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Worlds of Fun (WOF) Discussion Thread


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7 hours ago, Jason Maier said:

Two possibilities here: 

1. They're going to announced a full Titan Track conversion for Timber Wolf (I know it got reprofiled in 2018, how's it been running?)

The rebuild of Timber Wolf started in the off-season of 2014/2015 and has been an ongoing process every off-season since, except for one year around 2017.  They just retracked a pretty large section of the ride after the long 180 degree turn under the first 180 turn.  At this point pretty much the entire ride from the first drop to almost the end has been retracked except for two hills in the second half of the ride and a bit right before the brakes.  The first half of the ride was "re-engineered" to make it smoother/maintenance friendly, but nearly all of the Wolf's original bite has been removed here, except for some of the first drop.  The helix removal and its overbanked turn replacement were the silver bullet to Wolf, as that turn is smooth, but about as dull as it could be.  That is at least partially due to brakes which are likely necessary for one the original hills which still remains after the new turn, as it still can deliver strong airtime, even with brakes.  The remainder of the ride is mostly the same as it was from the beginning with less obvious changes and/or still the same profile.  The ride is pretty much a family ride at this point, but smoother overall and less jarring for its riders.

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16 hours ago, LegendLover said:

Woah! Who does Cedar Fair think they are actually sending something new to one of their smaller parks? Have they forgotten it's been two years since Kings Island added a coaster?

LOL.

If this is indeed a coaster (literally, any major coaster) then good for them. 2023 could easily have been a year to replace Vortex at KI or Volcano at KD... but if both of those plots are still sitting empty in 2023 and WOF actually gets a major coaster, the Cedar Fair I know will be almost unrecognizable......

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3 hours ago, thrillseeker4552 said:

LOL.

If this is indeed a coaster (literally, any major coaster) then good for them. 2023 could easily have been a year to replace Vortex at KI or Volcano at KD... but if both of those plots are still sitting empty in 2023 and WOF actually gets a major coaster, the Cedar Fair I know will be almost unrecognizable......

I think the Vortex plot will be reused in 2024. I think 2023 will be an off year for Kings Dominion with a new thrill ride coming to Jungle Expedition in 2024 in preparation for the Volcano replacement in 2025 for their 50th anniversary. I think Jungle Expedition was a good fill-in while we wait for the Volcano replacement. 

 

But I think I'm going to have to say that I think this project will be a Titan Track creation. I feel confident in GCI's ability to make a ride that can be distinguished from Prowler. I think it can be distinguished the same way that CCI was able to distinguish Legend from the Raven and then those same engineers distinguishing Voyage from Raven and Legend. 

 

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39 minutes ago, CoasterNerd87 said:

KD isn't going to get the Volcano replacement until their 50th. Why would they waste a new coaster to not coincide with the parks anniversary? WoF is long overdue some serious investment. 

Because no one cares about anniversaries.  How many other parks got huge coasters on their big years?  Did you enjoy 150th anniversary cedar point just got??  Oh wait, they TOOK OUT a coaster for it lol.

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^ Prime example as to why parks don't listen to or value the opinion of enthusiast..  13 years since the park has had a new coaster and you'd be "torn" if it's something new and innovative?  While still rearing from a pandemic in a climate when parks are still recovering and recruiting workers and visitors?  But here you are, being torn because it's not what, a type of coaster you want??

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4 minutes ago, jarmor said:

^ Prime example as to why parks don't listen to or value the opinion of enthusiast..  13 years since the park has had a new coaster and you'd be "torn" if it's something new and innovative?  While still rearing from a pandemic in a climate when parks are still recovering and recruiting workers and visitors?  But here you are, being torn because it's not what, a type of coaster you want??

Those were my guesses on what could be being built. I am torn on which way the park could be going. I have heard rumors on both 

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17 hours ago, RailBlazer said:

The rebuild of Timber Wolf started in the off-season of 2014/2015 and has been an ongoing process every off-season since, except for one year around 2017.  They just retracked a pretty large section of the ride after the long 180 degree turn under the first 180 turn.  At this point pretty much the entire ride from the first drop to almost the end has been retracked except for two hills in the second half of the ride and a bit right before the brakes.  The first half of the ride was "re-engineered" to make it smoother/maintenance friendly, but nearly all of the Wolf's original bite has been removed here, except for some of the first drop.  The helix removal and its overbanked turn replacement were the silver bullet to Wolf, as that turn is smooth, but about as dull as it could be.  That is at least partially due to brakes which are likely necessary for one the original hills which still remains after the new turn, as it still can deliver strong airtime, even with brakes.  The remainder of the ride is mostly the same as it was from the beginning with less obvious changes and/or still the same profile.  The ride is pretty much a family ride at this point, but smoother overall and less jarring for its riders.

If it's smoother and retracked, why do people say it still sucks so bad? It doesn't matter what has, or hasn't been done to it, if it still beats the crap out of you

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On 7/27/2022 at 1:06 PM, LegendLover said:

Woah! Who does Cedar Fair think they are actually sending something new to one of their smaller parks? Have they forgotten it's been two years since Kings Island added a coaster?

People said the same thing about Carowinds not too long ago.

