Podcast: The Ride - Worlds of Fun with Heidi Gardner

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

Heidi Gardner joins PTR to share family tales from Kansas City, Missouri's theme park "Worlds of Fun." A park that packs multiple planets' worth of enjoyment into 235 acres.*Podcast: The Ride has discontinued the "bring an empty can of Sprite, get a podcast episode free" promotion. Sprite no longer wants to be affiliated with Podcast: The Ride and it's sometimes bawdy discussions."Hollywood ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rip Ride Rockit" episode is up at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/PodcastTheRide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FOLLOW PODCAST: THE RIDE:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/PodcastTheRide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/podcasttheride⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BUY PODCAST: THE RIDE MERCH:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.teepublic.com/stores/podcast-the-ride⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PODCAST THE RIDE IS A FOREVER DOG PODCAST⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/podcast-the-ride⁠See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Forever. Dog. Warning. The following podcast is the biggest Kansas City-related media event of the last few days. It may contain a deeply confusing Mount Rushmore, Torrid Affairs with comical theme park scientists,

and esteemed giant underpants. Heidi Gardner whisks us to her beloved hometown park, worlds of fun, not to mention oceans of fun, on today's podcast The Ride. Welcome to podcast The Ride. Welcome to Podcast The Ride, a podcast about theme parks where we don't like to get political, but we think the president is, is like Worlds of Fun's iconic balloon. He's full of hot air. I'm Scott Gartner, and I'd like to apologize for that.

As soon as it has come out of my mouth, but I'd like to apologize to Mike Carlson. Hello? I don't accept the apology. That is fine. It's going to take a process of healing. The struggle, the internal struggle to think of a world's fun joke at the top.

I sympathize with trying to come up with a joke, but still, this is going to take months to repair my relationship and my trust in you. That is absolutely fine, Jason Sheridan. How are you doing? Good. I don't know. I think I'm tacking the other way. And Scott, I was going to say that's why they pay you the big bucks, you know?

Mike's skeptical, but I'm like, I don't know. I kind of liked it. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. A hell of a, yeah, okay, well, thank you. No, a hell of a writing sample. And proof of the scathing political satire that we do here, which I hope that our guest is down for. Now that she knows this is the kind of territory we can go into.

I am so excited she's here, joining us from Kansas City, proud Kansas City native and, dare I say, Saturday Night Live superstar Heidi Gardner is with us. Wow. Hello. Hi. I liked the Worlds of Fun, Joe. I'm Midwest, Modded. I think any sort of shout out we can get to World's of Fun that could possibly sell a ticket. I'll take it.

So I like. Oh, great, right. Okay. Yeah. So you're just here in kind of a tourism building. You know, it got the message out that there is a balloon. Like now it was informational as well as satirical. So now the audience knows that.

And if you want to see a big balloon, go to Worlds of Fun. Heidi, it's so good to have you You reached out a little while ago We were delighted to find out You were listening to the show And we're big fans of yours So this has all been wonderful to hear And happy we could put it together finally

Can I tell you what sold me on the show? Please, yes, I'm curious The first episode I'd listen to Was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Allen Thick, Disney Whoa. Of all the ones, that's about as indulgent as they come. And kind of and loose, very loosely on topic, too. So, um, really, really, no kidding. Something, you know, I consider myself, I'm not as expert as you guys in this world, but know a lot, I think. And I didn't know about that. So it was so fun to listen to. And then I apologize for not knowing, but who here? does the Alan Thick impression?

Scott probably does that. I feel like it's probably me, although now I'm like struggling to recall having done it or what it even is comprised. I guess it's just sort of kind of a cocksure, swagger and you know, kind of Russian words really quick. And yeah, I'm an actor and a songwriter, you know, Jack of all trades, as it were.

Or do you guys describe Alan Thick of like that kid's dad in grade school that like someone would be like, Oh, we don't have a performer at the talent show. Well, someone just hop on stage and someone talking to me down. I'll be like, I'll do it. I mean, really? Do we need somebody? I mean, only if there's a real need there.

I don't mean to push myself, but I do. I can tell I tickle the Ivories, though. It's not a huge deal if you need me, only if you need me. I have thought about that voice. Oh, geez. Oh, great, great. Wow, of all the things, oh, my God. I thought that's like directly in my, yeah, yeah, well, no, happy to help make a thick fan and meet a fellow thick fan.

You know, it's funny, I was wondering, though, because I feel like you reached out, I think we heard from you at some point after we did an episode about the murder she wrote show at Universal Studios. And I was like, oh, of all things, like, we're totally dealing in obscurities here. And I, so, so that just makes me curious your entire theme park history, where you like, were you a Disney World Trip kid? Were you a Universal kid? Are you just like fond memories of trips of the family? What's your theme park deal? Yeah, until almost until adulthood,

I only think I had two Disney Universal MGM trips. And that was with my Mamo and Bampo and my older brother, Justin. Mamo and Bampo are my grandparents. Oh, no, I love those names. They did the whole thing where we're, we would drive from Kansas City, stay in a motel in Orlando.

