Screams of the Past

I apologize to everybody for not getting these photos up earlier but I have FINALLY starting getting over a miserable cold... that might explain why I don't recall much from last Sunday either... Combination Dayquil and Afrin I think :)

Anyway, so on with the blog. As many of you know a friend of mine Randal Strong-Wallace, built some pretty cool models and pretty realistic models of the coasters of Worlds of Fun from 1980. That is all the coasters that are now permanently removed from Worlds of Fun. (May they rest in pieces).

Last Sunday, the models opened at Union Station as part of a permanant exhibit, entitled "Screams of the Past". They were joined by a few of our own coaster artifacts and displays. Overall I was pretty impressed with the exhibit and am thrilled to see any exhibit that celebrates the park's past. I think sometimes its easy to forget this, but there are so many rides at so many parks that have just been all but completely forgotten... a true travesty if there was one. Its these types of exhibits, as well as this website, and more in the future hopefully that will keep these great rides, and more important, the memories they created, alive.

I really recommend anyone in the area to try to check out the exhibit. Right now it will definitely be onsite for the next year, possibly longer. The exhibit is FREE, and does NOT require admission to Science City. Though it will only be manned and operating during regular Science City Operating Hours. It is located near the entrance to Science City.

Here are a few photos from the opening of the exhibit.

Randal is to the right, and the guy in the suit, is Matt Christopher Asst Director of Science City. . Behind Randal you can see the Orient Express "dragon logo" projected as a go behind on the wall. Pretty cool if you ask me.


The Zinger, still without a working lift, but that should be coming soon.


The Orient Express, to the right you can also see a few of our "pieces" of Orient Express on display. As far as we are aware the track rail is one of only two pieces left of genuine Orient Express track rail.

Our little showcase, I was given this area by Randall to set up a mini-exhibit of my own. I though for awhile on what the focus should be. In the end I was inspired by the Walt Disney quote "You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality" and created a display as tribute to the Worlds of Fun Ambassadors.

Halloween Haunt Fourth Weekend Review

Who knows what possessed us to go out on a busy Saturday... but we did. I think I wanted to see crowds at the park, while not having to work with them... Its a nice warm and fuzzy feeling, crowds at Worlds of Fun. So we arrived about 5PM, and found that we had to park our nice new car in the grass....

Of course we would have normally parked in K lot, but K lot is currently occupied by new Fords.


It was definitely pretty busy for sure. So we had to figure out what our plans were. In the end we decided to ride the train and then head back for Overlords Awakening..

The Overlord climbs in the sky....

Calling out the beasts of the darkness...

Not exactly the first person you would want to meet in a dark alley...

Next we headed to see Meat Cleaver High at the Moulin Rouge. I enjoyed this show as always...

You gotta love this guy! I believe he also did the Vincent Price "Thriller" monologue, he did an amazing job.

The gratuitous "She Blinded Me With Science" scene.

A new addition this year to Meat Cleaver High is this "Toxic" scene. Yes it really was THIS DARK. I really enjoyed all the lighting effects used though.

No halloween show is complete without "Devil in the Blue Dress"...

More photos of Meat Cleaver High can be found on Facebook

This Friday we are planning on getting some good photos of Midget Wrestling. We tried on Saturday but it was SRO for the first time I have ever seen at Country Junction!

Halloween Haunt Third Weekend Review

Halloween Haunt kicked off once again just two weeks ago, for its full time, Friday/Saturday schedule. Jeff and I took some time to visit these last 2 weeks, and finally last Friday night we were able to complete a full circuit of all the different attractions. Its a nice opportunity as we don't have to worry about working those incredibly busy Saturday nights... Instead I get to sit at home, in a warm, non-moving, non-screaming environment and write this little blog.

Our first evening, 1 week ago we got there right in time for The Overlords Awakening. It wasn't to busy so we were able to grab a pretty good view. Sorry no photos. I have a new point and shoot Sony camera, and "thought" I had video recorded it. Obviously not... learning curve I guess.

