Worlds of Fun (WOF) Discussion Thread

[hammerstark]

In the end, business is important, but when Worlds of Fun is bringing in nearly as much as Carowinds, according to the pie chart, and Carowinds received a giga coaster, it should be understandable that some of us are a bit upset that we haven't seen big investments since 2009.

Compare the markets and you'll see why CF is investing in Carowinds. The Charlotte area has a greater population and one of the fastest growth rate for cities in the US. Not to mention, the Raleigh-Durham area is only a couple of hours away and also has one of the fastest rates as well. Outside of KC, where is WoF going to draw its visitors?

 

Worlds of Fun pulls visitors from Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Northern Oklahoma, and in some cases, Colorado. You'd be surprised at all of the tags you can see in the parking lot at Worlds of Fun. As I said, it has the potential to draw from St. Louis as well, Six Flags St. louis exists, but if WoF can give people a reason to come there, then that pays off in the end.

 

Yep. I live in Omaha and I visit WOF at least once a year, usually twice, this year 3x. (Well, 2 so far, hoping to visit haunt)

 

Awesome, I live in Wichita, and have been twice this year. Normally, I make it a once a year deal.

[redfoot12]

In the end, business is important, but when Worlds of Fun is bringing in nearly as much as Carowinds, according to the pie chart, and Carowinds received a giga coaster, it should be understandable that some of us are a bit upset that we haven't seen big investments since 2009.

Compare the markets and you'll see why CF is investing in Carowinds. The Charlotte area has a greater population and one of the fastest growth rate for cities in the US. Not to mention, the Raleigh-Durham area is only a couple of hours away and also has one of the fastest rates as well. Outside of KC, where is WoF going to draw its visitors?

 

Worlds of Fun pulls visitors from Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Northern Oklahoma, and in some cases, Colorado. You'd be surprised at all of the tags you can see in the parking lot at Worlds of Fun. As I said, it has the potential to draw from St. Louis as well, Six Flags St. louis exists, but if WoF can give people a reason to come there, then that pays off in the end.

The areas you mentioned are vastly less densely populated than what Carowinds could pull from (DC/VA, TN, SC, and GA). I was just checking out some stats and Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham are in the top 5 of fastest growing metropolitan areas. St. Louis was actually in the bottom 5. Cedar Fair is definitely looking at these trends and decided to invest in Carowinds.

[Slides to rides]

What If They Announce A Whole New Section To The Park....Like South Americana

Or Australia/Oceana.

If they did, maybe they could move Boomerang there (because it really is more of an australian-themed ride, just look at the sign) and have room for something nice where boomerang was.

 

Adding another "World" wouldn't be good for the park and especially for the people who care about the history.

[hammerstark]

What If They Announce A Whole New Section To The Park....Like South Americana

Or Australia/Oceana.

If they did, maybe they could move Boomerang there (because it really is more of an australian-themed ride, just look at the sign) and have room for something nice where boomerang was.

 

Adding another "World" wouldn't be good for the park and especially for the people who care about the history.

 

Yes and No, There was a mid-east leg in the Around the World in 80 days adventure, so they could go with that, though I don't see that flying. I think they really need to figure out a good way to expand Orient. It's such a small area. Americana and Africa is huge in comparison.

[DirkFunk]

There's truth in what both are saying. Charlotte looks like a smart market to spend money in: under served, growing at a prodigious rate. Worlds of Fun also, from the perspective of someone who has only seen it in recent times, is a theme park that looks like it took a ton of ill advised Cedar Pointizing in the Kinzel era. The Orient section of the park is tragic to see in its current state. There's a reason why the stock price dropped and Dick ended up getting the heave ho.

 

To that end, shoring up existing infrastructure and making the place a more pleasant and coherent experience, IMO, seems to be the direction they should go in before choosing to chase Branson and St. Louis for tourists. What I see in the notes from Q&A is exactly that. Build more big coasters when the ones you have can generate lines Monday-Thursday.

[InsiderMan]

This Has To Be CF Best Kept Park Announcement Of The Year

[hammerstark]

There's truth in what both are saying. Charlotte looks like a smart market to spend money in: under served, growing at a prodigious rate. Worlds of Fun also, from the perspective of someone who has only seen it in recent times, is a theme park that looks like it took a ton of ill advised Cedar Pointizing in the Kinzel era. The Orient section of the park is tragic to see in its current state. There's a reason why the stock price dropped and Dick ended up getting the heave ho.

