Zambezi Zinger: An Interview with Clair Hain and Tyler Mullins

Last November, Worlds of Fun Dot Org had the privilege to interview Great Coasters International President Clair Hain and Skyline Attractions Design Engineer Tyler Mullins about the new Zambezi Zinger. Skyline Attractions provided the engineering and design work for Zambezi Zinger while Great Coasters International will construct the new ride. 

Hain started in the roller coaster business in the 1980’s when the Playland Park Rocket was moved to Knoebels’ Grove where it was reborn as the Phoenix. He would work under Charlie Dinn, and then Charlie’s Daughter, Denise when she formed Custom Coasters International. Yes, that’s the same Charlie Dinn that built Timber Wolf;  Hain was involved with Timber Wolf, Prowler, and Zambezi Zinger, touching every wooden or hybrid wooden coaster ever built at Worlds of Fun.  In 1994, Hain established Great Coasters International (GCI) along with Mike Boodley, and together would create a portfolio of world-class wooden coasters, including Worlds of Fun’s own Prowler in 2009.

In 2014, three GCI employees left to form Skyline Attractions. The new company, named in honor of Cincinnati chili, continues to partner with GCI. on numerous projects, including the new Zambezi Zinger. Skyline Design Engineer Tyler Mullins is responsible for creating the Zinger’s layout. Mullins is a Cincinnati-native, having worked at Kings Island before earning an engineering degree and interning at GCI.  Another internship with Skyline led to his current full-time role. 

in August 2021, Cedar Fair approached GCI about building a tribute Zambezi Zinger at Worlds of Fun. Hain explained that GCI prepared three concepts before they arrived at the final product. The first proposal a steel single-rail coaster that would reuse the Orient Express tunnel. Mullins explained that Cedar Fair had second thoughts about placing a homage to Zinger in the Asia section of the park and requested to move the design to the original Zinger site.  According to  Hain there would go on to be two more additional concepts, one being an all-steel track concept, and then the final concept with the spiral lift hill that the park chose to go with. 

The spiral lift was identified as integral to the new Zambezi Zinger, Tyler states: “The spiral lift hill was an iconic element that we needed to retain, people see it and think Zambezi Zinger.” It was Anton Schwarzkopf that first introduced the spiral lift on the portable Jet Star II model and continued to include it on nearly all of his Jet Star and Speedracer coasters, including the Zambezi Zinger. The original was powered by a motor in each car, which connected to a power rail on the lift hill itself. A series of track-mounted feeder tires will propel trains up the new Zinger spiral. Feeder tires are common among amusement rides. Zinger’s will be quite different though instead of the tire coming in direct contact with the car, they will instead be mounted to grip (pinch) a fin on the bottom of each car. There will also be plenty of them, over a 120 different drive tires, Hain and Mullins both assured Worlds of Fun dot org that the tire system won’t be affected by rain. The new Zinger will also have a more traditional version of anti-rollbacks consisting of mounted with side-facing teeth. The original Zinger relied on a built-in clutch that would prevent unexpected rollbacks, but could be manually released to allow the train to roll back downhill in necessary. 

The new Zinger will also be the first coaster to run GCI’s Infinity Flyer Trains. Infinity Flyers are built with class 4/class 5 restraints and can allow the train to accomplish crazy elements such as inversions, launches and more. Zinger obviously won’t have any of those elements, but three selling points made Infinity Flyer the obvious choice for Worlds of Fun’s new ride.  Most importantly, Infinity Flyers come with a far tighter turning radius than the older Millennium Flyer trains. Infinity Flyers boast a an 8.95 foot minimum turn radius, compared to the older Millennium Flyers like Prowler’s that require a minimum radius of 18 feet. Why is this important? The train has to make it up a twisting lift hill, and only the Infinity Flyers can accomplish that unique feature. It also allows the overall ride to navigate far tighter, “zippy” maneuvers setting Zinger further apart from prior Great Coaster International coasters. The second impressive feature of Infinity Flyers is their rider-minimum-height requirement of 40” (though park operators may choose to set a higher height requirement). Thirdly, the new rolling stock are more accommodating to riders of difference sizes thanks to a hydraulic locking lap bar as opposed to the more typical mechanical ratcheting lap bar. 

