At the present, I am in the middle of a trans-American road trip to a new job in Running Springs, California. Yesterday, I passed through Kansas City, and was able to stop off at Worlds of Fun for 2 hours! Pardon the photo quality, I was literally just running around the park trying to grab as many photos as possible along the way.
And I need to say upfront, I was the luckiest son of bitch alive. Everything was walk on. Everything. The only reason I wasn't immediately riding a ride was because all coasters were running one train, "forcing" me to wait for the ride cycle. The park was mind-numblingly empty, leaving all rides for me!
Anyways, here's a blow-by-blow of the park!
As soon as I got into the park, I made a B-line for Prowler, one of the latest and greatest American GCI woodies. This coaster definitely didn't disappoint! I rode Prowler twice during my visit, both times in the back. Fantastic first drop, great dips and dives, and a good amount of airtime (though I will say not as much as other woodies like Ravine Flyer II and Thunderhead). Still, a definite sure hit wooden coaster that more Cedar Fair parks need to receive!
I did notice a bit of rattling on the train, more than I did on Thunderhead, but still had a fantastic time.
From Prowler I worked across the park clockwise, moving along the "Africa" section of the park to Boomerang. I have ridden two Vekoma boomerangs up to this point; at Geauga Lake and Knott's Berry Farm. Both of those Vekomas were rather rough and rattly, which had me prepping for a bumpy ride. But I am happy to report that surprisingly enough, WoF's Boomerang was nearly silk smooth! Outside of thuds for braking and lift mechanisms, the train rode very well.
Next up, the last of Cedar Fair's "old skool" hyper coasters, Mamba! It was overall a good coaster, on par with it's sister coaster Steel Force at Dorney Park. Overall though, I still prefer Magnum, as the airtime always seems to be lacking on the newer Morgan designs, focusing more on speed than airtime hills. I definitely enjoyed the ride, but Arrow made them better.
After Mamba came Cyclone Sam's. Why did no one tell me that the world's best flat ride resided at Worlds of Fun!? An indoor Trabant, it features a corny theme of backlights, flashing lights, cheesy wall paintings, wind fans, and stereo sounds. However, in a very bizarre way, these effects push an already ridiculous ride cycle over the edge, seriously delivering a brilliant ride. Had I known about this ride before hand, I would have went here first, not Prowler. That's how good it is! Favorite ride in the park, fo sho.
Heading to Timberwolf, I was worried. Dinn Corp. was definitely not known for its smoothness, nor brilliance of track design. But I said nuts to it, and decided to ride in the very back. This coaster featured the most "shuffling" I have ever seen on a wooden coaster, but it also packed a ridiculous amount of airtime! Every hill had the entire train on the upstops, which was helped by the fact that there was only 5 people onboard at the time. :wink: At many moments, such as the 540 degree helix, it was horrendously rough, but during the airtime it was pure bliss. So, an overall thumbs up for the coaster. In a BDSM kinda way, I enjoyed the ride.
From Timberwolf I continued along the American section to Patriot! Grabbing a seat in the back, we were heading up the lift hill in no time.
Patriot packed a great punch with inversions, as well as some great drops. I did notice a lot of B&M rattling in the back, but despite that really enjoy two rides aboard the Invert. I still like Raptor better for having better speeds on inversions (as well as more inversions), but Patriot lands directly behind Raptor, and ahead of Talon.
After Patriot came my last coaster of the park (not including the stupid Wacky Worm), Spinning Dragon. I have ridden a Maurer Sohn spinner, Mack spinner, but never a Gerstlauer. I must say, this is my favorite! A great layout kept the train spinning all the time, with some fun pops of airtime and tight turns. A good, fun ride.
In addition to the coasters, I rode the park's beautiful train around the park, as well as Viking Voyage, the park's log flume. I also hopped a ride on the park's fantastic Grand Carrousel, inherited from the defunct Geauga Lake. This Merry-Go-Round has one of the richest histories in the world, so I thought it'd be worth posting!
So this Carousel not only features all wooden horses, all of which are moving, but also a live organ, snare, and bass drum for music. Not phony pre-recorded music for this one! To me, there is nothing better than live music on a Merry-Go-Round; and this was one of the best.
I really did luck out yesterday - the longest line I had to wait in was 5 minutes for the log flume! Regardless of how dead the park was, all of the rides were fantastic, the "Around the World in 80 Days" theme was quaint and in good taste, and the employees were very outgoing. Worlds of Fun was an outstanding park; featuring unique, good rides. I am serious when I say it is the second best Cedar Fair park I have been to, right behind Cedar Point. I'd even go as far as to say that based on scale, CP's being very large and WoF's being smaller, WoF arguably packs more quality and a better experience. Of course, this is coming from a guy who did the whole park in 2 hours, so what do I know.
