Episode 24: Worlds of Fun (Remarkably Unremarkable)

My third stop on my 2024 road trip brought me to Kansas City, MO for my first ever visit to Worlds of Fun.  They opened Zambezi Zinger last year, their first new roller coaster since 2009.  It's a GCI family thrill coaster that sits right next door to Prowler, a highly praised out and back terrain coaster also from GCI.  The Mamba hyper coaster from Morgan also got reprogrammed a short time ago, and the mid-course brake run barely kisses the train leading to some great airtime.  Join me for my in-depth reactions to everything I experienced during my trip around the world at Worlds of Fun.

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Transcript

Welcome Episode 24 of Coaster Redux.  My name is Erik, and this is the story of my revived roller coaster fandom.  For years, I’d all but forgotten my coaster obsession from high school and college.  Then during the pandemic, I started following the amusement world again, and for the last two years, I’ve been on a mission to ride as many new coasters as I can, and share my experiences through this podcast.

It all started with a week-long road trip back in 2022, and I’m now underway on my third road trip, this time for two full weeks.  I’ve got six parks remaining and I’ll go in-depth on my experiences riding new roller coasters as well as some old favorites.

I spent the last two days at Silver Dollar City in Branson MO, and I absolutely fell in love with the place.  It’s beautifully themed to an 1890’s mountain town, and I had a blast riding Time Traveler, Outlaw Run, Powder Keg and more!  After almost two full days in the Ozarks, I’m in Kansas City, MO ready for the third park of the trip.  Worlds of Fun debuted Zambezi Zinger last year, the first new roller coaster since 2009 when they installed Prowler.  Both are wood coasters from GCI that I couldn’t wait to check out.  The other headliner is Mamba, a Morgan hyper known for awesome airtime after the park reprogrammed its mid-course brake run.  This will be the first of the mid-tier Cedar Fair I’ve visited, and I always love trying out a new park.              

I know as a roller coaster fan that one of my favorite parts of the hobby is getting the reaction of somebody coming off of a ride they’ve never ridden before.  That’s what I want to share with you.

And with that, join me for a journey around the world in 80 days from Worlds of Fun on Coaster Redux.

It was day six of sixteen on this road trip, and I wasn’t in a rush.  Worlds of Fun is a mere 10 minutes from the hotel, and they were open 11am to 9pm.  I knew I would have plenty of time, and with this being a Thursday, I didn’t expect major crowds.  I left the hotel around noon, and was only on 435 for a few minutes and bang, there’s Mamba!  The massive red helix turnaround on the Morgan hyper is better than any billboard, especially because it’s placed over a grassy field.  You absolutely can’t miss this place.

As I made my way along Worlds of Fun Avenue to the parking lot, Patriot stands proud with its brilliant red and white track with blue supports.  The paint looks fresh and the afternoon sun makes it pop against the green grass.  I scanned my Cedar Fair pass and entered the parking lot which was pretty empty.  Then I exited my car, and stepped into the most oppressive heat I can remember at a theme park.  If Silver Dollar City was hot, this was boiling.  I’m pretty much dead center in the Continental United States, and there wasn’t a breath of wind.  The name of the game on this day was going to be staying hydrated.  Fortunately Cedar Fair is really good about making free water available throughout their parks.

I walked towards the entrance and was joined by only a few other parties of guests.  It seemed as though this would be a particularly quiet day in the park.  The entrance sign features a hot air balloon, as the park is themed to Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne.  I’d read the book in high school, and upon refreshing my memory on it via Wikipedia, I found that the main character, Phileas Fogg, never in fact travels in a hot air balloon.  Apparently a later film adaptation of the book made the balloon forever synonymous with the story.

Anyway, the park features sections themed to different countries around the world, and the entrance area features an amphitheater and the 1918 Illinois Grand Carousel.  I didn’t study a park map before my visit, and decided to take the park in as I went.  I headed left from the Gateway Gardens mainstreet area and entered the Scandinavia area.  The theming here is very loose, but the area is home to the Viking Voyager log flume, and a handful of flat rides.  I continued downhill crossing into the Africa section, passed beneath the park’s railroad, and happened upon my first roller coaster of the day.

Prowler stands alone at the end of its own little pathway, and this area of the park is quite well shaded.  The station and lift hill are the only parts of this coaster that are visible from within the park with the majority of the layout taking place out in the woods.

