Opening Day Review April 6, 2002

On April 6th, 2002 Worlds of Fun opened its gates for its 30th Season, with the new thrilling ride ThunderHawk. Opening earlier then it had in several years, the day was mild and the crowds, while light, where heavier then average for opening day. All of Worlds of Fun’s roller coasters where operating when the park opened, with the exception of a few opening day glitches, including a few points of downtime for both the Orient Express and Boomerang. The star of this show however, was the ThunderHawk and revitalized Bicentennial Square. Worlds of Fun could have handled adding ThunderHawk the way they had added rides in the past, they could have thrown a new ride in there, with the standard station and not done anything with the area around it. The whole area was completely opened up, they re-landscaped the entire area around the ThunderHawk, the color scheme of the ride was well done in a patriotic red, white and blue. I was also happy to see that the color scheme for the adjoining Bicentennial Square (games) was bright and colorful and didn’t leave you wondering if the painters where color blind. Also of note, the ThunderHawk introduced a new ride element to the basic Top Spin ride. It became the first aquatic Top Spin that literally left many of its riders soaked, and also added a definite crowd pleasing atmosphere to the ride. Worlds of Fun took a basic flat ride and made it into a good experience for all, and also followed tradition by adding to its growing lists of firsts.

As noted earlier, Worlds of Fun seems to have paid a little more attention to landscaping this year. There where several instances where they had finally pulled out the aged Railroad ties and replaced them with concrete bricks. They have also added new appropriately themed fencing in many areas that desperately needed it, and finally removed some serious eyesores from the park that really detracted from its appearance. Of course, as many remember, Kansas City was delivered a powerful blow by a terrible ice storm in late January, Evidence of this in repaired rides, cut off limbs, and trees that have been completely removed are evident around the park. However, overall the parks overall appearance has improved, even if it is not at the rate we where hoping for.

Many other minor changes had been made in the Americana section, The sad Cyclone Sadies Arcade has finally been put out of its misery, especially since it was the worst arcade in the park. This area was remodeled, and Kaman’s Antique Photos has moved into this larger space. The original space occupied by Antique Photos was remodeled and replaced with a new specially designed area for Airbrush Artists. Also, on a minor note, The Timberwolf trains acquired a new logo on the front of the train. Unfortunately, this ride deserves more then a face-lift, it desperately needs to be retracked. Camp Snoopy is still keeping up the same quality they started the season out with last year. A special side note, Beagle Bay Outfitters is still an outstanding gift shop, it includes much more then just the standard t-shirts and key chains. Only two negatives to note, on several t-shirts Worlds of Fun appeared as “World’s of Fun”, never will World ever have ownership of, of Fun. Also it was sad to see that The Scrambler was still sitting there in pieces, it looks like it will be a long time before this traditional thriller will be up and running. Again, come on how hard is it?

Moving onto the Orient Section. As many now know The Aquatic Arena has both been moved off the map and it seems is in the process of removal. All that remains are the blue steel supports and the original concrete diving tank, the bleachers have all been removed and a wooden fence has been erected around the area. Also, though The Orient Express did have a little mechanical trouble on Saturday morning, it did run well the entire day, however only with one train.

Onto the world of Scandinavia, it does seem like The Viking Voyager took a hit in the ice storm, the trough was replaced in one major area near The Bamboozler, it looks like a tree fell on it. Also, it is positive to note that The Octopus, which was has not been open for opening day for three years now, was open this year. Last, the decaying fence behind this ride and the Finnish Fling was replaced, as well as the flower beds in front of these two thrillers was replaced with concrete landscaping bricks.

The last remaining world, Europa. Ever since they opened The Forum road this area has always been deserted. Of course, none of the rides in the area have changed since 1977. There are a few remarkable areas to note however. Worlds of Fun has added a few fences, and has removed the Grand Prix overhang area, which was deteriorating and a complete eyesore to the area. They have however left the raceway area, which one hopes they will remove at some point in the future.

Overall, the appearance of the park was good, the parks new ride showed ingenuity and a little creative thinking, that to us is always a plus. Work and improvement has definitely been shown, and it seems this new management is off to a better start. As always there is work to be done, areas that there needs to be considerable improvement on, but not so much as in years past. We hope everybody can visit the park this season at least once, and we wish Worlds of Fun and all of its employees a wonderful 30th Anniversary.