September 11, 2017: As I am writing this I am in Orlando, FL awaiting a visit from my great-aunt Irma, (and realizing about half of the original photos I am going to share with you are somewhere in storage facility in Orlando too…) , for the last few months actually I have been thinking of this day and what I would say. Today, or more importantly, 20 years ago, one of Worlds of Fun’s greatest coasters, and one of its current seven operating coasters was announced, Mamba.
General Manager, Daniel Keller at the Media Announcement
Besides its importance to history, both to the park and the coaster world as a whole, Mamba also holds uncountable numbers of personal stories. In April of next year, I will write its official “historical” editorial, today though I thought I would share a few more personal stories with you, as I was once told those are the more interesting stories.
Jan Kiser, President of ACE at the announcement. If you go here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Worlds-of-Fun-dot-org-88851807796/photos/?tab=album&album_id=381621747796
You can see Jan Kiser speaking at the 10th anniversary of Orient Express a decade earlier.
Also, over the next eight months we will be doing a historical account of Mamba’s construction on this blog, Jeff took many of the official Mamba construction photos and I thought it would be fascinating to post them, individually, 20 years after they were initially taken. Unfortunately, since all the photos were shot using film, I only have the development date, not the actually date they were shot, so they will be posted on their approximate shooting date, and I think that will sufficient to be interesting. It will certainly be fun for me to re-live the memories myself.
Leslie Slaughter, Public Relations Director at Worlds of Fun. Also, notice the Mamba logo in the background, the current Mamba logo we know today wouldn't be finalized until a few months prior to Mamba's opening. Jeff tells the story of how he was asked whether he preferred grass or no grass in the background.
For many, the construction of Mamba became the catalyst to become Worlds of Fun fans, or for those of us already so, become much more involved and buy season passes. Mamba had a massive impact on the park. Jeff Mast's website (kcnet) was started to cover Mamba’s construction, and many fans, including myself, visited the website frequently for updated coverage. In fact, it was about midway through construction of Mamba that I started my own personal website on Tripod too. Fascinatingly enough, Jeff Mast had been asked by the park’s head of Public Relations, Leslie Slaughter, to monitor various fan sites for “unauthorized” coverage as not only was Mamba being built at the time but Zinger was being removed too. Of course, this meant Jeff Mast started not only watching my site but several others. Though we wouldn’t actually meet until eight months later, Jeff Mast and I would eventually become friends, merge our websites and then as if it was the natural conclusion to such a meeting… get married in 2002. All thanks to a 205-foot steel coaster.
Artistic rendering, I apologize for how small this image is, the original image is buried in a storage shed right now. (the vast majority of the construction photos are in a binder in our apartment)
Though Jeff vividly remembers the construction of Orient Express, and I also remember the mass advertising of Timber Wolf, Mamba was probably the most vividly remembered new coaster events in my personal experience. I was in college at the time, at Northwest Missouri State, and I remember driving down on the weekend, and seeing the silver pylons seemingly rising out the foggy darkness as if it they were some supernatural beings. On opening day, cars were literally parked down Worlds of Fun avenue, people gazed, gawking out their car windows, no one had ever seen a coaster quite as tall as Mamba was. The line for Mamba, snaked all the way down past the entrance to Nile, it seemed massive, and though I didn’t realize it at the time, it was for good reason. Mamba was literally an eleventh-hour finish, with gates not even being added until after media day, on opening day there were no queue rails in the lines themselves, and of course only one train as Morgan (Mamba’s manufacturer) was even surprised by the fact that Mamba had opened on time.
Another artistic rendering.
Mamba opened for the very first time to the public on April 28, 1998, but today we celebrate its announcement, and celebrate one of the tallest, longest and fastest introductions to Worlds of Fun’s attraction headliners. Continue to watch over the next several months as once again, like twenty years ago, Mamba is about the strike.
Dan Keller climbing into earth moving equipment for the breaking ground ceremony. Supposedly, it was quite an experience, in that the tractor almost tipped over.
Kansas City Star Article Announcing Mamba
1 comment:
Ready. Ready ready.
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