Opening Day Review: April 30th 2022

 After two decidedly abnormal opening days, we are finally back to opening in April, barely, but still April. Over nearly 25 years of Opening Day reviews I’ve written some real doozies, this thankfully isn’t going to be one of them.  

This is exactly what Mamba looks like at 1:30 AM in the morning.

And the next morning I had this nice view during my run through the Oceans of Fun parking lot. 

We planned to fly into Kansas City Thursday night/Friday Morning (landed at 12:30 AM), and stay at Worlds of Fun Village for three nights. Originally, I had booked a cottage, which was $85 for Thursday night and $110 for Friday and Saturday nights, but I switched to a cabin for Friday and Saturday and those ran about $130 a night. I booked the Village primarily because of the 5k I had signed up for at Worlds of Fun on Saturday morning, but overall it was incredibly convenient just for going to the park too. 

View from the porch of a cottage. 

We checked in at 1:30 AM on Friday, I had called before our stay to make sure a check-in at that time was an option, and they confirmed I would just need to call security when we arrived. (The phone number was posted on the main door). Turns out check-in was quick and painless, the security guards who checked us in were familiar with the process and super friendly!  

Cabin exterior with charcoal grill and picnic table. 

Living area with two futons

Bedroom with a double bed. 

As mentioned we switched from a cottage the first night to a cabin the last two nights, and there are a few differences between the two: cottages have a double bed and bunk beds in the bedroom, while cabins have just a double bed but two futons in the living room and a separate 2nd-floor loft area. Cottages do have the distinct advantage of being closer to Oceans of Fun’s gate, and the main building and pool area, while the cabins are further down by Mamba’s helix.

Running under Mamba on the 5k!

Saturday morning arrived sunny, and sleep-deprived after a night of severe weather, but for me, nothing beats the excitement of WOF opening day, it’s like my adult version of Christmas Morning. This was my 3rd time running a 5k through WOF, but I always find it super fun because you get to run the maintenance roads through a lot of areas of the park that are not usually accessible publicly. This included running UNDER Mamba! I highly recommend it to anyone who has any desire to run whatsoever.

Sunrise from Worlds of Fun Village on Opening Day!

Running by Timber Wolf!

From there we headed over to Waffle House for our traditional opening-day breakfast, and back to the cabin for a shower. After that, it was time for the Opening Day at Worlds of Fun! We were easily able to walk from our cabin to the Oceans of Fun gate, though you can easily drive there too.

Looking from Oceans of Fun gate towards Mamba, there is a train going up the lift hill!

Oceans of Fun gate was open, and I believe has to be open any time the Village is open (since walking to and from the park is a major perk). We arrived at the park gate around 10:45 and had no issues with admittance.

Mamba entrance after it had been open for about 20 mins. 

We decided first to head to Mamba, as it was right there by the Oceans of Fun entrance, and at this point, we had seen it cycle a few times. Before Opening Day I wasn’t 100% sure Mamba would even be operational, as it wasn’t operating during the employee preview the weekend prior and it had just received a brand new control system. Jeff said he had heard it test run on Friday and we had seen it test run a few times Saturday morning so I was hopeful, it is my favorite coaster in the park. We ended up waiting nearly an hour by the entrance chain (with only 2-3 people in front of us) and were on the first train out. It was VERY windy that morning, but when I heard the trims fire extremely lightly, I immediately knew things were different, and even with the wind I probably had more airtime on the run back than ever before.

Third train sitting partially disassembled in E Lot. Photo by Kim Slater. 

Mamba was only running one train, due to the new control system, a second train was sitting up in the transfers with the third train in parts over in E lot. Because of the one train operation, I was pretty sure that would be my only ride on Mamba that day. Or so I thought. 

In the service line for Coasters.

Onion rings and burgers are first.

A look at the menu. 

