Happy New Year 2025!

 Happy New Year 2025! Every year for the past five years or so on New Year's Day we have looked at the anniversaries for the next season. This tradition was borrowed from CP Food Blog, which was running anniversary blogs too at the time. Though we don’t yet have an opening day for 2025 we are continuing this new tradition for this new year!  Believe it or not, there are only three total rides that have anniversaries this year, with only two of them actually being existing rides. Several attractions celebrate anniversaries this year and we will look at those too.

1975 - 50th Anniversary - Sam Panda, Dan'l Coon and Grrrtrude Gorilla

There weren't a whole lot of additions for the 1975 season, which would have been the park’s 3rd season; the massive ride additions and land expansions would start with the following season. However, one addition that many remember from the 1980s got started in 1975 and that was the introduction of the park’s second set of park mascots, Sam Panda, Dan’l Coon, and Grrrtrude Gorilla. They weren’t the original park mascots as many think, that title goes to a set of pretty terrifying seven-foot-tall characters, the French Germanderie and the Viking. Created by long-time Worlds of Fun costume designer Dawna Welborn Sam Panda, Grrrtrude Gorilla, and Dan’l Coon would flip the switch for the Country Club Plaza lights in November 1974 but would be nameless at the time, they would receive their names through a naming contest in 1974 and were named by Richard Rice of Independence, Mo. Sam, Dan’l, and Grrrtrude would greet guests throughout the season and in a variety of off-season events for the next two decades. They would be joined by a smaller, pint-sized brother, P.J. Panda in 1987. 

1980 - 45th Anniversary - Orient Express

The seasons following 1975 saw a variety of new rides and coasters, the pinnacle of which was the addition for the 1980 season, the Orient Express. Orient Express was built by Arrow Development of Mountain View, CA, and designed by legendary Ron Toomer. Toomer and Arrow would go on to create a legacy of 1980’s steel, multi-looper thrillers but I like to think that Orient Express started all of that. One fact is indisputable, Orient Express introduced the world to the first upside-down element (inversion), outside of the vertical loop and corkscrew, which was known on Express as the Kamikaze Kurve. Today the element is known as either a boomerang or batwing and continues to appear on modern coasters to this day. Being the first to use such an element, Orient Express was a prototype and had the issues that went along with that. The forces exerted on the ride would lead to its downfall, and Orient Express would be retired in September 2003, and removed in November of the same year. To this day its site sits empty as neither Spinning Dragons nor Patriot occupy any of the land previously occupied by Orient Express. The station of Orient Express is used by Lore of the Vampire haunt. 

1985 - 40th Anniversary - Haunted Theatre and Stax of Wax

1985 was very much a live entertainment year, though no new rides were introduced, two new shows would be. The first show introduced in 1985 was Haunted Theatre, at the Tivoli Music Hall. A creation of illusionist Mark Wilson, Haunted Theatre would be an overall $750,000 investment, and involved the renovation of the Tivoli stage and theater, along with a modification of the Tivoli live entertainment offerings which had to that point featured live band musical revue shows. Though only running for two seasons at Worlds of Fun, Haunted Theatre captured the imaginations of a variety of park guests and is remembered not only for its well-choreographed style and music but also its unique brand of 1980s-style macabre. 

The second show lasted just a bit longer… becoming the park’s longest-running show in history and generating at least three different spin-offs. Stax of Wax, a tribute to 1950s and 1960s rock-n-roll would premier at Moulin Rouge, and play under that same name until 2002. For the 2003 and 2004 seasons, the names would be modified but the basis of the show would remain the same, giving a sort of “gray” period as far as history goes. Still, that means that even with the re-naming Stax of Wax had a historic 20-season run. It would create its first spin-off in 1999 with Stax of Trax, featuring a tribute to 1970s music, and in 2004 would spin-off in a haunted direction with Haunted Homecoming, a show that continues to play at the Moulin Rouge during Halloween Haunt. (and is on the cusp of taking over the title of the longest-running show from its progenitor). The backstory of Stax of Wax, a 1950s high school named Cleaver High also continues to be used by the Zombie High haunt. 