And it was just crazy to me. The murder she wrote live show, you know, that's one of those things that you just think in your head, like you were the only person to ever go to it, which I think is. Yeah. Because I had never in my life had another conversation with anyone about it other than with my mammo because she was the murder.

She wrote fan and the family. I have a whole episode of just when it like, something proves to your nostalgic brain that it was real and it did happen. Oh, geez. I love hearing that. No, that's where I think a lot of this is, like, talking through, like, are there other human beings on the planet who remember these things? And it's also delightful to learn that some of the people who, uh, who remember these

things are people who've done great stuff and funny stuff that we like and that it's somewhere in the ether of, uh, of people's creative brains. you know, that's been cool to realize. Yeah. So it was just like a couple of those trips. Also on that murder, she wrote trip, my brother and I did one of those, like, it was like where you could be in Star Trek. Like they were filming you. Oh, totally.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. The VHS tape. My brother and I did it. And then it was almost like there was also, I don't know any other term for it. other than like a solo writer, like just another woman who wanted to do that. Didn't have a family to join her. Family to do it.

And like, they just needed a couple other people. So they're like, will you two kids be with her? You know, and so somewhere I've looked through like all of my Mamma and Banffos house. I'm like trying to find that tape where we did, you know, a scene from Star Trek. Who is that random? Nah, so if anyone sees it, no, that is not Mammo in it.

That is somewhat, just a round, just a random, a missed connection. A classic theme park, like, you make friends quick. Like, it's like, it's just a friend. Stranger's just a friend that you haven't met, you know? So, and now it's preserved on a hidden VHS forever. Was that, as, as, you know, now a live performer in high pressure situations, do you, like, was that thing as a kid somehow, like, scarier and higher pressure than what you do now? A hundred percent. There's a part where I fuck up so bad in it that I know.

And also I'm in my older brother who was like, you know, he was my hero, my hero. tastemaker, like everything he liked I wanted to be. And I think he let me being Shatner and he was Spock. So he was like over my left shoulder. And I just botched a line so hard. And I can still remember. And then also that other lady, I know it was like over my right shoulder. I don't know. She was just like very sullen. And Justin and I had most of the lines. There's a moment where I say something wrong and like my eyes like get so big. And then you can see me kind of the look to like his reaction but like trying to stay in the scene you know and then I think I completely deflate like roll my eyes and Dustin still trying to go

I've never had a I don't think I've ever had a moment like that on S&L but maybe with my older brother who was in the scene with me oh high face and also when you're a kid and you watch movies and you know I was funny so I think I also that I was but I wasn't a kid actor, but I also thought, like, I could probably do this stuff. And then I remember watching that tape over and over and being like, I don't have it. That's probably why I never did. What's that start? Oh, really?

Right, right. It, like, set the confidence back several years. Such a disaster, was it? Those things are, like, they are, like, probably if you found it, which if you do, please share but if you felt like we probably wouldn't even notice that anything was wrong but in your kid brain you're just like I've fucked up to an unfixable degree no one respects me anymore this is a blight on me forever I speak as both I think both Mike and I have have recollections of things like this where like little all right it's a fun little video that you do with your mom

or with your friends and where you end up grabbing your crotch while doing it and you just you never forget. I've like entire like whatever the rest of that year I don't remember any of 1993 except for the one video where all I had to do is be on a camera and not grab my crotch but I did and I'll know it's I'm haunted

by it forever. This weird like urge to like protect yourself. You feel so like new. It's weird. It's very strange but that's obviously what's going on with kids. We posted mine on YouTube though so that the world can see my embarrassment.

With your mom. Yeah. But my mom's having a ball. She's loving singing Gloria Stephan's 1, 2, 3, 4. Come on, baby, say you love me. I know what those things were too. It's just those like a singing booth

which also is where you figure out like, oh, I am a bad singer. You know? Like I feel like they kind of just made a kid realize like, I can't be a star. Yeah. They should call it like the dream crusher Kids go in thinking something

And then they leave feeling bad about themselves Yeah you don't look back Yeah you don't look back to you on camera You can't sing it you're back You're not confident You move around a lot You cannot stand on a mark Like you did you've passed none of this test

Or those are like guarantees Of like oh yeah This deathly serious weird kid they're haunted by this for years and that pretty much guarantees they're going into the arts they're going into entertainment because they're still just trying to make up

for that mess up yeah with enough credits I'll raise that one thing so fun trips but haunting trips trips trips recently which you

I have to go into that, you know, you're spending the summer in the Midwest and you dropped before we started recording that you just got back from Branson, which I think provokes a lot of questions, which we've done not enough Branson talk on this show. So I'm excited to rectify some of this. What was going on in Branson? So my, so I grew up in Kansas City, but we had a cabin that my bamboo built at the Lake of the Ozarks. And very close to the Ozarks, which is its own amusement, you know, that there's enough there. But, like, really close to the Ozarks is Branson, which for us in the Midwest is Vegas. And it has Silver Dollar City. And Silver Dollar City is just, like, Disneyland, but Pioneer. You know, like, all the kiosks are, like, like, all the kiosks or, like, like, you know, the murder sheet

wrote show at Silver Dollar City is just an actual like 90 year old glass blower expert, like blowing glass for 90 minutes, you know, and you just watch it. Or, you know, the women in the fudge shop,

I've only seen women. I'm like, it's not just women in the fudge. I've only ever seen women in like bonnets. It's just leaning hard into suffers and pioneers. But I did not do that on this last trip because I went with someone else and I basically who had never been to Branson or the Ozarks.

