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[sirwillow]

Went to Worlds of Fun today, it was too dayum hot to take a picture. This place rivals Six Flags America for some spots void of shade, the lack of fans in the queue, zero misters working anywhere. The dispatch times sometime borderlined 10 minutes, no foolin'. Prowler was going out at a min of six minutes a train. It made very short lines a bit of a wait for front and  back seats.  We were at SFA last year on a similar day in the 90s and didn't get as drained as we did today. It'll be another 10 ears before I'm back

That was pretty much my main complaint when we were there last year- the complete lack of shade, misters, and fans in many places, including and especially the coaster stations.  The slow dispatches may have simply been the employees trying not to get heat stroke.  Those kinds of work conditions are ridiculous and inexcusable today.

[Swoosh]

I guess I must be going to a different WOF than you guys because I cannot think of these barren open places you speak of.  Spinning Dragons and? I'm not sure how well traveled you two are but WOF is much more forested than most parks

[sirwillow]

I guess I must be going to a different WOF than you guys because I cannot think of these barren open places you speak of.  Spinning Dragons and? I'm not sure how well traveled you two are but WOF is much more forested than most parks

Try the ride queues and stations.  I show quite a few of them- and point out the lack of cooling and how hot they are- in the videos I shot there last year.

But then you aren't looking at it through the eyes of an employee, so it can be easy to miss what is right in front of  you.  :-)

[Swoosh]

The only stations I can think of that are not covered are Detonator, Fury of the Nile and Le Taxi Tour.  All of the other rides have a covered control booth and most have AC.  Almost all of the queues are covered or have some form of shade covering (trees or canopy).  Quite a few have fans.  Eh.  I guess if you need something to complain about you'll scrutinize until you find it. 

One things for certain, it's a beautiful park and nowhere near SFA level.  In fact landscaping this season might even be better than SDC

[sirwillow]

Video evidence from last year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKfWWawSF0o&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnMNhlH12HA&t

Having "cover" over a station means nothing when that cover is a metal roof or clear plastic that turns the station into a furnace (e.g. Mamba), has no actual protection from the sun (boomerang), or overcrowds a station with no air circulation (Patriot), or in the case of practically every single flat has no cover or protection at all.  And as I show in that video that not only did almost none of them have fans, but the one station that did (Patriot), they didn't work.

And air conditioning?  Outside of their enclosed wipeout, where do you find that myth?  Seriously, now you're just completely making things up.

and I noticed it because as guests we were overheating in their boiling hot stations- where it was cooler to stand outside of them than in them, and because I sympathized and understood what the employees were enduring.

Are there areas of cooling shade?  Sure, there are some. There are also plenty with none.  Outside of the non working fans at Patriot we found one (1) misting fan over in the China theme area, and no others.  No other places where anything was being done to provide a way to move air to help cool guests.  And outside of a few areas with shade trees, or going inside of stores, no places for guest to cool off at all.

And then you say their landscaping is better than SDC?      I don't even need to say more at that point.  You've pretty much shown how little credibility you have with that statement.

[Swoosh]

Let the record show that sir wallow went LAST year and recorded video which definitely means he would know about how the park looks THIS year.

Pssst: they have a new landscaping team.  There are new topiaries, a new floral clock and they have their own greenhouse to grow flowers and exotic plants.  But you go right ahead and you be you like normal

Also, because you think it's cool NOT to read AND comprehend the comment about AC was referring to the operator booths. You said you wanted look at things from an employee perspective (you know the sly backhanded comment you tried to make) yeah that's what the AC comment was about. 

Again you be you.  We all see through your crap.  I'll give you that every so often you'll have a great post that offers some decent insight that we do appreciate.  Unfortunately they're about as rare as unicorns and most of the time we are given bile and a real undeserved aurora of self importance that I just don't get the justification of why you think you've earned it.  Now when it comes to the SDC trains, yes you are an expert.  When it comes to WOF, boy - sit down

[History Buff]

Order in the court!

[Gilligan]

I call for a recess!  Return without rudeness and bashing! 

[sirwillow]

^ LOL  Thanks History. :-)

Nice edits and changes to your posts Swoosh.

I stand by what I said earlier, but not my tone and attitude.  I apologize for responding in the manner that I did.  I was out of line in how I put a few of those things, and for that I'm sorry.

As far as your changes in your posts from stations to control panels, while there are a small handful of rides that have an enclosed operators booth, even still the vast majority of them are open air and outdoors, and out with the ride attendants.  Very few have AC, and it still wouldn't cover the vast majority of the workers nor any of the guests.

I'm happy to hear they added a lot of landscaping.  They needed it.  There were a couple of places that were nice, but much of the park was in need of it.  Good that they addressed that.