1995 - 30th Anniversary - Cyclone Sam's and Captain Kidd's

Yes, 1995 was 30 years ago, crazy to think. 1995 was the last season of Hunt Midwest, and saw their last addition to the park, Cyclone Sam’s: Cloudpoofer 2000. It is also our first attraction on this list that still exists.  I would like to think that Cyclone Sam’s was added as a tribute to the recently removed (at the time) Cyclone Sadies Funhouse and the also recently defunct (again at the time) Wobble Wheel. Wobble Wheel had been added as part of that massive 1976-1980 expansion period, in 1977 to be specific, and would be removed after the 1993 season. A Ford Motor Company exhibit was added to the empty ride pad in 1994, and then replaced by a new ride, Cyclone Sam’s in 1995. Wobble Wheel and Cyclone Sam’s were both manufactured by the same company, Chance Rides of Wichita KS, and the rides are so similar that many still think that Wobble Wheel and Sam’s were the same ride. Let me nip that urban legend in the bud right now, by saying they were/are different rides. Cyclone Sam’s was and still is Worlds of Fun’s only dark ride created with a well-developed back story, and still offers an amazingly thrilling ride 30 years later.  

Not to be left out, Oceans of Fun would see an expansion for the kids with the addition of Captain Kidd's Pirate Ship play area. 

2000 - 25th Anniversary - Boomerang

Probably the anniversary most Worlds of Fun fans would like to forget, and that’s Boomerang which celebrates its silver anniversary this year. Fans love to hate it, but overall many of the GP (General Public) love it, and I’ve heard more than a few times that many consider it their favorite coaster at the park. Many simply forget that for as oft duplicated the Vekoma Boomerang is (and man is it), there is a reason for the mass duplication… it's not a bad ride, and it can be ridden with a 48” height requirement as opposed to Patriot’s 54”. Boomerang’s manufacturer, Vekoma International grew to worldwide recognition as the international distributor for Arrow Development/Dynamics and built many of its coasters using the same mold of Orient Express. In an interesting twist, Boomerang, added exactly 20 years after Orient Express is now OLDER than Orient Express ever was, and is only the second full-size steel coaster in park history to hit its 25th anniversary operating at Worlds of Fun (the other being Mamba). 

2005 - 20th Anniversary, Worlds of Fun Village and Peanut’s Playhouse

It might boggle the mind that 2005 was 20 years ago, but that’s a fact. When Worlds of Fun Village was first being built we were taken on a walk-through of the area, and I was surprised as to the quality of what was being built. This was happening right in the middle of what I call the “Coaster Decade” and had already seen the introduction of Mamba, Boomerang, and Spinning Dragons and would soon see the announcement of Patriot. Things weren’t perfect, but it's easy to overlook a few things when lots of new shiny coasters are being installed, along with the park’s first onsite lodging. Today, Worlds of Fun Village hasn’t changed a whole lot but I think like a lot of additions it tells a story about the time it was added. 

So does the other 2005 addition, Peanut’s Playhouse, a foam ball playhouse located in the middle of the then Camp Snoopy, a lot of kids loved this attraction in much the same way that the kids of the 1980s loved the ball pit or kiddie-o-polis play areas. The Playhouse’s last season would be in 2018 before it would be closed, gutted, and used off and on as a petting zoo area. 

2010 - 15th Anniversary Snoopy’s Hot Summer Lights and Cornstalkers

Some of Worlds of Fun’s more “interesting” and “memorable” attractions always seem to show up on the off years before and after a big coaster. Snoopy’s Hot Summer Lights would follow the 2009 introduction of Prowler and be one of those types of attractions. Added for a cost of one million dollars Hot Summer Lights lit up the Europa and Africa section of the park with colored lights, themed music, and for at least the first season, walk-around light-up characters. Though it would only last for a few seasons, Hot Summer Lights is still remembered by many as a favorite attraction.