After Mamba, we checked out Coasters Diner, as we had heard there were changes there. Coasters has been a quick service indoor restaurant, now it's more cafeteria-style like Cotton Blossom BBQ. The new layout seems to work better, and the food looks (and I later confirmed TASTES) a lot better too! Hamburgers, Chicken Fingers, and Beyond Burgers are still on the menu but now Pot Roast, Macaroni and Cheese, and veggies join the line-up. The only criticism, and it’s rather minor, is I wish there was more indoor seating.

NIle was testing at this point and would open to guests soon afterwards.

The Worlds of Fun Railroad coaches sitting on Forum Road. 

A closer look, you can see the coaches  have wheels. 

The Nile was testing as we walked by and headed towards Europa via Africa, Nile would open up to guests not long afterward. ELI’s coaches were sitting out on Forum Road and the Worlds of Fun Railroad was the major non-operational attraction for opening day! However, there is a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel. When Jeff visited the park about a month ago for an off-season tour the coaches were sitting on cinder blocks with no wheels. The park has replaced the trucks (wheel assemblies) for the coaches during the off-season. On Opening Day though the cinder blocks were gone and wheels were back in place so there is forward progress. 

The Forum/Heart of America sign is now gone...

This is what it looked like last year (2021)

A little bit of sad news also on Forum Road… the Forum sign is now removed. Many, including myself, connect that four-column sign and Forum concerts as synonymous, and we are sad to see it gone, but to be honest Forum, as we all knew it at least, has been gone for a while anyway. RIP Forum sign.  

Floral-less clock. WOF just teased that it now has it's design in for 2022. 

Arcade has now taken the place of the Dino Store. 

A look inside. 

Moving into Africa the floral clock was floral-less, but next door Africa received a new, small upgrade in the form of the park’s only arcade. WOF’s last arcade, Snoopy’s Arcade/New Funtier Arcade had last operated in 2018, so the park went four years without one. The new Arcade in Africa is small, has only two skeeball machines, and few other arcade games (including at least one I am pretty sure came from New Funtier Arcade). Still, it’s a nice change to have an arcade back in the park. I’ll review the arcade a little more in detail further along in this blog. 

Moving into Europa we are surprised by Falcon's Flight testing!

Taxi's

Flying Dutchman

And Moulin Rouge which has a new show starting June 10th!

We headed up to Europa, and the first thing we noticed was Falcon’s Flight was operational! It wasn’t open for guests yet but movement of any type on Falcon in the last few years is a major achievement! Le Taxi Tour was open but had a massively long line out of the queue house so we passed on that. Flying Dutchman was open (when is it not?) and of course, I rode it, the same old dependable ride. Autobahn was closed, it would remained closed the entire weekend.

Shot from the queue line, Falcon's Flight is loaded with guests!

Autobahn was closed all weekend.

We were about to head towards Timber Wolf when we noticed Falcon’s Flight was loaded with guests! I had never ridden a Condor let alone Falcon’s Flight so we all turned around and nearly ran back in line! When it has operated it's been sporadic, so we didn’t know how long it would last! We got a ride, and it was quite fun, kind of like a Scrambler in the air. Falcon would run the rest of the weekend without much problem. So a ride that was, not so long ago, referred to as the Worlds of Fun lawn ornament is now the Worlds of Fun’s opening day miracle!

American Spirits opened in the old Subway location

Interior shot of American Spirits

We next headed by Timber Wolf but its line was long, out to the straightaway so we passed by this time. We wanted to check out the Front Street area which has seen some updates to dining/drinking. The old Subway across from Front Street Emporium is now American Spirits Frozen Drinks which offers tropical-flavored frozen alcoholic beverages. Across from it in Front Street, the Front Street Tavern continues into its second season, and the old Caribou Coffee next door is empty and seems like it will be home to the Ice Cream shop but there is no sign as of Opening Weekend.

Looking down Front Street, the old Caribou Coffee has been completely removed.

ELI Shirt

Charley Hustle Shirts, be aware these run very small!