And I need to say upfront, I was the luckiest son of bitch alive. Everything was walk on. Everything. The only reason I wasn't immediately riding a ride was because all coasters were running one train, "forcing" me to wait for the ride cycle. The park was mind-numblingly empty, leaving all rides for me!
Anyways, here's a blow-by-blow of the park!
As soon as I got into the park, I made a B-line for Prowler, one of the latest and greatest American GCI woodies. This coaster definitely didn't disappoint! I rode Prowler twice during my visit, both times in the back. Fantastic first drop, great dips and dives, and a good amount of airtime (though I will say not as much as other woodies like Ravine Flyer II and Thunderhead). Still, a definite sure hit wooden coaster that more Cedar Fair parks need to receive!
I did notice a bit of rattling on the train, more than I did on Thunderhead, but still had a fantastic time.
From Prowler I worked across the park clockwise, moving along the "Africa" section of the park to Boomerang. I have ridden two Vekoma boomerangs up to this point; at Geauga Lake and Knott's Berry Farm. Both of those Vekomas were rather rough and rattly, which had me prepping for a bumpy ride. But I am happy to report that surprisingly enough, WoF's Boomerang was nearly silk smooth! Outside of thuds for braking and lift mechanisms, the train rode very well.
Next up, the last of Cedar Fair's "old skool" hyper coasters, Mamba! It was overall a good coaster, on par with it's sister coaster Steel Force at Dorney Park. Overall though, I still prefer Magnum, as the airtime always seems to be lacking on the newer Morgan designs, focusing more on speed than airtime hills. I definitely enjoyed the ride, but Arrow made them better.
After Mamba came Cyclone Sam's. Why did no one tell me that the world's best flat ride resided at Worlds of Fun!? An indoor Trabant, it features a corny theme of backlights, flashing lights, cheesy wall paintings, wind fans, and stereo sounds. However, in a very bizarre way, these effects push an already ridiculous ride cycle over the edge, seriously delivering a brilliant ride. Had I known about this ride before hand, I would have went here first, not Prowler. That's how good it is! Favorite ride in the park, fo sho.
Heading to Timberwolf, I was worried. Dinn Corp. was definitely not known for its smoothness, nor brilliance of track design. But I said nuts to it, and decided to ride in the very back. This coaster featured the most "shuffling" I have ever seen on a wooden coaster, but it also packed a ridiculous amount of airtime! Every hill had the entire train on the upstops, which was helped by the fact that there was only 5 people onboard at the time. :wink: At many moments, such as the 540 degree helix, it was horrendously rough, but during the airtime it was pure bliss. So, an overall thumbs up for the coaster. In a BDSM kinda way, I enjoyed the ride.
From Timberwolf I continued along the American section to Patriot! Grabbing a seat in the back, we were heading up the lift hill in no time.
Patriot packed a great punch with inversions, as well as some great drops. I did notice a lot of B&M rattling in the back, but despite that really enjoy two rides aboard the Invert. I still like Raptor better for having better speeds on inversions (as well as more inversions), but Patriot lands directly behind Raptor, and ahead of Talon.
After Patriot came my last coaster of the park (not including the stupid Wacky Worm), Spinning Dragon. I have ridden a Maurer Sohn spinner, Mack spinner, but never a Gerstlauer. I must say, this is my favorite! A great layout kept the train spinning all the time, with some fun pops of airtime and tight turns. A good, fun ride.
In addition to the coasters, I rode the park's beautiful train around the park, as well as Viking Voyage, the park's log flume. I also hopped a ride on the park's fantastic Grand Carrousel, inherited from the defunct Geauga Lake. This Merry-Go-Round has one of the richest histories in the world, so I thought it'd be worth posting!
So this Carousel not only features all wooden horses, all of which are moving, but also a live organ, snare, and bass drum for music. Not phony pre-recorded music for this one! To me, there is nothing better than live music on a Merry-Go-Round; and this was one of the best.
I really did luck out yesterday - the longest line I had to wait in was 5 minutes for the log flume! Regardless of how dead the park was, all of the rides were fantastic, the "Around the World in 80 Days" theme was quaint and in good taste, and the employees were very outgoing. Worlds of Fun was an outstanding park; featuring unique, good rides. I am serious when I say it is the second best Cedar Fair park I have been to, right behind Cedar Point. I'd even go as far as to say that based on scale, CP's being very large and WoF's being smaller, WoF arguably packs more quality and a better experience. Of course, this is coming from a guy who did the whole park in 2 hours, so what do I know.