2010 also saw the addition of a new haunt to Halloween Haunt, and it was directly connected to Prowler’s addition in 2009 as well. Before Prowler, the area it is situated was home to Camp Gonna Gitcha Haunt (and yes before that Python Plunge and The Safari), Prowler would kick Camp out and it would relocate to near the Fury of the Nile in 2008. Camp just didn’t make a successful transition though, and the area would be heavily re-themed to Cornstalkers in 2010.

2015 - Splash Island and Blood on the Bayou

The twenty-teens years do seem to be easy to overlook when it comes to Worlds of Fun history, probably for a variety of reasons. The years 2010-2020 did not see a single new coaster addition, and the biggest addition of that decade was Steelhawk (in 2014). Then there is the fact that the last few years before 2020 are rather overshadowed BY 2020. By 2015, Octopus had been removed, Oceans and Worlds had been combined and Winterfest hadn’t yet arrived. 2015 saw small additions including the addition of Splash Island (a toddler play area at Oceans of Fun), and one of the most popular haunted houses in Worlds of Fun’s Haunt history, Blood on the Bayou.

2020 - Covid shut down

And here it is. FIVE years ago fans celebrated the new year at Worlds of Fun during Winterfest on December 31, 2019. It would be more than six months before Worlds of Fun would open again, June 22, 2020, to be specific. By far the latest, and shortest of all park seasons, it was without a doubt the strangest of them all too and I don’t think Worlds of Fun has ever been the same. Five major rides wouldn’t operate at all during the 2020 season (Boomerang, Cyclone Sam’s, Steelhawk, Falcon’s Flight, and the Worlds of Fun Railroad), and many more would take months to re-open at all. Then there were the temperature checks, the Relax Zone areas, the bathroom attendants, the ride shutdowns for sanitation, and the six-foot “space” lines for queues. If I hadn’t experienced it first hand it would seem like a scene from a sci-fi dystopian novel. Today, things are mostly back to normal, we no longer have to keep a six-foot space between groups (though in some cases you can still tell where the lines were) but it makes that ten-year span between 2015 and today feel nearly just as long as the twenty or twenty-five-year span that precedes it. 

The Worlds of Fun we know has changed, it changed like it did 26 years ago with the introduction of Mamba, a split I have often referred to as old/new Worlds of Fun. I think with five years of hindsight I might say that starting with 2020, we are all living in a new Worlds of Fun era, not an old or a  new, but more a post-modern era, and it's anyone’s guess how history will play out. 

Sink your Teeth into 20 Years of Lore of the Vampire!

Lore of the Vampire signage from 2024

 Last year we looked at the thirty-year history of Halloween-events at Worlds of Fun. I stated in that blog that 2004 was truly a turning point in the history of a long line of various named events and started the astronomical growth to the event we have today. This year, we celebrate that 2004 was now 20 years ago and figured it was time to pay homage to the four attractions that would light the fire of the Haunt we have today, an adult-oriented thrilling event. If you haven’t already I would take a look at the three-part blog I wrote last year to get an idea of how these attractions and 2004 fit into the overall history.

2004 Halloweekends Map

After an incredibly successful 2003 Halloweekends, with the introduction of Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns and Magical House on Boo Hill, 2004 would introduce FOUR new Haunted attractions and they would be a microcosm of Haunt over the next 20 years. These four new attractions included:

Jeff Mast as Pig Man in 2005. 

Camp Gonnagitcha Witchahatchet: Usually referred to as simply Camp Gonna Gitcha or Camp, Camp was an outdoor haunt located where Prowler’s queue line area is today. It, like Lore of the Vampire, replaced the footprint of a defunct attraction, in Camp’s case Python Plunge. Camp would be located in the same location until 2007. In 2008 it was moved up to the Fury of the Nile area and was replaced by Cornstalkers in 2010. The main character for Camp was “Pig Man”, a deranged half man half pig that carried a gigantic bloody hatchet. The attraction re-used some basic structures from Python Plunge, as well as old inner tubes and floats from Oceans of Fun. Like many early Haunts, the designers would use a lot of what was simply lying around. The green school bus around Haunt these days was originally obtained and used for Camp Gonna Gitcha as the “Camp Bus”.