Once the new Zinger was announced the first questions that were asked is what material it would actually be composed of, wood or steel. It is advertised as a hybrid coaster meaning it is not entirely steel and not entirely all wood, but surprisingly the decision on wood or steel wasn’t based entirely on ride ability but instead on aesthetics. Tyler Mullins explains in his own words:

“There is over 600 feet of titan track, which statistically ends of being 25.6% of the ride just over a quarter of it is titan track, that consists of the full lift hill as well as the curve around the lift hill. The reason behind that is that we wanted to retain the very open aesthetic of the original Zinger’s lift hill, that if it was built out of wood it would be a very dense structure it wouldn’t really look like the iconic spiral lift hill, people wouldn’t associate it with the original.“

When Jack Steadman and Lamar Hunt built Worlds of Fun 50 years ago they chose a hilly, wooded Clay County site because of its natural beauty. Rides and attractions were designed around the trees, in some cases requiring multiple re-designs so not to disturb some of the older trees on site. Still that was then this is now. Only now it does seem like history is repeating. Mullins used a CAD drawing of the site, complete with tree locations, to design the new Zinger, specifically choosing the direction of the ride based on the trees on site, keeping the older ones even if it meant re-designing the entire coaster structure to accommodate it. They were even more squeezed by a nearby creek too. The same creek already caused a  complete redesign of Prowler over a decade ago, This time the team went in with knowing not to cross the creek. According to  Hain it was thanks to some endangered salamanders in the Prowler area, and now endangered Bats with Zinger area.  Yes, bats.  Maybe there really were bats living in the original zinger tunnel.

Unfortunately not every tree could be saved.  Mullins mentioned specifically two very large trees a 36” and 40” diameter set of trees that the park specifically requested to be saved, with the larger of the two dating to the Civll-War era. Once grading began they realized the roots of the oldest tree was more extensive than originally thought, and the structure of the ride was changed again to a unique cantilevered  structure design at that location to maintain the original track profile, and help keep the trees roots intact. Even that wasn’t enough to save the tree. Hain states: “we had to salvage the trees. I think one had to go.  We were going around it, and it ended up getting, its roots were getting hit.  So we had to take it down. The one tree we wanted to save got taken out. It’s really quite a shame”.  It was.  A Nearly 200 year old tree. Hopefully the tree itself was saved for its wood and will be re-used in some way.  The funny part of this though is that it wasn’t the first time this nearly exact same story happened.  Four decades ago Orient Express was also designed around a very specific, old tree. Then park General Manager Lee Derrough told us about the ironic twist: after Orient Express opened the tree they had once tried desperately to save… also died. History does love to repeat itself.

When one thinks of the original Zinger what are the defining features? The spiral lift hill? The bobsled-style seating? And the tunnel. Yes, we are going there now. Mullins had a little to add to what we already know and it’s exciting to hear,“There will be a tunnel. Yes. I don’t know if I can say where it is going on the ride. I know the tunnel was a later commitment which is why it is not in the POV. It's been full committed, we’ve designed it, it’s going to be very exciting though because its in an area where you are going to get close to the ground. You are going to dive into the tunnel, it’s going to be one of those cases like on the Beast at Kings Island where you don’t know if the train is small enough to make it into the tunnel, you are going to lower your hands a little bit. I wish I could say more about where it was. “

Worlds of Fun is definitely playing poker face on the tunnel location, but Mullins would continue to detail the overall ride experience.  “With Zambezi Zinger you are already very close to the ground, this is the closest that any Great Coasters ride has gotten to the terrain. I don’t think people realize how exciting this element of the ride will be. We have designed new structure to accommodate putting this train as low to the ground as we can in some areas. And it is custom designed to the location with the hillside its on. You are going to be right on top of some of that terrain as you are tilting, it’s going to feel like you could stretch your hand out and brush the grass. And of course you can’t but it’s going to be so exciting.”

