Worlds of Fun.Org: 1971-2021: 50 Years Ago the Fun Began

A few months ago, on August 4th, we looked at the beginning of the idea that was Worlds of Fun. Today, we look at what was the beginning of the very real place. Like every groundbreaking ceremony, there was the “teaser” element, which in Worlds of Fun’s case involved releasing 3,000 helium balloons, each with two tickets good for entrance to the park in 1973. There was also the just as necessary collection of who’s who in Kansas City in attendance too. Some names we recognize today, Mayor Charles B. Wheeler Jr., Jack W. Steadman, Lamar Hunt along with a long list of various Clay County judges and Chamber of Commerce members.

Pushing the plunger to release the 3,000 balloons! From left to right: 1) Stan McIlvaine (General Manager of Mid-America Enterprises), 2) Edward J. Bauman (Clay County presiding judge), 3) Mayor Charles B. Wheeler, Jr. 4) Richard K. Degenhardt (Executive Vice-President of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce), Lamar Hunt (Board Chairman of Mid-America Enterprises), George W. Lehr (Jackson County presiding judge), Jack W. Steadman (President of Mid-America Enterprises), and Al Lambino (project architect of Randall Duell & Associates)

And in color thanks to Adam Hoffman.

But if you will humor me my favorite aspect of the event was one small detail. Not the shovels, or tiny balloons but the big balloon that was introduced that day. In August Worlds of Fun received its name, but in November Worlds of Fun received its icon, the hot air balloon. It was November 10th that the hot air balloon we all know and love was introduced to the public. In 2007 Cedar Fair attempted to change that, and homogenize the park’s logo, but the very next year the hot air balloon was back and it was back to stay. It's been modified and altered more than once over the years, but the hot balloon is synonymous with Worlds of Fun, and that aspect was born today, 50 years ago.

The original ascending balloon Worlds of Fun logo. A fascinating detail is that the "W" of Worlds of Fun, is actually the lowercase "w" in the font used (Partridge Font).

Possibly one of my favorite quotes from the November 11th edition of the Kansas City Times coverage of the ceremonies is from Jack Steadman himself:

“We chose the large multi-colored ascension balloon as our symbol because it represents fun, adventure, and travel reminiscent of the movie Around the World in 80 Days. These are the things that we want Worlds of Fun to represent.” (Roberts, 1971, p. 1)

Victrix concept art. Victrix was located in the same lake as Sea Dragon is today. You can see the outline of the keel when the water is clear.

The park design was further elaborated on at the groundbreaking too. There were the usual suspects, ones that made it into the final park, a speedracer (Zambezi Zinger), a flume ride (Viking Voyager), Cotton Blossom, and Victrix. But several attractions mentioned, never made it to the final product. Of these the two most tantalizing include a “huge carousel” and “a living floral display area patterned after the Copenhagen's renowned Tivoli Gardens”. Though there may never have been a specific Tivoli Gardens area, the over-arching concept of an entertaining, yet also naturally beautiful park lived on and lives on still today.

Portions of the Tivoli Gardens area, which later became simply the Ski Heis station in Scandinavia. Like so many of these drawings, the places existed in a much less grander scale.

Another fascinating detail is that November 10th wasn’t even the first day of construction. Worlds of Fun’s physical construction began over two months prior, on September 1st, 1971! The actual grand groundbreaking ceremony was delayed due to schedule conflicts, and construction had to start because the park was scheduled to open in less than 18 months. Probably a good idea as park opening was still delayed from the original schedule. Worlds of Fun was originally planned to open in April 1973, but didn’t open until the end of May! We can thank the completely unpredictable and sometimes disastrous Kansas City weather for that. No surprise there.

Another view of the groundbreaking photo above. What this tells me though is that somewhere there is video footage of it.

Still, we look on and celebrate November 10th as the beginning of the physical park we still know almost 50 years after it opened. Worlds of Fun would follow a trend of corporate parks that started in the 1960s and continue into the mid-1970s, and as we saw back in August Worlds of Fun borrowed from a variety of parks that proceeded it. I would like to think though that some of the best aspects of the park were when Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman deviated from the norm. It was those differences, that make Worlds of Fun unique, magical even. And there Lamar Hunt borrowed from the very best of theme parks when he was quoted stating: “ When a family enters our park it will truly feel it has left the real world behind and walked into a world of fantasy and fun.” (Roberts, 1971, p. 1) Though the jury is still out on modern history, for those of us that grew up with park during the Hunt years, I think it’s safe to say Lamar and Jack got exactly what they wanted, and so did we.