Fright Zone: The park’s first fright zone, named aptly Fright Zone, was located just outside of Camp Gonna Gitcha. It would run from Big Jack’s to Zulu and across the bridge up to the Zambezi Zinger queue house. This same fright zone layout has stayed about the same even until today changing names and themes from Fright Zone to Boneyard in 2014, back to Fright Zone briefly in 2022. The Fright Zone initially functioned as a sort of pre-show to Camp Gonna Gitcha and the two separate haunts had a symbiotic relationship in the early years. I have lots of great memories of the early Fright Zone, including a screamster who loved to beat up the plastic trash can by Big Jack’s. I am sure he destroyed more than one but it worked and it worked well. Today’s cymbal monkeys that are part of the Overlord’s Awakening originated with Fright Zone. 

Haunted Homecoming Cast from 2004

Haunted Homecoming: Not the park’s first haunted stage show, but one of its most successful as it’s on its 18th season, not being performed in 2020 or 2021. One of the most fascinating details about this show is that not only is it a sequel to the park’s incredibly successful “Stax of Wax”  show (1985-2002), but it along with Zombie High House all share the same backstory which is that of a high school from the 1950’s known as Cleaver High (hence the show’s secondary name Meat Cleaver High), and using a beaver as its mascot. The show over the years has added new sets, replacing old ones,, though a few have survived from the original show including the “Little Shop of Horrors - Dentist” set, and “Monster Mash”. Probably my favorite was a set they did a few years ago based on the “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago. Fascinating enough for the 2024 season they mixed things up again and added a set that was a tribute to “Camp Gonna Gitcha”.

Lore of the Vampire in 2008

Lore of the Vampire entrance in 2024

Then there is Lore of the Vampire, sometimes referred to as the Vamp House or just Vampires. The longest-operated haunted house in the park, except 2020, in which there was no Haunt at all, has operated every season since it premiered in 2004. 

Banquet Hall in 2008

And in 2024

The 2004 press release described it as: “Visitors learn the Lore of the Vampire firsthand by exploring a catacomb of the undead. This new haunted walk-through experience takes guests through a morgue, a crematorium, a cemetery, a bride’s crypt, and dark tunnels all populated by gothic vampires.”

An interesting point to make with Vampires is that it often, unlike today, would operate in the daytime. It would open at 3 pm on Saturdays, and then operate all day Sunday too. Vamp would remain the oddball until 2009 when with the advent of the Overlord’s Awakening, Vampires would join in the parade.

Mark Costa becomes a Vampire

So what was it like to be an early Vampire? A friend of ours, Mark Costa was one of the earliest Vampires. He was one of the earliest “jumpers” who would jump out of the shadows as guests first entered the haunt.  He goes on to describe his experiences as a monster, or as they called them Screamsters:

“We would keep track of how many people got scared so badly that we knocked them down. Really it was a process. The make-up artists were clearly the stars of the show. They cleaned your face applied the make-up etc. They made the magic come to life!”  For those people that had fangs, we had our own individual fangs that were molded to our teeth. We had more or less free rein of where we could scare people as long as we stayed within a certain section of the house.”

Safety line, left over from Orient Express, identifying the track bed area.

Inside the tunnel you can still see concrete footers from Orient Express

No blog on Lore of the Vampire is complete without mentioning its location, and more importantly the history of its location. As many know Lore of the Vampire resides in the station of the 1980 Orient Express roller coaster which was removed after the 2003 season. Vampires moved in immediately afterward but there are still remnants of the original ride. When guests enter Lore of the Vampire they are entering through the original ride’s exit, and on exploring the upper level of the house guests cross over the open track bed at least twice.  The crossovers are carefully concealed but if you note an open bridge area, or the faded yellow painted safety lines on the ground, both indicate an open track bed area. Original “Asian-inspired” lanterns still adorn the house, and the coup de grace is the walk down into the tunnel. The tunnel was built for Orient Express and the coaster train would roll through the 100-foot dark tunnel before engaging on the lift hill. The echo of the lift hill out of the concrete tunnel is synonymous with the memory of the coaster even today. The truth is you can’t build such an awesome tunnel, and not use it even when the coaster is gone. The tunnel today is one of my favorite parts of Lore of the Vampire. Guests passing through the Lore of the Vampire/Orient Express tunnel should pay careful attention to note the enormous concrete footers with the track bolts still attached that litter the tunnel to this day. 