Personally I have always been pretty impressed with this mini-show. Atleast within the constraints of the show. Obviously we would all love a larger location for monsters/guests to gather, however within the space available it works pretty well. I do think the tape line/painted line to control crowds is a good idea too.

I had read the new Overlord was experiencing a learning curve, but I didn't notice much issue, and thought the actor did quite well.

Only complaint, is an ongoing one. Originally, prior to the parade idea, makeup was done at each haunt location. Asylum monsters had their makeup done at Coco Palms Pavilion, etc etc. The End product, aka the makeup was MUCH MUCH better. Now it seems half-hearted. Most may not notice, but having been a screamster under the old way and new way, I can definitely attest that the old way was better. Why can't the park keep the one makeup trailer, and also use the old Creature Crypt, aka basement of All Stars? It would work wouldn't it? After all they could simply come up the stairs for the Overlords awakening? Do half in the current spot and half in the Creature Crypt. Just a thought.

After Overlord's Awakening, began the brief, but unique Monster Parade.

Before starting out your journey into the various mazes, guests can purchase a "Fright Lane" front of the line pass. Probably worth it for a busy Saturday... not so much for the Fridays... as of yet. This is just one of the locations to purchase a Fright Lane pass. Located in front of the Grand Carrousel.

So on with the reviews... In no particular order.

Lore of the Vampire
Overall I was fairly impressed with the step up in theming/character interaction over previous years. I actually had a few good startles, however for me watching the guests around me ended up providing the most entertainment. The Graveyard, appeared to receive the most treatment. It finally seems to work as a graveyard instead of being simply an outside walkway/mishmash between one segment of Lore to another. I was really impressed with the combination acting, such as the monster that appeared to be climbing out of the ground, zombie-style, and the scaring. Many monsters appeared to be using the well placed hiding spots, and numerous distractions to their overwhelming advantage.

Love the characters here. (Even though my photography stinks). The actors REALLY get their teeth sunk into their parts...

Definitely worth the wait for me. I still don't care for the "Club Blood" in the basement. I understand the concept.. but it doesn't seem even slightly scary/morbid etc, more odd and out of place. I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion but dancing poles and jello shots (or whatever it is) just doesn't jive with a medieval vampire theme... AT ALL.

Overall Grade... 6/10

Carnevil
I have never seen this attraction with a line, so it was a quick walk in/walk out attraction. Unlike the past though, I didn't feel like the 5-10 minutes I felt walking around inside a complete waste of time. The monsters here really seemed to be in on the action, as opposed to standing around that we have seen in years past. I saw several great startles. I saw several great opportunities being utilized. The deranged rabbit was staked out in such a way that you couldn't tell if it was another stuffed prize or not.

This kangaroo looks familiar....

Carnevil seems to also be the dumping ground for past attractions. The Bounce-A-Roo's have reappeared as well as the old cars and motorcycles from Micro Moto Bahn. Atleast this means I am not ending up with a giant fiberglass Kangaroo for my backyard...

This one looks familiar too...

Overall on Carnevil, if it doesn't have a line, or much of one definitely worth the time.

Overall Grade... 6/10

Oh Great Demoted One.... One of the street characters. This was originally the character that lead the monster parade before the introduction of the overlord.

Outlaw's Revenge
I spent some time staking out this attraction, for me the best part of Outlaws is people watching. Personally, I REALLY REALLY REALLLLYYYY dislike the fact that the old paddy wagon was moved to London Terror. It was such a great place for the cowboys to hide.

Soapbox alert!
Why is it that with every new haunt, all the outside decorations are borrowed and never returned? For example the dog house, and fencing at Asylum, or Chicken coops, and barnyard area from Bloodshed? Now the paddywagon from Outlaws....

Off my soapbox

Maybe I'm just hard on them, (Jeff seems to think so), but I saw a LOT of standing around. It seems like in the past the issues with Outlaws was lack of cowboys. Now it seems like there are just enough, but only a few were really getting into the fun of it. Now it is a physically demanding job, I get that. But please, try to scare me. Thanks

One last comment, I do really like the props that the sliders are using. For example the metal trash can lids. Makes a great grating noise, and I really see an opening for more metal props... putty knives, etc.

