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Timber Wolf at Worlds of Fun closed for the season

^ bit OT, but rather weird that the web-preview for that link to the Timberwolf page on the Worlds of Fun website still discusses the "unique 560 degree helix" which was removed ~7 years ago.

Almost like Worlds of Fun looks after their web site as well as they do their wooden roller coasters. /s
 
It's worth noting that Worlds of Fun is a 15 minute drive from the Arrowhead stadium which will be a major World Cup host for next year. Do we think the park has something big planned for Timber Wolf to draw guests during this time?
 
I really hope they've at least *considered* an RMC conversion 🙏 WOF is a complete gem of a park, but their coaster line up doesn't need a tepid titan track re-imaging or another GCI experiment.

The dream: an RMC conversion of Timberwolf and Orient Express revived as a modern Vekoma looper (a tilt coaster if we're really dreaming).
 
Bit confusing this news, much like that confusing WoF website now I read it more ; not only is the news on that page ~7 years out of date;

Now, our original wooden coaster has received a new finale! We replaced the helix with a high-speed over banked 70-degree turn. This thrilling final corner turns riders nearly sideways!
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that is also wrong, as the helix was part way through the ride and not anything like the "final corner".

Anyway, I hope it is getting some conversion treatment (preferably RMC) as its quite a big layout and I could see RMC doing something very interesting with it all. But I could also see them ignoring it for a season then just tearing it down :(
 
The were rumors and some smoke about this for a few weeks (removed from app) but I'm still kind of surprised. I know WoF leadership considered it a classic. With it being closed heading into the season, I'm thinking RMC or full Gravity Group precut retrack.

It's still wild with how much has been invested into this coaster since 2018. And all that seems to be for nothing as it's headed for a new life or it's going bye-bye in the next 14 months.

Around the time of Zambezi Zinger's construction, the rumor mill was hot that the legacy Cedar Fair leadership had big plans for WoF... Maybe those rumors are true but I'm still skeptical.
 
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My dream is that it gets the first GCI Titan Track conversion.

The park clearly has a relationship with GCI considering we have Prowler and Zambezi as well as GCI doing the re-tracking of Timber Wolf. And from what I understand, Cedar Fair had a bit of a falling out with RMC. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.)

My hope is that, since WOF was the first to take a chance on their Titan Track and new Infinity Flyers, they’re now working together on doing their first coaster conversion.

I can at least dream. Lord knows I’ve been asking for a Titan Track coaster in plenty of their surveys.

WOF really needs an elite, standout coaster to complement their lineup. The 2026 World Cup is the perfect time for it.
 
WOFgingerbear said:
My dream is that it gets the first GCI Titan Track conversion.

The park clearly has a relationship with GCI considering we have Prowler and Zambezi as well as GCI doing the re-tracking of Timber Wolf. And from what I understand, Cedar Fair had a bit of a falling out with RMC. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.)

My hope is that, since WOF was the first to take a chance on their Titan Track and new Infinity Flyers, they’re now working together on doing their first coaster conversion.

I can at least dream. Lord knows I’ve been asking for a Titan Track coaster in plenty of their surveys.

WOF really needs an elite, standout coaster to complement their lineup. The 2026 World Cup is the perfect time for it.
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Cedar Fair is still operating their parks even though they're under SF ownership so it's pretty unlikely that it's an RMC conversion or RMC project in any capacity... even though this is exactly the move they need to do. Like you said, with the 2026 World Cup coming up, it's a huge opportunity to pull in crowds, plus, with the rumored Mattel park coming to KCK they're bound to lose a lot of attendance in the future. They really need a stand-out coaster to stay relevant and an RMC conversion is the cheapest and most logical option considering there isn't an ibox coaster anywhere in this region.

I think the most likely move here is a Gravity Group pre-cut retrack. CF has done this to 4 of their wooden coasters in the past few years with great results. It might seem weird considering GCI just refurbed the ride but that was obviously a massive failure as it still runs rough, has a ton of downtime and doesn't pull in any crowds.