Club Blood from 2009. I never really got this, and honestly never liked it. 

In 2009, for its 6th season Lore of the Vampire’s tunnel led into something new and macabre, but that just didn’t work quite as well as the park hoped. Club Blood, introduced a “vampire” nightclub into the catacombs (basement) of Lore of the Vampire. It featured a bar and rather lurid gothic-style dancers. 2009 also saw another change to Lore of the Vampire. Before 2009 Lore would open at 3 p.m. on Saturdays, and open on Sundays at 11 a.m..

Starting in 2009 with the introduction of the Overlord’s Awakening, the Vampires joined the parade for the first time. For the first few years, they would ride on the back of motorcycles as part of the parade. It was an awesome detail, but was cut a few years later for not being “family-friendly”. This leads to an important point. As we now are looking at 20 years into Haunt, I have stated this before and I will say it again, the intangible “non-corporate” elements are what made the event as successful as it is. Cars and motorcycles in a parade might be a pain, but they MAKE the experience and without them… it’s kind of underwhelming. I feel with the park ditching this key element of the parade, really takes away a huge chunk of experience. 

New grand staircase added in 2022. Originally this was just an empty room with a jumper in the corner.

New theming in the basement added in 2022.

New, updated parlor for 2022. 

Club Blood would last officially until 2014, but would really pretty much never be staffed after 2010 or so. Lore of the Vampire would mature over the next few years, while the rest of the Haunt event changed around it, Camp Gonna Gitcha would be displaced by Prowler in 2008, before being permanently retired after the 2009 season.  Fright Zone would be replaced by Boneyard in 2014.  2020 will forever go down as one of the strangest seasons, thanks to Covid-19, the park would only operate from June until September, with Haunt being completely canceled. Haunt would return in 2021 as what many called  “Haunt-lite”, missing a couple of Haunts and “Haunted Homecoming” at Moulin Rouge. 2022 would finally see Haunt as we knew it, mostly, return. By 2022 it was time for Lore of the Vampire to be updated. According to Darren Keith of the Live Entertainment department: 

“We completed the refresh and current look of Lore of the Vampire in 2022. That includes the large staircase in the entry, new parlor, new panels on the walls in the knight’s hall, new trim and paint throughout, library turning prop, and new drop down animatronic at the exit door.”

Lore of the Vampire promo shot from 2004.

For the 2024 season, Lore of the Vampire returns. It remains one of my favorites (though Asylum Island will always and forever be the best). I will close this blog out with one final thought, Lore of the Vampire replaced another terrifying Worlds of Fun creation. One that could have been considered “long in the tooth” but also an indelible classic.It’s possible, this new generation of thrills can say the same. 

Fury of the Nile Turns 40! 1984-2024

promo poster from the 1984 season featuring Fury of the Nile

1984 Souvenir Map

 For those who have only visited Worlds of Fun in the last thirty years, Worlds of Fun in the 1980s may seem like a relatively foreign place. No Mamba, Patriot, or Detonator, and thrill rides proliferated with the names of Orient Express, Zambezi Zinger Omegatron, and Barnstormer (when it operated). One major thrill ride that debuted in the 1980s would be one that would be familiar to modern guests, if at least by name, and that’s the Fury of the Nile (Nile). The Nile would open to the public 40 years ago on May 25, 1984. I can’t remember the first year I rode it, I'm thinking 1987, but one thing I can recall quite vividly is loving it almost instantly. It was just a little bit thrilling, the dark tunnel was ominous, and at least one of the ride’s eight geysers was sure to get you if one of the gigantic waves didn’t. Several years later in 1994 when I worked at the park, I would head back into the park at least once a week and Fury of the Nile was nearly always on my short list of rides to experience. While everyone’s favorite was Zinger or Express, I loved Fury of the Nile and when I first met  Jeff he even gave me the moniker of “water princess' ' for my love of rapids rides everywhere. 

