In Our Eyes: Our view of Worlds of Fun on August 18th, 2002

As many know over the past several years Around the World has been very vocal about any issues that we found lacking at Worlds of Fun. Over several years we watched the park deteriorate in many ways, and improve in other ways as well. Many we commented on, many where so minor by themselves we decided to leave it be. In Our Eyes is an attempt to cover each visit to the park, noting any problems, mentioning any improvements over previous visits, and noting where improvements could be made.

We decided to visit Worlds of Fun on Sunday, August 18th for a few hours, it was hot, but also very humid making it mildly uncomfortable, so the trip was only a few hours long. We arrived at Worlds of Fun about 2:30 in the afternoon, and hoping to meet a friend headed straight for the ThunderHawk, the new ride for 2002. ThunderHawk has had some minor maintenance problems, it seems primarily due to the fact that water and electronics just donít go together. The ride was down when we arrived, but only for a short period. The reason we soon found out, was that it appears Worlds of Fun had been trying to combat electrical short outs with vinyl flaps on the underside of the ride. The problem, it seems, is that they kept falling off while the ride was in progress. It must be a common occurrence because Worlds of Fun has built their own special ""cat walk"" under the ride. Other then that the ThunderHawk was operating as usual, meaning riders disembarked completely thrilled, a bit disoriented and completely drenched. After ride watching a bit (which has become our favorite pastime) we headed back towards the main gate for a walk around the park.

We had heard that Worlds of Fun had hired a new light bulb changer, he or she seems to be doing a much better job whoever they are. Seriously though, the Bicentennial Area, (Arcade and Timberwolf Games) looks really good with all the light bulbs working as well as many other areas of the park.

As a few might have noticed, Worlds of Fun has of late added two fountains, one to the Ripcord pond, and one to the Sea Dragon pond. The reasoning is simple, Worlds of Fun has for several years had problems with algae in their bodies of water. They had tried to combat this problem with a type of algaecide (even though certain members of staff have said that fountains would be a much cheaper in the long run) but it never worked and left a less then pleasing (aka completely disgusting) appearance to both bodies of water. Since Worlds of Fun has added the two fountains it has almost cleared up the problem. One minor recommendation to look at in the future, is Worlds of Fun might want to think about adding a second fountain to the Ripcord pond, since they still have some algae growth near the Skyliner end of the pond.

Once onto Beat Street itís a sad, dismaying site. Please tear this down or do something with it, itís just positively pitiful. Beat Street includes only two attractions, the arcade and recording studio. It seems Odds and Ends is now used primarily for storage. The rest of Beat Street is closed up, and with two rides occupying the area, the Rockiní Reeler and Skyliner, the area should not show any resemblance to downtown Kansas City.

Once in the Orient Section, we stopped for a cup of water, thankfully itís still free, which for those who have not visited Frontier City, this should be considered an advantage. It was both nice and disturbing to see the little dead trees in the Bamboozler Q-House eaves. You might want to think about cleaning those out, or it could cause some major problems in the future. At least now they have been sprayed with weed killer and are now dead and brown. Note to Worlds of Fun, when we asked you to add more trees thatís not exactly what we meant. The Aquatic Arena shows no change, so we headed up the Orient Express Q-Line. Itís nice to see they took bird nests out of some of the themed lights, but Worlds of Fun might want to check on some of the other lights, many of them are broken.

Moving onto the Orient/Scandinavia Bridge, we noticed some unusual water plants forming in the damned river below. When Worlds of Fun was built, it had a creek running through the park starting at the Orient Express and running to where the Boomerang runs now. In a few locations Worlds of Fun has damned up the creek to form small ponds, however this leaves the problem of stagnate water. Meanwhile, the Orient Section is really capturing the Orient theme, as they seem to be adding what looks a lot like rice patties in the pond below. I donít think it was intentionalÖ.