There are two details there that shouldn’t be missed, it will be the closest Great Coasters ride to the ground EVER built, and it will be so close to the ground you feel you could brush the grass with your fingers.  Worlds of Fun dot org Editor Jeff Mast rode and operated the original Zambezi Zinger more times than he could count. He recounts how the original Zinger had a very similar “close to the ground” feature where you could literally run your hands through the puddles on the sides of the track.  

Getting into the nuts and bolts of it all though, when will the new Zinger open? Hain says they are focused on meeting the deadline, weather permitting. I hate to mention that fifty years ago was one of the harshest winters on record, and it does seem that this year’s weather is looking to say “hold my beer” on that record.  Hopefully not. Regardless Great Coasters is trying to hedge its bets and get ahead where they can. This winter Hain stated Great Coasters will be testing portions of the spiral lift in their offices in Pennsylvania. 

“The biggest challenge right now is control systems.” Hain said. ”The control system is really difficult right now, because we aren’t the only ones, everyone in the industry is having difficulty getting electronic parts. We actually saved ourselves, we have two rides being built in China that I thought we sent everything over there for,  but we haven’t built it yet, but the control system did not leave. Our control system company came in yesterday and stole the guts out of them, so that they could get the mother boards to put the control system together for this ride and one in Japan.”  Don’t ever discount the importance of the system that runs the coaster, remember Mamba and the one train operation this year? Same thing.  Sounds like a possible disaster was averted thanks to a little luck, a lot of experience and some good planning.

So what is happening right now you may ask? According to Hain the park just obtained permits in November, foundations are going in, and some of the ride has gone vertical!. So we should hopefully get some more visuals from the park itself soon!

Ever since the new Zambezi Zinger was announced in August many of us have dealt with a roller coaster of emotions, how is it like the old Zinger, how is it NOT like the old Zinger, is it really enough like the old Zinger to be called Zambezi Zinger?  Many questions, with few straight answers.  One item that is indisputable though, there is a certain amount of “magic” attributed to even just the name, to the concept of Zambezi Zinger. The moment the sign went back up on the queue house at Worlds of Fun is testament to that. Just simply mentioning it and everyone from Kansas City has their own story, or stories.  Hain tells a story of going out for lunch in Kansas City recently “at this barbecue place, in the middle of this industrial area, by the train tracks” (one guess which one it was), he continued that when they walked in the greeter recognized the Great Coasters and Worlds of Fun logos and immediately said “oh you guys are building the Zambezi Zinger!” And of course they had to deny it, but that employee knew.  It IS exciting, and the excitement is contagious. Hain expressed his opinion of the new Zambezi Zinger best “They are going to s**t!  I think the people are going to s**t because of how insane this is going to be.”  

Special Thanks to Todd Swetnam for proofreading!

From Foam Mountains to Outer Space: The END!

 

Well folks we have come to the end; episode five of our look at the evolution of Worlds of Fun’s children’s areas. We started in Scandinavia with Half Pint’s Peak and Humpty’s Haven and forty-five years later have gone into outer space with the world-famous beagle, Snoopy.  

On August 10th 2010 Worlds of Fun announced the new expansion of Planet Snoopy of Snoopy's Birthday!

Snoopy even got a special dog-boned shaped birthday cake for the occasion!

Brandon Stanley, Director of Public Relations at the time posing with the concept art for the new Planet Snoopy.

In 2010 Cedar Fair decided it was time to update Worlds of Fun’s Camp Snoopy and expand it once again, this time rebranding it to Planet Snoopy! It’s hard to forget that day in August 2010 when Worlds of Fun announced the new expansion on Snoopy’s birthday! There was a gigantic gift box, balloons, and a dog-bone-shaped cake!

