Coaster Community

Saturday May 20^th 2006

This was more than just another coaster event.  This was a local coaster event and the first one since we’ve been official ACE members.  It was also a chance for us to reconnect with some friends that we met at Coaster Christmas just 5 months earlier.  Shane and Arielle drove down from Madison, WI and this gave us a chance to show off our home park along with our home town.  We started with a Friday night dinner at Gates where ribs and sauce were being tossed around like a group of lions were feeding on an unsuspecting cow.  Next we took them for a drive through the city, which led to a late date with several plates of cheese cake on the Plaza.  We started to realize that midnight was approaching and since we had early morning ERT at Worlds of Fun we decided to pay a quick visit to Union Station and then take a quick drive through downtown.

With only a little bit of sleep we made the early morning trip to the park.  Here we were greeted by park employees that made it look like they had been doing coaster events for years.  First up on the ERT list was Patriot, Worlds of Fun’s latest coaster addition.  We took several trips on Patriot during the 90 minutes that were allotted to us before the public got their turn.  Spinning Dragons was also on the morning ERT schedule so we squeezed in a couple of rides before heading back to Patriot.  Our 2^nd ride on Spinning Dragons was also one of the best I’ve ever had.  We were perfectly unbalanced and the spinning began just after we disengaged from the lift and it didn’t stop until we got back to the station.  I was on the verge of ERT sickness but after a couple of minutes my brain stopped spinning and I was able to return Patriot with any side effects.  During the morning session we rode in the front, middle and several times in the back of Patriot.

Once the park opened to the public we saw a wave of people come splashing down on Patriot Plaza so we made our way towards the back of the park.  We scored a quick ride on Timber Wolf, Thunderhawk, Autobahn and Detonator before heading back to Mamba.  Since Shane and Arielle had never been to Worlds of Fun we let them control the rest of the day.  Our group reached epic proportions and at certain times of the day we were a pack of 12 nerds.  Herding this entire group in the same direction took skills that only a yeti can possess.  Everyone played nice though and no one had a problem letting the newbies pick the rides.  Our walk through the park included half of the pack riding Zulu, which in my opinion is still one of the best flat rides at the park.  As we made our way back towards the front of the park half of the herd also rode the Finnish Fling. 

Now it was time for our mid day feeding and the park came through with an all you can eat picnic.  Several members of the herd were able to make admission price back by eating several plates of food.  The lunch included hot dogs, bar-b-que brisket, miniature fried chickens (they may have been tiny in size but they were loaded with flavor), beans, potato salad and cookies.  The beans didn’t mix well with the g-forces that we experienced later in the day but since the group was so large it was easy to blame it on someone else.  During the lunch the park did a Q&A session.  We learned that Patriot was decided on 2 years ago, which means that the next two additions may have already been purchased.  We were also told that additional work is planned for Timber Wolf this fall.  Next up was prize time, this included a raffle as well as Worlds of Fun history questions from the WorldsofFun.org staff.  I didn’t win anything but Ben scored a park map from the year that Timber Wolf opened.  Midwest Info Guide won more than once and we have reason to believe that they cheated ☺.  We’ll continue to investigate and keep everyone posted.

After stuffing ourselves it was time to get back to riding.  We went right to Boomerang so the out of towners could add it to their coaster count.  I believe that this ride put them somewhere close to 275 total. The ride experienced some brief downtime and this cleaned out a big chuck of the line.  The park had warmed up by early afternoon and most of us were ready to get wet.  The line at Fury of the Nile was at least 1 hour so we headed to Monsoon, which was a walk-on.  The hump on Monsoon’s drop still pops me into a standing position and freaks me out every time.

The group had planned on taking an early afternoon break and heading to the movies.  So on our way out of the park a couple of the herd’s females decided to ride Cyclone Sam’s.  They survived that storm even though it involved a 20-30 minute wait.  After that the herd split into smaller groups and it was off to the movie and then a quick dinner.

We returned to the park at about 7:30 pm and quickly found the other members of the group and began riding everything that had a small line.  We rode the Flying Dutchman and the Worlds of Fun Railroad without waiting in a line and then it was time to do a little souvenir shopping.  The newbies landed some sweet gear and I was lucky enough to win an oversized Sponge Bob Square Pant baseball bat.  It was inflatable and everyone from the herd was grateful that it wasn’t wood since I was persistently whacking everyone in sight.

The park supplied us with some coupons when we checked in so Shane and I used them on the Grand Prix Raceway.  We got two rides for the price of one and both times I was stuck in the slowest car on the track.  I was also reminded why children aren’t allowed to drive in real life.  During the ride we got a tip that Patriot was running great and that a night ride was required by all.  So we jumped out of our go-carts Dukes of Hazard style and hauled butt over to the Patriot line.  We only had 45 minutes before the night ERT began and the Patriot que was about 90% full.  We took a chance and got in line anyway and it paid off.  We got into the back row 10 minutes before 10 pm and it was indeed the best ride of the year.  I’ll have to remember to buy that masked tipster a drink some day.

At exactly 10 pm the park started kicking out all of the non-cool people and we had an hour of Mamba and Timber Wolf riding all to ourselves.  During the ERT Mamba didn’t have a line and we were allowed to stay on.  Most of us used this time to ride in the front row since that is usually the longest line during normal park hours.  Night rides on Mamba are the best and riding with a train full of enthusiasts adds even more to the excitement.  We probably squeezed in 8 rides and then we took a little break and finished the night at Timber Wolf.  My bladder only allowed me to ride once in the 2^nd row while Ben and Shane pressed on for additional runs.