Front Street Emporium has a few new nice mentionable merchandise items, there is an adult-sized ELI shirt ($35), which is also covered with cows, horses, and pigs. Seems odd? Go take a look at the 1973 souvenir map. I am not sure if that nod is intentional or not, but it works and I am sticking with that explanation. There is also a small “Red Games Barn” kids shirt, (sorry no pictures), a nice selection of Charlie Hustle balloon shirts ($32), and a very nice slate grey embroidered jacket. ($96)

Cotton Blossom Stage.

Ripcord with Patriot behind it.

Similar view from 1999.

Between Front Street and Cotton Blossom BBQ is a new covered stage area which will most likely be for “The Uprights” dueling piano show that should be starting this summer. It’s nice and fits well into the area.

Looking from the Orient across the S/O Bridge.

Voyager was running.

We headed through the Orient towards Scandinavia, Bamboozler and Spinning Dragons were fully operational as was Panda Express. Moving onto Scandinavia/International Plaza, we were pleasantly surprised to see Voyager operational! It shouldn’t surprise me that it was operational but I was, it was great to see!  

Behind the construction wall the old Chickie & Petes is about 1/2 to 2/3 demolished.

But Norma's Funnel Cakes is still open.

A look at Voyager and the old Chickie & Petes from Voyager Exit. 

So about all that construction at International Plaza. Pizzo Pizza is completely gone, and about half to maybe two-thirds of the old Chickie and Pete’s (All-Stars/Smorbord) is gone, with what appears to be a large patio area being created next door. Both the building permits and Worlds of Fun’s 2022 map show Gateway Pizza going into this area but I am not sure if they are going to be adding to what is left of the original Chickie and Pete’s or just renovating it. We shall see. Today though there are construction walls around the entire structure, Norma’s Funnel Cakes, attached to the structure in question is still open though.

Tivoli Music Hall with Choir & Band Festival Banners.

Nordic Chaser was operational.

The old Victrix Lake, you can just make out the outline of Victrix.

There wasn’t much else that has changed in Scandinavia, Tivoli has banners celebrating the return of the Band and Choir Festival, which from the dates are only one weekend each? But I guess that sort of makes sense coming off COVID shutdowns. Sea Dragon’s lake was super clear so you could easily make out Victrix’s outline, and as mentioned all the other rides were operational so that’s great too!

Zulu was closed all weekend,

ELI's Tender 

ELI's Propane Tanks

Moving into Africa, Zulu was down all weekend, it’s all assembled so I am not sure what the delay with it is, but at least it’s in one piece. Looks like it’s not far from returning to operation. Prowler was operational and like Timber Wolf was running two trains. I had mentioned about a month ago that Prowler had nearly 1,000 feet of re-track work done, so it was on my list to ride! The line was fairly short, and it gave a great ride! I do have to wonder about the AMOUNT of track work done, it doesn’t appear that 1,000 feet of track (that would be nearly half the ride) was replaced, but there was some significant track work done. Prowler is running well and we are excited for the return of Prowler night rides and that super well strategically placed on-ride camera flash!

The old Zinger station, I don't recall those lights being on recently?

If you look carefully you can see another big CAT in the background.

Big Jack's was open.

Next to Prowler, just behind its small gift shop, you can make out some land clearing that goes under the train bridge and continues almost to Boomerang. I will be completely honest, we are not entirely sure what it’s for. Hopefully, we will find out sooner rather than later. 

Some WOF Landscaping.

Prowler shirt with the throwback Partridge Balloon Logo. (well the Cedar Fair one)

Boomerang was once again operating this season which means every single coaster was operating in the park on opening day, a good sign. We checked out Moroccan Merchant which has a nice selection of African-themed merchandise (safari animals both plush and toys), plus a nice selection of Africa-ride merchandise including Fury of the Nile, Prowler, Mamba and Zambezi Zinger. I like the new Prowler shirt, with the purple panthers, and the retro Partridge balloon logo on it. I did not check the price but I am fairly sure it's similar in price to the ELI shirt as they are produced by the same company.

Chicken Tenders at Coasters Diner.

Pot Roast.

Corn and Macaroni and Cheese. 

