Usually, New Year's Eve is a non-entity for Worlds of Fun fans, in the forty-five years of the park’s existence, the park has been as quiet as a field mouse on December 31, until this year. Of course this year the park is doing some decidedly different. It’s open! It will enter into 2019 not dark and somber, but full of life, lights, fireworks, and people (hopefully). This made me think that this made for a perfect time for a blog. But I couldn’t figure out what type of blog, until I realized that this New Years Eve brought in the new year, 2019. And with 2019, came a whole host of anniversaries for the park. If CP Food Blog won’t mind me borrowing their idea, I do believe that this last day of 2018 makes for a perfect introduction to the multitude of park anniversaries for the upcoming year. This is one of the few years that there will be an EXISTING attraction celebrating an anniversary for almost every five-year mark from 1974 going forward.
Believe it or not… Steelhawk is officially five years old in 2019. If that makes you feel old… well, I am only just getting started. Steelhawk was manufactured by Mondial of the Netherlands and opened on July 2, 2014. It was then and still is now at 301’ feet tall the tallest attraction in the park, and offers an exhilarating, and sometimes quite cold and windy experience high above the park. As most know its history I won’t repeat too much of it here except to remind everyone that Steelhawk was originally known as Windseeker prior to it’s move from Knott’s Berry Farm to Worlds of Fun. Fascinating enough Steelhawk also stands where the original main Americana gate was located and the entrance walkway to Steelhawk once served as the entrance walkway into the park.
It’s amazing to me that Prowler is now ten years old. It doesn’t feel like that long ago. It too didn’t open on opening day, this big cat preferred May instead (Prowler opened May 2, 2009). It is famous locally for its great night rides and perfectly timed on ride photo flash. It also, like all good Worlds of Fun coasters, is famous nationally for being voted the best new attraction for 2009. So much so that once again like all good Worlds of Fun coasters, was at least partially cloned at Kings Island (Mystic Timbers). Makes one wonder why King’s Island likes to clone Worlds of Fun coasters as this is its second go around doing that? (Vortex is a near clone of Orient Express). I think with Kings Island photocopying Worlds of Fun so much that turn around is fair play, what do you think?
Prowler like its semi-clone Mystic Timbers was a creation of Great Coasters International or as it is usually referred to as GCI. GCI had been known since its inception for its fabulous twister coasters, or coasters that as the name implies cross over themselves countless times. Thunderhead for example at Dollywood has a total of 32 crossovers. Prowler was quite different with a total of only four, creating an odd sort of GCI creation more in line with a traditional Out and Back coaster (Mamba is a great example of an Out and Back). The funny part of all of this is that on a dark night it's almost impossible to tell where the coaster is headed, and a friend of ours who rode the coaster for the first time on a dark night during the American Coaster Enthusiasts 2009 Convention stated upon exiting that he "really didn't like those twister coasters". Suffice it to say... Prowler wasn't and isn't a twister, but it was so dark he couldn't even tell. The sign of a great coaster.
There are a lot of coasters having anniversaries this year… mostly due to the fact that over a period of a decade the park added five different coasters (and removed two). Spinning Dragons was the first coaster opening that I actually rode on its opening day, which once again wasn’t Worlds of Fun’s opening day, it was April 17th instead. Spinning Dragons was a replacement filling the void at the park for the family-style coaster, and is still quite popular since it is the only coaster other than Cosmic Coaster (a rocket with feet), that allows guests under 48” to ride. Guests can ride Spinning Dragons at 43” as long as they are accompanied by a responsible person... As most also know Spinning Dragons was a twin birth by the folks at Gerstlauer Amusement Rides of Germany with its twin opening a few months earlier at the then Camp Snoopy at Mall of America (today Nickelodeon Universe)
Twenty Five Years - 1994 -Current
Sea Dragon
I was 16 in summer 1994 and Worlds of Fun was not only my first job, but Sea Dragon was also the brand new ride that year. I not only operated it but I also characteristically, for me that is, called operations office freaking out that guests were going to fly out of the swinging ship. Give a 16-year-old a break as for those that ride it there is a lot of airtime in those last rows! Sea Dragon was one of Hunt Midwest’s last additions to the park, and in many ways “replaced” the Victrix which had been removed after the 1992 season. Sea Dragon was also one of Chance Rides last “Sea Dragon” themed swing ship rides. After that year Chance switched to the Pharoah’s Fury theme on their swinging ships. Chance Rides today is still in business and still manufacturing the Pharoah’s Fury swinging ship in nearby Wichita, Ks.
Thirty Years 1989 - Current
Timber Wolf
Timber Wolf… there are some that will say that the Timber Wolf of today bears no resemblance to the Timber Wolf of 1989. But we're not going to argue that point as wooden coasters by their very nature are temperamental beings. I always like to say that my real interest in Worlds of Fun started with Timber Wolf, it was at that point that I started to watch for the commercials every spring, and those that were around during that marketing campaign know exactly what I am talking about. The most amazing thing to me though right now about Timber Wolf is that we are discussing not its 20th, not its 25th but its 30th anniversary. The big THREE-OH. Timber Wolf is now not only officially “over the hill” but It has as of 2019 made it six years longer than any other Worlds of Fun coaster in the history of the park. With its new turn (which replaced the old 560 degree helix), I think it’s gotten a new lease on life, and I think it will see several more 5-year anniversary marks before it runs off into the wilderness.