And I was like, I want to show you this piece of me, but I don't want to be selfish. I would love your input on what you would like to do in this part of America because if you don't speak up, we're only doing like fun houses and nases and the world's, you know, Biggest rubber bay. Like, we might not even go outside. We're just going to be done. A bunch of weird crap. Yeah, that feels weird to me saying, like, we're going to the lake.

But, um, so we ended up doing, we didn't go to Silver Dollar City. Um, but we did what I thought was really cool, which I'd never done is the runaway mountain coaster which is just what looks like just people of the woods made a roller coaster just very I know that there's engineering behind it but it looked like you could fall off it in any point ride through the Ozark like woods you know like the forest and oh whoa it's like akin to sort of a bobsled kind of thing like I've been on a thing like this in big bear but more of a those are like just tubes essentially this is a track but you're like controlling it yourself too yeah you're controlling it you're controlling the speed and like there were some times like

where you took some tight turns and you're really high up um where it felt like he would definitely fall and so that was thrilling um this is i'm i the the google auto fill in on this by the way they're like i typed it in and immediately it's runaway mountain coaster brand And then in people also ask the haunting question, what happened on the Branson Mountain Coaster clicked on that YouTube video, Branson Coaster staff may have been high during accident. So there's been, there's been troubles. I think you can assume high day to day. I definitely felt like there could be troubles.

I was never in danger. I just couldn't believe I was staying on the track. I've seen videos. There's a few of these in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. No, Pigeon Forge, that's Tennessee, right? Yeah, okay. Yeah. And anytime we've watched them, my wife is like, this is terrifying.

and I'm like, I would ride this all day. Like, I just want to be up high, zooming through the woods. I would probably just in constant danger. I would probably forget about the controls and just be zipping through, you know? Yes. That's how it felt. It was incredible. But the thing that I did in Branson, that actually scared.

me that I'd never done before was one of those maze of mirrors. Have you guys never done? Not, maybe not since I was a kid or something. Yeah, yeah. I've only ever seen them in like 80s horror movies

at a carnival, you know? Yeah. It's like kind of scary, but I almost feel like I've seen it. It's even in the trailer for the new conjuring movie. Like there's just like a part where she was in a mirrors and I'm just kind of like, you see yourself a lot.

Or, you know, I just never really got it. Sure. My boyfriend and I were across the street at a place called Flaming Margaritas, or the margaritas were on fire. Oh. And we had had one, and I was just kind of like, hey, you want to go to the maze and mirrors? And he was like, yeah, that's fun, you know.

And they are a giant margarita, but by no means did I feel like that drunk, you know, maybe a little buzz. And we go across the street. It was the Wax Museum, but this was like an offshoot of that, Hannah's Maze and Mirrors. And we buy the tickets. And it's all this story as you're walking up to the maze of this like very vain

princess who like loved looking at her reflection so much so that, you know, she ends up getting trapped in the mirror. I just, I just landed on the story and the website as you're describing this. The fact of there is a story to a house of mirrors is shocking to me. And then it's also. all this, see if you can detect the theme in the characters. King Oscar and Queen Emmy

needs you to rescue their daughter. The Wizard of the Golden Globe has unlocked the maze. Light motif in this story. Wizard of the Golden Globe? There's also a giant Oscar outside of

the place. Oh neat. Wow, this is a good hodgepodge of stuff. But we get up there and, you know, I've read the story I'm excited. You go in. It's also pounding music and it also has King Oscar, you know, very loudly. Like, I don't know, where are you?

You know, and Hamid, you know, just very loud. But upon first entrance, it's all, it's a lot of mirrors, obviously, but it's like, you know, pretty amusement lights, like pinks and greens. And, you know, it's going from light to dark. And I love that. I immediately take a video, just kind of a cute one, because there's all these mirrors of the both of us, and I'm just twirling around and just like, you know, being a thrill. Then I turn one corner into a mirror, run into a mirror, and then just proceed to fully freak out

and get scared, like that I am stuck there forever, you know, and I'm like, oh, and, you know, And then I turn, I turn into another mirror. And, you know, my boyfriend could tell that it kind of rocks me. And he's like, no, no, no, over here. Like, I found, I found the first turn. And I was like, okay. You know, and so I'm following him. I'm like, we're fine.

