is again being used for the Festival of Music, but its nice to see it being used so early in the season again. There was signage up for the summer Moulin Rouge show, Rewind: A Retro Review which opens on June 7th.
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| Old Pizza Patio/Paisano's which looks like there has been some infrastructure work around it. |
The old restaurant and shop in Europa, aren’t even listed on the park map this year, and since neither of them opened last year either (except for Haunt), I am not surprised. The old restaurant (Pizza Patio/Cafe International) is still standing but appears that there has been some underground infrastructure work done around it, by the looks of the patched concrete. There is an old sign inside of it, that I believe is original, I keep tabs on it every year, and it continues to be there. I hope it doesn’t “vanish” like so much else. With the Europa full-service restaurant shuttered, now for several years, it brings up a glaring problem, the park has lost multiple full-service restaurants in the last few years, The old Chicken Patio in Scandinavia (Nordic Nook) was first, closing permanently after 2018 along with Paisano’s (Pizza Patio/International Cafe) which also last operated in 2018. Subway was removed after 2021, and then Panda Express was removed after 2023 (Rangoon Refresher). That’s four full-service restaurants that have closed in the last six years without any type of replacement, which leads to long lines at the restaurants that are still open. Now the food service locations that are operational were all in operation on Opening Weekend, but I do feel that at least one of these closed locations, not necessarily serving the same thing, really needs to return to assist with capacity in the park.
Moving on to Africa. The floral clock is still there, sort of, from what I was told it is being worked on and hopefully will be returned. I still remember the moment I was told they were bringing it back, I remember where I was and what I was doing when I found out, so I hope it sticks around! (By the way, I was at IKEA returning a shelf)
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Zambezi Zinger with its new enclosed lift hill
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So there are a few elephants in the room in Africa, let's start with Zambezi Zinger. As you probably already know Zinger had issues running in the rain (or wet conditions) from the start, so the park enclosed the lift hill for this season. One detail while not obvious from just looking at a photo of it, is obvious when you spend time looking at the lift hill up close. A friend pointed out to me that they added massive concrete piers to the base of the lift to support the lift hill covers. Why do I bring this up? This was not a cheap patch job. The lift hill covers also are open at the base allowing air movement, and there are fans inside the lift hill, so I don’t think heat will be too much of an issue. The lift is a little loud, but no louder than it already was, so no big deal there. From our current point of view, it seems like a good fix, hopefully, it will be the same in hindsight. There was one smallest aesthetic change at Zinger too, they added a Jeep near the front entrance, which adds to the theming.
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There are several different fabric designs, but this is one at Moroccan Merchant
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| Mamba hoodie at Safari Trading Co. |
Moroccan Merchant and Safari Trading company both had lots of new fun merchandise. Moroccan Merchant had several tropical shirts with an embroidered “Worlds of Fun” in the iconic partridge font, as well as matching bucket hats. By the time we left on Sunday, I bought the last pink and banana bucket hat on the shelf… Safari Trading company had a new collection of both Prowler and Mamba t-shirts and hoodies, which were not just your typical logo on a black shirt and incorporated very fun color blocks.
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Boomerang's new extended queue with theming added.
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| Shade structures at Nile. |
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| New wood on the Nile queue fence. |
Moving onto Boomerang, it was operational when we walked by, Boomerang is in the process of having sun shades added to its queue, along with some theming elements. When we arrived by Nile around 1:30 it was already full of water with the pumps running, but the ride hadn’t started operation yet, it would open within 15 minutes around 1:45 PM. Nile has also had some updates to its queue line, including new shade structures as well, and updates in its themed fencing.
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Line at Coasters/Sand Dune Diner was long
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Sand Dune Diner (Coasters) had a gigantic line almost to the walkway in front of Nile, hence my commentary on the need for additional restaurants. Mamba was running also, even though I know it experienced a little downtime on opening day. I know that because I was in line during one of them. At about 7:30 PM Mamba went down, and some riders had to be ride-evacuated from the lift hill. Unlike what some social media influencers have reported, there was absolutely nothing unsafe about what happened. The ride was e-stopped, causing the ride to automatically shut down. This is what the ride is designed to do, this is what ALL rides are designed to do, this is what everyone WANTS a ride to do. End of story. So yes I waited 30 mins and didn't get to ride. I came back the next day and Mamba shut down again! I must be jinxing Mamba. I did finally get a ride in on Sunday and it was running just as amazing as it has the last few years. Wonderful experience, really a top 10 coaster in my book.
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| ride evacuation on Saturday evening. |
Aesthetically, Mamba's appearance has improved over the off season too. Mamba's track was painted green over the off-season, and after getting used to an entirely new appearance, I like it, I hope they paint the track supports. As of now, the trains look the same as previously, and Mamba was running two trains.