Right about this time Jeff left to go relax in the cabin, while I planned to stay around for enough time to at least get a ride on Timber Wolf and check out Planet Snoopy. I ended up hanging out with a friend of mine from college, and she was hungry so we decided to try out the new Coasters menu. Wow. I covered the actual physical changes earlier, but at this point, we tried the food, the Mac and cheese and Pot Roast. Two thumbs WAY up. If you are going to eat at the park, this is the place to try!

The old Orient Express Chicken Exit sign is still at Timber Wolf.

Detonator had it's topper refinished in the off season and it looks great!

Our next stop was to finally ride Timber Wolf, earlier the line was fairly long, at this point it was slightly outside the station so I figured to give it a try. I started up a conversation with a fellow “line waiter’ about the old E.X.T and classic WOF in general, that was lots of fun! Finally, about 45 minutes later we get to the station and of course, Timber Wolf went down right as we were the next train to load! But it was a short wait and overall it was a good ride, though somewhat slow probably due to the 20+ mile an hour winds. I am pretty sure part of the last segment of Timber Wolf was re-tracked last year but it appears the entire last segment from the flat 180 turn to the brake run has been completely re-tracked and doesn’t jackhammer you like crazy anymore. I’ll be looking forward to future rides as Wolf is one of my favorite coasters in the park.

Snoopy's Rocket Express

The oldest ride in Planet Snoopy, Red Baron.

Charlie Brown's Wind Up from the Pandamonium expansion.

So I headed up to Planet Snoopy, obviously not to ride anything but just to check it out for any changes. One of my favorite tidbits is that Red Baron is not only the 7th oldest ride in the park (it opened in 1974) but it’s been in its current location since 1978! There were no major changes to Planet Snoopy that I saw, but all the rides appeared to be running, and fully staffed which must have been a challenge for the park this season!  

First to play a game you either have to get a new card or add money to an existing game card.

Typical... Skeeball Machine rebooting...

Prize redemption machine, this worked ok. 

So at this point, I was planning on leaving but that didn’t quite happen… First I decided I should try out the new arcade, for research sake of course. First off, for those that grew up with the old-style arcades, gone are the tokens and tickets, everything is digital now. To play, you have to purchase a game card with a certain amount of credits included. I paid $10 for a rechargeable card, and I think I got about 6-7 skeeball games out of it, I didn’t count. Primarily because I kept crashing the skeeball card readers! Pretty sure that was user error, lol. 

Mamba from Nile's queue line.

Same view from opening day 1998!

Fury of the Nile was operational.

So it was getting around 6:30 PM or so, and I almost left at this point. It was chilly, but not quite as windy….which got me thinking about Mamba. I almost didn’t ride it. In fact, I went up the queue line, and back down and then I thought… what else do I have to do? So I went ahead and waited. The entire first switchback section was full, so I was expecting about an hour wait with one train operation and that’s almost exactly what I waited for. Was it worth it? 100% YES. OMG. The first half was good as usual, the second half, with the limited trims (some say no trims, but I think it’s hitting just a smidge), provided some serious, high-grade, floater airtime on the return run. If Mamba ran that well all the time, it would easily be a top ten steel coaster in my book. And no I don’t usually rank rides. I was so blown away that I found an hour on Sunday when I wasn’t planning on going to WOF at all, to go back out and ride Mamba two more times.

Inside Mamba station on the 2nd to last train!

Mamba's new drive box.

So at this point, it was closing, (8:02 because I checked). And it was time to leave. For some reason, Worlds of Fun is my happy place and I feel somewhat sad leaving it behind. Still, it was a great day.  

Mamba's Trim brakes as seen/heard from WOF Village on Saturday Night. 