I'm really rooting for some sort of radical re-imagining of the ride. WOF has 3 wooden coasters as of now and refurbishing Timber Wolf won't really move the needle. Just knowing Cedar Fair and how they treat WOF, I'm expecting to be let down.
 
jonnyu said:
Cedar Fair is still operating their parks even though they're under SF ownership so it's pretty unlikely that it's an RMC conversion or RMC project in any capacity... even though this is exactly the move they need to do. Like you said, with the 2026 World Cup coming up, it's a huge opportunity to pull in crowds, plus, with the rumored Mattel park coming to KCK they're bound to lose a lot of attendance in the future. They really need a stand-out coaster to stay relevant and an RMC conversion is the cheapest and most logical option considering there isn't an ibox coaster anywhere in this region.
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So does anyone factually know the current relationship between CF and RMC. I heard it wasn't the greatest between Railblazer and Steel Vengeance especially but didn't CF somewhat know the risks with the Steel Vengeance. I personally don't think their relationship with RMC is as bad as it is with Intamin...?
 
ViperGTS500 said:
So does anyone factually know the current relationship between CF and RMC. I heard it wasn't the greatest between Railblazer and Steel Vengeance especially but didn't CF somewhat know the risks with the Steel Vengeance. I personally don't think their relationship with RMC is as bad as it is with Intamin...?
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I think their relationship is kind of assumed. I've tried finding concrete evidence of this and haven't found much. It's a pretty fair assumption considering RMC built three coasters for them in one year and they all had major issues, however, one of those rides was a prototype and another was a massive project that had never been attempted before. In the years since, they've had issues with GCI (Zambezi Zinger), B&M with their newer rides running rough and Zamperla with Top Thrill 2. I think you're going to run into problems with pretty much any new ride you build so it would seem strange they'd have a bad relationship with RMC all these years later especially now that those aforementioned rides run fine. For me, I think it's the fact that they've chosen to retrack a lot of their major woodies instead of going with the RMC treatment that makes me think it'll be the same with Timber Wolf. Maybe it's not because of their relationship but more to do with the fact that they want their parks to retain these classic rides for nostalgia reasons which is kind of Cedar Fair's MO.
 
jonnyu said:
Cedar Fair is still operating their parks even though they're under SF ownership so it's pretty unlikely that it's an RMC conversion or RMC project in any capacity... even though this is exactly the move they need to do. Like you said, with the 2026 World Cup coming up, it's a huge opportunity to pull in crowds, plus, with the rumored Mattel park coming to KCK they're bound to lose a lot of attendance in the future. They really need a stand-out coaster to stay relevant and an RMC conversion is the cheapest and most logical option considering there isn't an ibox coaster anywhere in this region.

I think the most likely move here is a Gravity Group pre-cut retrack. CF has done this to 4 of their wooden coasters in the past few years with great results. It might seem weird considering GCI just refurbed the ride but that was obviously a massive failure as it still runs rough, has a ton of downtime and doesn't pull in any crowds.

I'm really rooting for some sort of radical re-imagining of the ride. WOF has 3 wooden coasters as of now and refurbishing Timber Wolf won't really move the needle. Just knowing Cedar Fair and how they treat WOF, I'm expecting to be let down.
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I don't think the economic model for worlds of fun has, or will ever, rely on appealing to a KC tourist draw. mainly because no such thing really exists. maybe you get some extra tourism 8 weeks a year during the (mostly wintery) football season, but KC is just not a magnet. worlds of fun's primary audience is entrenched KCers who still feel fondly about the park and will gladly visit once or twice a year, especially when they have young families. so it may be disappointing to thoosies, but the park's trajectory of opening a new mid-size coaster every ten years or so is honestly pretty good comparatively. and I think the mattel park is extremely far away from a reality at the moment, so I doubt that concerns them too greatly.

i would actually be interested in the numbers but i find it hard to believe that a large proportion of WoF attendance, or KC tourism in general, is pulling from the nebraska/OK/Iowa basin that doesn't have their own (major) parks.

