A is for Aerodrome

A few weeks ago a long time friend of mine facebook'd me about the Aerodrome, and its evolution to Planet Snoopy... It got me thinking about how fascinating the five different variations on the 3 acres located in the southwest corner of Worlds of Fun have been and how many might be wondering, just slightly, what had once been.

So over the past week I have been digging around and scanning a few photos and graphics from the original 1978 Aerodrome, and figured I might share just a little bit of history with you.

The Aerodrome opened at Worlds of Fun for the 1978 season, as a 3 acre addition to the park. It was the park's first attempt at a "6th world" and unlike the variations that would follow, The Aerodrome was set up to appeal to all ages, from thrill seekers to small children.

After studying various park history's for the last decade one aspect of park history that intrigues me is the "why". Why did the park build a section entirely themed to flying? My personal opinion...one only has to look as far as Knott's Berry Farm (KBF). In 1975, KBF built Corkscrew, then in 1976, Worlds of Fun added Screamroller, the 5th version of the same Corkscrew roller coaster. In 1976, KBF added the Roaring 20's Airfield... themed to... flight. with a 100 foot skyjump. In 1978 Worlds of Fun adds the Aerodrome... Hmmm... Coincidental? I don't think so.

The Barnstormer! Also in the photo is Cockpit Coolers in the foreground, Lucky Lindy's in the background left, and Flying Circus is in the background right.

Aerodrome would set itself apart though, with a one of a kind (at the time) Bradley and Kaye creation known as The Barnstormer. The Barnstormer, I have found is a highly remembered ride, that surprised me, especially when you consider it only operated 6 seasons! Riders would board one of the 12 bi-planes, be lifted up in the air, circle a central hub, and then dive, up to 60 feet down!

Lamar Hunt said it best "The Barnstormer is one of the most innovative rides to be designed in recent years"

The give you an idea of the entire park layout. Here is the Sky Hi (another one of my favorites), The barn seen here is the red/white games barn currently. We are looking at it as if we were standing near the Icee stand today, looking south. The Barnstormer can be seen in the background.

Barnstormer was removed after the 1983 season, it and the winds 100 feet up never came to terms with each other. Octopus, one the most moved rides in the park (four moves total it is another blog post in and of itself), moved to its place and became known as the Tailspinner.

Other features of the Aerodrome would live on in other lifetimes throughout the next 30 years. Lucky Lindy's Lunch, a restaurant featuring a tall airfield tower, and themed menu items including the Solo Burger with Lindburgh cheese. Lucky Lindy's would live on into Pandemonium where it would be known as Kid's Stuff, in the 1990's its tower was removed and Lucky Lindy's would become the park's Ambassador break area (AmBam). It is now the Magical House on Boo Hill. Minus tall airtower.

Located at the entrance to the Aerodrome was The Great Waldo Crankshaft's Prop Shop, a gift boutique. In 1987 with the debut of Pandamonium Great Waldo would become PJ Panda Clubhouse, and then in 1996 The Launchpad Giftshop. In 2011 it will live on as its newest incarnation as the Family/Baby center.

Probably one of my favorite attractions was one that I only remember from its Pandamonium incarnation, Cockpit Coolers. A tiny snack stand located opposite the Red Baron. Cockpit Coolers served drinks and small snacks and was in the same league as the other WoF Tiny/Hexagon snack stands, Pagoda Soda, Lamar's Libations, Wet Your Whistle, and The Icicle (I miss that!) in Scandinavia. It was shaped like a small airfield tower, and overflowed with the cuteness factor. You can see Cockpit Coolers in the photo below of the Red Baron.

If you click on the photo for a larger version you will see a photo of the Wing Ding. In the background is Great Waldo's Crankshaft (Launchpad)

Other rides called Aerodrome home besides Barnstormer and later the Tailspinner (Octopus), these include the Wing Ding, and the Red Baron. Wing Ding was an incredibly rare Eyerly Fly-O-Plane, it was also the shortest lived Worlds of Fun attraction operating only 2 years at the park from 1978-1979. It was replaced in 1981 by the beloved Incred-O-Dome, a yellow dome, featuring the state of the art Cinema 180 screen. Many of us from the 80's remember camping out on the carpeted floor watching movies of coasters, planes, and more pass in front of eyes. And who could forget the smell... :) It was the precedessor of the IMAX, and was amazing at the time. In 1997 Incred-O-Dome was removed and Scrambler was added in its place.

