Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Worlds of Fun Off Season Tour

Brandon invited Jeff & I out to Worlds of Fun today for a park off-season tour. We spent almost two hours driving around the park as it was very cold, plus there was mud. lots of it. Lots of things to look at today so lets get going.


Those that were out on March 1st saw the voyager boats out sunning themselves, unlike most coasters trains which are online, voyager boats are still waiting for their home to be finished up for the season.


This photo is most relevant to 2008 park ambassadors who remember the "keep the fence up until the end of the season without having to rebuild it", the park must have had three or four pieces of wood jerry-rigged last year on the opposite side to prop the fence up! Well folks the fence is getting replaced, thankfully. For those who didn't wander down to the employee entrance to the park, this is the fence that blocks that walkway off from the main gate area.


Norseman's Nicities no more, its now The Lift. From Brandon the exterior isn't changing to much, the hanging sign though is staying with a new logo for the new name. Here are some view from the interior though which is taking a complete 180 from the previous interior design (if there was one anyway?). It looks like it will be have a dark mahagony-like interior featuring a small lounge area. Happy to see the detail being looked out for here.


Some shelves being finished up and stained in the back of the shop. This would be the opposite end of the previous cash register area.


The cash register area will be moved from the extreme opposite side of the store to approximately the center, here. The shop will feature more upscale merchandise, watches, non-park logo wear, and some very nice magazines. hmmm.... wonder which ones? Plus from what I hear the packaging will not be standard WOF/CF logo plastic bags, but will have its own stylish packaging.


More work in Scandinavia, new shingles! In this case both at the Tivoli bathroom and here at the Swedish Sipping Chalet (trying saying that five times fast!).

Both Voyager and Nile are supposed to recieve new filtration systems, we scowered Voyager area and didn't find anything new YET. However, as I always love looking at rides during in the off season lets take a look anyway. Here we are looking down on the left-handed un-load area. The brakes have been removed for the off season.


Oh how I remember THIS view from about three years ago! Its the pump pits of Voyager, oh and a bunch of leaves. The screens are missing but will be coming back again this year.



The final drop on Voyager, with no water.



Spinning Dragon's foam lapbars 50% protein, 10% Vitamin C, 0% dietary fiber. Atleast you would think so from how *chewed* up they have gotten over the last few years. Looks like the park is trying to repair the damage here.


Now onto the star of this show, Timberwolf, our 20 year old coaster is getting some more TLC this off season. It is terribly hard to take a photo showing the actual work being done but here is one of the second drop. The entire 7-8 layers of laminated wood have be removed and replaced. The complete re-track has progressed all the way through the bob's turn. Boy that thing has some great airtime in the past, I am excited about riding it now!


Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.... as I add this photo to the blog. More relics from the Timberwolf rehab, old steel track.


Geauga Lake's past creeps into Worlds of Fun one more time.... With the "new" Whack A Mole game. This game is located where Rising Water was located in the Timber Wolf games area.


Well what have we got here? Autobahn is getting some work too. Though not anything that would cost a fortune, maintenance is replacing the ride's chicken-wire ceiling.


More work going on Europa, in this case on Le Taxi Tour's station. The wood trim has all been updated and repainted (it looks great!), and the pointed roof has been replaced. Now more faded spots.


Here is a closer look at the roof. One final comment on the re-furbed taxi station, is one point I have just noticed. It is surprising now to look at the buildings that have not been re-habbed, and they now look terrible. I don't say that to attack the park, but to congratulate the park on the realization on how important these small updates are.


Moving from Europa to Africa, and here we have some fixtures from a foreign land.... what are these unusual objects? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?

No one knows? Shame.

These are Niles four pumps! It appears they have been refurbed and re-painted. Again small things that guests won't really notice, but still make a difference.


Sitting right next to the pumps are these further unusual packages of chain. No, not prowler lift hill chain, but new chain for the Nile lift hill.


Looking down on the afore mentioned lift hill chain, which looks like it really needs those new chains! Also use # 103,100 for the previous Festaus tent.


