Zambezi Zinger - NOW OPEN (WOF)

 

Zambezi Zinger is NOW OPEN at Worlds of Fun

Entrance to the ride

The travel posters make reference to the 3 sub-sections of the Africa section of the park

Office in the queue line

Lots of Easter eggs on the bulletin board

themed crates in the queue area

Extended queue area

Seriously the nicest queue that WOF has ever built

The queue takes you on three sides of the spiral lift

The load building for the ride.  You exit on this side and load on the far side

The safari jeep themed train for Zambezi Zinger

Heading into the spiral lift

Round and Round it goes

Almost to the top

Plunging down the first drop

The first turn around

Running back towards the lift

Swooping curve around the lift structure

Getting ready to vault over the railroad tracks into the back section

The back section is absolutely nuts with quick directional changes while staying extremely low to the ground.  Fun things to look out for are three animals.  You can see the zebra here.  There is a rhino in the far curve

and finally there is a lion over by the fence.  These three animals came to the park from Kings Dominion

Zambezi Zinger is a great addition to the park, but don't be fooled by the name - this is definitely not a mild ride like the old Zinger.  It is also not that smooth in the back section, that was kind of a surprise.  Looking forward to some night rides as I am sure it will be nuts

Zambezi Zinger (WOF)

 

So let's get the disappointing part out of the way first, the ride is still not open.  With that being said, there's plenty to be excited about with this new ride.  For instance, check out how amazing this marquee looks.

The queue house is full of rich detailing

The fact that this is at Worlds of Fun and not say a Busch Gardens or even Animal Kingdom cannot not be stressed enough

This is the outdoor queue area.  Notice how there is already shade awnings and a good amount of trees already.  Not an open cement waste land of cattle gates

The train is actually there in the station.  I notice that the headlights are not currently installed on the zero car.

Thanks to the train being back in operation, we can get some amazing new shots of the ride

There's the train peeking out from the station

Here is the entrance area to the load station.  One side of the stairs is Fast Lane, the other is general stand by boarding

Here's the other side of the train tracks and the back half of the ride.  Can I just commend the park on theming the tunnel. They didn't have to do it, but the fact that they did means that they are finally understanding that doing the little things makes all of the difference

Air time hill after the tunnel

Even in person, it is still hard to believe how these curves hug the ground

Coming around the corner you can see the first portion of the ride

Here's where the ride jumps the train tracks

I honestly think that this is going to be the sleeper hit of 2023

Soon.

Zambezi Zinger (WOF)

 

The new Zambezi Zinger is still under construction at Worlds of Fun

Starting off with the queue building, they have opened up the building back to its original form.  Here you can see a new window with covering

There is a similar window on this side of the entrance as well.  You can also see what appears to be the start of queue lines being put in - and the opposite of the building appears to be completely open

Another big change here is the color of the building.  It is now a yellowish color where as before it was a dark grey with dark brown accents

This is the exit pathway and more than likely the entrance for Fast Lane which is said to connect to the main queue near the station

Speaking of the station, here it is.  The coloring on the building, along with the roof, is a major upgrade from other coasters in the African section with regards to theme.

We mentioned queue earlier and here you can see how the queue line goes under the first drop out of the station up to the far side where you will load the trains.  You will then exit on the side closest to Boomerang

Time to look at the actual coaster.  For all intents and purposes the circuit has been completed.  Today they were focusing on the installation of the drive tires on the spiral lift

It appears that all of the tires are in place and now they are tightening them down before the adjust phase of the project

GCI promises that the coaster will still be able to operate in moist conditions, which have been a common problem for several tire driven coasters already in existence

Here's the entrance to the spiral lift

It is interesting the transition from the Titan track to regular wooden track on the first drop

Panning out you can see the entire first portion of the ride

The first major turn around after the initial first drop.  You can see here they are still applying lumber to this area.  They will also need to put the finishing metal running pad on this section before it is done

This section leading up into the curve around the spiral lift still has a long way to go

Here you can see that they still need to apply several more layers of lumber for the track

Here's a different look at that section

The curve around the spiral lift is all Titan track

After going around that curve you leap over the train tracks before navigating the back half of the ride

Back to the first drop.  It is higher and steeper than the original Zambezi Zinger

They were doing work on the drop today

This gives a good idea of how steep that first drop is

The back half of the ride is visible through the trees from Prowler.  Here you can see the tunnel and the jump over the train tracks

We are predicting this will be the sleeper hit of the summer.

Are you going to make it out to Worlds of Fun this season to try out the new Zambezi Zinger?