TC Ridesalot

Wow that park is so awesome! We have only went once and truly loved it! We are planning a trip back this year. We have a question about Mistry Mine, does it have any big boy seats? I'm 250 and need a big boy seat when I ride B&M's. Can anybody answer this, since we are also planning a trip to The great mall in the early part of May also. I would hate to be broken hearted and not be able to ride the two Euro fighters.

So I heard a rumor today and it is simply a rumor! But it made me remember this post for some reason. So I heard today that in Kansas City the original home of Walt Disney's teenage years they have the old Union Station building. It has been refurbished and has a kids Science Center in it. It has done weak in generating the support from the community, at least financially speaking. The recently passed a light rail system that would pass through the area as well as some sort of Gondola connecting the Station with a couple of high end hotels as well as a large park. In the drawings they have shown the public (I don't have them but there out there if you look at light rail for KCMO) they show a couple of rides (ferris wheel and such) and they also show the Union Station dressed up exactly like the picture on the front page that says New Urban Entertainment center. Now the rumor I heard today came from a friend in the city office that said he was in a meeting and they were discussing the latest Disney proposal to build an indoor themed entertainment area. He of course knew nothing about the conception art but after seeing it felt that Disney may have designed it as some sort of meeting prop to show the city. The Downtown area has been neglected for years and recently they built the Sprint Center Arena and a large district for entertainment around it. This would tie into the concept and would actually fit quite well in the area. He also mentioned that there was also talk of some Disney themed restaurants popping up with the project. I told him that Disney was building a T-Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney. Not for certain if anybody knows but that concept started here in Kansas City at the Kansas Speedway's LEGENDS entertainment district (right across from where Sliterbaum is building their vacation village). I believe Kansas City is going to be a true Midwest Destination City by 2010. WOF, OOF, Sliterbaum, and possibly Disney!

Worlds of fun is also getting a new haunt. I will say that last years Holloween festivities were good. They even had a Improv group that was really dirty. I was shocked but boy it was fun. From what I heard these parks are making huge profits now for Halloween which is somewhat new and very benifical. I still don't count a new haunt as at the same level as a new ride and WOF really needs flats. I truly think CF missed the boat going two full years with no new ride.

Doesn't EE at Animal Kingdom go around 50 miles an hour?

I visited this park many times as a child but have my memories kida scrambled with a couple of other attractions. My grandparents took us to Branson, Dogpatch, and the Lake of the Ozarks just about every year. I know for many years they had a make shift Dogpatch on the Dam strip at the lake of the ozarks. I actually believe that after the closing of the big Dog patch the owners may have tried to keep the smaller one open for a few years (this is what I heard, I have no facts on that). I do remember riding the coaster that went up the tube, then went around it a couple of times. My main memory was that it felt like you were in a jail cell from Hell. I also remember riding that big Space ship. The pond was a cool attraction though I remember the childhoood rumor that the pond was contaminated so for a while people wouldn't pay to fish there. I remember riding a train with a glass top from Branson to Dogpatch through the ozark mountains once. That was a cool expirence and I believe they still do something like that in Branson today. This park at the time was smaller than SDC but was a must do for anybody who loved coasters.

For one season back in 1983 I worked the Parking lot at Worlds of Fun. Towards the end of the season I got to be on the ride tester team. We would show up eary in the morning and my job was to test the Orient Express everyday. Some days that would be a quick spin on the beast maybe twice. Other times it would be 10 or 15 spins. I remember one time we were around 10 feet from the to of the lift hill and it got stuck. We were up there over 1 hour until they evacuated us. It wasn't the best expirence due to the rain storm that started up around 40 minutes into the test. I just remember to people on the stairwell being told they had to get down and we were left up there waiting for the storm to pass. I think they were afraid of lightnig hitting those people. We felt like sitting ducks! Boy what a crappy day, they actually sent us home after the whole mess.

Isn't Worlds of Fun going to get a woodie next year? The Twister would fit great in the old Orient Express wooded lot! Or it could go back where the Zambezi Zinger once was.