An artist conception of the Incred-O-Dome. Why oh why I didn't take pictures of it before they tore it down???

Looks pretty much the same, except the background has changed considerably. If you click on the photo to zoom you can see cockpit coolers on the far left center.

The Red Baron was the last ride found in the Aerodrome, it also has the unique distinction of being located in the SAME location with the SAME name (part of the time) since 1978. The Red Baron today, was the Red Baron then. Or for those of us in the know... The Red Bacon.

The Flying Circus Theater and Delores Hadley's Marionette Show

The last major attraction in the Aerodrome had probably the most unique fate, in that it does and doesn't still exist, in addition to having probably over a half a dozen different names in its lifetime. Originally know as the Flying Circus Theater, it was host to Delores Hadley's Marionettes in the daytime (another WOF attraction that quite literally needs its own flow chart to follow its movement) and an more adult nightclub at night.... Hey I was only 6 at the time I don't remember that!

Over the years Flying Circus was known under a variety of different names, Shirt Tales Hollow, Cabbage Patch Playhouse, Panda Pavilion... In 1997 when Bearenstain Bear Country came to town, Flying Circus had a serious rehab, to a point it was virtually unrecognizable from its original structure. From my understanding the primary theater structure remained, so that the structure that was once home to puppets is now known as Campground Theater.

Aerodrome slowely faded out thru the early 80's until the 3 acres was given a re-birth in 1987 as Pandamonium! Tune in soon as I continue our look at this ever evolving patch of earth.

Makes you wonder what crystal ball the advertisement designers where looking into... I also always wondered if they actually sold Zingers in the park (think Zambezi Zinger), looks like they did. Pretty neat stuff. (advertisement from the 1978 version of Fun Times)

A late breaking development...

Some that have been involved with Worlds of Fun and parks for awhile may remember our attempt at a website called ThemeParksOnline.com. Don't worry this post has pretty much nothing to do with that website (may it rest in peace). However our plan for ThemeParksOnline.com was to create a worldsoffun.org for every park in the county. Ambitious... Yes. Completely impossible, Yes. Did we get thousands and thousands of photos from parks across the country. Yes.

That last part is the important part. We quite literally have a huge closet full of nothing but photo binders of parks across the country. Including Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, otherwise known as the park previously known as Six Flags Ohio, previously known as....

wait for it.


Geauga Lake

Yes, we have discovered hidden in a forest of amusement park photos, photos of the Geauga Lake carousel!



Wait a minute I don't hear the excitement?



I guess I shouldn't post the photos of the Geauga Lake carousel, the very carousel that is coming to Worlds of Fun, a carousel that until now has had no photos available anywhere on the internet. Yeah I looked.



Sigh.



Well I guess I will just post them anyway. So here we go.

That sign looks REALLY familiar... This photo is worth a click, the horse that's visible dead center is a gorgeous horse.

A few more horses. If you look closely (you will probably need to click on it) you can see the four seperate rows of horses. Also if you look at the floor of the carousel (those floors look familiar too...) you can see where the jumping poles enter the floor. I have it from a good source that not only is the 1926 Illions fast, in such a way as we are talking lateral g-force fast, but the horses also lean, intentionally. Now seeing the floor I can understand why. Looks like fun!

Such a beautiful sight.

A GRAND Addition

This is not a photo of the Worlds of Fun's "newest" attraction but it was carved by the same artist, M.C. Illions and gives readers an idea of the quality involved.

Back in 1972, when Worlds of Fun was originally designed, a large, elaborate carousel was one of the many focal points in the design of the park to be cut from the original plan. In 1977, the park added a Bradley and Kaye carousel to the Europa section of the park, and entitled it Le Carousel. While one of the better recreations in plexi-glass of the golden age of carousel art, it is still a recreation.

It would take the park 39 seasons before it would receive what is considered by many the crowning glory of any amusement park or theme park worth the name. A classic carousel.

Most classic carousels that one sees at amusement parks where originally manufactured by Philadelphia Toboggan Company, which manufactured over 100 hand carved carousels during the span of thirty years, Six Flags St. Louis is home to PTC #35.

Worlds of Fun's newest arrival won't be a PTC though.