This GCI wood coaster opened in 2009, and is unusual because it features more of an out-and-back terrain layout versus most of the company’s twister designs.  The story goes that Prowler was actually the inspiration for the brilliant Mystic Timbers at Kings Island.  That park opened their Diamondback B&M hyper the same year as Prowler, and was disappointed when Worlds of Fun took home the Golden Ticket award for best new attraction despite the smaller stats and price tag.  Mystic Timbers debuted in 2017 with a very similar out-and-back terrain layout, and with that being one of my favorite wooden roller coasters, I was psyched to compare it to this one.

The area around Prowler was largely deserted.  I was one of maybe five people in the station, and I hopped right into the front row.  The 24-passenger Millennium Flyer train rolled out of the station with only six people onboard, to a chorus of meowwww from the ride operators.  That was fun.

You turn around and engage the 102 foot lift hill.  At the top, the track swoops down and to the left.  In the front, I felt like I was hanging over the drop before the rest of the train made it over.  Then we picked up speed and the laterals come on hard as I was pinned to the right.  You hop upwards and pass right under the lift, drop into a straight bunny hill, and enter the delightful GCI bits where GCI does GCI things.  Every hill on the outbound run is accompanied by a turn in opposing directions, meaning you get quick bursts of laterals and airtime with each maneuver.  You turn around to the left, and the trip back is more of the same.  It absolutely feels like Mystic Timbers.  The ride is smooth enough, though it’s not as perfect as Thunderhead at Dollywood that I rode a few days ago.  It also felt slow.  No surprise since it was early in the day with an almost empty train.  I resolved to return later after it’s warmed up in hopes of riding a full train.

I remained in the Africa section and headed next door to check out the new for 2023 Zambezi Zinger.  The immediate area surrounding this coaster gives off Busch Gardens Tampa vibes.  Cedar Fair has done a great job refreshing entire sections of their parks when they build new attractions, and this one is no exception.  The buildings are brightly colored with textured exterior walls, pointed wood posts for accents, and rope creates the queue lines.  Theming is solid as you Adventure Safari Tours outpost, complete with supplies, and a map of the excursion you’re about to experience.  The downside is that the majority of the queue is located beneath the park’s Boomerang coaster which was not operating on this day.

The original Zambezi Zinger was a Schwartzkopf Jumbo Jet Speed Racer model that operated in the same location from 1973 to 1997.  This steel coaster featured a spiral lift hill, then took off into the woods for a twisting layout.  It was a beloved attraction for generations of families, and Cedar Fair wanted to introduce a new ride paying homage to the original.  The new ride is a wood coaster with steel supports from GCI.  It too features a spiral lift hill, the first ever on a wooden roller coaster.  It also uses sections of the company’s Titan Track, which is steel track that is compatible with standard wood track, and it’s the first coaster to employ their next generation Infinity Flyer trains.  With all these firsts, it’s absolutely a prototype coaster.  I’m always up for something different, and I was excited to check this out.

The station features an African drum soundtrack which I love.  The trains have a cool Jeep look complete with a light bar and grill vents in front.  They’re similar to Millennium Flyers in that each car is a single row, but the padded benches are replaced with molded bolsters that sit higher.  Gone are the ratcheting lap bars that are replaced by hydraulic T-bars.  These are designed to be capable of inverting riders on future attractions, while Zambezi Zinger is remains more of a family thrill coaster.  There’s no seatbelt, and overall I was comfortable as I slid into row 2 for my first ride.

With the all clear, the train rolls out of the safari camp and promptly turns left and dips down.  There’s a brief straight section where you transition from wood to steel track and engage the lift.   You’re propelled upwards via drive tires, but the anti-rollbacks are loud against the steel structure.  After a few revolutions, we’re 74 feet in the air.  It’s hardly Kilimanjaro, but it’s a nice look around the Serengheti before a nice steep straight first drop. 

Somewhere in the middle, we switch back to wood track, but it’s not noticeable.  At the bottom, we pull up into a right handed turnaround, zig hard left, and return to Titan track to circumnavigate the lift structure.  There’s no airtime in any of these maneuvers, but the Zinger’s shtick is more snappy direction changes and laterals.  Mission accomplished.  

You drop off the tower and change back to wood track before banking hard left, followed by a bunny hill.  The next turn is right on the ground with a high left bank before snapping hard right into a tight tunnel.  You exit the tunnel and turn left into another small hill, then enter a low zig zag section of track that feels a bit like a wooden Cheetah Hunt before entering the final brakes.