Timber Wolf might be the ride I remember because of its commercials but the fact is I didn’t even ride it until 2004. On the other hand, the ride that I remember riding every time I went to Worlds of Fun when I was a kid and a teenager is also still there and that’s Fury of the Nile. I still remember the hot sun, the line snaking all the way down that long queue line, and by the time you made it “almost” there, to that bridge that covers the turntable… the turntable was running so fast in those years it would cause that bridge to vibrate. Everything was amazingly memorable about that ride, the geysers which seemed to be everywhere, the rapids and the long, seemingly never-ending dark tunnel at the end. Nile was also of true Worlds of Fun lineage, in that it was the largest river rapids ride in the world at the time, built by Intamin AG of Switzerland. Nile also introduced new technology to the world of rapids rides including the first ever turntable loading station, and water storage that was built into the ride itself (under the lift), not necessitating what I like to refer to as an “ugly lake” that many rapids rides have to this day. Nile has so many great stories its hard to pick just one, but I always personally loved how in the years preceding the now massive event that is Halloween Haunt, Nile was always dyed “red” (more like a dirty pink) and called Fury of the “bloody” Nile. I can’t even remember when they stopped doing that, but you know I kind of miss those small touches.
Forty Years - 1979 - Current
Zulu
It has been said that the German’s really known how to engineer their rides, (among other things), and like Spinning Dragons, Zulu is German made, by Huss Manufacturing (pronounced WHOSE). Zulu is what is known as an Enterprise, and Huss was the second company to produce a ride by that name, Anton Schwartzkopf (also of Germany) produced the first version, and the two rides were incredibly similar. Zulu is properly named, it was in 1979 and still is today one incredibly intense ride, and for that reason, it is the only ride in this list that I have not, and will not ride. I’ve heard too many stories about trails leading around the ride and to the bathroom nearby, and I am not talking about trails of breadcrumbs either. There has been a great deal of worry about Zulu over recent years due to rehabs throughout the operating season, and also the simple fact that Cedar Point, Worlds of Fun’s monstrous sister park in Ohio just removed their Huss Enterprise after the 2018 season (Witches Wheel). For today though, and into 2019 Zulu is still with us, and hopefully will continue to be with us for many years to come. I still won’t ride it though.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the park turned forty-five years old in 2018, so it would only be proper that the next year, 2019 we would celebrate the forty-fifth anniversary of the first new attractions added to the park in its second season. That would include the Red Baron children’s ride and the Forum Amphitheater. Forum, or as it was re-named in 1999 the Heart of America Theater, is sadly probably on its last few seasons. It had an amazing run, if not one of the most amazing runs of any attraction at the park, hosting hundreds if not thousands of concerts, from its first on June 16th, 1974, the Harper Valley PTA, to its last major concert in 1997. I still remember coming to the park as a child with my mom who wanted to see Lee Greenwood and waiting camped out in front of the Forum Amphitheater for good seats. During the 1980s and even into the ’90s the Forum was the bread and butter of park attendance. It was sad then to wait in line for the Bloodshed attraction at Haunt this year and see the faded paint reminding those long ago concertgoers not to sit on the concrete walkways. Let us not be sad though, let us instead remember the memories from it, and recall those while the Forum still exists for 2019.
The other attraction celebrating it’s 45th anniversary this year is a rather small one, but though it be small it be mighty and that’s the Red Baron. Yes, that little airplane ride in Planet Snoopy is one of the park’s oldest operating attractions, opening in 1974 in the Scandinavian section of the park, and moving to its current location in 1978 with the addition of the Aerodrome. Details and even its paint job and name have changed over the years but Red Baron itself really hasn’t. A thought I like to think about is that kids that first rode it when it opened in the 1970s are now old enough to not only have children of their own but now even grandchildren, making this one ride that quite possibly can be said to have been ridden by three different generations.
About a week ago I posted a photo of Henrietta in the snow back when the park was still under construction in early 1973. That photo started a discussion on what happened to Henrietta, and started the wheels turning for a blog specifically about her. As most know Worlds of Fun was home to three full-size ships when it first opened in 1973, Cotton Blossom from MGM’s 1951 “Show Boat”, Victrix from MGM’s 1953 “All the Brothers were Valiant” and last but not least, Henrietta. Unlike the other two, Henrietta was not an actual model purchased from MGM, it was, however, based on the actual Henrietta from the 1956 version of “Around the World in 80 Days”. In fact, it's easy to tell when one watches’ the scenes from the movie that the ship at Worlds of Fun was only very loosely based on the actual ship from the movie itself, with only a few identifying elements being copied such as the side paddlewheel and smokestack, along with, of course, the name.