In the tunnel in 1986

Fury of Nile tunnel in 1999

A slightly different view than what we all normally see, also from 1986

Today, The Nile is simply not the same ride as it was back then, but unlike many of its other 1980s counterparts, Fury of the Nile continues to live on. Today, we take a look back at its very beginning, conception to construction, and then how we got from there to today. The whole idea of the rapids ride started in the 1970s when Six Flags Astroworld General Manager Bill Crandell came up with the idea after watching an artificial river created for the Kayak competition at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The prototype, manufactured by Intamin of Switzerland, and the first of several Thunder River attractions, would open in 1980. Covering 10 acres, and powered by two 350-HP pumps, Astroworld started a torrential tidal wave of rapid rides across the country. Six Flags itself would expand the concept to Six Flags Over Georgia in 1982 and Six Flags Mid America in 1983. Europe got into the mix in 1983 when Efteling opened Piraña, the first rapid ride with a turntable loading system. 

Looking down at the lift hill with the ride completely drained. 

Same lift hill area holding water, (most of the ride is drained)

Fury of the Nile was the first domestic rapids ride with a turntable loading system

In November 1983, Worlds of Fun announced the 10th version of the Intamin Rapids ride, Fury of the Nile, which would be the largest, and longest rapids ride built at its time, it would also be the first rapids ride in the United States to feature the turntable loading system. Powered by three 250-HP pumps, (but containing four) Nile was unique for many reasons. Unlike the prior rapids rides built, Nile could store all its one million gallons of water inside the ride itself, though it could also be pumped in and out of the nearby Buccaneer Bay at Oceans of Fun. This unique design element was created by the local Kansas City engineering firm Burns and McDonnell. Guests passing Fury of the Nile on their way between the two parks might notice the water levels being high in the lift hill section of the ride. It is this area that is over 20 feet deep and designed to hold all the ride’s water allowing the majority of the ride to be emptied and filled within minutes. 

The four 250-HP pumps 

One of the empty pump pits (the pumps above usually sit in these pits)

You can see the three operational pumps in this photo (there are four but only three are used at once)

The theme of the Nile is ancient Egypt, complete with hieroglyphs, colossal statues of the Pharoah,  and even the voice of “King Tut” in the tunnel during its earliest years. Why? Well besides the obvious fact that Nile is located in the African section of the park, the 1980s witnessed a huge revival of interest in ancient Egypt partially thanks to a tour of “Treasures of Tutankhamun” in the late 1970s, and reflected by various media of the time, think the Bangles “Walk Like an Egyptian” and Steve Martin’s “King Tut” on Saturday Night Live.  Fury of the Nile fits right into that timeline niche and proves that the love of all things ancient Egyptian has never really died.

Lake 2 with full theming in the 1980s

lift hill with Egyptian artwork in 1988.

Similar view in 1999.

The Nile would open to the public on May 25, 1984, complete with 8 geysers, multiple waterfalls, rapids, and 1,800 feet of churning, foaming water!  Like many attractions, Nile had its share of mishaps in its early years. In June of 1984, one of the ride’s 23 6-seat rafts would flip over, injuring two riders (a 9-year-old boy had a broken leg). The ride was slightly modified including the removal of waterfalls in the tunnel. Since that point, Nile has had fairly uneventful operations, with no other major accidents reported. This does not include ride shutdowns and unscheduled ride evacuations which happen on all rides from time to time.

