Opening Day Review April 12, 2000

Worlds of Fun opened its gates once more for its 28th season on a very cold April 8th. Probably not one of the better opening days on record it seemed as if nothing ran and everything went wrong. The day started on as the gates opened at 9:30 that morning. The temperature was sitting barely above freezing but that didn't keep people from the park. It did however keep most of the rides from running. At the time of opening only a few rides outside of europa where open, these included ELI and the Scrambler in Americana and the Viking Voyager in Scandinavia.

First on the list of news has to be the new ride for 2000, The Boomerang. The lines for Boomerang began forming soon after the gates opened at 9:30 yet the Boomerang didn't give its first public ride until about Noon. The reasoning given by the operators was that they had to wait for the temperature to reach 45 degrees, then it was 48 degrees and finally it was 50 degrees. One thing that we did notice that was different from the other Boomerangs that we have ridden was that the brakes coming out of the loop were not used the entire weekend.

The Boomerang station is as many have commented just positively awful. It's yellow steel station with a violet and yellow-stripped canopy. Basically, it looks straight out of a carnival. Worlds of Fun has obviously been getting a slow start on landscaping since the land around the boomerang as well as most of the flower gardens are still packed dirt. The Q-House, which happens to be one of the few good features of the Boomerang is the original Q-House for the Zambezi Zinger. It has been repainted a dusty red color, with green and violet trim. On a positive note, I was happy to see that they had replaced the African themed fencing around the majority of the Boomerang area. Also, reaction of exiting riders does seem to be positive. Since few Kansas Citians are hard core coaster riders most have never rode a roller coaster that goes both forwards and backwards, and many seem to enjoy the Boomerang a great deal.

Approximately 30 minutes after the Boomerang opened the Mamba opened. The Orient Express opened around mid-afternoon, with the Timberwolf being the last to open at about 3pm. The Orient Express is on of the few overall positives we have to give to Cedar Fair this year. It looks absolutely wonderful, and almost new. However, answering many people's question it appears that the Orient Express is running as rough as it did when it opened in 1980. However, one Orient Express enthusiast did believe that in the front car the Orient Express appeared to be running faster then it had previously.

As an answer to the running rumors on the Plunge (Python Plunge) it appears our questions and our prayers have finally been answered. As many enthusiasts have previously noted the Plunge had not been added to the official Worlds of Fun site. It was found on opening day that the Plunge had been also totally removed from the park map as well as its sign removed from the train trestle just in front of its entrance. After talking to a few park employees it has become obvious that the plunge is history and will probably be removed during the course of this year. The Plunge was added as the Python Plunge in 1988.

Another ride that was out of decommission was the Zulu added in 1979. After again conversing with Worlds of Fun employees it was discovered Worlds of Fun was incorrectly shipped the wrong parts and is still waiting for the shipment of the correct parts. With that the Zulu cars are lined up in front of the past Plunge entrance. No word as to when the Zulu will open to the public.As to the overall park it appears in much the same way as it did at the beginning of last season. A few rides and Q-Houses where repainted, most obvious being the Viking Voyager repainting to its new aquamarine with blue and fuschia highlights. (It's not as bad as it sounds). The water had yet to be dyed to its distinctive yet weird blue and green colors, thus revealing their shallow concrete basins. We where happy to see that few trees lost their life this year (except around the Orient Express), but a few of the numerous trees cut down last year where replaced by rock trees (great big boulders). However, we did take notice of this years major non-attraction removal. This year it seems that Worlds of Fun decided to remove the Steadman Plaza from Scandinavia. For those of you who don't know, Jack Steadman was probably one of the biggest reasons Worlds of Fun was ever designed or built and we owe him a great debt for bringing the idea of Worlds of Fun Kansas City.

We where told from a Worlds of Fun employee that Worlds of Fun has plans to rebuild Steadman Plaza, only time will tell if this holds true or not. Overall, it seems Worlds of Fun has started yet another season on a bad foot, Here is hoping that the next following weekends Worlds of Fun gets everything working and back in one single piece.