Back in the hey day of carousel manufacturing, which spanned roughly from the turn of the century to about the early 1930's, there where three major types of carousel manufacturers. The Philadelphia style (PTC is the most widely known but there are others), Country Fair style (our Lawrence, KS hometown C.W. Parker was known for this style), and finally the Coney Island style. Philadelphia and Coney Island are relatively similar, both reaching for life-like realism, with Coney Island style being, no surprise, the more flamboyant of the two.

For more information on the Coney Island Style: http://www.nca-usa.org/Carvers_Builders.html

A Stinson band organ. Its unknown at this time whether it is operational or not. These unique music machines where the predecessor of every music device that followed it, the juke box, the boom box and even the ipod. Amazingly they weren't powered by electricity but instead by compressed air. They played by use of music rolls (think like a player piano) which orchestrated the dozens of different musical instruments (pipes) found within.

Charles Looff and Charles Carmel are two carvers and carousel manufacturer's that one often hears associated with the Coney Island style. M.C. Illions is the third. Very little is often heard of M.C. Illions since he produced very few carousels by himself (though he worked for many years with Charles Looff), but what he lacked for in numbers he more then made up for in quality. Illions came to the United States as a Russian emmigrant, a cabinet maker by trade (like so many carousel carvers) he was hired under Charles Looff, and went off later to form his own company. His reasoning for separation from Looff were quite simple, he appreciated the creativity and craftsmanship involved in the creation of each animal, and saw the future for carousel art headed down a mass produced road he did not want to follow.

Many familiar with Illions are also familiar with the fact that he raised and owned several real horses, allowing him a close familiarity with his subjects that few other carousel artists enjoyed. That experience, and Illions own talent made him into what is considered one of the top tier American carousel carvers. In fact it is due credit to Illions and his skill that even though fewer then a dozen of his carousels still exist, one, the 1927 supreme is one of the most duplicated carousels in existence. One of such copies is located at Gilroy Garden's in California.

It is probably due to the fact that Illions would not sacrifice quality that he produced as few carousels as he did. One of which a 1926 Supreme, has partially already made it to Worlds of Fun.

The center hub!

The Sweeps of the carousel, these support the upper half of the carousel and the cranking rods (or jumping mechanism). On the ends you can see the gears that connect to the rounding board.

The Ring gear, in two pieces. This is the center gear for the ride, that the sweeps and cranking rods all connect to.

Here is a great picture showing how everything comes together...

Though at this time we have no photos available of the horses from the 1926 Illions headed to Worlds of Fun here are some great photos from a similar Carousel in New York also carved by M.C. Illions. http://nca-usa.org/psp/WestHempstead/

The platform in sections, taken from E Lot.

Though the year can't be confirmed (the plaque states 1918 the National Carousel Associateion states 1926) it can be confirmed that this ornate carousel was one of a handful of supreme carousels created by the Illions shop. the term Supreme refers to the fact that it was the largest model that the Illions shop produced, boasting over 64 jumping horses, and 90 foot diameter base, making it one of the largest carousels operating in the United States.


The carousel's specific history starts in 1926 when it was originally produced for Philadelphia's celebration of the US Sesquicentennial, it then went on to spend the next 12 years in Birmingham, AL and found itself a permanent home at Geauga Lake park in Aurora, IL where it operated from 1937 until the park closed in 2007.

The Geauga Lake sign, which from what I have heard will be re-used.

Geauga Lake's story is one that is also over a century long, but one's who's story, atleast as a classic amusement park, has come to a sad ending. But Geauga Lake's story has not ended entirely. Many of its rides, even its classic Giant Dipper (which has of recent been saved), have found new homes. Geauga Lake's crown jewel though, its carousel was the final piece of the puzzle, its one that we know now for sure will live on, completely restored at a new home, waiting for new families to enjoy for hopefully another century to come.

New for 2011...

New for 2011! a gravel lot! Yes after your small tykes spend hours at the new Planet Snoopy they can stop by this amazing gravel lot for additional hours of fun!

Ok ok seriously. Worlds of Fun has one or two more tricks up their sleeve to spring on us enthusiasts for the 2011 season. But before we get to that, let's take a look at what's left. This was once the home of the blue and white tent once known as Festhaus, also previously this same spot was home to the Schussboomer roller coaster. With the complete demolition of the site, including the aged blue and white trellis entrance, it also marks the end to the final piece of Schussboomer (that blue and white trellis was the old queue line).