The 1997 Bear County Museum is transformed into Peanut's Showplace, with the removal of much of the Berenstain Bear Country theming removed.

Planet Snoopy still very much under construction even on opening day.

The Grand Opening of Planet Snoopy occurred on  May 28, 2011.  Frank Wilburn, park General Manager at the time cuts the ceremonial ribbon. 

When the park opened on April 16, 2011, nearly nothing was ready in the new Planet Snoopy except for Wacky Worm, Pony Promenade, Woodstock’s Express, and Scrambler. Slowly, seemingly every week another ride came online until by summer Planet Snoopy was up and fully operational. Planet Snoopy was the largest kid’s area expansion in park history, with the addition of seven new rides all manufactured by the Italian firm,  Zamperla. The new rides included Woodstock Whirlybirds (Mini Tea Cup), Lucy’s Tugboat (Rockin’ Tug), Sally’s Swing Set (Happy Swing), Peanut’s Road Rally (Convoy), Flying Ace Balloon Race (Samba Balloon Tower), Peanut’s 500 (Speedway), and Snoopy’s Rocket Express (Aerial tram). Worlds of Fun’s Planet Snoopy expansion saw the removal of two kids' rides: Road Rally (Micro Moto Bahn added in 1977) and Head over Wheels (Viking Vheel added in 1982).

Woodstock Whirlybirds by Zamperla.

Peanut's 500

Lucy's Rockin' Tug.

In addition to new rides, the entire area also received some well-needed cosmetic updates. The concrete paths were replaced by paving stones. Outbuildings such as the old “Bear County School” (Sally’s Dance Studio), and “Boys Club/No Girls Allowed” (Woodstock’s Nature Center) were removed. The Spooky Old Tree(Kite Eating Tree) slide was entirely removed to make way for the Rocket Express loading platform.  Woodstock’s Airmail would take on the Kite Eating Tree name after moving across the midway to accommodate the arrival of the Peanut’s 500 ride. The “old” Bear County Museum (Beagle Bay Outfitters and Snoopy Campground Theatre) would also receive exterior updates to remove additional remnants of Bear County theming while the nearby Launchpad Gifts (Great Waldo’s Prop Shop) was converted into a Family Care Center. Taken individually no one change was massive, but taken as a whole it was the update the area deserved and made the entire area feel fresh and new. 

The Snoopy in a canoe is replacing by a tubing Snoopy. 

A great before and after, Campground Theater and Beagle Bay Outfitters in Camp Snoopy (previously the Bear Country Museum).

And after the transition to Planet Snoopy.

In 2012 Worlds of Fun relocated and rethemed its oldest steel coaster, Wacky Worm In an ironic twist, the park’s first kiddie coaster, Funicular/Silly Serpent was also moved and re-themed, so Wacky Worm was just following tradition. In Wacky Worm’s case, it was only moved up a hill and was re-themed to Cosmic Coaster. The worm-themed train became a rocket, (with feet!), and the apple transformed into a planet. More ride removals came in 2012 with the retirement of Peanut’s Ponies (Pony Promenade added in 1982) and Woodstock Express (Too Too Train added in 1987).. In 2015, Worlds of Fun decommissioned the park-orginal Krazy Kars (Crashem Bashem), the last remaining kiddie ride outside of Planet Snoopy.

Wacky Worm when the area was known as Pandamonium.

A near identical view in 2016 once Wacky Worm was moved up the hill and several rides were added.

Wacky Worm was moved and became Cosmic Coaster in 2012. 

Big changes were right around the bend in 2016, when Cedar Fair expanded Planet Snoopy again, with five new rides from Zamperla!  These rides were truly additions rather than replacements; no rides were removed from Planet Snoopy to accommodate the new arrivals in 2016. Beagle Brigade Airfield (Flying Tigers) would replace the aging restaurant building that was originally Lucky Lyndy’s Lunch counter (better known as the employee cafeteria in the late 90s and more recently Magical House on Boo Hill), Snoopy’s Space Buggies (Jump Around), Linus Launcher (Kite Flyer) and Snoopy Junction (Rio Grande Train) would be added down the hill from Cosmic Coaster, where Wacky Worm used to sit. 