Before I wrap this opening day review up one last commentary that I want to add. Walt Disney has the famous quote that you can build the greatest park in the world but without people to run it, you have nothing. Especially in the economy we are in where companies are begging for employees it was refreshing to have such a good experience with the park’s staff of ambassadors. Every ride that I rode, every restaurant we went to, and even the O dark thirty security guards at WOF Village, everyone was pleasant, friendly and helpful and some in my opinion went above and beyond. The Mamba crew seemed to be super enthusiastic, and made it felt like almost a coaster enthusiast event all the time. Up in Planet Snoopy the operators on Snoopy’s Rocket Express were adding personal sound effects when each car was “launched”. In the arcade a games ambassador came and helped, more than once when I had technical difficulties with the skeeball machine, without me having to ask. Was everything perfect and running like a well oiled machine? No, but it’s opening day, no one should expect that. Did the ambassadors help in creating a welcoming, fun atmosphere? Absolutely.  

I ran into the park around 6 pm Sunday...

To ride Mamba of course!  

I have written many opening day reviews. I used to count but I stopped somewhere around a dozen, there have been some decent ones, some bad ones, some REALLY bad ones, and a couple of good ones. 2022 fits neatly into the “good ones” column in my book, nearly all the rides were running, all the coasters were running, a ride that no one in a million years expected to be running, was running, and nearly all the foodservice and retail locations were open. The food was, surprisingly, really good, the ride experiences ranged from good to amazing, and even though the weather wasn’t perfect, as Monday’s weather can attest it definitely could have been worse. I am looking forward to the rest of Worlds of Fun’s 50th season and am hopefully for its 51st (50th anniversary) in 2023!

Me and Charlie Brown!

Back in 1999. 

Special Thanks to Megan Burnett for proofreading!

From Foam Mountains to Outer Space: Part III

Entrance to Bear Country. Mamba is in the background, Mama and Papa Bear greet guests. 

Pandamonium would reign as Worlds of Fun’s kid's area for a full decade from 1987 until 1997. Its undoing would come from a major shift that would affect the entire park. In June 1995 the announcement was made that Hunt Midwest, who had built and operated the park since its inception in 1973 was selling the park to Ohio-based park operator, Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair would almost immediately start making changes to the park, and one of those included a change to Pandamonium in 1996. Detonator an S&S space shot was added in place of Head over Wheels which was moved down by Wacky Worm. 1997 would continue the changes to Pandamonium, with its retirement and the introduction of a new set of characters and themed land taken from the pages of The Berenstain Bears, Mama, Papa, Sister, and Brother Bear.

In 1995, just prior to Detonator's addition, this area of Americana was still part of Pandamonium.

In 1996 Head over Wheels moved down by Wacky Worm.

At an expansion of one acre, Bear County would completely change the appearance of Pandamonium for the most full-immersive atmosphere the park had ever attempted for a kid's area. Panda Pavilion theater (originally Flying Circus Theater) would be massively modified, taken down to basic steel structure, and expanded in size massively to become the Bear County Museum, complete with interactive activities, computer lab, and reading room. Today, the same structure is used as part of Peanut’s Showplace and Snoopy Boutique.

The entrance to the Bear Country Museum.  Today the entrance to Snoopy Boutique is nearly identical.

Computer Cave. (remember this was added in 1997 when computers were still rather clunky and large)

The idea of the Bear Museum was a learning experience.  

Right next door to the Museum was the Spooky Old Tree slide, which was a basic spiral slide, enclosed in a creepy grey fiberglass tree with appropriately ominous glowing eyes. Like so many details, Spooky Old Tree was lifted from a specific Berenstain Bear’s book, in this case. Spooky Old Tree. From many recollections, Spooky Old Tree terrified its target audience quite well! Once Snoopy came to town, Spooky Old Tree would last on for another decade as the Kite Eating Tree.

The Spooky Old Tree slide.

Sister Bear telephone booth.

Various book stumps were spread throughout the area , and featured the books various attractions were based off of.