Here is an empty pump pit on Nile. Usually three of these four pump pits are bubbling over with water during regular park operations.


Another unidentifiable object. so what is it? This is Nile's boat positioner. Usually this is in the unload area, right after the boats disengage from the lift hill, and it positions boats (supposably) before it hits the main chain. It also opens and closes to allow boats in and out of the storage area.


Down near Zulu, the park has removed the two beds, the one that was in the middle of the midway and also the one in front of Zulu's Queue house. We are not sure if this is permanent or if they will be replaced. If memory serves, both of these were the original HME creations, and Zulu's were very rotted out railroad ties. I really do hope they replace them.


A look at the Prowler station, we didn't have hard hats at this time so we didn't go exploring (plus it was exceptionally muddy), one thing I noticed which is not apparent in the photos is that the red roof is a textured or ribbed steel. It still looks nice though. The lift is starting to get its steel track in this shot too.


One of our last stops was for ELI, which is getting its rods and tubes replaced. First the boiler tubes. Here we are looking from the front of the train back into the boiler tubes. You can see if you zoom in on the photo that some tubes have been removed and some are still in there.


Here is the opposite view from the fire box, we are looking into the boiler, the tubes are for the steam which heat the water around it, and creates steam.


The new steel tubes ready to go in.


The main rod and the side rods, this year they replaced the bushings, these are brass wear surfaces to protect the steel from wearing itself. The rods connect the driving wheels, with the side rode connecting the two main driving wheels together and the main rod connecting the wheels to the piston.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Prowler Tour March 1, 2009

It was a great day at Worlds of Fun and the rides weren't even running (and in many cases were in pieces!). We headed out today for Worlds of Fun's ACE Prowler Tour, and between ACE and Coaster Community we had about fifty in attendance. Before heading out we broke into three different groups with our group being lead by Jeff Mast and Brandon Stanley. Of course having Brandon Stanley along made our group the best!

Our three locations we visited in route included the station and photo booth area, the merchandise warehouse out by E Lot and the ride structure itself out by K lot. while a lot of walking (and slipping and sliding) was involved a great time was had by all. Many thanks to Brandon Stanley and Worlds of Fun for allowing us all this opportunity.

First shot, our group in the snow just outside of what will be Prowler Plaza.


Inside the Photo Booth, one on-ride photo please!


The outside of the station, making progress!


Looking at the lift from the exit. Pretty snow and sky!


The Transfer station from the station with trees surrounding it. I am betting by the summer with the leaves on the trees this view will be quite a bit different.


Before heading out a look at the Photo Booth.

Inside the station

Looking at the drive box from the ride exit.



After gallivanting around the station area we headed for E Lot and the Merchandise Warehouse we found these waiting for us.


Prowler Trains also had some winter time neighbors.


A close up of the front Prowler car.


Our last stop on the tour was to K Lot, to take a look at the meat and potatoes of Prowler. Our first shot is of the lift and return run back to the station. Notice the elevation difference, as after the 1st drop the return run is about the maximum height of the rest of the structure.


The Prowler turn-around.


A great shot, thanks to Larrance Brown. Poking our head through the track, in just a few months a train will be headed straight for us here!


Jeff and I out in the snow.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

When the World was Young

Welcome back to Worlds of Fun great history moments brought to you by Jennifer Lovesee-Mast and photo credits to Brandon Stanley. I apologize for it taking so long to get this update posted, as more research was involved in figuring out what was actually happening in some of the photos we will be looking at!

First though, let's go back to where we left off, Worlds of Fun opening day May 26th 1973.

Part of opening ceremonies included a caravan of Safari and Le Taxi Tour cars being driven by Worlds of Fun Dignitaries. Here we have the late Lamar Hunt, his wife Norma Hunt (Norma's Funnel Cakes).

In the background of the 2nd photo you can briefly see the Cotton Blossom.



