A Look Ahead … and a review (look back)

Last week I had three things in my Look Ahead.

This week I have the same three things. And a very mixed review of the second.

First, let’s see what is going on at Worlds of Fun…

Kansas City Flavor

Weekends June 2-11

Now in its second and final weekend, the Kansas City Flavor looked like a very fun event, but my family didn’t have the chance to actually try it out. Plans are to probably take it in this weekend, if time allows. The one thing to note, before continuing with the information from last week, is that, unlike the BBQ & Brew festival in May,  Kansas City Flavor is open to people below the drinking age. They are able to taste the (fabulous-looking) food, but can only drink the lemonade at drink station six. The wine and other alcoholic beverages are off limits.

Worlds of Fun has a very strict age-check program, starting when you buy your ticket for the festival and checked along the way to ensure no-one who shouldn’t get alcohol gets it. This responsibility makes it much more relaxed for the rest of us to not have to worry about.

So, to reiterate from last week as the blurb on their website describes it: Worlds of Fun is more than an amusement park, it’s tradition that goes back 3 generations!  And in keeping with our rich Kansas City heritage, we are unveiling a whole new experience: Kansas City Flavor. It’s all things KC, featuring iconic cuisine, and the best of the music scene, culture and local artisans.

Those who pay for the tickets to sample the fare will get, as the website describes it: In the tradition of great Kansas City market fresh flavors, sample six food stations designed by our local chef and featuring great KC inspired food, craft beer, and spirits.

Besides food and beverage, Kansas City Flavor will have a children’s craft corner, and live local music groups performing jazz, bluegrass and rock. There will also be the crafts of local artisans on display and for sale.

Last weekend I made a side comment about the lack of drink refresh stations being open at Oceans of  Fun on opening (Memorial Day) weekend, requiring season bottle holders to wait 15-30 minutes for a refill. That was not a problem this past weekend.

And now, I will update with the season dining plan stats as/of 6/7/2017, before going on to the other two events:

Total Price Paid	$497.44
Total Number of Meals	184
Total Retail	$1,906.87
Average Price Per Meal	$2.70
Total Drink Price	29.64
Total number of drinks	150
Total Retail	$150.00
Average Price Per Drink	$0.20

Starlight Theatre Broadway Season

The Little Mermaid, June 3-11

The Starlight Theater Broadway Season opened this past weekend with Disney’s The Little Mermaid. The show runs through this weekend.

In last week’s post I said the show was obviously going to be good, and I wasn’t wrong. We attended the Tuesday evening show, where we learned that this was a locally produced, as opposed to touring show.  Except that once Starlight in Kansas City started putting it together, several other cities asked to participate. This wound up with Starlight and its cosponsors creating a touring show that will tour for 18 weeks this summer, including the opening here in Kansas City.  Many Kudos to Starlight for this quality show.

You could tell that the actors weren’t great stars (though the one who played Sebastian did seem rather familiar, as if I had seem him in the role before). Rather than having focus on them for specific things, the focus was on the story itself. There were a few places where I could see the actors trying to emote and make their roles theirs, and not the animated or original stage casts. But most of the time nothing like that stuck out, and even that stuck out very little, small edges.

That said, everything else about the evening had something that wasn’t a full positive contribution.

We have been season passholders since 1997. This Tuesday, instead of the two of us, we were a group of four because we brought the kids to the show. We arrived later than intended because of my running the mile at the KCCC Track meet. When we arrived we came in from Meyer Blvd and parked in our complimentary grass parking.

When we got to gate 4, we noticed it was closed. Here it is 6:50 p.m. and we need to use our Best of Broadway Buffet dining tickets, but we can’t get in — gates don’t open until after 7 p.m. But I walked up to the gate and talked through it to the attendant. He got on his radio, and found someone who had him send us to gate 3. Down there we found someone to check in our seat tickets, and then escort us through the seating area to the other side, where we worked our way through the people waiting there, in lines to have their pictures taken with Ariel, etc., and got in line at the Best of Broadway Buffet.

Now there were several problems here. I didn’t see anything letting us know that dinner guests needed to enter by the gates on the east side. And if we did, there is no grass parking over there, so that would only work, conveniently, for people who paid for additional paved parking. Even so, you might get put into the wrong paved parking to get to your dinner passes. This closed seating area and gate entrance until after 7 p.m. isn’t well though through.

At the buffet check-in, the attendant almost helped the people behind us, thinking they had prepurchased tickets and we didn’t, but I held mine up and we got taken to the inside, where we were given a table.

The food tasted very good, and the waitstaff at the table were very attentive about beverages and clearing plates. But when we first went up for food, even though there wasn’t a line at all, there were only the small dessert plates, no dinner plates. It took us sitting eating from small dessert plates and letting the waitress now about plates for someone to come out and put out regular dinner size plates.

When I finally went back up and used the full-sized plate I worked my way down the buffet to the sliced ham. Several slices had been cut, but there was nothing there for a patron to serve themselves, an attendant needed to do so. And there were no attendants up and down the buffet. I waited almost five minutes as several wandered in and out on various tasks. It finally took the original ham attendant to return from his other errand, putter around with it for about a minute, and then realize I was waiting there, for me to get service.

So they haven’t fixed their service problems with the buffet.

So parking, buffet, mixed reviews, and show, 4.75 stars or more.

I could be wrong in my estimation, but I expect this to be the highlight of the season for us. To be quite honest, my wife and I have been less than impressed with the choice of shows the past couple of years. As season ticket holders since 1997 that isn’t a pleasant thing for us to think or say. But they keep going for the edgy stuff, which just doesn’t ping for us. And when they go for an oldie, its a tired old anti-morality play like Grease. Fun music maybe, but the plot and moral sucks.

The other shows for this season are:

• Jersey Boys
• An American in Paris
• Something Rotten
• The Bodyguard
• Motown the musical
• Grease

Kansas City Corporate Challenge

Track Meet, Shawnee Mission North High School

The Corporate Challenge track meet is evenings Monday-Thursday June 5-8. Last week I said I would  be there Tuesday and Wednesday. Due to a cancellation I covered, I was also there on Monday.  Results of my runs will be in Monday’s “Fitness Update” post. Today (Thursday) is the last night, and it is the relay races.  It should be very exciting to watch.  Personally, for me, the relay races are the most fun at the swim meet, and I am sure they are similarly exciting at the track meet. But I won’t be running in them.

The last time I did a track meet relay was several years ago, and I managed to trip while running. I did a barrel roll/fall and continued running, but I think (at the time I wasn’t savvy enough to know how to check, and I didn’t ask my teammates) that I fell outside my lane a bit and got our team disqualified. I just felt good that I had rolled and got back up and continued.