Worlds of Fun 8/27-28: Keeping Up With Current Events

Sorry in advance if you don't like this trip report, but I'm not a trip report guy. I just wanna get back to riding coasters.

I decided that, it being the end of August, I wanted to get cracking on some new parks in an attempt to capitalize on the success of last year's trips to 3 new parks. I picked Worlds of Fun for this excursion due to the proximity of great BBQ and the fact that it's convenient to one of the airports my employer serves from my home base (BWI). Also, being as WoF is home to a B&M and a GCII, well, it was a pretty easy choice.

I flew out Friday afternoon after work, got my rental car and went straight to the park. The weather was beautiful and perfect for some riding. Once I got to the park, I hit Spinning Dragons first thing as, well, it was right up front. I rode with two other ladies and sat next to the larger one in an effort to maximize the spinning action. Insensitive? Maybe, but I prefer the term thrilling. I don't think I saw any other car whip around that quickly my whole time there. Thankfully my riding companion was not as concerned with the strict requirements of Harry Potter, or I might have had a pretty boring ride.

I'll give myself a -1 for that. ;)

Next up was Patriot. I went for the front row first as there wasn't much of a line and few and far between are the rides where the front isn't the best. Patriot is in so many ways similar to Talon, and pretty much equally good. It would become my most-ridden coaster of the trip. I went around for one more front row and one back row lap before moving on.

Timber Wolf was next on the list. Taking advantage of the fact that I have no friends, I joined a fellow solo thrillseeker for a front-row lap on it. I didn't talk much because I didn't want to risk meeting someone that would keep me out of single rider lines in the future. Well, not that that matters on Intimidator 305 or anything anymore.

Mamba followed Timber Wolf on my list. Single-train operation really slowed things down as well as a guest illness. Seeing the cleanup really traumatized me, so I'm suing the park.

BTW, my score is -3 right now for those of you keeping track.

I took the front row again, going off of my experiences on Steel Force for reference as to where the best ride was likely to be. It was a good ride, and pretty much equal to Steel Force in my book.

I moved on to Prowler after noticing that Boomerang was closed. I took the front row yet again. As for the ride, I think the word WOW is the best one to describe it. One of only two wooden coasters I've ridden that genuinely terrified me in a good way, Prowler was absolutely incredible. GCII hit a grand slam with this one, so kudos to them for that. I went back around, taking the back row this time, and was even more blown away than I was after the first lap. It doesn't have as much airtime as Evel Knievel, the other really epic GCII that I've been on (I like or love all the ones I've done, but EK and Prowler are definitely on another level), but it has far more vicious transitions and a more unpredictable layout. Easily one of the best coasters I've been on, and the park's finest in my book.

It being dark at this point, and my stomach starting to request sustenance, I began the trek back to the front. The park has an incredible light array in the area of the park around Prowler, which is heavily wooded. I was completely blown away by the setup, so a major kudos to the park for that. Despite giving the appearance of an acid trip, it really is a sight to behold, and it was one of the most enjoyable attractions of the trip, even without being a ride. Insert an open can of worms here.

On my way out, I stopped for two more laps on Patriot, one in the back and another up front. It was on these laps that I discovered that the ride's barrel roll (or zero-g roll, if you will) is aimed right downtown, so it was especially cool on the second lap, the one in the front row, watching Kansas City roll around in my field of vision. It was a great way to end the night.

Day two started out at around three (BBQ and hanging out with my dad comprised the morning). Seeing as I got pretty much everything the day before, day two was mostly meant for pictures. I rode the ferris wheel to get some shots of Patriot and Mamba, and then headed off into the reaches of the park. I snagged a back car lap on Mamba, an almost-but-not-quite-back-row lap on Prowler, and a lap on Boomerang before taking a lap on the train to try and get some more photos. A pair of laps on Patriot followed (back row and front row yet again), and then I decided I'd be calling it a day. Well, almost.

I had seen over the two days a bunch of kids with vuvuzelas walking around the park. Seeing as vuvuzelas are obnoxiously loud and a bit annoying, I knew I absolutely had to get my hands on one. I figured, based on the number of people with them, that they could be purchased from one of the shops in the park. I was wrong. They were prizes for the park's soccer challenge game where players have to kick soccer balls into a goal being guarded by a wooden plank along the ground and three large caricatures of goalies blocking most of the net. Thankfully, the vuvuzelas were considered the small prizes, so I only had to nail one of eight.