 

To that end, shoring up existing infrastructure and making the place a more pleasant and coherent experience, IMO, seems to be the direction they should go in before choosing to chase Branson and St. Louis for tourists. What I see in the notes from Q&A is exactly that. Build more big coasters when the ones you have can generate lines Monday-Thursday.

 

Speaking of the Orient section, I've heard varying stories as to why there was never a coaster implemented as a "true" replacement to the Orient Express. You would think with the amount of money they spent on Patriot, they could have had a phenomenal traditional looping coaster or similar. I've heard that there was a ground cave-in and the ground was no longer stable, which is why nothing is where it was, but they did move the Festhaus further back onto ground the Orient Express once occupied, or very near it at least. Also constructing Spinning Dragons where they did blocked off access to that area. Just curious if anyone has more concrete information or ideas with why they basically blocked that area off?

[hammerstark]

This Has To Be CF Best Kept Park Announcement Of The Year

 

 

A small part of me is really hoping for a coaster, but I know its futile. I really wish we could get our hands on a wing-coaster. I may be on one of the few on here that really loved Gatekeeper at CP.

[theminislimshady]

What If They Announce A Whole New Section To The Park....Like South Americana

Or Australia/Oceana.

If they did, maybe they could move Boomerang there (because it really is more of an australian-themed ride, just look at the sign) and have room for something nice where boomerang was.

 

Adding another "World" wouldn't be good for the park and especially for the people who care about the history.

 

Yes and No, There was a mid-east leg in the Around the World in 80 days adventure, so they could go with that, though I don't see that flying. I think they really need to figure out a good way to expand Orient. It's such a small area. Americana and Africa is huge in comparison.

 

There's no planet snoopy in the book "around the world in 80 days"!!!! Never returning to WOF again!!!

[PhantomPoster32]

This Has To Be CF Best Kept Park Announcement Of The Year

 

 

A small part of me is really hoping for a coaster, but I know its futile. I really wish we could get our hands on a wing-coaster. I may be on one of the few on here that really loved Gatekeeper at CP.

 

Then you'll love 2017 at SDC.

[DILinator]

I wish people would realize that with the way CF is run no park is neglected. If Worlds of Fun doesn't make enough money for a coaster, they don't get a coaster.

 

I see people say stuff along this line a lot, and I have to bring a little counter-balance to it... WoF, Dorney, and VF all received regular sizable investments, such as coasters, on a regular basis for years under CF ownership. Not as frequently as CP, but still regularly. However, when CF purchased the Paramount parks, everything changed. Even CP took a break from as frequent of additions, and beyond what had been planned out a few years in advance of the purchase, none of the smaller parks have received any new (not relocated) coasters since then. So, in that respect, since the acquisition of the Paramount parks, places like WoF have been neglected - at least compared to how they were being invested in prior to then. It's a matter of comparison, since, as that one chart pointed out, WoF hasn't been neglected in the true sense of the word, as they've continued to have minor improvements most every year. Through all this, I can't imagine their money intake has decreased sharply, resulting in the lack of additions. But rather, with the bigger, and more marketable Paramount parks on board, and needing to justify the massive debt load CF took on with their purchase, the smaller parks simply aren't a priority at this point to CF, as long as they aren't a drain on the chain financially. I believe (hope) someday that changes, but for now, it is what it is...

[DirkFunk]

Cedar Fair unquestionably invested money in the park. The key questions are:

 

-Did the investments generate adequate return in revenue?

 

-If they did not, was it because the investments made were poorly geared for the market or because the market under performed?

 

99% of discussions about theme park investment ends up in the smokescreen of "Something was done, and thus it was the right and best thing to be done at that time." These people aren't infallible. For all the years some had invested in the industry, some of them ultimately turned out to not be capable of making good high level decision making in specific instances. Often times this results in their very public departure. I sometimes say that any of us could have coached the Detroit Lions to an 0-16 season, and also any of us could have run Six Flags into bankruptcy or Cedar Fair into private capital ownership. It doesn't take skill or experience to badly screw up.