A "saloon girl" hanging out... Nice costume... but where is the make-up? Is there any there at all?

Overall Grade... 4/10

London Terror
New for this year is London Terror, replacing Dominion of Doom on the Heart of America Blvd/Forum Rd. The entrance has been moved FROM the Mamba side, TO the Americana side. The entrance is near Detonator.

London Terror was basically what I expected it to be. A tribute to London at the dawn of the industrial revolution, complete with various shady characters, jack the ripper, werewolves etc. I missed the whole steampunk theme, if it was there it just wasn't really obvious. Overall though I really enjoyed the theming, with cramped alleyways, fog, snow (thankfully fake for the time being...). Even the 2nd half, which was composed of mainly old Dominion of Doom tombstones worked better. With the monoliths compacted, and arranged haphazardly, it created a environment more conducive to scaring. What I didn't see was a lot of was actual scaring. It looks like London Terror has fallen prey to the WOF Halloween Haunt tradition where new attractions feature more acting then scaring. Seriously walking around right in front of me, speaking to me in a lovely British accent is somewhat cool, but not in the least bit scary. And that's what everyone is there for. There is a lot of London here, but not a whole lot of Terror.

Overall Grade... 5/10

Bloodshed
Both Bloodshed and Dollhouse have always seemed to struggle since the years that they opened. Thankfully Bloodshed has always improved before the end of the season. It seems like the monsters (like London Terror) focus more on acting then they do scaring. With that being said there were one or two good startles. The monster manning the "monster pig", seemed to really know how to work it well. I was surprised and startled a bit as I wasn't expecting it... atleast not where it was at. I think the cramming it into a narrow walkway/corner, works better, as you have to swerve out of the pigs way! I also noticed a significant decrease in fog, yes even fog INSIDE of houses really adds a lot to the thrill. See my Asylum review.

I have always thought Bloodshed has had a great story line, but has always struggled with the actual portrayal, and development of said storyline. Hopefully, like past years it will pick up in quality of startles/scaring before the end of the season.

Overall Grade... 5/10

Asylum Island
There is no other way to say this... Asylum kicked all the other houses BUTTS. Seriously. If you are considering with house to wait in line for... pick this one. It did start out a bit slow I have to say, but it really picked up especially at the Green Mile (hallway with various entrances and exits for monsters). I seriously didn't even know I had hit the Green Mile until I was halfway through it, it was fogged up so much. And boy where the monsters using it to their benefit. Once we got to The Yard, I just wanted to get out of the place, in a good way! Of course after exiting we stood around and watched. After all the best part of any of these attractions for us, is watching others expressions. There were a lot of scared guests running out of the house that night! Great job.

We also noticed the well designed queue line, and prepped 1, 2, and 3 hour wait signs. It seems like the park is prepping for crowds a good sign to see.

Overall Grade... 8/10

A few of the 1hr, 2hr and 3hr (YIKES!) waiting signs. Not being used this friday night though... thank goodness.

Master McCarthy's Dollhouse
You know what I really miss about this attraction? The first time we ever experienced it it had "It's a Small World" playing as part of its sound track. To this day I stand behind my comment that that was one of the scariest things I have ever heard. I never thought I would say this but bring the Small World back! :)

With that being said, Dollhouse has always had some glaring weaknesses. Number #1 for me, dolls are just not the scary. Weird? Yes. Creepy? Definitely YES! Scary...errr not really. I'm not really sure what can be done about that fact. I did miss the character Master McCarthy as well. Maybe he just wasn't there that night. For those trying out Halloween Haunt McCarthy's is a good starter attraction, as its design is similar to the other haunts, but lacks that truly terrifying element, or should I say ABILITY to be truly terrifying.