And then I see him run into a mirror. And I was like, oh, God, should we, should we just go back? And he's like, no. He was like, look, I just, I just found the other passage, you know? And I was like, well, we should, we should remember where we've been and where we are. And he's like, it feels early. for that for the back

I have something I have my purse I was like I'll just I'll tear paper and put it down you know and then I was like

I don't have paper and he's like I don't think we need these bread crap we're not in Hansel and Gretel land yet

and I pull out Matt I said I have matches and he was like so I proceed to every you know turn that's the right way I'm putting a match down me

So I put down three matches, and I see him run into a mirror again. And I go, I think I'm going to call the front desk. This sounds very high what's happening. It sounds like you're high only on a margarita, but this feels like stone paranoia. Yeah, it was insane. It sent me into this other place where I'm like, I'm never going to get out of here. And I hated how loud those voices were of King Oscar. Where are you?

Queen Emmy, can you hear me? I put down three matches and I start to pull out my phone to call the front desk and he goes, Heidi, it's been 25 seconds. And then he goes, also, see, and we're out of it. And he was like, we're through it. And I go, oh, are we back at the entrance? And he got us in him now.

this is the exit we made it through it's a 30 second May but for me it was one of those I I thought we had been in there it was an hour from the first time I hit that mirror I was just like that I this is awful and I was just yeah oh my God we have to learn we have to build a campfire how do we have anything is anything in the purse can this be kindling we may have roast each other's limbs. I got to calm, Dan. Let's go see the Yakov-Schmirnov

batnik. Yeah. Which also would have naked, too, but I wish. Wow. That is still happening to... Oh, my God. Wow. Brancers spread another world. My God. Is there also, by the way, like a big like a Mount Rushmore on the outside of this that is like John Wayne and Elvis?

I don't even, I'm not sure who I'm looking at here. Is that the right? Do I have the right maze and mirrors? We also, when we saw that Mount Rushmore, where I was just immediately, like, who aren't these people? But that was also like when I was really close. When we went to the parking lot across the street, I was able to say, okay, actually, I think he identified John Wayne.

And then I was like, okay, Elvis, the pretty lady has got to be Marilyn Monroe although it does not look like her no I'm Baff I wonder if I can share screen I feel like we need all we need all eyes on this I don't I really can't tell oh who is the last one I was going to say it's like a Mount Rushmore of people who live on tin lunchboxes

like souvenir tin lunchboxes at nicknack stores or just like you're an Italian restaurant in the Midwest and there's like some weird painting where they're all together doing something, like watching a movie or something. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. But who's the guy, is it like, like, who's the guy in the bowler hat? I don't think it's chaplain. I think it is chaplain.

It is? It's just such a weirdly rendered chaplain that I get. It's not odd job from James Bond. I don't think so. But which one of Laurel and Hardy wears the hat? Is it him maybe? Okay. Don't they both wear a bowler hat?

I don't know Laurel No Hardy wears the hat I believe Jason help me out here Ah wasn't a Laurel and Hardy guy Sorry What?

I know My allegiance is to the Marx brothers You know None of them are on here That I don't know Boy this is baffling I guess we'll pose it to the listeners I yeah

Boy I feel shut out If at least I This is a fail of a test On this Mount Rushmore Wow What a place it made us then have a conversation

because I was like it's not a three stooge you know and he was like I don't even know if I'm that familiar with the three stooges and I was like

no you know like do a voice do one of their voices and then that was kind of a fun game of trying to figure out what I don't know

it's a game you guys could play who did what voice in the three stooges Because we're definitely, like, there's one that's, like, very, like, you know, like, ooh, quick. Or, you know, there's the one that's like, yes, keep going. Yeah. It's almost Roger, like, it turned into Roger Rabbit.

But there's one that's definitely, like, please, or, you know, like. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah, it doesn't feel, it doesn't feel wrong. I just can't name. Because I'm blanking on the voice of one of them entirely. Was Curley the guy who said? said please please

I don't know I think Hurley said please I think no he's like the I ought to type guy but like and this was probably another selfish thing that I was being like let's figure out the three stooges voices and he's

like I just want to go see the the lake well what's the what is the one who I really I couldn't begin to say what the one who isn't I know kind of what Curly sounds like. I know what Mo sounds like, but Larry, how do you do a Larry impression?

Is that even the right name? Students are lost on me. Okay. Would you have any idea where to begin, anyone, how to do Larry? Here's why I have some idea of Larry is because Billy West use him for characters. Like, it's kind of this, he's kind of like depressed that he's got like a thing in his nose. But I only know that because I listen to podcasts where Billy West does voices of people that have been dead for 50 years. That's the only

I'm not an impression of an impression I follow I follow Curley's grandson on Instagram but I'm not a Stooges guy in general Just the grandsons I'm just into the grandson Thanks right now I'm my mouth agape I'm like now I'm like what's a podcast to listen to

And that's a new person to follow Yeah Check him out he's fascinating A man who's a grandson who is a professional Just goes around acting like a stooge grandpa Aw, it's a weird, it's a whole weird world. The son of the guy who played lurch on the original Adams family I follow, son of lurch, and he goes to conventions as son of lurch.