[hammerstark]

This Has To Be CF Best Kept Park Announcement Of The Year

 

 

A small part of me is really hoping for a coaster, but I know its futile. I really wish we could get our hands on a wing-coaster. I may be on one of the few on here that really loved Gatekeeper at CP.

 

Then you'll love 2017 at SDC.

 

If that's true, that really bothers me. SDC is making great investments recently. Giving people a reason to go to Branson rather than WoF. That's why it bothers me that, in my eyes, Cedar Fair and WoF management haven't been positioning WoF to win this region...

 

With that being said, I've never been to SDC, so I'm going to probably be making that trek soon.

[WOFanatic]

This Has To Be CF Best Kept Park Announcement Of The Year

 

 

A small part of me is really hoping for a coaster, but I know its futile. I really wish we could get our hands on a wing-coaster. I may be on one of the few on here that really loved Gatekeeper at CP.

 

Then you'll love 2017 at SDC.

 

If that's true, that really bothers me. SDC is making great investments recently. Giving people a reason to go to Branson rather than WoF. That's why it bothers me that, in my eyes, Cedar Fair and WoF management haven't been positioning WoF to win this region...

 

With that being said, I've never been to SDC, so I'm going to probably be making that trek soon.

Unless we got a Carowinds-type expansion, I don't even know if Worlds of Fun could ever be as good as SDC. I know from a guest perspective many will still go to WoF for the free waterpark. I'd say SDC is my favorite theme park in the midwest, but WoF's collection of rides is much more rounded.

[DirkFunk]

What makes SDC isn't just that it has good coasters. It has good-great everything else. The amount of money that would need to be poured into WOF to get it to that level now that much of the original theming is long gone would cost millions and millions of dollars. This is to say nothing about the quality of the shows and food either...

[DevinC049]

The shows at WOF are horrid. I do agree that WOF is lightyears behind SDC in terms of almost everything minus the rounded rides. Part of me wishes that they would just take a chance and I'm sure that parks realize that sometimes a big investment can pull in the guest they want, but, if attendance is so 'low' from the get-go, I can see why they would be apprehensive.

 

Time will tell, today.

[hammerstark]

The shows at WOF are horrid. I do agree that WOF is lightyears behind SDC in terms of almost everything minus the rounded rides. Part of me wishes that they would just take a chance and I'm sure that parks realize that sometimes a big investment can pull in the guest they want, but, if attendance is so 'low' from the get-go, I can see why they would be apprehensive.

 

Time will tell, today.

 

Its frustrating that Cedar Fair doesn't publicly release attendance numbers. According to sources, SDC has an average of 2 million visitors per year, which if you take into account the information that following Cedar Fair's acquisition of Worlds of Fun, the early 2000s brought about the first years with attendance below a million a year. If SDC is bringing more than twice what WoF is, Cedar Fair should realize that something went wrong...

[Coaster19]

In the end, business is important, but when Worlds of Fun is bringing in nearly as much as Carowinds, according to the pie chart, and Carowinds received a giga coaster, it should be understandable that some of us are a bit upset that we haven't seen big investments since 2009.

Compare the markets and you'll see why CF is investing in Carowinds. The Charlotte area has a greater population and one of the fastest growth rate for cities in the US. Not to mention, the Raleigh-Durham area is only a couple of hours away and also has one of the fastest rates as well. Outside of KC, where is WoF going to draw its visitors?

 

Worlds of Fun pulls visitors from Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Northern Oklahoma, and in some cases, Colorado. You'd be surprised at all of the tags you can see in the parking lot at Worlds of Fun. As I said, it has the potential to draw from St. Louis as well, Six Flags St. louis exists, but if WoF can give people a reason to come there, then that pays off in the end.

 

Yep. I live in Omaha and I visit WOF at least once a year, usually twice, this year 3x. (Well, 2 so far, hoping to visit haunt)

 

Hey now!! Don't forget about Iowa! We love WoF! I love WoF and it is my home park! Only 3.5 hours away, an easy drive.

 

Just a theory, since Adventureland is getting a new coaster, can we in the near future??

