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Worlds of Fun (WOF) Discussion Thread


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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?

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Welcome to Worlds Of Fun and Grand Carnivale where you are greeted by two rather creepy enlarged cut-off heads!

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Where to first?

 

The log flume of course, duhhh!

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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. ;-)

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Yup - this was an acceptable amount of wetness for me, even though it was pushing 90 degrees.

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WoF really is a beautiful park with lots of trees, shade and an occasional topiary or two.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Awesome! I'm gonna hijack this with my own photos since there's no telling when I would get around to it otherwise. This summer has been crazy busy and I haven't even gotten time to get my Sea World TR from May up yet.

 

Grand Carnivale...shall we say, needs some work. The food was good by CF standards but nothing mind blowing--all except for the samosas, which were probably the worst I've ever had. I thought the cannoli was delightful, but otherwise, not a reason to come to the park if you weren't already planning to go like we were. That, combined with the just overall unpreparedness, just left me wanting more, and that after already having pretty low expectations.

 

Still, it was a fun weekend getaway for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Kansas City is a fun town, and if you like good barbecue like I do, it's incredible.

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Awful samosas.

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Okay hame and cheese crèpe, with cheap deli ham.

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I have no words.

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Pretty decent brat from the German tent.

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Pork buns from the China tent were pretty good too...once they were ready 2 hours after the event started.

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Desserts were the highlight. Well done.

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Nice report guys. Hopefully next season they get the food preparation figured out.

I personally would have hated to been there with kids expecting to eat at 5:15 and not having a bite til 7.

I can’t remember what dessert we had, but it was really good.

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Thanks for the photos guys. The park looks nice lately. I'm glad they have put some more emphasis back on appearances and keeping things looking at least maintained.

 

I know we've gotten onto WOF fanboys for years about whining because WOF isn't getting much for next year, but I was really hoping 2020 was their year for something exciting. It's been awhile... I'm sure the new slides will be nice. There have certainly been a number of nice additions and improvements, but I think 2014 was the last really high-profile addition with their windseeker. It's getting downright odd, considering how busy the park can get with teens/thrill-seekers. Maybe the issue is they don't want to push teen attendance any more considering the problems they've had. I'm not saying the park needs to get a new coaster because it's been x number of years, but any kind of half-way thrilling ride would be nice.

 

I guess they haven't made any real announcement yet so there is still a chance that something is coming to the dry side of the park. Doesn't seem to be really likely that they would invest in both for the same year, but anything could happen.

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Great photos and TR's. I feel like we don't see enough attention to WoF. Judging from the pictures it still looks like a beautiful park. Beerman was definitely hard to find during our visit a few years ago.

 

Phil, if you want to, hit me up when or if you make a trip to SFSTL and Emily and I will try to join you. Sorry again to hear about the bad news, but if sounds like you're really bouncing back into the good life. Welcome to the Midwest. KC seems to be a neat city.

 

considering how busy the park can get with teens/thrill-seekers.

Sounds like there's no need to add anything new if the park is busy. Especially if people are already coming for the thrill seeking offerings.

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^^ 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.

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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

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France had decent ham and cheese crepes. Basically, a couple slices of deli ham and Gruyere cheese...hard to screw that up.

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We had to wait until about 6:30 to get our taste of China.

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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.

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Andrew was all smiles once we were able to actually start getting food!

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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!

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One final random shot of a random, seemingly abandoned theater, Patriot, Skycoaster, and a Condor (closed)...thanks for reading!

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Riptide Raceway coming to Oceans of Fun in 2020!

The longest mat racer in the Midwest.

 

https://www.worldsoffun.com/explore/riptide-raceway

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Riptide Raceway

Competition and thrills combine at Worlds of Fun in 2020 when Riptide Raceway debuts next summer at Oceans of Fun water park. Riptide Raceway will take guests five stories high before they speed down four side-by-side tunnels atop a soft foam mat. Riders in each lane will race more than 476 feet to be the first to reach the finish line as they make an exhilarating journey down a winding hillside, around a tight 360-degree loop and through a rapid final descent before splashdown.

 

This family-friendly ride has been designed to follow the natural terrain of the park’s landscape, and is the first thrill attraction added to the water park since 2013 when Oceans of Fun and Worlds of Fun were conjoined. It will replace Diamond Head, one of the park’s original water slides that opened in 1982; construction will begin this fall after Oceans of Fun closes for the 2019 season.

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Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to post these for Bert...yes, buddy - they have REAL carousel music!!

 

It was cool to learn that this is the carousel is from 1918 and used to operate at Geauga Lake!

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It's not just big...it's GRAND!

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History lesson...

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  • 3 weeks later...

There was a near fatal accident at the Oceans of Fun wavepool. I would love to share the news story links but the Anti SPAM measures in the TOS prevents me from doing so. I am sorry I can not provide the link.

 

I hope another TPR user can post the link for me.

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There was a near fatal accident at the Oceans of Fun wavepool. I would love to share the news story links but the Anti SPAM measures in the TOS prevents me from doing so. I am sorry I can not provide the link.

 

I hope another TPR user can post the link for me.

 

It looks like the person in question has unfortunately died. Sad news to hear considering the Schlitterbahn incident is still likely lingering in peoples minds as well. I did notice a few emergency vehicles coming from the vicinity of the water park as I was in the dry side of the park that evening. https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/teen-pulled-from-oceans-of-fun-wave-pool-last-weekend-taken-off-life-support

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I'm not gonna hold my breath for anything to take up that area in the near future. I visited Dino's alive once this season and it was in a horrible state with most animatronics not working. I feel that they're closing it just to have one less maintenance worry. It's just one less thing to spend money on. I'm sure they weren't making much from it anyways as i rarely saw anyone walking around in there especially after they moved the entrance. One can hope whatever comes out of this is positive, but i'm certainly not going to expect anything.

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I was in KC over the weekend and almost always stay in a comped room at Ameristar, so naturally I almost always hit WoF since it is so close. Thought I'd give a quick TR with some thoughts on the park this visit. Everything looked nice and clean as usual. Having just gone to SFSTL last week, which I think is perfectly fine as my home park, really kind of amplifies the differences between Six Flags and Cedar Fair. Everything just looks better kept and cared for at the Cedar Fair parks I've been to, and visiting the parks so close to each other just drove that home for me.

 

-We rode Patriot in the back and enjoyed it more than usual, don't remember if I've ever ridden in the back for it.

 

-Also enjoyed Timberwolf more than last time. Probably due to some retracking work since last season? I remember seeing retracking being discussed, but didn't pay particularly close attention either last season or this season, but consensus with my GP gf was that it was better this visit.

 

-Prowler was not better this visit, I had seen discussion of it getting rough and sort of dismissed it, as I seem to be less bothered by some roughness than many others. It wasn't painfully rough or anything, and plenty wild, but it was definitely rougher than last season. Definitely tolerable and fun, but a step down from last time.

 

-Boomerang is still Boomerang and I do like the trains...but not a big fan.

 

-Got a particularly spinny ride on Spinning Dragons and enjoyed that as much as I can remember in my limited rides.

 

-Mamba was fun as always. Not the greatest hyper, but definitely a good time and very rerideable.

 

Also hit the swinging boat, scrambler, log flume, and made sure to get on the enterprise since they don't seem long for this world. I also enjoyed pretending the Mamba Venom liquid sour candy was some sort of actual toxic substance...but damn was it sour.

 

Finally, I tried to smash all the pennies the park had to smash, but couldn't find one of the machines that was supposed to be there in the Prowler gift shop...oh well. In the end, a good time was had by all and always like stopping in for a few hours on my random trips to KC from STL.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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