Worlds of Fun

Visited: June 23, 2023

Attending: Just Brian

Shortly after returning from Australia, I headed to Kansas City for the KCDC conference, which I’d never spoken at before. That was a lot of travel in a short period of time, but my new job messed up my schedule. Buzzed Bars held a Stumble in KC the weekend before I was there, which was unfortunate, but like I said, my schedule was messed up. If I was in KC, I wanted to drive down to Branson (see below), but Worlds of Fun is right there, and I thought I might have time to pick up all the credits, even if it was a whirlwind tour. After the conference on Friday, I taxied out to the airport, rented a car, and quickly zipped over. Fortunately, it wasn’t very crowded at all, and most rides were station waits.

Unfortunately, the very first coaster I came to, Spinning Dragons, was closed, thus ruining my plans to reach 200 credits that weekend. Still, I kept moving.

Patriot

Patriot is a B&M invert, which is a model I’m very fond of. There was a bit of a line, which I extended by opting for the front row, but that’s my preference when I’m riding an invert for the first time. Patriot is on the edge of the park, so I wish I could say it had good views, but Worlds of Fun is pretty much surrounded by highways, and the ride sits in a grass field, so there wasn’t much to look at. In fact, as inverts go, the whole thing was kind of forgettable. It’s got a vertical loop and a zero-g, both of which are good on an invert, but these felt just average. It’s not big like Banshee, nor intense like a Batman. It doesn’t have a unique layout like Great Bear or Silver Bullet. There’s no cobra roll, no helix. It’s just kinda there. It would probably be more memorable if I’d gone on a few more laps, but I didn’t have time.

Timber Wolf

Timber Wolf was next up, and I honestly didn’t know anything about this coaster going in. I do like wolves, though, and I was impressed by the sign and the queue area that I didn’t wait in, because there was no line. Again, I barely remember anything about the coaster itself, which is kinda sad. It’s a Dinn & Summers creation, which is usually a very bad sign, but this wasn’t too bad. There was evidence of some recent retracking that smoothed things out some. There wasn’t any airtime that I recall, and nothing too intense. Apparently it used to have a helix that has since been removed. Again, it’s just there.

Mamba

Mamba is a Morgan hyper, a large and visually impressive model, of which very few were ever built. However, I’ve been on Steel Force at Dorney a number of times, so I had a pretty good idea what to expect. Although the total height is over 200 feet, the first drop is annoyingly shallow. That’s followed by a single airtime hill before the helix, which is pretty intense. Then an annoying mid-course brake run, followed by bunny hops all the way back to the station. I was in the back row, and I recall the bunny hops being rather jolting, so I guess the mid-course wasn’t hitting all that hard on this occasion. I like big airtime hills in my hypers, though, and this only had one of them, which was disappointing. There’s some terrain to be found right by Mamba, but it doesn’t take any advantage of it. It doesn’t even have the views that Steel Force does. Sadly, it’s a ho-hum hyper.

Boomerang

I was now proceeding down into the valley section of the park, which I hadn’t known was there, but they hide a bunch of coasters back there. This, however, is just a Boomerang, like any other. There was no line at all, but it’s still a shuttle coaster, so the operations were slow. I actually haven’t ridden a ton of Boomerangs, so maybe I shouldn’t complain about them, but there was nothing special about this one.

Zambezi Zinger

After a string of “nothing special” rides, this was the one I was looking forward to most. And as the new hit ride in the park, it had quite a line. Zambezi Zinger has an interesting history: it was a 1973 Schwarzkopf with a spiral lift hill, a sibling to Whizzer at Great America. However, the original Zinger was relocated to Columbia in 1997. This new model stands on the same spot, also with a spiral lift, but it’s a wooden GCI instead of a steel model. It also features GCI’s steel Titan Track, but only on the lift hill, so you can’t really tell what difference it makes. As luck would have it, I got seated in the front row to fill an empty seat; I’d wanted the back, but the front was a nice second choice. The Infinity Flyer trains are very open, especially in the front, so I had an excellent view of the track. The lift was unusual, but just a curiosity. The ride experience, though, was excellent. Late in the day, with a full train, it was really hauling. Plus, it’s a brand-new GCI, so it was as smooth as you get with a wooden coaster. The overbanked turns are really banked, the train keeps a lot of speed throughout, and it’s got some nice directional changes that are very reminiscent of Mystic Timbers. I really enjoyed this ride, and I wish the line had been shorter so I could go around again.

Prowler

Prowler was the last stop for the day, hidden near the lowest point of the park. I was confused about this one before I rode; I somehow got into my head that it was old and painful, and an RMC candidate, but that’s something else. It’s a 2009 GCI, so it’s not particularly old. Given my confusion, I wasn’t expecting a twister layout. It’s not too extreme, but being back in the woods enhances the feeling of not knowing what’s going to happen next. There wasn’t much in the way of air, but there were a couple of surprising moments. Given that I had very low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised.

It was starting to get late at this point, even though it was midsummer. I took one quick check to see if Spinning Ninjas had magically opened (it hadn’t) and headed back to my hotel.