Given that I decided I would not play soccer in Kansas City for the upcoming season, and having spent an hour on ESPN media-whoring before announcing I'd join Pele and David Beckham in Sheboygan to form an unstoppable soccer force that practically guarantees me a championship win this coming year, a large crowd of disgruntled Kansas City-ans came to heckle me, saying such things as "I'll bet you miss," and "Kick with your left foot if your knee is bothering you." I was traumatized by this and will be suing the state of Missouri for exposing me to their remarks. However, I had a goal to score, so off I went. My first attempt totally missed everything, and I mean everything. Well, except for the building located behind the goal, and backstop, and entire game area. I adjusted my kicking technique and actually delivered some pretty sick shots, finally nailing one. One would be all I got, but that's one more than Lebron got at CP's basketball game, so it was a victory in my book.

Overall, I had a great time, sampling some of the area's great food and checking out what was actually a really nice park. Sure, the theme work was pretty tacky in some areas, but it was still really quite cool and well worth the visit.

Nice TR. You may be the king of on-going jokes. :)

That's sadly due to my inability to create any of my own. I have to resort to capitalizing on the humor of others.

Eh, I know that's not true.

sirloindude said:
That's sadly due to my inability to create any of my own. I have to resort to capitalizing on the humor of others.

At least you capitalize. That's more than we can say for some.

what do you mean? i don't understand.

:) ;)

Capital letters

Should always start sentences

But often do not.

Glad you loved Prowler, but I'm amazed you found Evel Knievel to even remotely compare to its greatness. I enjoyed EK on my two visits bookending HolIWood Nights, but the rides I got were middle of the road for me. Meanwhile Prowler is easily at the top of the wooden coaster food chain.

I guess I should add this to the Coasters You Didn't Get thread. Why so much love for Evel Knievel. Even Gator loves it and I rode it with him.

^The front seat gave surprisingly forceful "vertical airtime" on that ending run and hit the hills with enough speed to really throw me into the lapbar. More ejector-ish than I've come to expect from GCII. Then Prowler? Prowler! :)

Patriot really surprised me in a positive way as well. Spinning Dragons was a real bonus as well, but would've made a nice ERT add (to the Mayhem event) since the line during the day was generally long and slow-moving. Then again, who forces us to go on Saturdays in mid-summer?

The Wolf....needs some help. Maybe get GCII to come in and help out - they're already doing Carowinds now (CF sister park), and their work on Cheetah was just this side of miraculous.

EK? Matt just didn't "get" it. ;)

edit: On a soccer note, that goalie today caught celebrating while the ball spun into the net....priceless. :)

I don't get it, Gator. EK has nothing on OzCat, Thunderhead, Prowler, or Gwazi. Maybe tied with Rumbler. Very floaty to me. Fun ride still. Just didn't live up to the hype.

If GCI could do to Timber Wolf what they did to Boulder Dash that would be great! Still I think it's running better than it has the last five years or so.

Part of what I like about EK was that it was an airtime machine. Prowler took a whole different approach. Not that Prowler doesn't have airtime, of course, but I put Prowler in the viciously unpredictable category whereas EK just seemed like the next level of the "classic" GCII's.

^ We rode both Prowler and EK over the weekend and I'd absolutely agree with that sentiment.

Prowler, especially at night, feels almost like a mini-Voyage. The camera placement is awesome for night rides because you get blinded by the flash temporarily and then recover just in time to wonder which way the coaster will throw you next. Prowler night rides are the absolute bomb.

EK is definitely more in line with the "standard" GCI-type layouts, but clearly put more emphasis into airtime instead of laterals and transitions the way that Prowler does. Both are outstanding coasters in their own right.

That's the part I don't get... the "EK is an airtime machine" comment. I found its airtime to be rather light. Very floaty, but no powerful airtime like the other rides I mentioned. It must come down to how I fit into the restraints compared to others, as like I said, I rode it with Gator. He was raving about it and I didn't get what all the fuss was about. And usually he and I see eye to eye on coasters.

You could be right about the restraint. For my first lap on Prowler, my restraint dropped down a click, essentially stapling me, and it was seriously uncomfortable.

That brings up another interesting thing: that was the first of 3 wooden coasters where that's happened to me recently. It happened this past weekend on Thunder Road and Hurler. It gets REALLY painful.

Usually the Millennium Flyer lap bars fit me just right so that they click locked, but are snug and can't manage to click any lower during the ride. I used to get stapled midway through OzCat quite often when I was a little lighter.

I guess the airtime feature wasn't working in my seat like it wasn't for Clint on Apollo. Just goes to show we all can experience the exact same ride exactly not the same. ;)

Yeah, cause I rode EK the same day as you, and it ended up being my favorite GCI (Even more than my beloved Thunderhead). I got massive amounts of airtime that I didn't expect could come from any GCI with MF trains.

Yeah that's right. Everyone loved it except me. Oh well. I liked it a lot.

The good thing about that day though was that everyone seemed to get a great ride on Boss. That thing killed.

I think Matt's getting a little carried away with my feelings on EK. I was very impressed/surprised by the forcefulness with which the front of the train hit the crests of the successive hills.

Of course, my first Prowler laps were still a couple months away at that point... ;)