Overall Grade... 3/10

Cornstalkers
I was rather surprised that Cornstalkers was such a disappointment. It really has so much potential to be truly terrifying. Last year I had some pretty good trips through this attraction. Not so much this time. I am wondering if that was due to our visit being on a Friday night. Unfortunately Friday lacks pure numbers when it comes to monsters and talent. I was especially surprised with the several corn/grass covered characters simply hanging around, or walking up and down the corn mazes... It seems to lose the point of being able to blend in when you are doing just the opposite. Blend in and hide is the point, and it seems lost of some of the monsters here.

Not to beat a dead horse but it depresses me so much that Cornstalkers has so much POTENTIAL. Seriously walking through a dark, twisting cornfield, confined by browned branches, the breeze ruffling the dried stalks...you expect a deranged man to come running out with a chain saw. Maybe that's what was missing?

Nice bunny...

I really did like the queue line character, is it still Pig Man? He had a pet rabbit while there... the pet rabbit wasn't exactly quite tame.

Overall, I would still recommend people visit Cornstalkers. I have seen several good reviews this year, so I am simply assuming we hit it at a bad time.

Overall Grade... 5/10

Jennifer's Worlds of Fun Critique Rest Stop... We noticed that a few of the queue rails (okay ALL of them) have been removed from the Nile Queue line. Whats' going on here?

Fright Zone
Seriously with the short period of time we spent in the fright zone I was impressed by the qualify of some of the characters. One character stood out specifically, I really loved the character on the roller blade (ONE roller blade... I never could skate in both of them!) very sneaky, and after all that's what we all want in this type of attraction. Saw lots of great startles, lots of characters taking advantage of the fog banks... Sorry for such a short review.

Overall Grade...6/10

The Passing of A Legend

Ron Toomer
1930-2011

Tonight, just a few minutes after arriving back from a trip from Branson... I heard the sad news of the passing of a legend. Ron Toomer.

Some of you reading this may not know who Ron Toomer was. There is the unfortunate fact that many coasters are know by their names, occasionally their manufacturers, and rarely their designers. Only are the greatest designers remembered. Ron Toomer was one of those.

Ron Toomer was designer at Arrow Dynamics from the 60's until his retirement in 2000. During that time he quite literally designed the modern steel roller coaster. Starting with Six Flags over Texas Runaway Mine Train, to the birth of the modern hyper coaster Magnum XL 200. Of course his primary contribution to Worlds of Fun's history itself was his design of the famed Orient Express.



In the days before computers, when coasters where designed by pencil and paper instead, Ron Toomer looked no further then a wire coat hanger as his means for designing the steel monsters of the 1980's and 90's. One has to remember that before Orient Express there were really only 2 ways to go upside down on a coaster. The Loop and the Corkscrew. With Orient Express, Ron Toomer introduced the first inversion to the modern patheon of inversions, on Orient Express it was known as the Kamikaze Kurve, today it is known as the Boomerang element. This tight, twisted pretzel roll inversion shocked riders from its inception, all the way to its final end in 2003. Orient Express, and its designer Ron Toomer lead the way into the modern world of coasters with inversions and twists with the names of zero-g rolls, cobra rolls, immelmanns, and batwings.

The Boomerang (Kamikaze Kurve) on Orient Express

Coasters with the names of Shockwave, Great American Scream Machine, Big Bad Wolf, and the still operating Viper at Six Flags Magic Mountain are all a testament to Ron Toomer's genius.

Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point. A similar appearance to Mamba is not inconsequential.

Ron Toomer's legacy at Worlds of Fun wouldn't begin and end with Orient Express either. In 1989, one his biggest contributions to the roller coaster world opened. Magnum XL-200. At a towering 200 feet tall it became the worlds first hypercoaster. Nine years later, Mamba, a coaster derived from the roots of Magnum began towering over Kansas City's own Worlds of Fun. Mamba, may have not been designed by Ron Toomer, however the technology found in Mamba, could not have been achieved had not 10 years earlier, a man had not came up with the idea of a coaster that towered to the sky. That man was Ron Toomer, and though he may have passed from this world, his visions have not. One more good reason to go out and ride a coaster this weekend.

A NEW Northland Attraction!

