So with Jeff working on Patriot, I decided to head out on my own to Worlds of Fun on Sunday August 5th, 2012. Of course the weather being below 100 degrees certainly helped, but the main reason was for the Hot Brass group that WoF had advertised for on their Facebook page. I can never turn down free live music. :)
I showed up right around 1pm, and though hurrying in I took a picture of the gate still decorated in "Celebrate America" garb.
I spent the vast majority of the next two hours enjoying the music of Hot Brass: US Air Force Mid-America division. I really don't have a lot of family members that have been active in the military past or present, but it never ceases to amaze me how those that serve the country dedicate their entire life to the service. So a big thanks to all the members of the military that both shared their musical talent with those at the park on Sunday and all those that may be reading this today.
Overall I was REALLY impressed, they group were incredibly eclectic, playing a wide variety of music, as well as a wide variety of instruments (many played multiple instruments!) I even shot a quick video of one of the tunes... Sweet Home Alabama. I apology for the quality. :)
While I have some idea who was behind bring this group to the park, it was a GREAT idea. I would love to see more of this type of live entertainment in the park.
This little girl quite literally STOLE the show... She was so adorable!
Of course during the festivities who should show up?
Phileas Fogg and his female companion... which I have to admit... I don't know her name (Nellie Bly). Yes that's a 1976 map... trust me the temptation was great to ask how much he would take for the map... :)
After the show I headed out to Americana... Now for those WHOLE 2 OF YOU who read my blogs you might remember my comment about Blue Water reappearing at Worlds of Fun. It wasn't just a one time occurrence either. I made several sightings of what I used to term the "mystical blue waters" of Worlds of Fun. (hey I was a kid). Actually as I found out later on, the blue water is algaecide... and it works. I don't see algae anywhere. Plus look how nice it looks... PRETTY...
Yes, that was a nice photo unfortunately further on in Americana... there were many sightings of these. *sigh* The barrels themselves aren't horrible after all it's just theming right? (HA! JUST theming...) But it is way past tiring watching parts of the park quite literally fall apart.
On the Facebook page a few days ago I posted this photo...
I thought it would be cool to see what this looks like today... Really I was expecting these photo comparisons to be glaringly horrible. Surprisingly it isn't as horrible as I expected. Yes I would much rather have my Sky Hi back... However shade is nice too.
That was a lot of fun... lets try that again. Then...
And Now... You can't even see Der Fender Bender/Autobahn anymore... That might not be such a bad thing...
So while in Europa I had to make a pit stop, and saw this sign on the door to the bathroom... For those that remember there used to be these nifty signs on the doors that said something along the lines o "Worlds of Fun has the cleanest bathrooms in the United States... if you find something out of order.... yada yada yada" Well those as you might imagine vanished several years ago. They were and still are far from the cleanest bathrooms in the United States. However this sign gives me hope. Lets see how it works.
Of course later on in Africa I spied this from the Africa midway. It was in plain view... (So no I didn't open a door, or walk or even approach a non-guest area, The showing of this picture does not in ANYWAY indicate that it is EVER okay to enter into a non-guest area... Disclaimer over). However. The sign does no good in a grounds closest. So what am I as a guest made to think?
Now who of any of us goes to a park to go to a bathroom? Well yes they are important. But we are all there to ride the RIDES. I have been reading some reviews, and hearing comments from other park ambassadors that will remain nameless... So in order to form my own opinions of ride operations I figured I should ride some rides. So I did that. UGH. UGH. UGH.
Where do I start? Yes its hot, its been insanely hot, awful no rain. I am sure there have been a few (a FEW?! probably dozens) stops at first aid for heat exhaustion. Hey folks I was ONE of them back in 1994. Security had to come up to Skyliner and force me away from my ride, in a wheelchair mind you, as I was about ready to collapse. So to complaints about heat... forget it. There should be no excuse for completely ignoring your guests. Chit chatting with your co-worker is fine when no one is riding, and you have empty boats... empty trains whatever. NOT when you have guests trying to exit a boat, car, train, etc. At least, glancing the way of the exiting guests is REALLY not a bad idea. Its called doing your job.
Notice I am not complaining about not smiling, friendliness, etc. That would have been nice too. However, I was SHOCKED by the fact that I noticed several ambassadors not even paying attention to their ride. I am not one to point things that ambassdors do wrong out on this blog, but really.
Now there is another department, that was friendly, welcoming and actually showed a few smiles through the day... Games.
And now for something completly different... As we have previously seen on previous blogs, the old Zinger tunnel is located near those orange fences on the right. It looks like the old track ties that used to frame the entrance to the tunnel, have finally been pulled out. It looks like whats left of Zinger is giving one last fight...
So I finished up my day catching a show at the Moulin Rouge, "Stay Tuned" was playing. It started a little slow, but I really enjoyed the show.
More Photos on Facebook!
So that's it for this go around. Hope everyone has a great week and like always see you in the park!