for what its worth, I thought timberwolf actually ran pretty well when i was there last year. bit shaky and too much sideways jostling on old track, but I had fun. some new lighter trains would probably do a world of good
 
cocoa said:
I don't think the economic model for worlds of fun has, or will ever, rely on appealing to a KC tourist draw. mainly because no such thing really exists. maybe you get some extra tourism 8 weeks a year during the (mostly wintery) football season, but KC is just not a magnet. worlds of fun's primary audience is entrenched KCers who still feel fondly about the park and will gladly visit once or twice a year, especially when they have young families. so it may be disappointing to thoosies, but the park's trajectory of opening a new mid-size coaster every ten years or so is honestly pretty good comparatively. and I think the mattel park is extremely far away from a reality at the moment, so I doubt that concerns them too greatly.

i would actually be interested in the numbers but i find it hard to believe that a large proportion of WoF attendance, or KC tourism in general, is pulling from the nebraska/OK/Iowa basin that doesn't have their own (major) parks.

for what its worth, I thought timberwolf actually ran pretty well when i was there last year. bit shaky and too much sideways jostling on old track, but I had fun. some new lighter trains would probably do a world of good
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Kind of along the economic lines, it likely is not economical for a park with limited attendance and revenue generation like Worlds of Fun to try to operate three essentially full-sized and reasonably aggressive wooden roller coasters. Given the cost cutting craze of Six Flags' Project Accelerate, this makes a lot of sense... The question becomes, what happens to Timber Wolf? Initially, I thought there might be a chance for a full on wooden re-track, but thinking about it from an economic perspective, it would make sense that it is either getting RMC'ed or Titan Tracked or scrapped... Given the amount of footers and structure already in place, it seems the most economical thing would be an RMC or Titan re-imagining rather than a complete tear down and build (a decade later of course).
 
Worlds of Fun just announced that Prowler is getting 400 feet of Titan Track and they’re enclosing Zambezi’s lift hill to improve operations (ie. so it doesn’t shut down in a sprinkle.)

Looks like they’ve done quite a bit in the offseason. I’m really hoping this is a good sign for Timber Wolf’s future. Still crossing my fingers for the first Titan Track conversion.
 
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Signage is down and the entrance is all fenced up. Its signage had been updated very recently too (maybe for the 2023 season?). Still blows my mind how much had been invested into this coaster from 2018 through 2024 and it is likely all for nothing as its days as an operating wooden coaster are likely over.

Pure speculation on my part but that fencing seems like it is built to hide some secrets such as survey markings, etc.
 
Sticky_T_Wicky said:
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Signage is down and the entrance is all fenced up. Its signage had been updated very recently too (maybe for the 2023 season?). Still blows my mind how much had been invested into this coaster from 2018 through 2024 and it is likely all for nothing as its days as an operating wooden coaster are likely over.

Pure speculation on my part but that fencing seems like it is built to hide some secrets such as survey markings, etc.
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Given how Six Flags has been announcing the removal of other roller coasters in the chain, I would think they would have said Timber Wolf was closing if that was the case. I can’t imagine a fence like that would be needed for a demolition.

Hopefully there will an announcement before the park opens considering anything happening within the fence can be seen from Mamba.
 
WOFgingerbear said:
Given how Six Flags has been announcing the removal of other roller coasters in the chain, I would think they would have said Timber Wolf was closing if that was the case. I can’t imagine a fence like that would be needed for a demolition.

Hopefully there will an announcement before the park opens considering anything happening within the fence can be seen from Mamba.
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Has the chain been announcing removals? It seems like most of the closures are being done pretty quietly and any announcements come after the writing is on the wall. I feel pretty confident that this isn't going to be a full demolition but rather an RMC or GCI steel track conversion. The fencing here is common to what you see for coaster construction fencing see the Wildcat's Revenge thread. I also question how much you'd see from Mamba as well. Survey markings are pretty hard to see unless you are close and presuming this is getting converted, I'd be surprised if any track removal or track-work until later in the season.
 
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