Yes I know folks it has been a little bit longer then I expected for an update. However, truth be told it took me a LONG LONG time to scan everything you will be seeing over the next few months. A friend of ours, Bill Valiant was able to borrow a whole box of goodies from Hunt Midwest storage. I cant begin to tell you which felt better, seeing tons of old WoF stuff I have never seen before, or hearing that Hunt didn't throw anything away... (THANK GOODNESS!)

I'll get back to you on that.

I just shared with you the first page of my favorite "find". If you scroll down you will find the rest of the 7 pages of a promotional newspaper insert that ran I believe in the Clay County Dispatch Tribute only a few days after Worlds of Fun had its 1973 Grand Opening.

A lot of it is self congratulatory, advertisements from various vendors involved with park construction. Personally though, I think the ads are part of the interest.

However, if you take the time to read the articles, which I highly recommend by the way, there are a lot of good historical tidbits to be found and discovered. You can read each page by right clicking on it, and opening each image in a separate window or tab.

Page two, If you are going to read any of this, don't miss the Jack Steadman story... it explains quite a bit... Including why the park rides had such err.. "unusual" names. Word to the wise, don't schedule "riding naming" meetings and beer drinking parties at the same time. That is unless you want to end up with rides named Schussboomer and Finnish Fling.

Ah look the park is supposed to be INTERNATIONALLY themed... I would have never realized that.... (sorry I couldn't help it)

Interesting article on the old Fins and Flippers Show...

Honestly, I never knew that there was a bus that was specifically for Worlds of Fun. Pretty neat idea. This page also has a great story on the Worlds of Fun Railroad, most of it is directly lifted from the Press Releases, but still some great stories in there, especially about how ELI got its name. It gives a much better explanation then I have been ever able to give...

If you don't know much at Cotton Blossom or Victrix... read about it here.

Best part of this? Viking Voyager with dragon head boats! Yes there is also a story there about the park shows at the time too.

And finally a word from our sponsors...

Hope you guys loved this as much as I did!

Blast from the Past WOF Exhibit 2011

Wow... look at all the dust and cob webs... Oh well let me haul out my handy windex and paper towel and we shall be good as new and ready to go for some NEW and EXCITING blog posts...

yeahhhhh... I can just hear the excitement.

You know I really don't like photos of myself... however I have to take the opportunity to show the cool sign Brandon (FINALLY!) made for us. And think... it only took 3 years!

Randal Scott and his Project 31 also co-partnered with me for this year's exhibit. For those who haven't yet seen his coaster models, I believe they should be at Union Station on permanent exhibit starting in October. Definitely check out his website http://www.modelcoasters.com/project31.htm

The headliner for the show was the display of part of the EXT (stand up) car.

Another new addition this year was the display of our 1980-1981 off season aerial photo. It had sat curled up in a tube for years, and we were happy to finally get it scanned, printed, and mounted for view!

For those that have seen previous incarnations of the exhibit this should look pretty familiar. This year I was able to organize some of the brochures, newspaper clippings, etc, and put them better on display. So you can see a copy of the 1973 brochure on display in front. To the far right is the Zinger structural support.

After being asked about various non-coasters over the years I decided to create displays for the various themed worlds, and picked the two with the largest collection of unique non-coaster rides... Scandinavia first. There is also a Schussboomer wheel on exhibit in front.

And Americana. On Saturday morning we received two new donations from a park employee. Seen here to the right is a cleat from the Cotton Blossom (tie off). May it rest in peace.

Orient Express corner, and there are lots of things to look at here. Starting from the corner, far left, is an Orient Express break shoe. Directly above that is a foam logo from the park's 10th anniversary, and 1977 souvenir map. To the right you can see an Orient Express chain link, coaster rail, road wheel, and anti-rollback trough. The small can in the center? An Orient Express Survival Kit. From the label it appears it was given out as part of the Media Kit for Orient Express.

So what's inside? Well we don't really know as it was never opened. Ahhh mint condition!

Special Thanks to Bill Valliant, for providing the Orient Express Survival Kit, 10th Anniversary Logo, and more from the Hunt Midwest Archive. Thank goodness they didn't end in a landfill!