But he was never, yeah, he looks just like him. He's very tall, but he never was in anything as lurch. He just now goes and does appearances as son of lurch, which I love. Yeah, me too. I'm good. There's a wonderful world of names and oddballs. grandsons and all sorts of so many great sons out there. That's a lot of what the show's been about lately.

But we should make sure that it remains about theme parks. And we should weave. Okay, yeah, to that end, I do want to start weaving to worlds of fun. But I have a separate Kansas City themed entertainment question, which might be a dead end if you never went to this place. But I have to ask, because it's one of the only things I know about the silly stuff there is to do in Kansas City. Did you ever make it to the T-Rex Cafe at Legends Outlets?

Oh, great. Okay, a few. I'm glad I didn't strike out there. Because it's, it always stuck in my head because the T-Rex Cafe is this weird spin-off brand of the Rainforest Cafe. It exists only a Disney World. And then weirdly, the only other one ever was Kansas City. It's gone now. But you made it there?

Yeah, it was just like, I feel only once, and it was, you know, friends of mine that were other, like, amusement people, you know, looking for a good time. Not in a weekend, but probably, like, you know, well into our 20s or something. Yeah, just looking for a hit of, you know, dinosaurs in a restaurant. What is, do you, are there just a bunch of dinosaurs in there? Is that the, the gist of, I've never been to the Disney World one. Yeah, it wasn't, um, it definitely wasn't like a mind blower, you know. You don't say... Not the best review in the world.

They're going to put that. That's the review they put on the poster. For families with scared, nervous children, definitely not a mind-blower. It's like, okay, they'll be fine eating the mozzarella sticks here. They won't freak out. When you said, I have to ask a Kansas City person, like, if they've been to this thing, there were like seven other things that went through my room, right? that were better things not the stupidest thing i i could have named or uh what else flashed in your

head you know what the first thing that flashed in my head was um there because again i'd never heard about this it's somewhere else but there was do you guys remember that show zoobilly zoo oh mike brings up zubbly zoo quite a bit every other week i bring it up well we had a convention that you know obviously i still think about a lot because that's the first thing that came to my brain. But we had a convention at the embassy suites in Kansas City, which also was like an amusement park to all of us because embassy suite is awesome. I was on a text thread with our friend Kevin Telly about how cool embassy suites are this morning.

I've already covered embassy suite. I'm glad we're talking. We have a lot in common. Yeah. I just went to like the one of this convention. I pulled up where to use the restroom and I was like, I want to do it at the Embassy Suites because I like it there.

And then I walked around it. I had all my like memories. This was like two months ago including the Zubli Zoo part. A convention. This is we haven't reacted enough to this. That there was a Zubla Zoo Convention at Embassy Suites. What happened at this? What was there to do at this?

I mean, all I remember is walking into the main space and just the characters were there and you got them and what was really cool was my Mamon Bampo had a laundromat and dry cleaner and the Embassy of Suites was one of their accounts

and my dad would deliver the dry cleaning and we we got the Zubolizu clothes from so we got like binverines like clothes we had like you

so they cleaned those clothes yeah wow they were in Kansas City long enough um

that we cleaned one of his blazers that my uncle even found a note in his pocket I'm not saying

anything about the note but there was a note in Benarine's pocket that like as a family we got to read um but then when my dad

brought back the dry cleaning and then took me to the convention I remember getting to talk to him and trying to be like we washed your clothes here's a casual non-disconcerting thing to say

we washed your clothes Mr. Verene we read your note your secret is safe with us that is basically how it's fault you know also we did we did Mondale's suit

for one of the debates and we also did Andre the Giants underwear where it got him whoa wow brushes of fame wait when you say underwear do you mean a singlet or do you mean his literal underwear his little underwear

his little underwear so my my namo and Bampo had gotten the clothes in and she knew that she had it and my dad picked me from like I mean it would have been like kindergarten early and told me and my brother like I've got a big surprise for you guys and we drove out to the laundromat the wash house basically we locked it and my mom on bamboo we're just like holding it and it was like this big you know you're demonstrating the biggest you're

demonstrating a flag-sized piece of underwear whoa what can I ask was incredible was it like white just white regular white white just what is that

you know and they're like this is Andre the giant wow I guess yeah because it was a laundromat so he probably just brought everything yeah

everything that they would like you know had at the hotel but they wanted and clean we got is is that let me ask this question is there some sort of code is it unethical to enjoy the underpants of a man yeah even though he'd be though he's a public figure but yeah that doesn't mean that he asked for his underwear to be cocked at yeah you know I can say uh I think my family stuck to like the underwear never left the premises it's like like

Like went from C-Suite's to the car to the laundry and back. And we never made money off of the dollar than money they'd pay. You didn't go to the parking lot and run like kind of a side hustle at the convention of. Pay a dollar and see the underpants. Because you would have cleaned up if you did that. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Oh my God. Wow.

I never knew there was so much excitement in being a. working in Kansas City. The Zubles, cleaning the Zubles clothes, though, really. They were the Zubelia. Yeah, it's not, you weren't cleaning like bright, like bright red fur. It wasn't those clothes.