These next three are all but impossible to determine date, but I think they are still remarkable, for the details. In the first photo, we have Lamar Hunt again, but what is so unique (besides the fact that he lived after partaking of Worlds of Fun food!), is what we are looking at. This is Vittle Griddle, otherwise know as the past work place of our current park GM. We know this by the Henrietta's smoke stack in the background, and the Americana light posts. What I like to think about is how long those chairs lasted before they were replaced with the plastic tables that we have now. I personally don't think very long. I can just see the Worlds of Fun food ambassador saying "sir please put that chair down now!"


My favorite people in the "world" are those in Worlds of Fun landscaping. This is the Orient section and today we would be looking at the Bamboozler. In this photo though, we see its predecessor the Oriental Octopus. I am thinking this has to be near opening, as these brick planters are missing their Bradford Pears, which have been there as long as I can remember.


Another "wow" moment for me, Casbah Games and Moroccan Merchant. The trees were removed within the last ten years. Many center island trees have been removed during this time period, as the trees grew either to big, or were removed to allow for "easier flow of traffic". Personally, I would have rather liked to have kept these. I am sure the free throw game people would have liked that too!

Here we have Jack Steadman, president of Mid American Enterprises holding the tethers of a Hot Air Balloon. This one actually took me a while to figure out the back story (after all no one takes a photo without a good reason). I found the story quite interesting. From a story first published on June 19, 1973 in the Kansas City Star, Lamar Hunt had big plans for Kansas City, he wanted Kansas City to become to balloon capital of the world, and his first step on getting there (besides making the logo for his park a balloon...) was to sponsor the 1st annual Balloon Race, which was held on July 21st and July 22nd, 1973. Turns out it appears to have been the ONLY Balloon race.


And the new attraction for 1974? The Forum Amphitheater! Here we are looking at construction of Worlds of Fun's first addition.


As we celebrated the country's 200th birthday Worlds of Fun added the Screamroller roller coaster to the Americana section of the park. It was the 5th Arrow Dynamics corkscrew in the country, and was so popular it brought out 9,000 guests on its opening day, April 10th, 1976.


Moving ahead to the next big thing, which turned out to be the BIG thing, The Orient Express. Here we have Lamar Hunt making an announcement in front of the Orient Express track on site. We have sadly come full circle from this photo to today. Truly though, Orient Express was the biggest thing as the 1980 season officially attracted 1.421 million visitors. One of, if not the largest crowd in Worlds of Fun's history.


We should all recognize this place, it's Patriot Landing! Today it is atleast. Back in 1982 it was the new River City, and this ride, the new River City Rampage. Today, we know it as the Fjord Fjlarlene.



You are forewarned, sentimental moment ahead. I always say the moment my Worlds of Fun infatuation began when I was a kid riding the Ski Hi at night and I saw the park ablaze with lights. I didn't get a photo of that memory, (in fact I have no photos of any time I went to Worlds of Fun as a kid), but this photo is as good a stand in as I think I will ever find. It was truly breathtaking to see the park lit up for the sky. It was advertised at the time as "Worlds of Fun at Night", who knew a bunch of light bulbs would be so cool?

In the photo itself we see what is now Pizza Pier in the foreground, and in the background from left to right is the Screamroller, New Funtier Arcade, and Whirligig (now the Bamboozler) and finally the string of lights on the far right are the lights hanging from the Henrietta. I don't have an exact date this photo was taken but it would have had to have been between 1980 and 1985 as Whirligig was moved back to the Orient when Omegatron was added in 1986.

Of all the photos I have dated this next one has been the hardest. For two reasons. Number one the Barnstormer is there (about 3/4 of the way up about 2/3 of the way over), but Oriental Octopus has been removed, and it seems to be set up for a show area. My best guesstimate is that this would be June/July 1983. (If anyone has a better guess I am willing to hear it!). Barnstormer was grounded and removed in June 1983, and I believe it was later that year that Octopus was moved up to replace it, and became known as Tailspinner. A carnival troupe replaced Octopus for a few short years before Bamboozler was moved back down to this same spot. Hence the set up for a show.

On a side note I love the fact that you can see a park tram in this shot in the far right hand corner.