You can see the boat positioned in the background (its the smaller conveyor belt)

walking the turntable 

Nile "sudded" in the 1980s

Nile cleaning in 1986

Over its next 40 years of operation, Nile would comprise more stories than anyone could share at one time. Ambassadors recall the many trough-cleaning parties (where the trough would be emptied and then scoured cleanish). There was also at least one known situation where ambassadors attempted to “sud” the Nile, in much the same way that Voyager had been for many years. This involved filling an empty trough with soap and then letting the pumped-in water create millions of soap suds. It was only marginally successful due to the vast amount of water incorporated into Nile vs. Viking Voyager. Then there were the day-to-day operations. Walking (running?) incalculable miles on a never-ending turntable in subterranean heat waves, made even worse in the 1984 inaugural season by safari-style helmets issued as part of the ambassador costume. Then there was/is the boat positioner which was supposed to align boats with the turntable but never actually worked (does it work now? I doubt it, but it never did anyway). 

During the 1980s Worlds of Fun ride operations also unofficially competed against each other in what was called  “Turnstile Wars” which pitted Nile against several other high capacity rides in the park (Zambezi Zinger, Viking Voyager, Orient Express and in one notable moment, the Worlds of Fun Railroad) to see who could reach the highest capacity in one hour. Nile’s highest recorded, actually achieved ride capacity for one hour at least up until 1985 was 1,777 in ONE hour! Just for those who haven’t done the math, that's all 23 boats, all filled with 6 guests each, running roughly a 4.5-minute ride cycle. Yes, those ambassadors were running around the turntable! But they got a great workout!

2000, with the red "bloody nile" water, that's me in the photo by the way

A skeleton, haunted boat in 1999

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Lake 2 with the blue water in 1998

For guests of Nile during its many years, Nile is full of memories of standing on the hot asphalt in line as it snaked down the colossal queue line, the infamous dyed blue water (or red, I’ll get to that), water pouring over the sides from torrential waves, unsuspecting geysers (that were on timers, the ambassadors couldn’t control them), and the waterfall at the end. In 1998, 14 years after Nile opened the park would “plus”  the ride during Boo!Blast (which later became known as Halloweekends) dying the water red, and theming one of the boats with skeletons. The ride was then “re-named” Fury of the Bloody Nile. It would remain that way every Halloween until at least 2003. 

Geyser in Lake 1

1st geyser from Lake 2, from 2003

2nd geyser from Lake 2, from 2003

The most recent photo I have of a geyser working in 2017

Over the last two decades of the ride, Nile has slowly been modified and “left to its own devices” allowing the ride that we all once knew and loved to fall from the premier level it once was at, to the literal mild river float trip that it is today. Of the eight total geysers I haven’t seen a single one operate in the last few years and for the last decade maybe one or two occasionally. The various “obstacles” on the base of the trough that create the waves have been modified, and increased, to a point that the waves that once would almost drown riders in the boats, now barely lap at the edge of the boat. Why? Probably mostly due to cost, but also probably due to apathy. Apathy as in that the era of “massive water ride expansion” ended in the 1990's. Rapids rides are no longer the hot ticket that they were once considered to be. To the point that many parks these days are REMOVING their rapid rides to add the newest, biggest coaster or some other major attraction. Carowinds removed their rapids ride in 2009 to make way for Copperhead Strike, and Hersheypark removed their rapids ride Canyon River Rapids for its water park in 2008. Rapids rides are large, expensive, and require a large staff to maintain and keep in operation. Worlds of Fun has always been blessed with land, there was no need to look at ride removals to make way for Mamba or Patriot of Prowler, and there is still a great deal left for expansion. That fact has saved Nile, the lack of industry enthusiasm for rapid rides has caused it to languish. Unlike general industry apathy, I  do not believe that amusement park fans' zeal for rapid rides like Nile has diminished, and many still line up for a good soaking, just look at Silver Dollar City (Mystic River Falls) and SeaWorld’s (Infinity Falls) newest updated rapids rides. I do not know what the future holds for Nile, I hope it involves an update, as I would love to welcome back the ride I truly once adored.

Rapids 2 from 1999

Rapids 2 from 2016