They had a special process for that, presumably. Can I ask, did they Zubles perform? Like, did they do a song or two? Or were they just hanging out? I do remember something, but there wasn't like a stage. I think everything was informal.

Like, if you went and, like, met the kangaroo, he might do a flourish, but it wasn't, like, a group number. Okay. It was just a casual hang, a meet and greet with the zoo bowls. Can I ask, did you have, like, my favorite was builder beaver? He was the beaver, of course. Did you have a moment with builder beaver or anything or no? I was, I'm sure I probably had a moment. I know that I was with a V-line for that.

That the pretty pink, like, girlie girl one. Yes, yes. I'm forgetting her name now. Kubli Zoo, pink one. What was that kangaroo? Does that sound familiar? That, well, there's a, yeah. Or is that a song that she sings or something.

No, no, no, no. That's the name. That's the name. Yeah, that's her name. Yeah. All right. Yeah, Van Gogh lion. There was someone that always creeped me out,

but definitely her. And Ben Boreen, I was... Well, would that have been all of them? Because I think I'm creeped out by all of them. I was also going to ask, are you any relation to Forest Gardner, who played Van Gogh Lion, who enjoys art? I get, you would have told us that. Yeah, that would have been part of this whole story, I assume. Bigger headline news than my family washed Andre the Giants underwear.

Can I say my ZubblyZu fact, which is that the, I just recently learned that the theme song was either sung or written by the same guy who sings the perfect strangers theme song, standing tall on the wings of our dreams. And which, and that guy stayed in my head because he also sings the song, We Stand Tall, which was an internal Scientology song that they made a music video for that's in that expose documentary and he's in it. So, just fun fact, Zubli-Zoo theme and Perfect Strangers theme, a mega-Scientologist, part of the thing. Yeah. Zuboli-Zu written by Hymn and Shuky Levy, who did Power Rangers. He may, yeah, maybe he sang. They wrote it, they wrote it, yeah, they wrote the song.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They deserve credit for this great song. I just want to make sure we know who did the work. It's an important piece of media that has been long forgotten, I feel. Yes, we tribute to wrote the song, we tribute who washed the clothes of Mr. Marine. Yes. That is so insane. Wow, wow.

Okay, well, I'm glad we did some other detours Kansas City was here. But let's get into Worlds of Fun a little bit, which you chose as your, this was like this, I guess, oh, I don't really know. I assume your childhood theme part, but it is the biggest theme park in Kansas City, the biggest theme park in the Midwest, seemingly. Yeah, tell us about your history with Worlds of Fun. Yeah. So World's of Fun, it's funny. Like the roots go deep for me. And it even starts like the opening of Worlds of Fun because last night I was, it was my dad's birthday. And I was like, remind me to ask you about Worlds of Fun because I've got a World's Fun thing coming up. And I was like, oh, I'm doing a podcast out about Worlds of Fun. And didn't you, didn't you work there? Like when at first, open and he was like first guy to be fired from Worlds of Fun Cool

Wow love this I knew that he was the first guy I knew he worked there and he rode the Zambe Zeezinger which is an iconic roller coaster at Worlds of Fun which is like kind of like your starter

roller coaster it's the first roller coaster I ever rode you go up this like corkscrew which is really cool and you sit with another person it's one of those ones where you sit in someone's lap so so it is just cool

and stand with but so honestly like this AMBZ singer is my first memory of World of Fun when I probably went when I was six but also my dad was one of the first to ride and then first to be fired

because he after work one day he said it was the summer 73 I think the same summer it opened like in May he got off work it was July 3rd and he was like I had some Roman candles in my car and me and my

buddy just decided let's light him off and there was a security guards little like kiosk in the parking lot and my dad was like let's see if we can hit it shot up

and he was like Heidi it couldn't have been more perfect it went straight into the doorway I was like to blow up it wouldn't have blown him up but it did you know there were sparks in the

in this is a house and we high tailed it out of there but you know he was like I showed up for work the next day and where my time card was it just said we need to talk to you oh that detail's cool too

they just replaced it that's oh that's so scary that's so much scarier than somebody's saying it oh my god a form was waiting so there was that and then my older brother worked there he was also fired

a world's fun for I think he wasn't like ruthless enough on the games. He worked at like the balloon dart thing and he was just giving away too much stop the animal

merchandise. Too nice to children. Yeah. He was also booted. And then my mom went on a date with the guy who does the instructional video for the

ride Cyclone Sam's Cloud Pooper 2000. So she went on date with Sam. Whoa. Whoa. Okay. Well, this is blown this has blown my mind because I wonder if it's maybe this is a good time to let me, because I have at the ready, one of my videos to present is the intro video for Cyclone Sam's Cloud Pooper 2000. So we will now hear audio of

the person who your mom went on a date with and this is quite, I mean, you have to assume this isn't what he was like day to day and on the date. However, but maybe he was though. That makes it more interesting to imagine. Do you mind playing Cyclone Sam's here, Mike? Howdy folks?