So I would compare Zambezi Zinger most closely with Invadr at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.  It’s got excellent twisting transitions, but being more of a family coaster, there’s no airtime to speak of.  I will say that it has more of a shuffle than I’d expect from a brand new ride, especially in the back part of the layout.  It’s not rough per se, but I thought Thunderhead was smoother.  As for the trains, I’d heard some complain that the lap bars come down and staple you, but I didn’t find that to be the case, in fact quite the opposite.  I have this problem much more so on the Millennium Flyers than I did here.  I would definitely return for another ride in the back later in the day.

By this point, I was hungry and really hot.  This is the hottest I can ever remember being in a theme park.  I resolved to stop at the next available food venue for lunch and more importantly, hydration.  Being such a quiet day in the park, a lot of restaurants were closed.  The first place I found was the Sand Dune Diner, located close to the entrance for Mamba.  While it was nice to step into the air conditioning for a few minutes, there was no available seating inside.  I grabbed a burger with fries, and a healthy cup of water and sat under an umbrella outside to eat.  The burger was mediocre as can be, but the fries were nicely seasoned and crispy.  I went back inside to refill my water, and continued uphill towards Mamba.

Following the success of Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point in 1989, Cedar Fair began installing hyper coasters at their other properties.  They contracted D.H. Morgan Manufacturing, a relative newcomer to the amusement industry owned by Dana Morgan,  the son of an Arrow Development founder.  Mamba opened in 1998 following Wild Thing at Valleyfair, and Steel Force at Dorney Park.  The three coasters all feature a similar out-and-back layout, a height just over 200 feet and lengths over 5000 feet.  These coasters pre-dated B&M and Intamin’s entry into the hyper game and were considered state-of-the-art at the time for their smooth rides and high speeds.

Still, if you look at everything from the track to the support structure to the trains on Mamba, you can’t help but notice that it looks like it’s got the same DNA as Magnum, which at the time, was the goal.  It was all about big drops, high speeds, swooping turns and airtime.  

So I rode my first Morgan in January 2023, Steel Eel at SeaWorld San Antonio.  Despite being only 150 feet tall, it was said to provide crazy airtime which I didn’t experience on this winter weekend when temps were low and crowds were light.  I hoped for better on Mamba, and was particularly intrigued to learn that the park had recently added a new computer control system resulting in the mid-course brakes not hitting as hard.  This would supposedly lead to a spectacular airtime-filled finale that gives Magnum a run for its money.

Stoked to give Morgan another shot, I ascended the stairs, passing under the lift hill towards the station.  Workers were taking turns manually digging holes throughout the queue area for some kind of improvement, and I couldn't imagine doing that kind of work outside in this heat.  I walked into the station and decided to get on the ride as quickly as I could, and found the fourth to back row open.  Unfortunately, the train was less than half full.  I climbed into the fiberglass bodied car, buckled the seatbelt and lowered the lap bar.  This one is ratcheting and comes down to mid-abdomen, so it isn’t tight on the legs.  It’s strange for a ride of this size.

Operations on Mamba were very slow.  There was zero hustle from the crew to get the trains out.  I get it’s not a busy day, but the way they slowly meandered through the station to check the train was disappointing.  I’d rather see one train ops with a crew giving it their all than the two train laziness I saw that day.  Just listen to this enthusiasm from the lead operator……

Anyway, you leave the station and make a quick left before heading up the lift.  As I ascended, I felt a breeze which gave me a welcome cool down as I was drenched in sweat.  Downtown Kansas City is visible to the left, and the Timberwolf wood coaster is straight ahead.  The first drop approaches, and down you go.  Morgan drops start gradually and get steeper as they go.  I’d guess this one is at about a 60 degree angle.  There’s no real whip going down.  At the bottom, the track transitions from down to up abruptly, so the positive G’s come on instantaneously.  I will say that the radius of the upward curve is very consistent, so it remains smooth through the transition.  Next you rocket over a large camelback and there’s some decent float before the hard change to positives at the bottom.  

Then the ride turns slightly right and climbs to the top of the turnaround helix.  There’s a bizarre flat section of track at the top before you bank right and descend to ground level.  Flying just above the grass, the G’s are pretty intense here.  I don’t usually grey out on coasters, but here I did.  Upon exiting the helix, you get hit with a mist of water in the face.  I’m not sure if this is intentional, but it felt good.  

You zag left and climb into the mid-course.  Come on, no trims!  The brakes barely kissed the train, and we soared over five consecutive airtime hills.  There are some pops of floater here, but nothing amazing.  After these hills, you make a graceful turn over the entry plaza and slam into the brakes.

