Coasting for Kids 2011-Worlds of Fun edition

In 2009 I participated in C4K at Cedar Point. Last year was at Kings Island, so since I had been in two different parks already, I decided to head to yet a third for 2011. My wife had not ridden any of the rides at Worlds of Fun, so that made us favor heading west. When they released the ride schedule that cinched it.

We headed out Friday night after work and drove to Effingham IL for the night. Saturday we went to SFStL for the most uncomfortably hot park day I have ever experienced. Crowds were not bad with the coasters being 10-15 minute waits at the most. Only real disappointment of the day was that Sky Screamer was closed all day. We left before closing and drove about 3 hours west to Higgensville MO where we spent the night.

Sunday morning we headed to Kansas City and to Worlds of Fun. We got to the park earlier then we expected and had to wait for the parking lot to open. Once it did, the parking lot attendant didn't seem to know anything about the event and that people participating should not have to pay for parking. It was a moot point for us with our platinum pass.

Once we got parked we headed up to the GR window where no one was waiting for us. A few minutes later several people from the park and Scott from GKTW showed up with the start of "surprises" the first being a GKTW wristband/bracelet. The next was another wristband, but this one was from the park and was good for free soft drinks through out the day.

After meeting other riders including Andrea Burch. She and I were going back and forth for the lead at WoF fundraising. She eventually won out with a stronger last minute push. Between the 2 of us we raise over half of the parks total.

After everyone was gathered up we walked back to Prowler to begin our marathoning. In the 2 hours that we rode the green train 32 times before heading for lunch. I find that I like the back on the right side.

They also brought us up bottled water during the riding so we go stay hydrated without having to miss a lap. About halfway through we were down to less then half the number of riders that we started with.

We then headed to Coasters for Lunch and a few more "surprises". While they were handing out the boxed lunches we got our WoF Coasting for Kids certificates featuring a picture of Momba. This was quite nice and will be framed for my office wall.

While we were eating Scott Fais from GKTW spoke about what was going on there. He also introduced TJ and her family that had recently returned from GKTW. It was great seeing first hand what our efforts were going to.

Next they handed out the t-shirts. WOW these were nice. I was quite impressed with the design. These also started a number of conversations later in the day with other guests wondering about the event.

Scott then had another "surprise". A friend of his is one of the VPs at GCII (sorry I don't remember which one) and that they had sent some GCII swag bags. They only had 5 of them so they had TJ draw names. Unfortunately none of us were called. This turned out to be OK because Andrea and her brother were both chosen and she is not a "coaster" person so she gave me her swag bag.

After this they handed out the prizes for the top 3 fundraisers. As I stated earlier, Andrea won and I came in second place. She is also a pass holder so neither one of us has a use for the tickets personally. She is a hospice nurse and is giving her tickets to families of patients that could use a day of fun. I asked the park to give my tickets to her for the same purpose. When they found out what I was doing, they gave me a WOF goodie bag with a couple of t-shirts, WOF bag and a cool WOF snow globe.

After lunch and the awards, we headed to Mamba for 26 laps. This coaster is such a contrast with the first half being fun and powerful and the second half being tame and boring.

At 3:00 pm we headed for the last coaster of the event, Patriot. This is were we ran into a little hick-up. One of the trains was down, so they were only running a one train operation. They had told us that we could grab any seat and then they would let the public fill in around us. This was a nightmare for everyone and the public was getting annoyed.

Several of us suggested that the block off 2 rows for us and then let the public have the rest of the train and those of us that were not able to get on one of the 8 seats either filled in other empty seats or sat out. By this time we were all getting pretty tired so it was no big deal. I still got in close to 20 laps.

At the end of the event we got the last of our "surprises" in the form of a Snoopy bobble-head. We took some group photos and then took off our own separate ways. We headed out of the park for some air-conditioning and a bit of dinner before heading back so my wife could ride the other coasters and hit some flat rides.

After a long tiring day we headed south to Clinton Mo, for the night. The next day was our first visit to Silver Dollar City. We then headed for home on Tuesday morning with a couple hour stop at the St Louis Arch.

I don't know how you do it, Dave. I was burnt out after 13 hours at Cedar Point. There's no way I could have gone to a park the day after, let alone 3 days in a row. My feet were absolutely killing me, and my back was sore as can be.

Josh, first off I wasn't riding Magnum, second I wasn't riding Gemini. :)

But yea, my bones are aching today. I can handle the parks fine, it is the 12 hours of driving on Tuesday that took it's toll on me.

Yeah, you got me there. Those rides are brutal. You're right about the driving, too - I never realized how much of a toll that takes on you, though I've come to enjoy it more since I got my newest car.