The Beginning…
“Oh my…” that was the response of the KC Star teen writers as they approached Worlds of Fun for their first ride on Mamba in 1998. As I stood on Worlds of Fun Avenue a day later, April 18th 1998, trying to get pictures of Mamba, I was passed on one side by an entire string of cars literally parked on Worlds of Fun Avenue waiting to get in… I saw more than one gapping open mouth… looking straight up, 205 feet up to be sure. But that’s not where Mamba’s story starts. I also vividly remember in summer 1997 first hearing about the “big new ride” coming to Worlds of Fun in 1998 while I worked in retail at the old Baltic Bazaar. The guy, I will always vividly remember this, was wearing a Cedar Point “Banshee” shirt. But that wasn’t the start either. I happen to believe that in history, nothing happens in a vacuum and so it is with Mamba as well. Because no discussion of Mamba would be complete without its sisters, Steel Force and Wild Thing, or its own progenitor, Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point.
Mamba? Is that you? Nope... Its Magnum XL-200.
Back in in the late 80’s, Cedar Point was looking for the next big thing and they went to a company that had already designed and built several of their most popular coasters, Gemini, Corkscrew and even Cedar Creek Mine Ride. Arrow Dynamics. Arrow, the great proliferator of amusement park rides and roller coasters for the last four decades still had several good tricks up its sleeve, and one of these just happened to be the world’s first hyper coaster, or coaster 200 feet tall or taller. A type of coaster built not for loops or other crazy shenanigans, but speed and lots of it. It could be said that Magnum propelled Cedar Point to its title “Roller Coaster Capital of the World”. It could also be successfully argued that if Magnum hadn’t been built, neither would Worlds of Fun ever have become a Cedar Fair park. Certainly, there would have been no Mamba. Ron Toomer, the designer for Arrow Dynamics, and designer of the immortal Orient Express and Screamroller had one last great trick up his sleeve.
Some specs on Mamba from the original press kit.
The world wasn’t ready for Mamba as of yet though. A few years after Magnum, Cedar Fair began to do what it has always done best, copy its most successful ideas to its other parks. Before I continue it's important to point out that at this time Cedar Fair didn’t own over a dozen parks like it does today. In 1996, where our next chapter takes us it only owned four, Cedar Point, Valleyfair, Dorney Park and of course Worlds of Fun, which it had bought from Hunt Midwest in mid-1995. Instead of Arrow though, they went to Morgan Manufacturing, owned by the son of one of the founders of Arrow Development, Dana Morgan (son of Ed Morgan). The apple certainly did not fall far from the tree at all.
Ok let's all be honest... who puts their hands down here?
Wild Thing at Valleyfair was first, and it opened in 1996, though there are urban legends that Wild Thing was actually planned for Dorney Park first yet the construction permits couldn’t be filed in time… so it went to ValleyFair instead. Steel Force would find its way to Dorney Park and it would open in 1997. Worlds of Fun would be third in line, completing what is commonly referred to as the “Morgan Triplets” . Improving on everything that was learned with the two previous incarnations, designer Steve Okomoto and D.H Morgan gave “The World” what is arguably the best of the three.
Obviously, all these people did... Looks deceivingly close in this shot!
Mamba would combine the best elements of the first two, a 200+ foot lift hill and first drop along with some fantastic air filled bunny hops as a finale. To the mix, Mamba would spice things up with an equally towering second hill at 184 feet, complete with its own massive dose of airtime and a fantastic head-chopper helix. Mamba was to be built, perched at one of the highest elevations in the park, utilizing some of the park’s naturally slopping terrain allowing both the lift hill and first drop to reach 205 feet equally, creating a grandiose monster that to this day seemingly snakes around the park.
Mamba wasn’t without its own fiascos and “urban legends”. A commonly quoted fact that Mamba’s price tag was ten million, is actually false and based on the price tag of its two quasi-twin predecessors. Mamba’s price tag was never officially announced and only listed officially as “over ten million dollars”. The other story fans love to tell is that Mamba was designed with twin tunnels, identical to those on Steel Force and Wild Thing. This one is true, as the press release above can attest. The tunnels were cut as the budget continued to climb above the original price tag, but not before the preliminary wiring was complete. Out in an electrical shed, near the turn-around of Mamba are two on/off switches, one for “enclosure #1” and the other for “enclosure #2”. Though the tunnels are often discussed, even today, they are not often missed, as from at least this rider’s point of view, having ridden both Steel Force and Wild Thing on multiple occasions, I ‘ll take Mamba any day.