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39 minutes ago, prozach626 said:

If it's smoother and retracked, why do people say it still sucks so bad? It doesn't matter what has, or hasn't been done to it, if it still beats the crap out of you

From what I understand, GCI didn’t do the full retrack.  I heard wof did the last quarter of the ride because it obviously was cheaper to do in house, which is why it’s probably still rough.  I heard the return run up into the brakes was done in house.  Don’t know if that’s true or not, but it would explain a lot.  

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Also the fact that it was stretched out over 4 or 5 seasons seems like they were scraping for Pennies to pay for it if they finished it themselves.    
 

All that being said, I’m really pumped about what we might get for next year.  Even if it’s a family coaster, I’m hyped👍

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51 minutes ago, Vonni said:

I guess its all subjective but I don't find Timber Wolf to be rough at all

Timber Wolf >>>>> Prowler.

This thread’s impending disappointment… priceless.

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7 hours ago, prozach626 said:

If it's smoother and retracked, why do people say it still sucks so bad? It doesn't matter what has, or hasn't been done to it, if it still beats the crap out of you

I really have no idea why people are saying Timber Wolf is rough as much of the ride is so tame now, it's pretty dull.  It used to be a very rough ride, but the difference now is night and day. There is one airtime hill which is still the original profile and it can throw you and the train around, but that is one quick hill.  The very end of the ride still needs to be retracked, but that is a very short section.  Other than something being off with a train or something (I will say the last row of the train tends to shake side to side, so maybe that is part of the complaints), the rough comments just make no sense.  I typically do not ride over a wheel/axel, so that may make a difference (like that last row), but with so much of the ride replaced, it's practically a new ride, other than the trains.

 

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Worlds of Fun is intriguing to me with all of its space serving the Kansas City metro area.  There's no reason to think if CF invested a good amount of money into it (like a B&M giga for example and the usual CF treatment when they invest) it would become more successful.  I feel like with recent developments it's definitely a "park to watch."

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On 7/28/2022 at 3:33 PM, prozach626 said:

If it's smoother and retracked, why do people say it still sucks so bad? It doesn't matter what has, or hasn't been done to it, if it still beats the crap out of you

A Tale of Two Wolves (and Cats and Snakes)

I took a few spins on Timber Wolf tonight and had a much different experience than I have had in a while, so I thought I would share.  

One thing I would like to point out, as I realized this years ago on another wooden coaster, is you can take two rides in the same row of the same train, but one time in the left seat and one time in the right and have very different rides, believe it or not.  And that was definitely the case for me tonight.  

I nearly always ride Timber Wolf in the right seat, but tonight I rode left seat and in the front row of the last car.  The last row was closed, so there was no weight in those seats, which likely added to the car being a little more bouncy in spots. But that ride was far more unpleasant than any ride I had had on Timber Wolf in recent years.  It was mostly... shaky or vibrated in some areas, particularly after the first turn through the lift. It happened in a few valleys, but was not jackhammering.  There was some lateral roughness in one spot which is likely due to the track's banking which seems a bit odd, so it's likely a bit worn there.  There is one pretty crazy airtime hill left after the new overbanked turn and in this row and seat is just was unpleasant and slammed down on the other side.  The same happened on the following hill a bit, which is still original to the ride.  Some of the track in the later sections of the ride which is new in the last few years has an odd vibration which sometimes has happened on that ride when it gets new track for some reason.  Then the last stretch was pretty shaky in that row too.  Just the last slight s-curve of track leading to the brake.

I had my friend trade seats and we rode again and the right side was noticeably less off-putting, but had a few slams on the airtime hills.  So, this is one thing to remember for a lot of rides, especially woodies.  And it may account for sometimes if you ride with someone and one person says something was good/smooth and the other says they had a different experience.  I realized this on The Rattler when I hit a rough spot in the track on one side of the train, but you could barely feel it on the other side.  You would think each row, two seats side by side would feel essentially the same thing, but that is definitely not always the case and it's easy to forget it and/or not know or experience it.  But I think this explains part of why some people have had mostly smooth rides on Wolf, while others have had the opposite.  Most of the rides I have had are generally pretty damn smooth for a woodie, so when people say it's rough, I am left scratching my head.  But it can depend on where you ride more than any of us realize.

Prowler can really be a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ride too.  In some seats and perhaps depending on if the track is oiled, it can feel like you are riding a on gravel road or that the wheels have flat spots in them. But it can also feel mostly smooth and FLY like it was tonight, with the track freshly oiled.  For some reason it was noticeably faster than most rides I've had in recent history tonight and it was wonderful!

And speaking of wonderful, if you like airtime, come ride Mamba and ride in the front car, especially third row for more intense or second for less, on those bunny hills.  WOW!  That thing has been running absolutely crazy lately!  Just remember, wind can kill the ride with the big fiberglass cars and how exposed the ride is to the wind.  Otherwise, you won't believe it's the same ride.  It's as if the ride starts at the block brake now!

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Worlds of Fun adds some Sunday nights to Haunt schedule this year! Haunt starts Friday, September 16th. Then will be on Thursday and Sunday nights in addition to the Fri/Sat nights in October starting on the 6th, except for Sunday, Oct 30th.

The park will also be open the first two Sat/Sun in November. 

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