RE: my comment about not seeing things that are right in front of you- I phrased that very poorly. It was not meant rudely, but it sure sounded like it.  Sorry.  What I meant was that when you have worked at a job, you will see, note, and observe things that other people who have not worked that will not.  As teachers you and I can walk into someone's classroom and probably within about 5 minutes- even without the students there- I'll have a good idea of if that teacher is organized, has good classroom management, and how they relate to their students just by things I observe around the classroom, their desk and their lesson plans.  Things that a student, parent, or other adult would never notice, but because of our experiences we do. 

The same is true at a park. There are going to be things right in front of you that, if you've never worked at a park, you won't notice.  Even if you've visited hundreds of parks, been on a thousand coasters and heard from a bunch of workers.  If you've never done it, you just won't notice certain things.  That's not a slam, just simple fact.  But I expressed that very badly.

[sirwillow]

And to get back on topic...  :-)

here's the first video I've put together from Israel, showing the light festival they had in Jerusalem.  Quite neat to walk around the old city and see the light projections and other things, and to experience it with thousands of other people from all sorts of cultures. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLv9nKYiZ6A

I'll be getting more videos posted of our time there in the coming weeks, along with digging through the 5000+ photos my wife and I took.  lol

[chittlins]

I guess I must be going to a different WOF than you guys because I cannot think of these barren open places you speak of.  Spinning Dragons and? I'm not sure how well traveled you two are but WOF is much more forested than most parks

Spoken like a true fan boy.  Let's take the seemingly  redone plaza area there between Patriot, the Wind Seeker, the Round Up and the Condor. Flat Out Barren, the long stretch between the Drop Tower and MaMBA the Amp area,  The walk ways to the main gates. There's shade but there is also complete barren  areas and only a true Homer would not admit that.  The complete lack of fans in the queues., so on and so forth. Again, the ride ops were so slooooooooowwwwwww. But their Marigolds and Cannas are watered properly, the park is clean, had a great collection of classic flats, decent but not outstanding coasters.

Look, I knew how hot it was going be. It was hotter and swampier than the devil's crotch but the lack of fans in the stations is just kind boggling. I recounted only one coaster station having fans, Timberwolf and thank God, because we had to wait for them to clean up a train that a rider had an Episode in.

I'll stand by my statement, it had parts as barren as Six Flags America which is notorious for lack of cover in spots and my visits between the two were nearly a year apart. ThING is SFA had fans in the queues. It's not a park I'm going back to unless they add something MAJOR.

That said, if giving a choice between One OK in Tulsa or Sprint in KC to catch a show, give me Sprint each and every time. The sound is better, seating more spacious, plus Power and Light across the street. Great set up just like FedEx in Memphis on Beale.

[Swoosh]

If growing up with the park and being able to notice even the minute changes makes me a fanboy ... well I've been called a lot worse by you.  Can I at least be a fan man?  Probably too old to be a "boy"

[Swoosh]

2018
MARCH
17 - Silver Dollar City - Spring Break Days
17 - Silver Dollar City - TIME TRAVELER NOW OPEN
25 - Six Flags St. Louis - Opening Weekend
25 - Six Flags St. Louis - BATMAN BACKWARD! NOW OPEN
27 - (SPRING BREAK) Universal Studios Florida
27 - (SPRING BREAK) Universal Studios Florida - Universal's Super Star Parade
27 - (SPRING BREAK) Universal Studios Florida - Universal's Mardi Gras Parade
28 - (SPRING BREAK) Islands of Adventure - part 1
28 - (SPRING BREAK) Islands of Adventure - part 2
29 - (SPRING BREAK) Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley
29 - (SPRING BREAK) Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Express
29 - (SPRING BREAK) Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade
29 - (SPRING BREAK) Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castle
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Daytona International Motor Speedway
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Motorsports Hall of Fame
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Daytona Beach
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Daytona Beach Boardwalk Amusements
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Ponce Inlet Lighthouse
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Fun Spot Orlando
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Coca-Cola Orlando Eye
31 - (SPRING BREAK) Gatorland
31 - (SPRING BREAK) Boggy Creek Airboat
31 - (SPRING BREAK) Fun Spot Kissimmee
31 - (SPRING BREAK) Old Town USA

APRIL
14 - Silver Dollar City - Festival of Wonder
20 - Kansas City Zoo
20 - Worlds of Fun - Opening Day
20 - Worlds of Fun - NORDIC CHASER NOW OPEN
28 - Six Flags St. Louis - BOSS v2.0 NOW OPEN

MAY
10 - Silver Dollar City - Bluegrass & BBQ
19 - Worlds of Fun - TIMBER WOLF REBORN NOW OPEN!
25 - Oceans of Fun - Opening Day
26 - Hurricane Harbor St. Louis - Opening Day