A lot of many guests' favorite memories are the small details, and there were a lot of them in Bear Country. The Bear Family characters could often be found roaming the land, large tree stump all-weather “books” were scattered through the area, and small “brother bear” and “sister bear” telephone booths were fun to play in. The Boys Club, which was a small hideout surrounded by a pond area, was themed after the book No Girls Allowed and not far from that was the Dinosaur Pit which was a large gravel play area with a balance beam, digging equipment, and a large dinosaur skeleton to play on (based off The Day of the Dinosaur). To a kid this was awesome, heck it was fun as an adult! The gravel play area would survive, sans skeleton until 2005 when it was replaced by Peanut’s Playhouse. Probably one of my favorite details was tiny and often overlooked, and that was Teeter Totter, a large human-sized teeter toter, instead of sitting you would stand though! One feature that was introduced with Bear Country that does still exist is the musical play pad, today in front of the Peanut’s 500, this tinkling treasure is one of the last holdovers from this short-lived area.

The Bear Country Tree, Woodstock Gliders is located in the same location today.

The kitchen area inside of the Bear Country Tree

Looking up to the various "floors" to the Bear Tree.

One major attraction that was also added, and of which no detail remains was the Bear Family Treehouse. Bear Country Treehouse did what Pandamonium never could, evicting Octopus from the area. And in fact, Octopus would leave the park entirely for the 1997 season, re-appearing only in 1998 in Scandinavia.  

The Boy's Clubhouse, which would become Woodstock's Nature Center in 2001.

  

Teeter Totter.  Both Teeter Totter and The Boy's Club were located about  where Peanut's Road Rally is today. 

A photo is worth a thousand words and I think a photo can explain this attraction better than any description. 

The Bear Treehouse was massive at nearly 30 feet tall, but it wasn’t a ride, but instead a walkthrough experience. It was incredibly detailed and along with much of the rest of Bear Country, it’s sad to think it only lasted such a short time. The Bear Treehouse would be replaced in 2001 by Snoopy Bounce and today Woodstock’s Gliders is located at its original location.

Dinosaur Pit, today this is about where the old Peanut's Playhouse is, which replaced the play area in 2005. 

So what about the rest of the rides? It’s easy enough to say that in regards to the rides not much changed, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. All the rides that were already there as part of Pandamonium remained relatively unchanged, the signage looked the same, the colors stayed the same. The exception is PandAm Airlines which became Kiddy Hawk Airlines (its THIRD name change if you're keeping score).

Beetle Bumps was relocated from the Orient to Kiddy Kingdom in  1998.

But this one didn't move at all once again.  Keeping in mind that it originally started its life in 1974 in Scandinavia and moved to the then Aerodrome in 1978.  In 1997 it was still in the same place, and it's still there today!  

What changed in regards to kid's rides was more so the REST of the park. Up until this point, there were still nearly half a dozen kids rides operating outside of the designated kid's area. Micro Moto Bahn in Scandinavia, Pony Promenade in Americana, Beetle Bumps in Orient, and Bounce a Roos in Europa. That would all change. Three of the four would be moved in 1997 and 1998 to the newly designated Kiddy Kingdom leaving their ride pads empty for the "necessary" popcorn and dippin’ dot carts that would occupy them, in some cases to this day. Beetle Bumps today is the Coca-Cola Refresh stand in The Orient (It’s the same pagoda structure and everything).

Micro Moto Bahn moved in 1997 to Kiddy Kingdom from Scandinavia (it was the last ride to hold out from Half Pint's Peak/Humpty's Haven area)

With history, it's hard to sometimes see the impact a change will have in the long term. With Cedar Fair's first few years of park operation at Worlds of Fun it was pretty obvious what direction they were headed towards.  Cedar Fair was taking Worlds of Fun and trying to mold it into the Cedar Point tradition. Kiddy Kingdom was the name of the kid's area at Cedar Point, which also, not surprisingly had a Bear Country too. Many of the changes instituted by Cedar Fair that occurred or would occur over the intervening years would drastically change the park, some in good ways, some in tragically depressing ways. Berenstain Bear Country, though technically a copy of the one at Cedar Point (though in my opinion it was an improvement) was not of the latter, it was a beautifully executed kids area, well themed, well laid out, and even to this day well-loved. For just the four seasons it had with us, it left an indelible mark.