Chuck Eats KC - June 29 - 50 Years of Eating at Worlds of Fun

50 Years of Eating at Worlds of Fun, Part 1

Worlds of Fun, Kansas City’s famous theme park, celebrated its 50th birthday recently.

My experience with Worlds of Fun’s food is colored by my tenure working in ride operations in the park during the early 1980s. I was a ride operations manager in the mid 1980s. You’d find me at the Zulu or Le Carrousel, as well as all of the rides around the park. My oldest sister also worked at the Nordic Nook and Orient Express for two summers during that era.

The 1980s

I enjoyed the park’s food both as a guest and as an “ambassador,” WoF’s name for employees. This nickname ties in with the employee cafeteria, which I’ll talk about in a moment. The food in this era was mostly cooked and prepared on site, by Worlds of Fun employees. No chains in the park. The only branded food products were soda, candy, and other vended products.

Food options at World of Fun in the 1980s were available in formats typical of other theme parks of the time. Park guests could get food from food and drink carts and small kiosk buildings. There were several sit down restaurants, though these tended to be ones where you ordered your food and took it to a table.

From what I recall, food carts tended to have cold items like ice cream and sippy juice containers. I think the latter was a new thing at the time. Plastic containers shaped like fruit, filled with fruit juice. You could also find carts with nachos, pretzels, and flavored popcorn (Treats’n Sweets). Several larger shops had candy available

My nemesis for several summers as a worker was the funnel cake stand in the Scandinavia (Norma’s Fine Finnish Funnel Cakes). The aroma from the fried dough dessert would often waft quite some distance and if you were working in that section on certain days, the smell could be overwhelming. I swore off funnel cakes for decades, although in recent years I get cravings for the dessert. It’s hard to find the format as it was made at WoF, since it’s more state fair food than something you’ll find in your neighborhood.

Most of the food options with sit down seating could be described as being a fast food counter format: order food like burgers (Rangoon Refresher and Luck Lindy’s Lunch) or Mexican (Café International in Europa), wait for food, take food to seating. Several places were quasi-cafeteria style where you could grab burgers, sandwiches, and fries that were ready to eat. The restaurant above the employee cafeteria (AMBAM) and located next to the Viking Voyager, was a variety of sit-down restaurant concepts over the years, starting as the Smorbord Cafeteria. In the early 1980s, it was the Smor-B-Que, which featured smoked barbecue ribs and friend chicken. I will research the history of this particular location for future installments of this series. Later concepts included Chickie’s and Pete’s (crab fries and sports bar), Inn of the Four Winds (1995), and Gateway Pizza (2023).

The “AMBAM”

Many large businesses with thousands of employees often have an employee cafeteria or onsite food services. In the 1980s, Worlds of Fun had two behind the scenes employee restaurants. There was "AMBAM West” located in the American section, which had lots of picnic tables, burgers and drinks. The main employee quasi-cafeteria was the “AMBAM",” which was in the basement of a sit-down restaurant in Scandinavia and located next to the splash area for the Viking Voyager ride. The AMBAM featured communal tables, video games, a prep and serving area, and other employee break services like restrooms and pay phones.

If you ran across me taking my break in the AMBAM, I’d probably be reading a book or playing Centipede on one of sit down consoles. I got to be very good at Centipede, but Ms. Pac-Man? No, thanks. I remember that the hoagies prepared by the staff were very good. They also served food that had been cooked in the kitchens upstairs. I remember lasagna being an option.

My sister says that she really loved the chicken fingers, which she got from either the AMBAM or the Nordic Nook.

Calendar

July 4 - Donut Decorating at Family Night at the Lenexa Public Market

July 17-23 - Pitch Burger Week. Various restaurants, including Black Bear Diner, Bizz & Weezy, Burger Shed, Cliff's Taphouse, Cluster Truck, Chicken N Pickle, Gael's, John's Big Deck, Niece's, and Pressed Penny.

July 23 - KC Lawn Party sponsored by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

July 29 - Sweet Corn Festival at The National Agricultural Center & Hall of Fame

Restaurant Openings, Closings, and Coming Soon

• Strip’s Chicken is opening in Merriam, Kansas at 5831 Merriam Drive. This is the spot formerly occupied by Blondie’s Corner Bar and Grill.
• Fiesta Cancún is opening in downtown Lawrence, Kansas at 740 Massachusetts St. The family that is opening this restaurant also own Fajitas Mexican Cuisine in Oskaloosa, Kansas.
• The Casey’s convenience store chain is expanding into the Kansas City metro area, buying 26 Minit Mart stores. The chain has been opening a new format for their stores and fuel services.
• Day & Night Cereal Bar opened in May at 4149 Pennsylvania Ave. in Westport.

This Week’s Photo Bomb

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