Screenshot from "Around the World in 80 Days"
When the park opened in 1973, until the Americana main gate closed for good at the end of the 1998 season, millions of guests would start and end their day at Worlds of Fun by crossing the gangplank of Henrietta. It, along with the entire Americana gate complex was almost an afterthought to the guests running for the Zinger, or Screamroller or Orient Express which were, rightfully, the stars of the show. Very few thought to take pictures of Henrietta or the Main Gate, that was until we all realized it was going away for good, and like so many things in life one ever knows what one is losing until it's gone forever. With the removal of the gate in 1998 and the addition of the pay extra Grand Prix Raceway Go Karts, Henrietta was the last of the ships to go, following Victrix’s removal in 1993 and Cotton Blossom in 1995. Or was it?
Construction of Henrietta, you can see the concrete keel in the approximate center of the photo.
Henrietta as she appeared in the late 80's/early 90's, photo by Jeff Merritt.
Henrietta, because it was only half wood, and the rest concrete wasn’t so easy to get rid of, and when the park opened back up in 1999 it was obvious that the park decided not to simply remove the ship and bulldoze over the site as if it had never existed in the first place, but simply only removed anything that looked like a ship choosing to leave the basic structure intact. The pointed bow deck, the stern (rear) nameplate, the rigging, the sidewheeler, and the smokestack were all gone. Yet the old counter and covered awning remained. Instead of being used as Guests Relations, or Par-A-Scope photo, it became the ticket booth for the Grand Prix Raceway. I remember visiting the interior when I worked at the park in 2008 and was sent from Patriot to Grand Prix, seeing the old miniature wooden boxes and pegs on the wall that still existed from when it was used for souvenir photos, reminding me of the once grand past of what had become simply an ordinary wooden box.
Henrietta in 1998, the last season before it was "removed"
Starting with the 1999 season the Scandinavian gate went from being a back gate to the ONLY gate. Due to its design, it lacked any "opening act" show factor that both the old Americana Gate, and new Scandinavia gate today evoke. This created a new trend for Worlds of Fun fans, who started taking their guests to Americana and passing over the still existing entrance/exit bridges to “properly” enter the park. I remember quite vividly showing a visiting friend from Florida the outline of where the sidewheel paddlewheel once was, which was still visible at the time (it is no longer so).
Henrietta during the 1999 Season, you can easily see the ship's concrete bow, the white structure above is also re-used from the Henrietta.
Even now when I pass by what I refer to as "what is left of Henrietta" (for lack of better description) I can't help but remember my personal memories associated with her and there are several. Crossing it every week to enter the park as a guest after I got off work there in 1994, while I waited for my mom to pick me up. In 1998, I met Jeff, who would later become my husband for the very first time in front of the Henrietta. My dad would even come out a few times and on one occasion would point out that when he worked at the park in 1973 (on Cotton Blossom’s Paddlewheel Cafe), he remembered that guests would not exit over Henrietta like they would for years afterward, but instead down walkways that were off to the side. The walkways themselves are of course long gone, but the light pole, poised at an angle next to Grandma’s Funnel Cakes, still stands as a reminder of how even only one year into park operation, Worlds of Fun was in a constant state of change.
The original "box" structure has been demolished in this photo from early 2014, with Steelhawk under construction in the background.
2014 saw the addition of Steelhawk, to replace the Grand Prix Raceway. Though its movement from Knott's Berry Farm generated some questions, its addition to Worlds of Fun was almost flawless, especially popular since it replaced the decidedly unpopular Grand Prix Raceway. The addition of Steelhawk also saw further changes to the remnants of Henrietta. The original box-like structure was bulldozed and replaced by a Coca-Cola Freestyle structure. The metal guard rails that were added with Grand Prix were, thankfully, removed and left the two bridges in their semi-original style, with the dock-style pylons still intact. The park attempted to cover the old concrete boat keel with soil and stone, and added a rather adorable themed creek bed. But even well-intentioned though it was, Henrietta’s keel seems almost relentless in its ability to still be visible even today.
An attempt to cover up the boat-shaped keel.
As we have seen, Worlds of Fun for twenty years did almost everything in their power to make Henrietta vanish. A proposition that was probably more successful than not simply because most park visitors on their walk to Steelhawk will never realize they are crossing the bow of a ship, or the old park gate. It's ironic then, that after twenty years of seemingly wishing to forget, the park is now not only recognizing that Henrietta did exist but creating a restaurant in tribute to it and the two other large landmarks that used to call the park home, Cotton Blossom and Victrix. Boathouse Grill will open with the 2019 season near the original locations of the Cotton Blossom and Henrietta, a fantastic tribute to not only the ships themselves but the memories they helped create.
Henrietta served as the host for the 1974 Grand Opening Ceremonies. You can see one of the original bridges in the foreground, which still exists and looks pretty much about the same to this day.
More Information on the park's three iconic ships can be found here:
