Below is a special guest post by Cameron, son of Justin, the owner of the CPFoodBlog. This article helps meet the requirements of a Boy Scout merit badge, working his way to Eagle Scout.
On the last day of our two week out west trip we stopped at Worlds of Fun, an amusement park that is part of the Cedar Fair chain located in Kansas City, Missouri. Worlds of Fun is an amusement park with areas themed in the park after destinations such as a Europa section of the park, an African section of the park, and an Asian section of the park, plus more. The theming of each section was quite good and it was obvious that they put a lot of effort into it that has paid off. Some examples of this is great signage, beautiful buildings in each style of the country, themed food and shows.
The park has a new GCI roller coaster called Zambezi Zinger. As you may know, it was supposed to be a family style coaster but they made the decision after building it that it was so thrilling that it is recommended for taller, and hence older guest than we were expecting. Guests must be 48 inches to ride this coaster as of opening which was a change from the original design and a typical height for most Cedar Fair coasters.
Zambezi Zinger is kind of cool and unusual because it has a spiral lift hill. There used to be a coaster of the same namesake made by Schwarzkopf. Though it was made with steel instead of wood, and offered a similar spiral lift hill. The original Zambezi Zinger opened in 1973 and closed in 1997.
The new Zambezi Zinger coaster is wooden and has a segment of track built out of Titan track which is GCI’s way of trying to make a coaster smoother. It worked for those sections of the track for sure.
Even though us coaster enthusiasts love the traditional woodie feel, my parents thought some aspects of the ride were a little tougher than their liking. I loved this coaster though and even invested in a wooden coaster cut out of the ride vehicle and a ride patch while at the park. I rode once during the day when I first arrived and once at night. I honestly enjoyed riding in both the back row and front row, and if you get a chance to ride I would recommend either or making time for both. Wait times at the park that day for Zambezi Zinger varied from 40 min to a bit longer. Not bad for a new roller coaster!
I also rode Mamba, an Arrow brand Hyper Coaster. It had some outstanding air time moments. We rode Prowler, another wooden GCI coaster several times at night due to no wait time at all and I loved the fast pacing of this ride along with some more great airtime moments. Other noteworthy rides in the park that I got to try were a wooden coaster named Timberwolf, a Viking themed log flume, and Cyclone Sam an inside spinning style flat ride.
The park was celebrating it’s 50th anniversary with decorations around the park, themed food, and a drone and fireworks display at the end of the night. My favorite park of the drone show was when the drones formed the new spiral lift hill of Zambezi Zinger.
While at the park we ate a chicken burrito with chips and salsa at Prospector’s Burritos & Cantina (I split this with my little brother as it was plenty big to share) and a chicken tender platter with fries at Cotton Blossom BBQ. Although the food was, for me, not the most memorable part of this park compared to the coasters, it was actually quite solid and I really enjoyed everything I tasted. I honestly think if you are passing through the area or if you live in the state you should try to visit Worlds of Fun this season.
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