Moving onto Scandinavia, not much has changed. However one nagging comment. The Scandinavia gate still looks like what it was built as, a back gate. When people enter the park it should look like a main entrance to the park, not a back gate. May we add a few suggestions? Worlds of Fun might think of re-doing the main entrance, possibly making it similar to the front gates found at ValleyFair, Dorney Park and Cedar Point. The Baltic Bazaar (the original name of the shopping strip near the Scandinavian gate) should be expanded to offer a last chance for exiting guests to spend more money, aka more per caps! Last, bring back Snoopy and the gang at the main gate, I have never seen lines like that at Hot Shots, it was a brilliant idea and it seemed to be working. As many also known Scandinavia is home to Steadman Plaza, momument to the man who helped originally envision the park. It looks so much better then it has in the past with all the flowers. Just a quick note, the flowers, and plants around the park in general look so much better this year, keep it going. One last note in Scandinavia, I realize that the Nordic Nook was renamed to the Chicken Patio (grumbleÖ) but can we please ditch the ""Southern Fried Chicken"" banner?

Onto Africa, we took our first attempt at Big Game Hunt, for the first time ever. It was mildly fun, considering that half the animatronics didnít work, or if they did moved a total of two inches. I know I shouldnít complain, we should be happy itís still there, but still. Onto Boomerang, what can we sayÖ itís a Boomerang. However, besides the fact it needs a new paint job, the landscaping at least looked nice, especially the lilacs.

The biggest disappointment of the day was our adventure at Coasters Grill. We have frequented Coasters several times (mostly for the milk shakes) and never had any problems. Cedar Fair seems to be having a bad time with its Coasters restaurants this year. Right as we entered and ordered our food, the Chocolate flavoring ran out. Why does it take 15 minutes to change the chocolate syrup? Itís not that difficult, but the employees (they where not Fun Raisers) acted as if they had never changed the syrup before. Come on were more then halfway through the season and the employees at Coasters canít even do their job without help from their manager? Our food ended up cold, we had to request new hamburgers, and our chocolate milk shakes? Well letís say Iím glad I have a fondness for vanilla as well.

Forum Road (sorry Heart of America Theater Road) has been a very busy place. Full of people walking between Africa and Americana, but it never had anything that was remotely revenue generating. It was just a deserted piece of asphalt. We ranted to Worlds of Fun to close Forum road. Send people through Europa, there are three revenue generating areas there. They can spend money, meaning Worlds of Fun makes more money. Did they listen to us? Well partially. They added a pop machine, a pop machine, meaning visitors can spend a whole $2 each on a bottle of pop, instead of say, $14.95 on a T-shirt or even more for a dinner at Pizza Patio. Either close Forum road or put something better then a pop machine on it. Worlds of Fun and Cedar Fair I know you are so close to your dollars and cents, it doesnít take a rocket scientist to figure this out.

Back to Europa we go, and since I have been rather negative to Worlds of Fun I want to mention a positive. First of all, the Ferns on the Carousel are really cool, how the heck do you grow them that big? To give readers an idea of what I mean, these hanging plants where about 3 feet across. Then to add to that there where 4 of these huge, colossal plants. Plus, the carousel lights did look nice, most of them where working, imagine that. (kudos to the light replacement person) On my last note in Europa, is the Bumper Cars. I counted 10 bumper cars, while at least 10 others where turned over and sprawled over half of the original floor. I am starting to understand why they downsized the bumper cars area. Cedar Fair, as we all know, is more then somewhat worried about liability. To slow down the cars, and to avoid any major accidents from head on collisions Worlds of Fun decreased the available running area. Thatís somewhat smart. However, instead of leaving cars laying on their side and in pieces, a better use for the space would be to create two different bumper car areas. Divide the original floor in half, put maybe ten cars on each side, and by that simple, cheap change you have the capacity of a twenty car ride, while keeping the safety of a smaller bumper car floor, and in the end it looks a lot better.

Since we covered most of Americana at the beginning, to finish off this long editorial I just wanted to make one last note. On every visit we always head up to Camp Snoopy, not only is it one of the best childrenís sections in any park in the nation, but it has such a great atmosphere, and the best shop in the park. Itís great to see the misters added, however you might think of lowering them a bit so that they aim more towards the ground. My last piece of advice, is please donít ever change Beagle Bay Outfitters, itís a cool shop, I love almost all of the merchandising, especially the idea of shirts for some of the individual rides like the Red Baron and Woodstockís Airmail. Thatís great for kids who cantít ride Mamba or Timberwolf.

Overall, I was a bit depressed with the bad experience at Coasters and a bit slowed down by the heat, but it seems the park is at least a bit better then last year even though there are still many more areas for improvement.