Philrad71

I agree. It's so much more fun to keep going back over and over to a thread that makes me question the viability of humanity. Makes me feel good about moving from Western NY to KC, I guess... Yeah, people have complained about WoF not receiving a premier attraction since 2014... BUT...5 years as opposed to a Eurofighter and a Skyscreamer in two years & people still endlessly complain in this thread about everything that the park does - regardless of ownership? I don't get it. I think it's that shitty Western NY weather eating their brains...GET OUT NOW, PEOPLE!!! LOL

^^ Yeah, Andrew and I were both geeking out trying to figure out what could be a nice, ""mid-tier" type of attraction that would suit the bill for a new thrill. While I would love a giant frisbee, or screaming swing, I am not sure if the park is "big" enough for that type of ride. One of the smaller clones perhaps? Another thought was a Eurofighter, but not sure if that would work with a similar coaster not too far "up the road" in Des Moines. I guess that adding slides to the water park makes good sense after the Schlitterbahn disaster and having slides close that need to find a new home. But a new thrill on the dry side would be nice as well. ^ Thanks Zach - I will definitely let you know if I can pull off a trip to St. Louis one of these days. It would be fun to meet up with you, Emily and Beerman at SFStL as Michael and I really enjoyed the quick trip that we did there last spring before SDC. Yay...one of the food stalls is serving food at 5:30! Literally, India was one of the only stalls that had their shit together after they were all supposed to be open, but unfortunately it wasn't very good. Andrew and I were both a little confused by all of the lengthy delayed openings. LOL France had decent ham and cheese crepes. Basically, a couple slices of deli ham and Gruyere cheese...hard to screw that up. We had to wait until about 6:30 to get our taste of China. And Germany opened right up after that around 6:45 with nice Jimmy Dean's breakfast-style links disguised as bratwurst. Thumbs down for not having a good German lager to go with it though. Weiss beer and local Boulevard Wheat seemed to be the choices. Andrew was all smiles once we were able to actually start getting food! As he mentioned, dessert was probably the highlight...and I don't even like sweets. LOL This was a funky deep fried, green curried banana with cinnamon fairy dust on it. It was weird, wacky and wonderful! One final random shot of a random, seemingly abandoned theater, Patriot, Skycoaster, and a Condor (closed)...thanks for reading!

^ Thanks for the adds, Andrew...yeah, the timing was just a little "off" for this event, wasn't it? Maybe it was a glitch, but it's not like it was opening night. LOL!

Hey there, TPR! It's been a loooong while since I have posted any park reports on here, so please bare with me as I dust off some cobwebs... After losing my partner (Michael) to a courageous two year battle with cancer last July, I had a difficult time trying to put the pieces of my life back together, so I needed some time to make that happen. And that included a bit of a break from theme parks, TPR and unfortunately not having a lot of time for anything fun. Fast forward to July of this year when I decided to "reboot" and move to KC to start a new life, new job, new everything. I met a great guy here and have met a lot of new friends and really feel like this is a good "fit" for me. Yeah, it's not quite as exciting as Orlando, LA, Chicago, NYC or anything like that, but it's more "city life" than what I had ever had living my entire life in Southwestern NY state. I really love it here so far! So after a couple of weeks of getting settled in, I linked up with fellow Missourian and TPR friend ytterbiumanalyst (AKA Andrew) for an afternoon at my new "local park", Worlds Of Fun. As luck would have it given the foodies that Andrew and I happen to be, there was a new celebration type-thingie called Grand Carnivale that sounded like it blended the best of the Mardi-Gras festival at Universal and the Food & Wine fest at Epcot. How was it in comparison? Well, obviously the first thing that Andrew and I both did was both set our expectations accordingly...after all this is Cedar Fair and not Disney or Universal. Let's go check it out, shall we? Welcome to Worlds Of Fun and Grand Carnivale where you are greeted by two rather creepy enlarged cut-off heads! Where to first? The log flume of course, duhhh! Andrew mentioned that Viking Voyager is an original that opened with the park in 1973. It's a fun little flume that meanders through the trees and reminds me a bit of the Shenandoah flume at KD. Next up was Prowler... I wasn't sure what to expect with this one as I have heard past tales of extreme glee as well as utter disgust & disappointment in its roughness. I recall that we hopped in a non-wheeled seat towards the front and were treated to some pretty fast laterals/twisty bits along with a few good pops of air. This one was fun, although it seemed strange that when we rode in the very front the 2nd time, it almost seemed rougher, which is pretty unusual on a woodie. It kind of reminded me of a Ravine Flyer 2-esque coaster, but without the amazing views and smoothness of the aforementioned one in Erie, PA. After Prowler, it was time for a ride on the tallest coaster in the park, Mamba. This was another one that I wasn't sure if I would like or not based on past reviews. Andrew and I both agreed that Mamba is fun like Magnum, but without the violent air time and thigh bruising. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Magnum and this coaster is most definitely tamer...but it was full of fun, floaty air. I would say it's comparable to a B&M hyper - before B&M dipped their collective toes in the hyper market, perhaps? Next up was the Fury of the Nile rapids ride. It's a nice family ride that doesn't get you nearly as soaked as its CF counterparts at Cedar Point and Dorney. Plus, the Montu-styled theming at the end of the ride just made it work for me. Yup - this was an acceptable amount of wetness for me, even though it was pushing 90 degrees. WoF really is a beautiful park with lots of trees, shade and an occasional topiary or two. Next up was Timber Wolf, which is another one that I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Given that lines were pretty much Dorney-esque the entire day, we took this one for a ride in the front seat. As Andrew pointed out, you can definitely tell where the re-tracking ended...wow! Finish this re-tracking and this will be a fun coaster. We skipped the shot tower, but it looked cute - like a teenier version of Power Tower. LOL Mustang Runner is a Troika clone from that sister park in Sandusky. Since beer man wasn't making an appearance at the place where we thought that we could get a cold one, we headed for Patriot instead. Yet another one that I was wondering about based on previous opinions, but overall, I found it to a very fun invert - perfect for a park of this size. Spinning Dragons is a clone of the Mall of America spinner. Fun, with a couple surprise pops of air, but after this one, we needed a breather. Bamboozler in the background is a Round-Up styled ride that is another park original, I believe. We then headed over to Chickie and Pete's where (luckily) Beerman finally made an appearance. Foodie pics coming soon...thanks for reading!