And welcome. Little did I know when I was working on the old Cloud Pooper 1000 that its failings as a rainmaking machine would lead me to invent this the internationally renowned cloud pooper 2000

the newest and finest entertainment conveyance currently available on the planet that's sure it's probably plenty oh you don't want to there's a lot more left though no yeah we don't need all all three minutes of this is this character caught

between like old prospector and crazy scientist hmm yeah yeah Exactly like The narrator In waiting for government Who's narrating the show It's like

Oh yeah Oh don't get me started on beans Or I'll be talking to the Yeah The sun comes up Wow God he's exactly like that This is wild Your mom went on a date with this guy

With a star Worlds of Fun star Geez Yeah Well I reckon you'd be looking mighty purdy today. I'd be happy to take you out for a night on the taferous, Esperilla.

That ride, though, was awesome. It was like an indoor barn where then they created like mist and rain and you're in one of those just kind of like claw arm rides where you're just like, it's kind of roller coaster but you can, you're like free flying

through the air and your like vehicle or whatever. And I remember I was, that was one of the newer rides. Like, we probably got that when I was like in sixth grade. It was really exciting. It was like a big lead up. Cyclone Sam's like a big deal for not a roller coaster. And then she went on a date with him and she was like, oh, you know, you might know the guy I went out with last night.

It was like. But she was like, he... does Cyclone Sam at World's Fun. And I was like, Cyclone Sam, and I remember thinking two things. One, like, well, that's kind of a celebrity, so that's cool. Yes. Big name, big name to drop. I like that you might know him.

He's Cyclone Sam, I guess. Your new stepdad is, well, he's Cyclone Sam. And please, he's very serious about that name. So please use the full name until you get to know a little better. But sadly, this is the other thing that I was thinking, which I don't feel this way now. I'm a different age.

I'm watching that. And I'm just like, but I remember thinking like, he's ugly. Well, and look, he is, he's made up to be not ugly necessarily, but he's like, you know, but he's an old, Cooky guy for shit.

Like, it is weird to think about him in date mode. Like, assuming that your mom is not also, is not 90 years old, which I can't imagine she was then. No, she was, like, my whole adolescent, she had a very Christianer vibe. Like, she had short black hair and always black sunglasses. Cool. So she looked cool, and I was, like, imagining her with him, and I was like, Do you know why I felt? Because I did want the brag, but then I was like, but he looks like a dork.

You know, I was just... Is he actually bold? That's a question. I mean, the glasses don't help. Yeah, I bet he didn't look quite this dorky. I think it's played up. I think maybe... If she had enough taste to look cool day to day, this can't have been like the base of this guy.

You put him in a Kansas City Chief Starter jacket with some Dracroix Noir, you know, he could be good looking, you know, it could be. Fully, you've got nice eyes, like, I can see the human being there now, but I couldn't. Well, that's a question we ask on the show a lot. Can Cyclone Sam get it? that's something we all have to well he's a talented guy Cyclone Sam the character is very talented and is an inventor and talent is attractive

and can supersede any physical like looks or whatever so he didn't let the failure of the cloud poofer 1,000 get him down if his greatest failure became his greatest triumph when he turned it into the cloud poof for 2000 and that's to be admired yeah I was like

override and they only went on one date. So I don't know if he got it. We already did. We rather not know. Yeah. Yeah, we don't need to know that. I would love to know if my mom had a one night

to scan the cyclone sam. And he got rules. Yeah. Well, and that would be kind of like seemingly the only, maybe not the only, but I'd say a rare worlds of fun character that would have been an option, other than dating Papa Bear from the

Berenstain Bears. There's not a lot of others to choose from. They're a coaster, but it's not a character park, you see. I went out with a balloon from the sign. I went out with a hot air balloon from the sign.

Can I throw a couple more videos into the mix if we're sort of in this because I, having that locked and loaded, I was like, maybe this video will be funny. It never would have imagined the link, the segue you would have, you provided there. That was great. But there's some other, which one should I go for? I was watching a lot of ads for this place.

I think I'll do Facing Fears. This is from 1997, and I think that we'll all enjoy this window into where, sensitivity to mental health was at in the year 1997. Can you play this one, Mike? Today's kids face an alien world. How can we help all of you confronting nameless, faceless fears? We can scare the witch out of them. That's what we can do. At hills of fun and oceans are fun. We'll get them all wet.

We'll put them on a scary roller coaster. They'll be really messed up when we get through with them. Bring a spryder died It's where I can and get $6 off regular admission So something I read that didn't translate in the If you were just hearing that was that it's like a black screen And there's white words sadly floating by Which are uncertainty, anxiety So then the solution to anxiety in troubled kids

becomes a little scared of crap out of them on a roly coaster Yeah I believe they should showed the detonator, which was that like big drop one, the monsoon, which was the water ride. And then what really tied in with a commercial for me, they showed the Timberwolf, which is our wooden roller coaster. And, you know, I mentioned the Zamuzi Zinger, which is the starter coaster, you know, and I was probably six when I

rode that. I think I was tall fast so I could ride coasters fast. And then I think we went back the next summer or just like, it was early. I was six and a half or seven. And the Timberwolf was like the wooden roller coaster. And it was called the Timberwolf, which is to me a horrifying. It just sounds scary. And you would see these commercials about it. It was just like always rattling.

