KCRag Forum

mister816 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 7:52 pm

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 11:40 am

cor88b wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 11:12 am
Thought I read it was possibly going in the old dinosaur alive spot. Which would be good to fill that spot.

They have had nothing there since the dinosaur alive thing right? Be a good fill if that’s the case

it's great to fill that spot but do we need another woody next to prowler. i was hoping for something special... guess not

It’s wild just how much of the land around the edge of the prowler is unused or just parking. Seems they could easily lose that back lot and incorporate a whole expansion on that one lot alone.

internal name for the new coaster: project dollhouse

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 9:10 pm
It’s wild just how much of the land around the edge of the prowler is unused or just parking. Seems they could easily lose that back lot and incorporate a whole expansion on that one lot alone.

That huge back lot was filled with cars and busses a few times in 2021. That's the bulk of their parking.

[Edit] New coaster and 50th announcement is happening in two days

I've had nothing better to do over the past day so I dug into some coaster forums and apparently we will be getting "project 50/dollhouse" which is this new wooden coaster opening next year. BUT also in 2024-2026 "project 2.0" will be a new steel coaster that has been in the planning stages for a few years. The wooden will be a GCI coaster- so expect something on par with Prowler (or better).

.

The Zambezi Zinger is what it’ll be. From the video released by WOF as well, looks like it’ll butt up to the boomerang, and adjacent to the Zulu, filling in the previous empty woodland space that the RR runs through. Looks to be a decent coaster, and a nice fill in of an otherwise unused area.









Link to the article is below

https://www.coaster101.com/2022/08/11/w ... r-in-2023/

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 11, 2022 8:00 am The Zambezi Zinger is what it’ll be. From the video released by WOF as well, looks like it’ll butt up to the boomerang, and adjacent to the Zulu, filling in the previous empty woodland space that the RR runs through. Looks to be a decent coaster, and a nice fill in of an otherwise unused area.


Link to the article is below

https://www.coaster101.com/2022/08/11/w ... r-in-2023/

I remember when this was the only real coaster in the park. There was a small coaster in the Scandinavian section of the park with a name something like Schussboomer??? but it wasn't much of a thrill. It was removed pretty early on. The next major coaster built was the Orient Express.

People would get off the ride and immediately back in line for a redo. The car was single file and you were literally sitting in the crotch of the person behind you.

Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Aug 11, 2022 12:00 pm

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 11, 2022 8:00 am The Zambezi Zinger is what it’ll be. From the video released by WOF as well, looks like it’ll butt up to the boomerang, and adjacent to the Zulu, filling in the previous empty woodland space that the RR runs through. Looks to be a decent coaster, and a nice fill in of an otherwise unused area.


Link to the article is below

https://www.coaster101.com/2022/08/11/w ... r-in-2023/

I remember when this was the only real coaster in the park. There was a small coaster in the Scandinavian section of the park with a name something like Schussboomer??? but it wasn't much of a thrill. It was removed pretty early on. The next major coaster built was the Orient Express.

Don't forget the Screamroller (first loop at WOF) that became the stand-up Extreamroller. It was a few years before the Orient Express.

moderne wrote: ↑Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:41 pm The car was single file and you were literally sitting in the crotch of the person behind you.

Good times.

Nice addition for Worlds of Fun. Hopefully they can do the same by bringing back Orient Express with a big more extreme launch coaster with inversions etc and WoF will go from a bottom tier park to a top tier park in the CF chain. WoF is a nice park, it just needs a few more rides to be a really good park.

I'm curious if there is any data available on annual attendance at WOF over the years. Just from my observation, the park generally seems quite a bit less crowded than I remember during my youth in the 80s/90s. But maybe my perspective is skewed (and my parents happened to take me on the busiest days).

Google is not giving me much. I see that Cedar Fair does not release complete info, but groups WOF in their "~1 Million Or Fewer Guests On An Annual Basis" category. The only other data point I see is a press release showing attendance in 1981 was just over 1.4M. So that would seem to indicate a decrease. Even aside from the covid impacts, the park seems to have more limited hours with earlier closing times.

Any speculation on when and why this shift happened?

It has to be way less just based on how much they can fill the parking lots. Back when they had the trams, they would fill the primarily lots and half the lots in the back. Now the main lots are rarely full.

I think WoF has lost its regional draw and probably even its local draw to some extent. I do think they could get it back though if they really tried, but they better hurry. WoF has been left in the dust by SDC and now even Adventureland is capturing a lot of people from Iowa that used to go to WoF.

According to my son Adventureland has really fallen on hard times since Covid.

IIRC World’s of Fun’s original “theme” was loosely based on Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, hence the vaguely international themed ride names and the hot air balloon branding. Seems like that global premise would be an easy one to lean into, and has lots of precedent to look at

KCtoBrooklyn wrote: ↑Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:22 pm I'm curious if there is any data available on annual attendance at WOF over the years. Just from my observation, the park generally seems quite a bit less crowded than I remember during my youth in the 80s/90s. But maybe my perspective is skewed (and my parents happened to take me on the busiest days).

Google is not giving me much. I see that Cedar Fair does not release complete info, but groups WOF in their "~1 Million Or Fewer Guests On An Annual Basis" category. The only other data point I see is a press release showing attendance in 1981 was just over 1.4M. So that would seem to indicate a decrease. Even aside from the covid impacts, the park seems to have more limited hours with earlier closing times.

Any speculation on when and why this shift happened?

I’m invested in CF, and they release a packet to investors whenever they do their earnings call. I’ll dig through my email and see if I can find if that data is in there

TheLastGentleman wrote: ↑Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:50 pm IIRC World’s of Fun’s original “theme” was loosely based on Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, hence the vaguely international themed ride names and the hot air balloon branding. Seems like that global premise would be an easy one to lean into, and has lots of precedent to look at

I was always confused why they started leaning away from it, not that they ever leaned into it as hard as they could have. But as a kid, the areas felt so distinct, you could almost lose yourself in the illusion. When I got a little older we had a family vacation to EPCOT, which basically took a similar concept to the extreme with its World Showcase thing, and I remember thinking how cool it would be if WoF went more in that direction. Of course Hunt and later CF were/are never going to put Disney money into WoF, but as I continued to go back every few years as an adult, it seemed to get further and further away from any specific "theme" and just became an increasingly generic and bland park with a few fun rides and a long ass walk in the heat between them. I noticed recently there was a Panda Express over by where the Orient Express used to be, so I guess that's about the level of effort we can expect in this regard.

KCtoBrooklyn wrote: ↑Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:22 pm I'm curious if there is any data available on annual attendance at WOF over the years. Just from my observation, the park generally seems quite a bit less crowded than I remember during my youth in the 80s/90s. But maybe my perspective is skewed (and my parents happened to take me on the busiest days).

WOF and OOF are both included in admission when both are open during the summer