Magical House on Boo Hill was the last incarnation of the original Lucky Lindy's Lunch Counter. 

Beagle Brigade Airfield replaced Magical House on Boo Hill. 

Snoopy Junction

In the center of Planet Snoopy, the park added a popular Larson  Flying Scooter, known at the park as Woodstock GlidersWoodstock Gliders seems an unpresumptuous little ride, but it has quite a history as both a ride and for where it stands at Worlds of Fun. First from a ride standpoint, though it's new at Worlds of Fun, the ride, at least in concept is very old. Bisch-Rocco first manufactured a nearly identical ride in the 1930s and 1940s known as the Flying Scooter. There are a few of the original variety of these rides left, including one at Cedar Fair’s Carowinds in Charlotte, NC. Larson Rides, best known for its Ring of Fire ride, revived the concept and re-introduced the Flying Scooters ride in the 2000s. The new version is nearly identical to the old version though some enthusiasts disagree on various aspects of the ride experience itself. 

A few more before and afters. So first we have Barnstormer in 1978.

Tailspinner (Octopus) would replace Barnstormer in 1984, it would last until 1996.

And the current ride in the SAME PLACE is Woodstock Gilders.

Woodstock Gliders moved into a rather historic piece of Worlds of Fun real estate, first home to Barnstormer (1978-1983) and then Octopus/Tailspinner (1984-1996). Octopus was removed from the park in  1997 to accommodate the installation of the Berenstain Bear Family Treehouse (Octopus would be reinstalled in Scandinavia in 1998). It wasn’t long before the Berenstain Bears were evicted, and the Snoopy Bounce inflatable was installed on the site.  Woodstock Gliders was the first ride to be located at the site in twenty years! One could easily miss that the small building built as a pump house for Barnstormer is still standing.  It was rethemed to Papa’s workshop in Berenstain Bear Country and the PEANUTS school house in Camp Snoopy.  The rethemed building is once again fulfilling its purpose as a ride’s electrical building.

Peanut's Playhouse became a petting zoo in 2019.

Probably one of my favorite "expansions" was the introduction of Woodstock!

And the introduction of Schroder and Franklin.

Planet Snoopy hasn’t changed much in the last few years. Peanut’s Playhouse became an animal petting zoo in 2019, (and was a mask-free rest area in 2020 during COVID) A few new walk-around characters have been added to the Peanut’s mascot lineup including Woodstock and Franklin. As much as things have changed over the last forty-five years so much has also stayed the same. Red Baron is still where it was parked in 1978 with the addition of Aerodrome, the Aerodrome “hangar-themed” bathrooms still look exactly as they did forty-four years ago too. The basic structure of the original Flying Circus Theater, which became Panda Pavilion in the 1980s still exists as part of Peanut’s Showplace (look for the metal poles and spot the different ceiling types). Even the incredibly popular play-music pad from the Bear County Expansion still exists. And though many older rides have been removed many still operate including the 1974 Red Baron, (originally Scandinavia), the 1978 Tot’s Yachts (also Scandinavia), the 1979 Beetle Bumps (originally in the Orient), and the 1987 Turntyke and Swing-a-Ling (from Pandamonium) still take their second and possibly third generations for a ride.

The original Aerodrome bathrooms still look like airplane hangers.

The original Barnstormer pump house today is used for electrical housing for Woodstock Gliders.

At the separation between Peanut's Showplace and  Snoopy Boutique you can still see the original structure of Flying Circus Theater.