Airtime!
Going back to April 18th, 1998 the day Mamba opened to thousands of would be, possibly traumatized gawkers… I was there and I was one of them, and while I wouldn’t ride Mamba myself for six more years, I cannot forget that day. The line for Mamba streamed all the way back past the line for Fury of the Nile. Of course, there was a simple reason for that, Mamba was quite literally an 11th hour miracle. Morgan had delivered Mamba’s first and only train for opening weekend literally DAYS before opening day! However for those brave enough to challenge Mamba it was and still is one heck of a ride, enough so to make all of those of us who were there to witness it realize we were witnessing a once in a generation event, the birth of a legend.
3.5 G's right now...
Mamba’s Long-Term Impact
What makes a legend? Is it something that thrills us right out of the gate? Is it something that ten, twenty, thirty years later we still love, or is it something deeper than just a ride that just offers a good time? My argument is that it is all three. Any ride can be popular the first or second year that it is open, Mamba had to be all of that and then some. Because it wasn’t just Mamba being this huge awesome coaster, it was everything that happened at the same time. Mamba became not just a big new coaster it became a turning point in park history.
This illustrates the point perfectly...
History will tell us that the three years surrounding the addition of Mamba saw the removal of almost a dozen major and minor attractions, Cotton Blossom, The Main Gate, the Henrietta, the Dolphin Show, the Marionette Show, the Floral Clock, The Trams, and of course the Zambezi Zinger. Zinger, no less was in the process of being removed while Mamba was being built. Only a few years later, Orient Express would follow the Zambezi Zinger, and in the blink of an eye, Worlds of Fun had lost its two legendary roller coasters.
Why do I bring this up? Why is this important? Because it illustrates how Mamba was not only at the crossroads between an old Worlds of Fun and new Worlds of Fun, but that these changes, helped shape Mamba, and more importantly, how its fans and riders viewed it. Simply put, Mamba became a legend not because it was a home run hit out of the park when it first opened (though it was!), but because it was THERE when it felt like at the turn of a corner who knew what else wouldn’t be. It was a 205-foot, 5,600 foot long, red steel piece of bedrock. Mamba was almost instantly put on the road to become a legend because it filled for many of us the terribly empty shoes left by the two biggest roller coaster legends of park history up to that point. Today, it's not Zambezi Zinger and Orient Express, it's Mamba, Patriot, and Prowler, and by being first then and being first today, Mamba cemented its legendary and beloved status that we celebrate today.
Mamba Today
Twenty Years have passed since that day Mamba gave its first public ride.
Today, when I look at Worlds of Fun’s website I still see Mamba’s visage being plastered in videos, photos, and comments. What ride are you going to ride first? Mamba of course! Magnum XL was long ago surpassed in height at Cedar Point. Steel Force isn’t the biggest, hottest ticket at Dorney Park anymore. Mamba has been surpassed as the newest trick in town at Worlds of Fun almost a half a dozen times already, yet whenever we look at Worlds of Fun what do we see first... Mamba. Twenty years may have dulled her paint job but not dulled the Worlds of Fun’s patrons love of the big red coaster on the hill.
Come on a roller coaster blog from me? Of course you're going to get a panel shot, because its awesome!
What is different between the two Mamba logos you ask? I'll wait....
Everyone has a different Mamba story, anyone that has any connection with the ride itself, from rider, to operator, to public relations manager, maintenance man, to even the steel worker that knocked her to together all those years ago. It took twenty years to create all of our own personal stories with Mamba, and that is partially what we are celebrating today. One thing I have learned over the years, is that history and its importance isn’t about things, not the steel or the bolts or the paint, it's about how those things impact our lives, and make memories that we can look back on. Mamba certainly has done that for me, and I hope that those reading this can say the same. Happy twentieth birthday Mamba, thanks for all the wonderful memories and here's to many more to come.
So what was different between the two logos? The Grass! Right before the new logo was released, Jeff was shown the two final options for the final logo. One with grass, one without. I think they made a good decision. Snake in the grass...
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