Mamba was definitely fun, and there was more airtime than Steel Eel, but I was still underwhelmed.  Magnum had way more outta your seat moments than this did, and the ride pales in comparison to more modern hypers from Intamin or B&M.  Still I wanted to keep an open mind, and would return later.  I was halfway through my first loop around the park and I wanted to keep exploring. 

I made my way downhill, passing a huge amphitheater on the left with the train tracks to the right.  This is a long, somewhat empty pathway that leads from Africa to the Wild West.  Here, I would take my first ride on Timber Wolf.  This 1989 Dinn Corporation wood coaster was considered one of the best in the world when it opened, but it really isn’t talked about today.  Enthusiasts typically favor more modern wood coasters from GCI and Gravity Group that offer a more dynamic ride than this simple oval shaped layout.  As for me, I was expecting something along the lines of Hurler at Carowinds based on the coaster’s appearance, and that’s not something to get excited about.  But hey, it’s a walk-on, so why not give it a shot?

The trains are two bench PTC’s comprised of 6 cars, and both are running despite the low crowds.  I picked a seat in the middle of the next train out.  Again, there were probably 5 or 6 others riding with me as we rolled out of the station and straight onto the lift hill.  Mamba’s turnaround towers ahead of us, as we’re only heading upwards to 100 feet.  

At the top, we turn left and I braced for impact.  The we began the first drop, and hey, there’s pretty new track here.  It’s a solid plunge to ground level and the valley is nice and smooth.  We rise up and get a floater pop and strong laterals through the first lefthand turnaround.  So far so good!  You drop down again and rise up into a banked right hand turn through the lift structure and get more airtime and laterals before a sweet bunny hop and a 180 degree fan turn to the right.  You hop up, then twist beneath the track that passed under the lift, and take another lap around the infield of the first part of the ride.  You take two more bunny hops with new wood providing more floater air, then turn right and make the final approach to the station.  This last few hundred feet do have some jackhammering, but the majority of the ride was great!  It’s filled with solid airtime and laterals while being comfortable enough.  Timber Wolf was surprisingly good, but not good enough that I needed to take another ride.

The next themed area is Americana, and I elected to take a ride on Steel Hawk, a 300 foot Mondial Wind Seeker.  I’ve actually never ridden one of these big swing rides, but today I had plenty of time, so I decided to soak up the view.  I thought I was waiting in the right line, but apparently I went past where I was supposed to since they didn’t assign me a seat.  With light crowds, they need to make sure the weight balance is right, so the small group of us waiting had to be sent to opposite sides of the ride.   

The seats are comfortable, with a simple lap bar.  We were about to go way up there, and spin around on a gentle swing.  As we ascended, I’m not gonna say I was nervous, but the seats do feel mighty exposed compared to riding a roller coaster.  It was a stellar view of the park and surrounding area, and Steel Hawk provided a great panorama of just how much land this park has. The roller coaster tycoon inside me thought of how they could build just about any major coaster they wanted here.  How great would a giga look right along the highway?  I’m sure those economics don’t work, but we can dream, right?  The Hawk gently lowered us to the ground, and I was glad I did that.  It’s nice to take in new parks at a slow pace and try different things I don’t ordinarily do.

I then headed next door to ride Patriot.  Now this has gotta be one of the prettiest roller coasters out there.  It’s got red track with a white line running the length of the spine and blue supports.  Hey, we are in the Americana section.  This B&M invert opened in 2006, meant to fill the void of a large scale looping coaster left by the removal of the Orient Express Arrow looper in 2003.  It’s a mid-sized model with a 149 foot height, just over 3000 feet of track, and four inversions.  

Two trains were running and of course I opted for the back row right.  Like Mamba, this crew had absolutely zero sense of urgency as they dilly dallied about slowly checking the train.  Finally, it was go time.

You turn left out of the station and begin the climb up the lift.  This coaster is basically in an open field at the front of the park and you look out at the parking lot as you crest the top.  You level out in B&M’s standard pre-drop, bank right and swoop downwards.  It’s fine, but rides like Montu, Banshee, and Raptor all have stronger first drops.  You rise up into a vertical loop, feet barely missing the lift hill, then soar through a zero-G roll.  This element is fun as always, complete with a bit of float, and a bit of whip.  You then pull up again into an Immelman to reverse direction before a large 360 degree wing over turn.  Then you fly over the entrance with a bunny hill devoid of airtime.  You then flip through a corkscrew, and make a hard right turnaround before an S-bend into the brakes.