Great start...can't wait for more!

Wow...this park just continues to deliver! Excited to hear this news as I love Intamin launches!

Hopefully they had the food stalls ready before 6:00, unlike last Sunday when we were there! LOL!

Thanks for the report, Derek...I need to get back to Hershey next year!

Great report, Bert! I have a lot of catching up to do on your report, but am looking forward to all of it! I was telling my friend in KC about City Museum and he's never heard of it. Sounds (and looks) like a great weekend getaway in the future!

Link to GoErie Article My niece posted the video to FB the other day, but I wasn't 100% sure of validity, so didn't post. Thanks for posting the article! While certainly concerning, there is no doubt that Waldameer will get it figured out. Hoping to get to visit Kennywood, CP, Conneaut and Waldameer before moving to KC, but that might be a stretch at this point. lol

^ Thank you, David...I certainly appreciate it!!!

^ Thanks Bill! As many know, it's been a horrible past couple of years with losing Michael to cancer. This is a fresh start and a much-needed new lease on life. It's exciting, scary and sad all at the same time!

Kennywood announced July 13. Thanks! Guess we'll miss it, but that's okay. Kennywood is awesome no matter what!

^ And that's my plan moving forward as well! LOL

I assume that there is no official opening date set, correct? Just curious as I might be in the area around the 5th and 6th.

I swear that the midwest cold is different from the NY cold! LOL

I'll be moving to KC in a couple of weeks and will try to bring some "new coaster mojo" with me! Actually I am looking very forward to the new adventure, as well as checking this park out this summer. I went for the Winterfest event last December and while the park was gorgeous, I was too freaking cold to REALLY enjoy it.

Great report of the homemade coasters...so cool that you got the chance to ride them! Despite not liking Voyage years ago, I'd really like to give it another go. I bet at night in the front without trims has to be right up there with The Beast (if not much better).

I'm with some of the others that say that Vegas has lost its flair. I used to love going there every summer as a kid and even up through my 20's. But the last few times I have gone, I leave just a little more unimpressed than the time before. Just not my cup of tea as I would rather go to the parks and visit some of the more rural areas around the desert Southwest. I went out there a couple of months ago with my friend and met up with his family from Colorado for his grandson's 21st birthday. After 3 days, we were both ready to leave and said that neither of us had much desire to go back - except to visit my Aunt and Uncle (who won't go anywhere near the Strip or downtown). I will say that the Love show was still great (even somewhat different than I remember) and O was phenomenal. But $14 for an IPA draft at a bar on the Strip and "not so great" food for a lot of $$$ was just a turn-off for me. And yes, the stale (and fresh) cigarette smoke in the casinos was not pleasant. It was bothering me way more than I recall from previous visits and my friend is highly allergic, so we were walking very fast-paced to get through Paris (where we stayed) to get into the (somewhat) fresher air outside.

Irregardless of manufacturer or coaster type, I'm sure it'll be awesome!

How was the beer selection, Boldy?

So glad to see the park open...and the options at Hugo's look pretty good. Thanks for sharing, David.

^ LMAO! Zach, you may not have been around when Palmerleeberry used to post - primarily in the Hershey and KD threads years ago. There is always the pillow emoji with an odd quote at the end of his posts. I thought the same thing as you (WTF?)...still do, but have to admit that I always laugh at the strange pillow comments at the end of his posts!

There's the Six Flags I know and love! Time for everyone on this thread to adjust your expectations accordingly. Just kidding, I know that'll never happen. LOL...so true, Andrew. I find it hilarious at how people will come into these threads complaining when a new ride isn't open on opening day, lots of rides and attractions are down/closed, and moan that the food service areas are short-staffed and horrendous. Happens every May, in just about every park thread, it seems. (Note that I am not calling you out, Haymaker...you are just stating facts of what you are seeing. I'm talking about some of the other TPR members).

Love, love, LOVE this addition!! One can only hope that BGT gets one in the coming years too. Thanks for sharing, Chuck...great photos and captions, as always!