It is about a 4 hour drive from WOF to SFSTL. You will need 1 and 1/2 days to expirence both parks plus the drive. Then Mamba is great you will really enjoy it. Don't miss Cyclone Sam's ride at WOF, it is a great flat with good themeing. Be aware of the timberwolf, this coaster could end your trip early! In my opinion your leaving out the best park on your whole trip SDC. If you have been to Holiday World a couple of times skip that and SFKK and add SDC and CC you won't be upset. Now before everybody starts bashing me for skiping Holiday World understand he said he didn't like water parks and has been to HW before. This is just my opinion, I would rather go to a great park that I haven't been to before than to go to a great park a second time. As for food in Kansas City eat BBQ! Gates is my favorite, but there's Aurther Bryants, KC Materpiece, and this little cheap joint on Parvin road across from the Quick Trip when entering WOF that is ok. Also the 5 or so casinos surronding WOF have good choices! Hotels, well there all bad around WOF, stay in Liberty Missouri which is like 5 miles from WOF and you will be happy!

We found the Pop Culture lacking the Disney feel. Though they have their own bus line it runs far less frequent than those of the All Star resorts. We had an average wait of over 20 minutes which we didn't have much more than an 8 to 10 minute wait with the All Stars. We also liked the pool, the themeing, and the food area better at Movies. Just my opinion, but to each their own. We had little ones when we use to stay in the value resorts and Pop Culture didn't interest them.

I can actually help you with this, since I have stayed at all of them except the All Star Music. The best of the bunch is the All Star Movies. Whatever you do don't stay in the All Star Sports it isn't a good situation. We actually had to be reassigned to a different hotel due to the abuse we took from a group of boys trying to find cheerleaders. We were up two nights in a row with calls asking if any girls were in our room. I actually had my wife act like a teenager and the boys showed up at the door at 2:30 in the mornig. I got them good!!! The Movies is the best even though they are all just motel rooms. The pool is nice and the lights in the room look like popcorn boxes at night. Enjoy your stay and make sure to eat at Ohana's!

^No, it really happened. I was much younger but I remember it and actually saw the crashed planes after they were being taken down.

Trying to stay on topic, but Worlds of Fun also had a Barnstormer ride that I believe was even taller than 100 feet. I believe it was installed in 1976 but not for sure. It may have been 200 feet tall. I just remember it was closed often due to winds of over 20 miles an hour. It crashed and 3 or 4 planes flew off. I'm almost sure people died and soon after they took it out of the park. I rode it two or three times and it was the scariest ride by far that I have ever rode. The park look great, and I am very excited to see these great pictures.

Can't agree more with you. They can't even say the bathrooms look new because they did that last year also. They did introduce the new scare zone this year, over by the auditorium, I guess there better be something big for 2009, or they might be in trouble. According to Screamscape when Renegade was announced, they mentioned that Cedar Fair likes to go down the line with their parks and that WOF may be in line for a GCI in '09. I don't know how much stock you can put into it, but they need something big. My main issue is that the park is simply a regional park which is ok but, the other regional parks are doing something every year. Here are some major points that need to be considered: 1. (Bad ride conditions) Timberwolf a once proud woodie now is almost unridable. Yes, it was better this year than last, but still rough as hell! 2. (Bad Security issues) Going into the park on a weekend night could be compared to going into any Ghetto in America. It is dangerous, we went as a family to two Friday nights prior to Halloween and seen no less than two teen fights each time. 3. (Bad ride ops)I rode the Patriot and while I was exiting my wife screamed and said your eye. I instantly grabbed it and felt something gooey. It was a huge amount of Red Greese that had feel off the ride and into my eye. I asked the ride op for some help and he gave me a paper towel. Nobody, and I mean nobody even came over to make sure I was ok. 4. (Bad Marketing)The only commercials locally we saw all year were for the Halloween time frame. I can tell you that because of marketing both my kids bagged to go to SDC and CC this year. Not only did we get updated commercials for every festival on TV but we also got letter with special offers in the mail. Never once did WOF send anything and we were passport holders to both parks (Oceans of Fun) and a MAX option also. 5. (Bad Management decisions)With the entertainment doller in Kansas City being spread out more than ever these days WOF has chosen to not add anything to the park for two years now. In the past 5 years Kanssas City has added a Speedway with a whole entertainment district right beside it. This area includes a Minor league ball park, the future Slitterbaum Water park, Great Wolf Lodge, T-Rex restaurant the first one which is now being built in Downtown Disney, plus numerous other things for family's to spend their money on. They have built what is being considered a top level Arena and is attracting top artists. Since Kemper Arena was so bad we haven't had a major concert in Kansas City for 7 plus years. Now there is one almost twice a week and there selling out. The Royals Baseball team drew more people this year than they have in 12+ years, and the Chiefs football is still selling out every game. Add that both the MU Tigers and the KU Jayhalks are both top ten teams for the first time since like 1900. Finally add that the other three parks close to Kansas City are all going to get something new again this year and what do you have? A Park being run by a company that doesn't understand the community that supports it!