JUNE
2 - Bigfoot On The Strip
2 - The Lumberjack
2 - Heavy Metal Highrise
2 - Wild Woody
2 - The Branson Ferris Wheel
2 - Track 3
2 - Track 4
2 - Track 5
2 - Kids Kountry
13 - Kenny's Funland
15 - America's Fun Park Grand Opening
15 - America's Fun Park
20 - Silver Dollar City - Star-Spangled Summer Festival
20 - The Runaway

JULY
2 - Parakeet Pete's Waterfront Zipline
2 - Parakeet Pete's Steampunk Balloon
4 - Southern Fun Carnival
5 - Dutchman's Deck Adventure Course at MOA
5 - Nickelodeon Universe at MOA
5 - Mall of America
6 - Valleyfair!
6 - Soak City Valleyfair
13 - Six Flag St. Louis - Mardi Gras
21 - Harlem Globetrotters at Worlds of Fun
24 - Kings Island
26 - Cedar Point
27 - Hurricane Harbor Chicago
28 - Six Flags Great America

MARDI GRAS FESTIVAL at SIX FLAGS ST. LOUIS
https://www.midwestinfoguide.com/2018/07/mardi-gras-festival-sfstl.html

[Swoosh]

2018
MARCH
17 - Silver Dollar City - Spring Break Days
17 - Silver Dollar City - TIME TRAVELER NOW OPEN
25 - Six Flags St. Louis - Opening Weekend
25 - Six Flags St. Louis - BATMAN BACKWARD! NOW OPEN
27 - (SPRING BREAK) Universal Studios Florida
27 - (SPRING BREAK) Universal Studios Florida - Universal's Super Star Parade
27 - (SPRING BREAK) Universal Studios Florida - Universal's Mardi Gras Parade
28 - (SPRING BREAK) Islands of Adventure - part 1
28 - (SPRING BREAK) Islands of Adventure - part 2
29 - (SPRING BREAK) Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley
29 - (SPRING BREAK) Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Express
29 - (SPRING BREAK) Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade
29 - (SPRING BREAK) Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castle
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Daytona International Motor Speedway
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Motorsports Hall of Fame
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Daytona Beach
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Daytona Beach Boardwalk Amusements
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Ponce Inlet Lighthouse
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Fun Spot Orlando
30 - (SPRING BREAK) Coca-Cola Orlando Eye
31 - (SPRING BREAK) Gatorland
31 - (SPRING BREAK) Boggy Creek Airboat
31 - (SPRING BREAK) Fun Spot Kissimmee
31 - (SPRING BREAK) Old Town USA

APRIL
14 - Silver Dollar City - Festival of Wonder
20 - Kansas City Zoo
20 - Worlds of Fun - Opening Day
20 - Worlds of Fun - NORDIC CHASER NOW OPEN
28 - Six Flags St. Louis - BOSS v2.0 NOW OPEN

MAY
10 - Silver Dollar City - Bluegrass & BBQ
19 - Worlds of Fun - TIMBER WOLF REBORN NOW OPEN!
25 - Oceans of Fun - Opening Day
26 - Hurricane Harbor St. Louis - Opening Day

JUNE
2 - Bigfoot On The Strip
2 - The Lumberjack
2 - Heavy Metal Highrise
2 - Wild Woody
2 - The Branson Ferris Wheel
2 - Track 3
2 - Track 4
2 - Track 5
2 - Kids Kountry
13 - Kenny's Funland
15 - America's Fun Park Grand Opening
15 - America's Fun Park
20 - Silver Dollar City - Star-Spangled Summer Festival
20 - The Runaway

JULY
2 - Parakeet Pete's Waterfront Zipline
2 - Parakeet Pete's Steampunk Balloon
4 - Southern Fun Carnival
5 - Dutchman's Deck Adventure Course at MOA
5 - Nickelodeon Universe at MOA
5 - Mall of America
6 - Valleyfair!
6 - Soak City Valleyfair
13 - Six Flag St. Louis - Mardi Gras
19 - Hurricane Harbor St. Louis - TYPHOON TWISTER NOW OPEN!
22 - Hurricane Harbor Chicago
23 - Six Flags Great America
24 - Michigan's Adventure
24 - Wildwater Adventure
25 - Cedar Point
26 - Cedar Point Shores
27 - Kings Island

TYPHOON TWISTER NOW OPEN AT HURRICANE HARBOR ST. LOUIS
https://www.midwestinfoguide.com/2018/07/typhoon-twister-now-open-hhstl.html

[JamesQuam]

I haven't planned a trip yet. Thinking to do so this winter.