Opening Day Review April 18, 1999

Well, as we were all hoping, it did end up warming up for the second day of the 1999 season. So unlike the day before, Mamba and the Orient Express where completely operational. Sometimes it seemed that the Mamba spent more time sitting than it did running. Unlike we had hoped, the Orient Express still has the roughest ride in the world. It is very noticable that Worlds of Fun did quite a bit of work over the winter.

First off, the good comments. Worlds of Fun did end up giving the entire Baltic Bazaar area (the Scandinavian shops) a face lift. Not only did they re-paint them white and cream but they also did a minor re-haul to the interiors that it desperatly needed. Unbelivably, the Omegatron seemed to have no problems working, it worked the entire time I was visiting the park from 11 AM to 4 PM. Some major brownie points for Worlds of Fun in that arena.

The Coaster Grill is still unfinished. It looks as though they are heading for an opening in May sometime, probably around Memorial Day. However, it does look dreadfully tacky against its African bathroom across the way. Overall, the whole area does give a quite nice view of Fury of the Nile and Mamba. Fury of the Nile also ran all day. However, the major geysers and waterfalls were completly turned off as expected. Due to the low turnout, the lines were short for every ride.

While speaking of the Africa/Americana desert between Mamba and the Forum . . . the Forum is no longer. In obviously keeping with the 50's theme of the Coaster Grill (It looks like a cross between a Winsteads and a Waids) the Forum was re-named to the "Heart of America Theater." Now KC has a Heart of America bridge and a Heart of America Theater (in fact two if I'm correct). Onto Americana . . . The Grand Prix is fairly nice, if it wasn't for the used Cedar Point race cars and the chopped up Henrietta.

The famous "bad luck" Oriental Archway is no more. The red arch that divided Americana from the Orient is now gone, a victim of de-theming. Its very sad. Other notes . . . the Flying Dutchman has been painted Fushia. The Scandinavian gate was painted a dark blue and the Worlds of Fun Railroad has been painted Red. For those who didn't know, the Finnish Fling was painted a Teal and Cream color at the end of the 1998 season. On the cleanliness side, it seems Worlds of Fun is off to a fairly good start but on the theme park side, it needs more help then ever before.