So last year WOF got a Panda Express! Now we aren't getting anything? Man I need to run out and get my passport soon! Who in their right mind is running this mess! The built up the GP with Patriot two years ago and now their going two yeears with nothing. Six Flags, CC, and Sulver Dollar City are all very close, and Holiday World, and Six Flags in Dallas are less than 8 hours away. CF better wake up, with Slitterbaum coming in a year and a half the entertainment dollar is going to go else where! I'm pissed, my friends are pissed and the general Public will be pissed to hear this news! Other than Oct nights the park will be empty as always next year!!!!!!

That lady was whipping her head all over the place in the interview, but she thinks she has whiplash!

Yea for another coaster in Missouri! Lets see that would make 5 woodies in the state with the hope of a 6th one next year!

So we went Saturday night and had a great time. I will say that I was very shcocked that it was so Adult themed! We saw the improv show at the canine theater and they were cusing and duscussing adult themes. The show was great as was the two Haunts we had time for. I will say that I like the Lore of the vampire way better than the blood shed. We tried to buy a pic at the blood shed and the poor lady couldn't get the money drawer open. One other note, I have to ride in the big boy seat on Patriot so I always sit in either one of the two same seats. The coaster was shacking real bad more than I have ever felt. Didn't do much to the ride but made me wonder why. Also they had this huge spider and web right under the lift hill that was real. They couldn't of planned it any better. I will say I was shocked how far back we had to park, we ended up in the far back row of the far back lot. It seemed actually closer to the entrance than the front lots are.

Please think of the increase in price for wood and gas. What was the cost for voyage?

They still have close to 5 million in their budget. They need flats! Disc-o would be great! Water park additions are good for HW!

Here's my two cents... Being a life long resident on Kansas City I have tried to get to St. Louis every year as well as a trip or two to Branson yearly. SFSTL is a nice park with average coasters and a big need for quality flats. This holds true for most of the Missouri parks other than SDC. It is very hard for me to consider another woodie going into SFSTL knowing that they are building one at WOF within a year or two. I would hope they would look at something very unusual but Swoosh has already said the layout is already in another park. In a post above the amount of 2 million was used and I kinda laughed, any decent woodie is going to run 10 to 15 million. If they really wanted to attract people to the park a dive coaster would fit in great! Since both Bush parks have them on the east coast it would be awesome to slap one right in the midwest. I promise you they would really pack them in with a dive coaster. Just my opinion.....

So last year I took three 14 year old boys to Holiday World and told them we would try to find this guys place. We tried to find it and gave up, everybody we asked sent us in different directions. I just wanted to see it in person, I had no idea he would let you ride it. Did you offer him cash after the ride?

^^(Link)George T. isn't dead so how could he be spinning in his grave? That writer is an idiot! How all are having fun in Japan.

Did they post that Timberwolf will put you in traction for three weeks? Or that it is trimmed so much now that it doesn't go above 45 miles an hour.

Maybe the coaster of the year?

Still lame! They actually may have taken the older riders out of the mix with the new setup.