Courtesy of Jeff, are two panarama's of the old Festhaus Area. Be sure to click on the photos for a larger, full size version!



Here is another look at the site looking towards the Scandinavia shops.




What is it? Well its part of the REAL new attraction for 2011 (in addition to Planet Snoopy).

An alternate Worlds of Fun Halloween....

As the Worlds of Fun season winds down, I have to say its been a fun and busy ride these last 6 weeks! I have to apologize as well for not getting a blog update in awhile as I have been focusing on my Anatomy class that I have been taking, it along with WOF and my regular job has been eating up all of my time until late!

For Halloween Jeff and I have been decorating our own house for the last many years. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with Worlds of Fun.

Quite a bit. We use WOF as our primary theme, as you will soon see.

Here we are at what we have named "East 3rd Terror St" (actually E 3rd Terr in real life) that we have turned into a mini-WOF graveyard, full of tomb stones to several of the park's previous defunct attractions.


A side view, you can see our scarecrow also from this direction.


Here is our new addition for 2010 the pumpkin tree. I carved 3 of the 5 foam pumpkins and Jeff wired them to glow red or blue thanks to electric led lights.


Here is a close up on the 2 I am most happy with, the Orient Express and EXT pumpkins. These are #5 and #6 in my series of WOF pumpkin carvings. These are the first done in foam pumpkins though. (both are carved, not painted and lit with either blue or red lights)

The Prowler carving from 2 years ago. I will most likely try to re-create this in foam to make it more permanent.

Stay tuned for an end of season review!

Worlds of Fun History Exhibit Take II

Some may remember that last June, Jeff and I put on a small Worlds of Fun history exhibit at the All Stars Grill. As it was only open Wednesday and Thursday for a few hours most didn't get a chance to see it.

For those that didn't you now have a second chance. This Saturday, August 14th we are making a second go at the exhibit. For those that enjoy park history this is something you don't want to miss. It will again be hosted in the side room at All Stars Grill (in Scandinavia), and will be open to the public from 11AM - 7PM. Park admission is required for admission to the park, but there is no cost to view the exhibit.

For those that would like to see photos from last June check out the blog entry:

http://unwof.blogspot.com/2009/09/worlds-of-fun-history-exhibit.html

Almost every item in the exhibit is privately owned by Jeff and myself, with one or two items being on loan from the park staff. We will have several one of a kind items on display including track from the Orient Express, the original Anton Schwartkopf blueprints from the Zambezi Zinger, several other ride parts, and a park EXT ambassador costume, as well as much more.

We will also be displaying several park souvenir maps, brochures, and other paper publications from park history.

Be sure to check it out, we hope to see you there!

New for 2011!

I want to apologize to all reading this for not getting this up on the blog until wednesday morning. I had the intention of getting the photos and info online Sunday afternoon, but on Sunday our HSI modem decided to pick the not-so-greatest time to decide that it no longer wanted to work after five years. Thanks everyone for your patience! And now onto our regularly scheduled programming.


Snoopy of course received for his birthday this delicious bone (cake)

On Sunday, in the midst of a steaming 100 degree day Worlds of Fun celebrated Snoopy's 60th birthday. For anyone counting that's 362 years old in dog years.

No birthday party is complete without balloons!

As part of the celebration Snoopy finally opened his gift that had been standing around and taunting us for the last few months.

It came as no suprise to many that for Snoopy's birthday both he and all of us received a brand new, shiny $5 million addition called Planet Snoopy. Though no specific details were announced, and we haven't as of yet been given a final list of new attractions, the park did give us some idea as of what to expect for next season.

Brandon making a quick speech leading up to the arrival of the famous beagle.


Inside the box is the Snoopy that will stand in the new Planet Snoopy.

Camp Snoopy will be receiving six new children's/family attractions. Many of the new rides should offer experiences similar to the Camp Bus and Woodstock's airmail in that parents and children should be able to ride them together. Though it appears that the fun little Rockin' Tug attraction is among the list, there are many rides that are still yet to be officially confirmed. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

Personally though the addition of Planet Snoopy has been announced for several other Cedar Fair parks across the chain its great to see the park investing in family attractions. Even though both of us really enjoy Camp Snoopy and will be sorry to see the rustic theme leave, the addition of several new rides catering to the shorter set is certainly welcome.

Brandon holding the New for 2011 Planet Snoopy concept art


Here's a better look (click to see a larger version)