Rounding out with modern history. Moving from left to right. The large wooden stack, is an example of a wooden coaster track bed section (in this case actually from the Raven), 1989 souvenir map, and binder including Timberwolf construction photos.

Remember earlier when I said we received TWO donations? Well take a look at #2! Poor guy who donated this item received a loud, ear splitting girly scream from me on first glance. I wasn't the only one who never thought they would see one of these dragon heads ever again. For those that don't know, the Viking Voyager boats used to all sport red dragon heads, of which this is one of the few surviving examples.

Of course we were only half of the exhibit, the other half was filled with Project 31, or the Worlds of Fun coasters of 1980. Can you name all of them? Well here is the most grand, the Orient Express. Not to be confused with the Mamba. Which some still needed reminding... has no loops. Of course I guess you could say the two are related, in a second cousin, married to your sister in law, kind of way.

Here is a great YouTube video of the Express model running.

Brandon gifted both us some rather unique parting gifts... My favorite was some mini-caterpillar earth mover machines. We will let you use your imagination of what these scaled down machines are preparing to do...

So I will once again leave you, but hopefully this time not for as long. I have a box sitting on my loveseat, that is being scanned right now, and its full of fun (OLD) Worlds of Fun stuff, that I will happily share with you as soon as I am done, which shouldn't take too long....

Grand Re-Opening Weekend!

It's been awhile, time consumed by finals (EKK!), and a trip to Disney World and Star Wars Weekends (yeah!), but back to Worlds of Fun we must always go. So with three weeks off Jeff and I headed back to Worlds of Fun for the Grand Opening of Planet Snoopy and the Grand Carousel. Since we had a wedding to attend later that day we only spent about two hours at the park, so the report will be slightly brief. But hey.

After a great breakfast provided by the park, and with everyone lined up for the quick parade to Planet Snoopy... I had to check out the carousel. It was officially drool worthy. A couple of quick comments. For its grand re-opening, the carousel didn't sport its band organ. I did however check on the progress of said band organ. From what Brandon tells me it is being restored by an older gentlemen, that seems to take longer and longer each time the park checks on the band organs status... Sounds about right. :)

Check out more photos on Facebook!

The first new Planet Snoopy attraction to open was these tini-tea cups. Woodstock's Whirlybirds.


A new ride for this weekend, that miraculously was finished in time! Peanuts 500. Peanuts 500 is actually a smaller, but from a rider's experience, remarkably similar version of the old early 20th century W.B. Mangel's Whip. Which looks like this...

Just goes to show that no good ride every really dies.


Last new thing in Planet Snoopy is the nice little snack stand. Which has no. name.


In other news... landscaping is seeing some changes through the park. Not all necessarily bad. I know that landscaping is seriously hurting for staffing so I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Even though there are some areas that seriously need some love (and de-weeding) In this photo though it looks like new palms were added... What I didn't even notice at first though is that there used to be trees there. Of course, I am never a fan of tree removal, but I guess sometimes its not always THAT bad. It does open up the area, and after all the addition of trees through the park seems to exceeding the removal...


Another recent "addition" is this signing proclaiming the Americana food court. Nice addition.

Other things at the park unfortunately weren't so nice. Not trying to kick a dead horse but I was SHOCKED when I saw/read about five rides being down on Saturday morning, Thunderhawk, Skyliner, Zulu, Timberwolf and Monsoon. A lot has been said about this, and man I don't mean to be debbie downer... but seriously?

Another thing is that music thing. I STILL have a hard time not grimacing when I hear the pop music in Scandinavia. To top that off its BAD pop music, like bad remakes of 1980's music, that should have STAYED in the 80's. Some of it having somewhat questionable lyrics. And we are still thinking that this music is somehow BETTER then what the park had before?

One thing is certain, Worlds of Fun never ceases to amaze in how well they can do in certain aspects of the park, and so ... not so well in other areas. Hopefully with new project construction winding down, the park can begin to concentrate on the rest of the park.

Oh... and BTW SOMEONE STOP THE RAIN.