When word hit yesterday that yet another beloved Kansas City institution is being sold off, I couldn't help but think about another time fun itself was put up for sale. Back in 1997, Words of Fun exiled the great Zambezi Zinger roller coaster, the ass-kickingest thing we could ever get my mom to ride.
A circling, snaking blast, the Zinger
started slow -- lifting riders 75 feet above the trees of "Africa"
in an easy, teasing spiral -- and then whipped them down in a 40 mph
burst, screaming through curve after curve in and out of the trees.
At a thrilling sharp angle, it skimmed you along at what felt like just a
foot or so above the ground, which made it seem twice as fast as it really was. Finally, it hurled you into tunnel whose
roof felt so low that I never found the courage enough to keep my arms up.
(See, the older boys on my block all claimed
to know someone who'd lost his hands. They also used to tell me that
passing helicopters were Communists looking to gun down kids.)
In short, the Zinger was smooth, fast and just scary enough.
Even after the towering Orient Express
opened, I always preferred
the Zinger, partially because the jerky Express always felt like a
brain aneurysm waiting to happen, but also
because it simply seemed more exhilarating.The way it whipped you in
and out of the trees was always a better jungle adventure than Fury of the Nile.
Via shitty video, here's a taste after the jump.
Not in the video: the sexy way you had
to straddle the person in front of you to ride. Or the even sexier
way it rubbed you against each other as it corkscrewed back to the
ground.
The Zinger's been gone for about 12 years now. In 1997, the park sold it to Parque Nacional del Cafe, in Bogota,
Colombia, where it's been painted blue and re-Christened "La
Broca." It's billed as "la montana rusa mas larga de Colombia"
-- "Colombia's longest roller coaster."
Also, for some reason, the cars now say
"Bell South" on them. How could my Zinger sell out?
Here it is these days. About 90 seconds into the video, there's a mostly complete Zinger ride.
Zinger designer Anton Schwarzkopf had
blended his coaster in with the landscaping of Worlds of Fun, but La Broca looks much less integrated its surroundings. Instead of a jungle adventure, it just looks like a ride -- a good one, but also an
austere and themeless one.
Like the Mamba, just smaller.
Viva la Zinger! And thanks to the YouTube folks who film roller-coaster rides!
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This roller coaster is working pretty good in Parque Nacional del Cafe, in Montenegro, Quindio, near from Armenia. Beautiful temathic park about coffee, all you are invited to come and enjoy it again.
ajme04
Here's how we remember the word balloon on the height chart at the roller coaster entrance: "You must be THIS HIGH to ride." Those were simpler times.
OMG I looovvvveeeeed this ride!
I can smell blacktop mixed with funnel cakes just thinkin about it!!
Thanks for the post!! That brought back a lot of memories! I rode the Zinger so many times, it was definitely my favorite ride and still is despite all of the new rides WOF has now.
I'm not impressed with the roller coaster lineup anymore after they pulled the Zinger and Orient Express. I could only do the Orient so many times actually because of the flips.. but the Zinger I never got tired of. I do like the Mamba but that's because it doesn't make me feel like throwing up and I don't get a headache like I do on the Timber Wolf.
Man that definitely used to be my favorite ride at Worlds of Fun. As a kid it felt extremely badass and, like you pointed out, I could actually get my parents to go on it. However, I had completely forgotten about the "sexy" seating arrangements. Those were...interesting.
I definitely have some nostalgia for the Zinger. It was the first "grownup" ride I was brave enough to attempt at WoF.
I also just realized the continent where I spent the most time depended on who accompanied me to the park. When I went with a girl, we spent a good deal of time in Africa with the Zinger AND the Zulu...ladies.
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