[DevinC049]

The shows at WOF are horrid. I do agree that WOF is lightyears behind SDC in terms of almost everything minus the rounded rides. Part of me wishes that they would just take a chance and I'm sure that parks realize that sometimes a big investment can pull in the guest they want, but, if attendance is so 'low' from the get-go, I can see why they would be apprehensive.

 

Time will tell, today.

 

Its frustrating that Cedar Fair doesn't publicly release attendance numbers. According to sources, SDC has an average of 2 million visitors per year, which if you take into account the information that following Cedar Fair's acquisition of Worlds of Fun, the early 2000s brought about the first years with attendance below a million a year. If SDC is bringing more than twice what WoF is, Cedar Fair should realize that something went wrong...

 

I whole heartedly agree. I think with the removal of Zinger and OE they really shot themselves in the foot. Granted patriot is great. But I feel like if they kept a few of these, and just added to their arsenal, things would be better.

 

I know these rides have had their issues, mainly OE. But still, theres more than one way to skin a cat. I in know way know what goes on behind the scenes over there and I'm sure they had a reason to fully remove them, but for the sake of the public and for the people paying regularly, I feel like they really lost a lot of a rounded coaster line up. I also think its ironic that they have shirts that say "I LOVE ORIENT EXPRESS" and the like with ZZ in the clothing shops by boomerang.

[hammerstark]

The shows at WOF are horrid. I do agree that WOF is lightyears behind SDC in terms of almost everything minus the rounded rides. Part of me wishes that they would just take a chance and I'm sure that parks realize that sometimes a big investment can pull in the guest they want, but, if attendance is so 'low' from the get-go, I can see why they would be apprehensive.

 

Time will tell, today.

 

Its frustrating that Cedar Fair doesn't publicly release attendance numbers. According to sources, SDC has an average of 2 million visitors per year, which if you take into account the information that following Cedar Fair's acquisition of Worlds of Fun, the early 2000s brought about the first years with attendance below a million a year. If SDC is bringing more than twice what WoF is, Cedar Fair should realize that something went wrong...

 

I whole heartedly agree. I think with the removal of Zinger and OE they really shot themselves in the foot. Granted patriot is great. But I feel like if they kept a few of these, and just added to their arsenal, things would be better.

 

I know these rides have had their issues, mainly OE. But still, theres more than one way to skin a cat. I in know way know what goes on behind the scenes over there and I'm sure they had a reason to fully remove them, but for the sake of the public and for the people paying regularly, I feel like they really lost a lot of a rounded coaster line up. I also think its ironic that they have shirts that say "I LOVE ORIENT EXPRESS" and the like with ZZ in the clothing shops by boomerang.

 

I am a proud owner of an ironic Orient Express shirt. haha. I have futile hope that one day they will do an "imitation" Orient Express....haha

 

But on the honest side, I agree, I think Cedar Fair came in guns blazing tearing old stuff out with a grand plan and it fell through. Not only because the economy crashed, but because people felt betrayed, they came in like a big corporation and took out so many of the things that people loved rather than putting forth effort to improve what was here and adding to it.

[AirMBTB]

I whole heartedly agree. I think with the removal of Zinger and OE they really shot themselves in the foot.

 

^This, BIG time. Zinger was HUGELY popular, probably the most popular ride in the park. EVERYBODY loved it! It was like the Whizzer, but more rambunctious and with airtime.

 

Matt Ouimet is saying they are going to look all over for "classic" rides. I hope he gets bit by the classic coaster bug... CF has gotten ride of so much fine classic stuff. People love the big new shiny B&Ms, but nothing makes people happy like a Schwarzkopf!

[coastercrazi]

-the orient express thing-

 

that would be aaammzaingg

[hammerstark]

Seems like they're saving Worlds of Fun and Cedar Point for last in the Cedar Fair announcement chain...surely that means something good for us...right??? *crosses fingers*

[chadster]

Remember that Cedar Point has put their announcement off post accident. And since track pieces started showing up yesterday, it's safe to say a B&M is making it's way to Cedar Point.

[thewesker]

Seems like they're saving Worlds of Fun and Cedar Point for last in the Cedar Fair announcement chain...surely that means something good for us...right??? *crosses fingers*

 

That depends. How much do you enjoy Flying Scooters?