Today’s post is about something that happened a week ago at Worlds of Fun. I went in the evening to grab supper and some entertainment, while avoiding the excessive, for me, atmosphere of the Halloween Haunt’s Overlord’s Awakening.
The current trick is to drive in through the secondary entrance — the Oceans of Fun parking lot side — and walk in to the places we want to go. It neatly avoids the sound buildup to the Overlord’s Awakening, along with the crowds waiting to see it. All that sound is projected out towards the main parking lot, and doesn’t bother much in the rest of the park.
It doesn’t avoid the fog from the stage fog machines, but even that can be worked around, to some extent.
Anyway, back to last Saturday. I parked, got scanned by security, season pass confirmed by admissions, and walked over to the BattleCreek Barbecue. The Barbecue must have had a busy day, because there didn’t seem to be a lot left. The animated menu sign still had rotating images for the Brisket Sandwich, Pork Sandwich, and BBQ Nachos meal deals. But the static menu screen only showed Pork Sandwich and BBQ Nachos. Which meant what I thought it did. When I got up to the register they confirmed that they were OUT OF BRISKET.
So I ordered the Pork Sandwich with side and looked over the dining area, which was mostly empty. It also had mostly tables that hadn’t yet been wiped down after their last use, obviously so. Which is how I ended up as a single person sitting at one of the largest circular tables, meant to seat six. It was the table that looked the cleanest (though also in need of being cleaned). And for the same reason I chose it, another single-dining patron asked if she could sit there across from me, which I agreed to.
And thus the chance meeting of two strangers turned into a conversation of two park denizens discussing their experiences about the park, and their general satisfaction of their season passes, all season dining plans, etc.
It was a pleasure to discuss the park with someone else who spent much of the summer there with her kids, and discuss the benefits that variously accrued to the plans. She hadn’t heard about the Platinum Passes, which grant access to any park in the Cedar Fair network, I learned more from her about the fast passes. Both of us are very curious about the new and upcoming WinterFest season that runs the end of November and through December.
I have been an interested participant and observer over the past few years, as the park has developed and integrated, and become more of a definite social setting for the local and regional community. We are generally pleased with its role and participation within the Cedar Fair Network, and that organizations definite commitment to amusement parks and the communities that they reside in.
While my family is not big on the Halloween Haunt, our visits there this fall just confirm to us what a good thing and boon it is to the area to have such an attraction in place; just as my walk through Planet Snoopy today — though no longer a parent of kids of the age Planet Snoopy is intended for — that this children’s area of the park is another thriving blessing to the area. My kids enjoyed it when it was Camp Snoopy, and I am glad other kids are still enjoying it as Planet Snoopy. We were able to go into the store inside Planet Snoopy and see the banner from the grand opening on May 28, 2011 — and still find all four of our names there, part of the history of the park.
At The Rainbow 