Worlds of Fun
Worlds of Fun logo, featuring Snoopy and Woodstock
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| Slogan | Thrills Connect |
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| Location | 4545 Worlds of Fun Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 39°10′38.4″N 94°29′20.5″W / 39.177333°N 94.489028°WCoordinates: 39°10′38.4″N 94°29′20.5″W / 39.177333°N 94.489028°W |
| Theme | Jules Verne's story "Around the World in Eighty Days." |
| Owner | Cedar Fair Entertainment Company |
| General Manager | Tony Carovillano |
| Opened | May 26, 1973 |
| Operating season | April through late December |
| Area | 235 acres (0.95 km2) (~0.90 km²) |
| Rides | |
| Total | 47 |
| Roller coasters | 7 |
| Water rides | 3 |
| Website | http://www.worldsoffun.com |
Worlds of Fun is a 235-acre amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The park opened in 1973 and is owned and operated by Cedar Fair, which purchased the park from Hunt-Midwest in 1995. Admission to Worlds of Fun includes access to Oceans of Fun, a water park adjacent to the amusement park.
Worlds of Fun opened on May 26, 1973, at a cost of $10 million. It was situated at the northern edge of a vast industrial complex in the bluffs above the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri. At the time of its opening, numerous modernization projects across Kansas City were in progress including the opening of Kansas City International Airport, Kemper Arena and the Truman Sports Complex. Mid-America Enterprises, seeking to capitalize on the citywide expansion movement, began construction on a new amusement park in 1969. The park was originally planned to complement a 500-acre (2.0 km2) hotel and entertainment complex, but a lagging economy during the park's early years derailed the idea.
In 1974, the first addition to Worlds of Fun was the 4000-seat Forum Amphitheater opened in the Europa section of the park. In 1976, a new section opened in honor of the United States Bicentennial – the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence – and was named Bicentennial Square. The new section included the debut of Screamroller from Arrow Dynamics, which was a replica of the first modern-looping roller coaster, Corkscrew, that opened a year earlier at Knott's Berry Farm.
In 1982, Oceans of Fun opened next door as the largest water park in the world. Also the same year, a sub-world "River City" was opened in Americana bordering the Orient section. Screamroller was transformed into Extremeroller the following year, which featured stand-up trains instead of the original sit-down models making it the first looping, stand-up roller coaster in North America. Several years later in 1989, Worlds of Fun ended the decade with the addition of Timber Wolf, a wooden roller coaster that initially ranked high in several national polls.
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