That s at the heart of it all, families having fun together, kids experiencing the same fun rides their parents, and even grandparents enjoyed. I’m 45 and have fond memories of both Humpty’s Haven in Scandinavia and Pandamonium growing up. Many people my age have children, and some even grandchildren that are experiencing the same rides I and their mothers, fathers, and grandparents rode as kids. Those years, the experiences may be in the past, but the memories never are, they just continue to grow with the years. Here’s to many more years of fun times for kids of all ages at Worlds of Fun. 

Having more fun with before and after this view is from 1978, but as you will soon see its a view that hasn't changed much in 45 years. 

Same ride, same location in the 1990's, PandAm Airlines. 

And today, it's Red Baron again. Same place, same ride still.

Special thanks to Todd Swetnam for proofreading this blog!  

The Devil is in the Details

Kansas City Star article from November 5, 1972. An ironic detail is in the lower right hand corner, advising readers that the NEW Kansas City Airport would be opening on November 11th. 

A clearer view of the same photo from the article. Worlds of Fun is starting to take on an appearance that is recognizable.  Notice how Der Fender Bender (Autobahn) only has half a roof so far!

There is an old saying that a photo is worth a thousand words.  50 years ago the following Kansas City Star article was printed and circulated celebrating the park reaching 50 percent completion along with accompanying aerial photo.  Now I could simply post the article and photo but it’s me and I love to delve into the details.

Vittle Griddle from the same time period. 

Moulin Rouge from about the same time period. 

The details are at the heart of it all, and that is my major takeaway from this article. Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman knew then that if the rides got people through the gate it was the attention to detail that kept them coming back. So they didn’t design a cookie-cutter park.

Kopter from 1976, located in Scandinavia. 

To highlight this point are my two main takeaways from this article. This first pertains to the plan for children's rides in the park. Manager of Public Relations David Holt is quoted stating “Our feeling is to make it a real family experience by having something along the way for the children”. Instead of specific and separate children’s areas like most parks had, they intermingled the children’s rides with the adult rides. The three original children’s rides were Kopter in Scandinavia, Crashem Bashem in Americana and Funicular in Europa. This concept was apparent through the 1980s and into the 1990s too when you could find Micro Moto Bahn in Scandinavia, Beetle Bumps in the Orient, and Pony Promenade in Americana just to name a few. Starting in the late 1970’s Hunt did start adding more concentrated areas for children such as Half Pint’s Peak or Pandamonium but the “sprinkled through the park concept” lasted until Cedar Fair went ahead and centralized all the rides in around 1998.

 

This is actually one of my favorite construction photos, but was shot far earlier than November 1972. However, it illustrates the unique aspect of the old bridges at the park. These are the pylons before they became bridges.

And one of the train bridges. 

The other major takeaway is about the train trestles, “We tried to be authentic and tried to keep in a lot of details” Holt would be quoted saying. Today the trestles are nearly the same traditional-style structures as they were in 1973, with the exception of the Fury of the Nile trestle which is a very large set of pre-cast water culverts. I’ve always loved the unique detail of the bridges, but beyond the fact of them being train bridges is the concept of going beyond the bare minimum necessary to create something truly unique. It was that attention to detail that always set Worlds of Fun apart, after all, Jack Steadman stated in August 1971 that they planned to have the most beautiful and exciting park ever built. To do so the devil had to be in the details.  

The back of the 1973 brochure, and there were two different versions that I stumbled on accidentally! One was printed in 1972 and shows a spring opening, the second is printed in 1973 and shows a May 26, 1973 opening date. 

I’d always like to think that Jack got precisely what he wanted and for many of us that grew up with it it WAS the most beautiful park in the country. Worlds of Fun’s opening wasn’t without a few challenges, the upcoming winter of 1972/73 highlighted that absolute demand for excellence, it was one of the most brutal winters on record for Kansas City and saw not only a record ice storm in January but then also necessitated jackhammers to break through frozen ground to plant the trees that we still see today. It was the same cold winter that would delay Worlds of Fun’s opening day.  At this point, 50 years ago, opening day was still slated for Spring 1973, but thanks to that wonderful Missouri weather became late May by the time everything was said and done.  

