27 coasters so far, and 5 away from achieving 100 different coasters. Unfortunately, the park refused my ride on Wacky Worm, and I was forced to finish with 99! Oh well, I guess Lagoon will have the honor.
Anyway, what you all care about. World's of Fun is a gorgeous park, and quite well themed. It has a great collection of things to do, with 3 very enjoyable coasters. I arrived about 7 a clock, and had 3 hours to ride the 4 coasters there. From the look of the parking lot, that would prove easy!
Orient Express - (Front of back car, Very Front)
A very cool ornamented tunnel starts this great Arrow looper off with something special. The first drop is very large, and gut wrenching in the back, and the subsequent climb is very smooth. The interlocking loops are very interesting, although, unlike Loch Ness Monster, the layout could not accommodate 2 trains through them simultaneously. Nevertheless, the visuals are unique to only 2 coasters on the planet. The boomerang was fairly rugged, although not headbanging, and the undulating helix is a great finale. The ride was obviously recently painted bright red, as Guide to Ride shows it as Brown-Red and Darker Brown-Red. A classic arrow looper.
Timberwolf - (Very back, Very front)
Even with the trim at the top of the drop, this woodie will live on as one of my favorites. A scattered twister littered with sharp hills, and a slow upward helix. SO much airtime in the hills though, especially in the front. The ride is interesting, it has great trains, and has a nice little 'when will it finish?' hoop-de-doos finale. Really just a great coaster. Really could be a classic without that trim though..
Boomerang - (Very front)
Smoothest boomerang I've ridden, but what a color scheme! Did someone color blind pick this? Whoever did, it sure get's your attention.
Mamba - (2 Very Front, 4 Very back, 2 front of back car, 1 back of front car)
This is what the whole trip was leading up to, a coaster I had heard nothing of, did not know what to expect, and thought would be a-ok. Mamba is now my second favorite steel coaster, to SFDL's SROS. Something I really dig about certain coasters, Mamba slows to a near-dead stop at the top of the lift, and a brief downward ramp at the apex offers a beatifully orchestrated anticipation element. The first drop is fasioned so that the entire train experiences free-fall as it descends, including the front! The pull out is fast and smooth, without any wind in your face to hinder your senses. The 2nd hill is, without a doubt in my mind, the greatest hill I've experienced. A full 5 seconds of unparalled float sends you into the heavens. The 3rd hill gives more airtime for the front of the train, and dives into a simply HUGE helix. As the drop into it dives over the end of the helix, the supports get narrower and narrower as the train goes through, making every rider duck. A quick speed hill sends the trains twisting up into the brake run, which did absolutely nothing on my 1 train walk-on visit. The following 4 hills and double up just float the front seat riders perfectly. You can't help but burst in laughter at how wonderful it is. A final swoop over the entrance closes the magnificent coaster.
My one big problem with this coaster is, it's not NEARLY as good in any seat as it is in the front seat. If you ride a standard Morgan hypercoaster (or SD2K for that matter,) ride ONLY in the front. In every other seat on Mamba, just detract from what I wrote before. The ride is simply designed for the front seat, which is a pet-peeve of mine. But hey, with airtime like that, you cannot love this coaster.
Well there I go, 31 new coasters in 3 days, which is something if you think about it. Lot's of driving, lot's of aggressive no-break riding, and I rode most coasters in either the front or back, with walk on lines!! Simply the greatest coaster trip I've had. Thanks!
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Musician, snowboarder, member of ACE and the ECC
*** This post was edited by Ed on 7/6/2001. ***
awesome. worlds of fun is a great park with Courteous staff. It is almost weird that it is even associated with Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair needs to invest some serious money into the park. Maybe a B&M Floorless or some type of inverted. The Boomerang at WOF does give a person headaches looking at the orange and yellow colors. I miss the old Zambezi Zinger that was there. It was a much better ride.
am i the only one who likes the colors of the Boomerang there? maybe it's the pink trains?
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"Sadda Tay On The Tippy Tie"
Good TR, Ed. I had wondered if you had written a report for WOF on your trip, and I must have just overlooked it.
Anyway, I am surprised that you did not enjoy the back of Mamba. Seat 6.1 left side, IMO, is the place to be. You get air on the first and second drop, and you get massive air getting pulled over the top of each camelback. In addition, on the left side of the train you get a cool visual rushing by the support structure of the brake run. While I'll agree that the air on the second hill is greater in the front, I feel that the rest of the ride goes much better from the back. Either way, it's still a hell of a ride and my favorite steel coaster.
Well, it seems I enjoyed the longer-float over the whole camelback, more so than the sharp pop on the way down, which was still wonderful. That surprised me, because usually I much prefer severity over longetivity, but I liked the fact that it seemed every elevation change gave negative g's for the front. Mamba would still be #2 for me if I had only ridden in the back, but I found the front to be just better for what Mamba does well.
I tried that seat, 6.1 left, and I thought it was fantastic. I just thought the front had more substance, and I love the visuals on that coaster!
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Musician, snowboarder, member of ACE and the ECC
Glad you enjoyed your visit. It seems like WoF is getting more bad publicity than good these days.