Patriot is pretty, and it’s silky smooth, but it lacks the ferocity of other B&M inverts.  It gracefully winds its way through the course without the whip and strong positive G forces this ride type is known for.  It rides more like a wing coaster than an invert, if that makes any sense.  Having  pretty much unlimited room on a flat piece of land, B&M could have done absolutely anything with this layout.  I wish they’d aimed higher with Patriot.

And with that, I’d completed my first lap around Worlds of Fun.  Spinning Dragons, the Gerstlauer spinning coaster was closed for the day, so I decided to take a second trip around the world, starting with my second ride on Prowler.  I rode in the back this time, and was joined by only three other guests.  The coaster had definitely warmed up since my last ride, but it still just felt slow.  The layout is awesome, and it tracks well, but I seriously needed some train weight to get the full experience.  

I then returned to Zambezi Zinger, and this time I rode in the back.  The first drop was a little better, but overall I’d say there’s not much difference between the front and back rows.  With the train being only 8 cars long, and no real airtime in the layout, this isn't surprising.  I’ll call it a fun family thrill coaster with some great laterals and twists, but it’s nothing outstanding.

I wanted to give Mamba another ride, and thought maybe it would be better towards the front.  I selected row three.  Many say the same row on Magnum is its magic seat, and while I haven’t done that, I thought this to be a worthy experiment, and boy did it deliver!  This is going to be a strange comparison, but bear with me.  The airtime felt like riding Phoenix at Knoebels, but on a hyper level.  Not ejector, but strong sustained floater with a super minimalist restraint, meaning your bum is really lifted off the seat, then slammed down at the bottom of each hill.  It’s like nothing I’ve felt on a roller coaster before, and I absolutely loved it, so much so that I did it again in the same row.  I still wouldn’t rank it higher than anything from B&M or Intamin, but Mamba’s got its own unique flavor of airtime, and in this world where so many coasters feel the same, I call that a win.

I then rode Patriot again, this time in back row left.  I didn’t notice any additional intensity in this seat versus the right side.  By this time, the heat was really starting to get to me, but I wanted one more ride on Prowler.  Maybe I’d get lucky this time and get some more people onboard.  I went for the front row again as I find this to be the best on most GCI’s, but alas, I was only joined by four other people.  Still, this was my best ride of the day.  It seemed faster still than my last back row ride.  It does everything Mystic Timbers and Thunderhead do well, but it’s just a tiny bit rougher.  It’s still the best ride in the park, and a very strong wood coaster.  I’m sure I’d have a stronger opinion if I got a full train ride.

I’d spent almost six hours in the park, and the heat was so oppressive that I was done for the day.  I had a great time at Worlds of Fun.  It was a dead day in June, which was both a blessing and a curse.  Of course walking onto any ride in the park is a plus, but I would rather have had just a few more visitors to fill the trains and make the place feel more alive.  Parks just feel off when there’s nobody there.  That said, I’d call the overall experience unremarkable.  All the rides I rode were good, but none of them were outstanding.  I’d say the same for the overall appearance of the park.  I have absolutely nothing bad to say, but I can’t rave about anything either.  It’s a solid regional theme park.  They’ve got lots of good rides.  Maybe I would be able to say Prowler is great if I got a full train ride.  

With that said, I think Zambezi Zinger was an odd choice for the park’s first new roller coaster in 14 years.  I fully appreciate paying homage to a favorite from yesteryear, but I don’t think the park needed another wood coaster, especially one from the same manufacturer as its best ride that quite frankly isn’t as good.  And I get that it isn’t meant to be a thrill coaster, but I think it’s also a bit too intense to be a true family coaster.  It’s a fun ride, I just don’t think it knows exactly what it wants to be.

Anyway, I returned to the Element and relished the comfort of my air conditioned room.  I grabbed dinner from a killer hibachi restaurant right down the street.  Woncano Teppanyaki is highly recommended if you’re in the area!  I posted my Zambezi Zinger reel on Instagram and prepared to get on the road in the morning.  Tomorrow would be another travel day, and I had a decently long haul to reach Chicagoland.

Join me for the next episode when I head north to visit one Six Flags top tier parks.  Maxx Force, Raging Bull, and Goliath top the list of my most anticipated coasters at one of the biggest parks in the country.  My first time visit to Six Flags Great America is coming up next time on Coaster Redux.