Zambezi Zinger: A Re-imagined Legend

 

After all the hullabaloo with the new Zambezi Zinger died down I began to think about a blog and realized I had never written a blog on the original Zambezi Zinger. It’s been featured in a couple of blogs, but no single blog about it. Now is the time. 

Zinger queue house in the 1990s.  

For 25 years Zinger's queue house has been without the signage for Zinger on it.  This last week it returned!  Photo by Kim Slater. 

Probably one of the most discussed details of the new Zinger is that the park elected to keep the original name, Zambezi Zinger. What many don’t realize is that just the simple fact of re-introducing the name adds a whole great story back to the park. Back before Worlds of Fun first opened, all those 60 brand new and exciting things to do needed names. The story I am going to tell is one I have heard from multiple sources, and the details vary a bit, but the basic facts are always the same. There was a gathering held to name the rides, and numerous adult beverages were present. That makes some of those crazy names make more sense right? Anyway, at the end of it all, they tabulated the number of drinks that were required to name each ride, and Zambezi Zinger came out on top with the most. 

The original Zinger under construction.

Another detail about the original ride names that I love, is that so many of them were alliterations. An alliteration is a two-word phrase where both words start with the same letter. Viking Voyager, Congo Clearing, Rickshaw Richards, Oriental Octopus, and… Zambezi Zinger. All alliterations. Most of them are gone, but one of them is now back.

Big Bend at Six Flags over Texas, the original Speedracer.

Before there was a name though there was the idea. The original Zambezi Zinger was designed by Werner Stengel and built by Anton Schwarzkopf and was part of Schwarzkopf’s Jet Star line. The Jet Star line was introduced in 1968 and included the Jet Star I and 2 models, the Jumbo Jet model, and Speedracers (sometimes referred to as the Extended Jumbo Jet). You can read more about the evolution of the entire line of coasters in my blog from last year here. In my opinion, Zinger is the best of the Jet Star family, and one of the finest coasters ever built by Anton Schwarzkopf (Though admittedly I never rode Big Bend). What has always fascinated me is that Lamar Hunt went with a German-built steel coaster as his headliner coaster when most parks opened with an Arrow mine train coaster or a wooden coaster or both. The likely inspiration for Zinger was its direct predecessor, Big Bend which opened at Six Flags over Texas in 1971. Both Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman were from Texas too, so it's likely they saw it while planning for the park. Zinger would become the second Speedracer, with the two Whizzers at the two Great America parks being three and four.  

The spiral lift shot from the midway by Zulu.  The spiral lift of the new Zinger will be roughly in the same place. 

Zinging through the woods!

What made Zinger so memorable, and what made it also probably so difficult to recreate, is its abundance of unique features. The ride started with the spiral lift, which was a feature shared by nearly all the Jet Star coasters but nearly no other coaster ever before or afterward. Unlike traditional lifts, Zinger’s lift was neither straight nor powered by a chain. Instead, it spiraled up, powered by an electric power rail at the center of the track. Inside each car was an electric motor, and when the two came in contact, it propelled the train up the lift and created the signature hum of the lift too. Wee…. Hummmmm…..

The first drop on Zinger.

AND the first drop on Zinger (that's going to get confusing!)

Of course, this unique design had its faults, which is why it was abandoned after the Jet Star line was discontinued, and Schwarzkopf himself went back to traditional chain lift hills for his future coasters. Many past guests and ambassadors recall Zinger trains stalling out on the lift. When this happened it necessitated multiple park ambassadors to climb up the lift and release each car’s clutch which allowed for the train to roll back down the lift. So let’s not be too hard on the park if it has issues with the new spiral lift. It’s pretty dang heroic of them to attempt that craziness a second time.

Another angle, original Zinger.

New Zinger.