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Fenced off walkway to Oceans of Fun
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| Monsoon demolition from Mamba's exit. |
The second elephant in the room is Monsoon. For two seasons Monsoon has been standing but not operating. It is finally being demolished, and will probably be completely gone within the next week or two I imagine. I have to say watching the video of the removal of the Monsoon bridge struck me on an emotional level more than I expected it to. An important point also regarding operation, is that with Monsoon being demolished the walkway between Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun is closed off, so no parking at Oceans of Fun to get into Worlds of Fun right now.
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| Zulu was just a little popular. |
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| The blue/purple and green lights were different, it took me a bit to get used to them. |
One ride that last fall I was seriously expecting not to see in 2025 has turned into instead one of the highlights of the 2025 opening day and that was Zulu. Zulu turns 46 years old this year, making it the 9th oldest ride in the park. Zulu is a Huss Enterprise, a type of ride that is being removed at parks across the country, leading to just a handful still in operation today. However, instead of following trends, Worlds of Fun refurbished and re-painted Zulu, as well as updating its light package. We were also told the new color scheme on Zulu is based on African tuk-tuks. It looks fabulous.
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I don't know where they dug this up, but it looks to be the original advertising for Prowler.
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| Both of Prowler's trains had the "PROWLER" on front. |
We didn’t make it over to Prowler on opening day but we did get over there on Sunday and were able to ride it. They replaced 300 feet of Prowler track with steel Titan Track. Titan Track is a product of the manufacturer of Prowler, Great Coasters International. It is a steel track but is meant to replace wood track stack on traditional wooden coasters. The section on Prowler follows the main drop, about where the photo flash is at night. It was smooth as butter, beautiful. The rest of the ride, to us, was fine, a little rough but not unmanageable, but we also rode in the very front. A friend of mine, who rides Prowler more than I do, rode Prowler opening weekend too, and commented how slow and rough most of the ride was. So hopefully, more Titan Track?
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Big Jack's named after Jack Steadman
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| Serengeti Station theater home to Squawk! Previously Big Game Hunt. |
Moving up through Africa it has been announced that the Squawk bird show will be returning this season on May 23rd at the Serengeti Station theater (old Big Game Hunt). Last thing in Africa… your annual reminder that Big Jack’s is the last original food service location holding its original name, named after park founder Jack Steadman.
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| Jennifer plays the part of missing tree 1 |
Moving into Scandinavia, the first thing we noticed is that a few trees in front of Scrambler have been cut down… a moment of silence……….. Thank You. Hopefully, they will replaced!
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Pumps are missing here
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| Here is what the pumps looked like in 2018. |
Sea Dragon and Scrambler from what we saw were operating without a problem, same thing with Nordic Chaser. The only ride not operating at all on opening weekend was Viking Voyager. Voyager is one of the park’s original 1973 rides, it is also a rare Arrow Development flume. So will it re-open and when? First, absolutely yes Voyager will be back, and hopefully soon. The reason it's not operational is because Voyager's pumps are being replaced. We will hopefully be able to go into more detail soon, but suffice it to say finding new pumps for a 52-year-old ride wasn’t I’m sure the easiest chore. So, Voyager isn’t going anywhere. Thank goodness.
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Scandi Candy fudge.
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Across from Voyager, the candy store had just opened when we passed by around 3pm. At this point we found out there was some computer/internet issue running throughout the park, causing issues at shops, stores, rides etc. To be honest, it could have been catastrophic but we barely noticed. The Scandi Candy location (previously Norseman’s Niceties), per the map is due to be open only Friday-Sunday and has homemade fudge and candy applies.
Tivoli was in use this weekend for the Festival of Music (Tivoli is the original venue for the festival), and we went in to check out the lobby since it was open to the public. All of the wall info boards and decor from the 50th Anniversary exhibit were there along with a few items such as the Timber Wolf sign, Wacky Worm head, and Patriot wheel cover.
So from there, we made it back to where we started. We ended up staying all day on Saturday and went out again as I mentioned on Sunday and rode Prowler, Zinger, and Mamba. We had such a great time we wanted to come back and spend a whole other day the next day! For me, that’s never an issue, but to have Jeff want to come out and stay all day again, says A LOT. As I mentioned I have been to a lot of opening days, every one since 1998 except for two. I wrote several years ago that I’ve never been to a perfect opening day, and you know this year wasn’t perfect either, but it was a lot closer than some other years. And from what I’ve been told by park staff, I have a lot of hope. And sometimes a little hope is all you need. Here’s to a great 2025 season and see you at the park!
