Zambezi Zinger — Attraction in Kansas City

Worlds of Fun's newest coaster is not my favorite. The layout is cool and the spiral lift is certainly unique. But god the trains are so unforgiving. You feel every little imperfection on some of the final turns. The first half is comfortable, but the last two or three low to the ground turns genuinely hurt. And I do blame the trains primarily. Unlike the comfy couchlike trains on Prowler, these ones are hard foam and the seats are much more upright, And don't even get me started on those trash lap bars. Not sure what GCI and Skyline were thinking with this one to be honest. But it might be my least favorite ride at WOF. Which is a shame because it has some really fun forces and a great sense of speed. But honestly I'd prefer taking a ride on basically any of the park's other coasters. The ride experience is suffering, so please. Can someone of administrative power at WOF suggest a modification to the trains. Or even adding more of GCI's patented titan track in problematic spots. Guests wait two or more hours to get a vibrating painful ride and the ops have to fight those miserable lap bars ten hours a day for six months...

Pros: Great first drop in the back row No seatbelts (T-Bar only) Snappy transitions, especially in the second half No midcourse break A nice nod to the OG

Cons: THE TRAINS!! Seriously, these are some of THE MOST uncomfortable trains I've ever sat in. I sat in them at IAAPA and immediately knew that they'd be universally hated and it seems they are. They're incredibly tight and the t-bar is a real nut crusher. Millenium Flyers would have been a much wiser choice since it doesn't have inversions Reliability. I understand new rides always tend to have more downtime, but WoF only purchased two trains for some idiotic reason. The lift hill is cool in that it pays homage to the original, but it's very slow and apparently has been burning through tires like there's no tomorrow. Cable lift might have been the way to go It doesn't fill a need in the park. WoF already has a nice GCI that is probably better in most ways. They NEED a launch coaster! Very little airtime. This ride is more about the low-to-the-ground transitions and less so airtime. Would have been nice to have...

So I feel obligated to give a solid review of this roller coaster. I have been on 100+ coasters and this is up there with the absolute best. Is it intense? Yes, that’s the point. Does have a wooden coaster feel to it? Yes, that’s the point. It was never going to be a carbon copy of the original (also a great coaster) but no two roller coasters can ever be identical, especially since they built the Boomerang on part of the land that the old Zinger used to be on.

This is a wonderfully intense roller coaster. If steep drops and surprising turns aren’t your thing, don’t ride it. If you don’t like wooden roller coasters or rides with surprise turns and slopes, don’t ride it. The first drop and turn almost defy physics but that’s obviously part of the fun. Please keep rating this incredible roller coaster as low as possible because I want to ride it without lines hundreds of more times with my 12 year old who rode in the front car twice and...