Besides the lift, Zinger had some very unique ride vehicles. Unlike nearly every modern coaster, the original Zinger cars were ridden bobsled-style, similar to Voyager boats. It was one of Zinger’s most memorable features, allowing guests to ride in the laps of their loved ones or friends, or perfect strangers, with not a single restraint, not even a seatbelt. That lack of restraints and open car design is pretty much why that would never fly today. Not so much because it's technologically difficult but because insurance companies would never allow it.  

The spiral lift and high speed turn on the original Zinger.

And similar element on the new Zinger.

The ride itself was described best as almost all Schwarzkopf coasters are, it was fun. Zinger was zippy, had just a touch of airtime, and sped through the trees like abandon. Once it got warmed up that is. Zinger was a little sluggish getting going in the morning and still is for that matter. It didn’t take riders upside down but was built as its name implied (Speedracer) for speed. Probably my favorite element was its high-speed turn, which the new Zinger partially attempts to replicate. After dropping off the lift, and taking the initial drop, Zinger would head out towards Nile, turn and then head back towards the lift. It would then duck under the first drop and do a quick turn around the spiral lift. After traversing around the lift it would then drop, curving into the hillside. It offered just a little thrill to an otherwise mild, family-style coaster.

Entering the tunnel of the original Zinger.  Photo from ACE  News.

Exiting the tunnel.

Of course, no discussion of Zinger would be complete without talking about its tunnel. Zinger’s tunnel was so integral to the ride experience and iconic that Parque del Cafe in Colombia where Zinger is today built a nearly identical underground concrete tunnel just for the relocated ride. And there are still NO SNAKES falling on riders. The new Zinger plan states that it will also have a tunnel, and honestly it is one detail I can’t imagine any tribute to the original Zinger NOT having.  

The tunnel from 1998, looked so forlorn...

The removal of Zinger left scars...

Same viewpoint as above but from 1973 when Zinger was there...

Zinger would only be with us for 24 years, making its final ride in 1997. There was no announcement of its removal, only an empty lot on opening day 1998. One question is why Zinger was removed, and there are multiple answers. Probably having a major impact was that Anton Schwarzkopf declared a final bankruptcy and went out of business in 1995, thereby making replacement parts harder and more expensive to obtain. So it makes sense that in 1997 when the park looked at a necessary structural refurbishment of Zinger, it was decided once the price tag went above two million it wasn’t worth the expenditure. That’s one question that I am positive would have had a different answer if the impact had been realized at the time.

From a 1982-83 off season photo of the park, I have outlined the layout of the Zinger as its hard to tell from just the photo. 

A similar viewpoint of the new Zinger.

Zinger was beloved by many, then and now, and hasn’t been forgotten. Though for many years I believe that was Cedar Fair’s desire. And here is the major takeaway. 25 years ago, when Zinger was removed Cedar Fair’s focus was on remaking the park in their image, that of Cedar Point. Mamba, Boomerang, Detonator, Ripcord, and Thunderhawk were in, while the old guard Orient Express, Zambezi Zinger, and Omegatron were out. A key detail is that the park never announced the removal of either the Zinger or Express. There was no last ride. Like they had never even existed. Except it didn’t work quite the way Cedar Fair expected. People didn’t forget. Time passed and Cedar Fair began to change its way of managing Worlds of Fun. Finnish Fling DID get a retirement party, defunct attractions were no longer on the “black list” and their names were mentioned, and celebrated again. Details that were once overlooked were appreciated, and theming returned. A new, different focus. Is it perfect? No. Is the new Zinger perfect? No. Was the original Zinger perfect? No. But the very fact that Cedar Fair made the realization that Zinger was important to the park’s culture and was worth the effort to at least pay homage to makes a point that this isn’t your Cedar Fair’s Worlds of Fun of twenty-five years ago. It’s a more honest Worlds of Fun than it was. No longer denying the past but trying to recreate it as best as today’s technology will allow. And for that, I give them all the credit in the world. 

Special thanks to Brad Green for reading over this for me, and to Tara Shryock for providing the sub-title!