You saw the big hill. For a while, that was like our scary coaster. It was right before my parents got divorced. we were out worlds of fun and I mean maybe this caused the split um they were fighting over if I should go on the timber wolf and I don't even think I was putting up a fight either way like the kid part of the park was called pandemonium and that's the other character like the panda oh right yes there were pandas it's camp snoopy now but I think I was I was cool to be there, but they were just

having this, like, fight about, like, she's tall enough, like, you should do it, you know? And I rode the Timber Wolf, and it was one of those things, and I'd actually made this mistake with a child

that wasn't my own, of taking someone on something. Too early. Yeah. And when I did that, it was Space Mountain. I did it to a niece, and I just, It was the second we took off, because I think that's mild. The second we took off, I knew when I felt or like, um, clutch my hand.

And I was like, she has no idea how we, how long this even is. So like in her ear, I was just very much like, it's only plenty more second. You know, I was like really like coax, like just like comforting her. And on the Timberwolf, it was terrifying. I had no context of anything. My dad, like, hands up. just having fun and then at the end it was like when he saw what had happened to me um it was like he knew he was like that was a huge mistake and i think he was like um what kind of

pizza do you want get pizza whatever flavor you want Heidi, or do you want to get ice cream before the pizza? He just knew he, um, yeah. Oh, man. Oh, it's so rough. And because it feels like, I mean, I'm flashing to my, and I've been a coastered Frady cat, still am to some extent, but made some progress. And I, but like the, the, the upsetting ones, the scarring ones, in my memory, the rides are

like 13 minutes. Like, that's how long. long it feels, even if it's only 90 seconds or so. Yeah. Oh, God. And now as a parent, that's something I'm trying to avoid is like, I want to push him, but then like, I know that, because it'll feel that way on the other end, too. I'll be, if I know I made a mistake, it is going to feel like 13 minutes to me as a dad.

Yeah. To this day, even as an adult, it feels like a perpetual just car crash. It's just so. Shaky is tough to get over. Shaky is like, I will brave some bigger coasters at this point, but the shakiness is no appeal to me. That's where it gets, I don't know, Mike, you maybe feel different because you have your whole thing of wanting to get flocked up on rides.

But does that apply to wooden roller coasters where is that like, do you have any fondness for wooden roller coasters that shake you around like crazy? No. I want to get fucked up on Transformers. I want to get fucked up in Indiana Jones That's a comfortable amount of getting fucked up Like getting shaken Aggressively

Like Ghost Rider at Knots Just rattles So aggressively It just feels like it's out of control In a way that makes me nervous I'll do it But it also gives like It feels like it gives you a headache

It's messing you up so much It's not the fun You know what it is I think I want to be I want to feel like I'm in kind of like a gentle mosh pit. I don't want to feel like I'm on

something like vibrating that's about to blow up. That might give you a headache. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So it's a different thing for me. Yeah. Yeah. A smooth and controlled seems like the idea. Now, maybe you can tell me, because I watched some ride-throughs of some of their coasters.

I'm looking at Mamba, which is like maybe the biggest one, or like certainly a major attraction. It's very tall and very fast, but the ride-through seemed kind of like it glides a little bit. It actually, maybe I'm misinterpreting. It seemed kind of like smooth and relaxing in some way, but maybe if you're on it, that's not the case.

The Mamba, the Mamba was a big deal when we got it. And I would say smooth coaster, I just had some friends visit Kansas City last summer and go to worlds and oceans of fun rode the mamba they were like that was awesome and then jumped on reddit and i think there's some forum of maybe worlds of fun employees that just talk about how much the mama breaks down constantly and like safety things which i never that for me smooth ride gliding like you're right on but um i think maybe some internal problem oh god oh god uh this is it just seemed like a distressing amount

uh i uh i i don't like i don't know what's your what's your favorite like like what's the best coaster there you think well the one that you really worked up to it's gone now as a kid even though i started i did timberwolf too early was the orient express because that had an upside down loop and that one just was like that one felt crazy. So that lives on for me is probably my favorite because

the only time I'd done upside down before that was just a Chicago loop at the carnival. And so to have that incorporated into a whole coaster felt like a lot. There was a ride there were two rides at Worlds of Fun that were

similar to each other that also felt like you worked up too. One was the Finnish fling which was like the Gravatron at the carnival except it was in the Swedish part of World's of Fun and you were just in a barrel

and it was like the I don't know what it is, the tropical force or whatever that you know keeps you against the wall. The treasure against the wall and the floor drops out or something? Yeah, yeah. Right. That one was a really big deal because if you didn't have number one it was scary and then if you accidentally wore sandals which of course you would because it's the summer you couldn't go on that ride because you know

your your shoes would fall off or something so like there were so many times where you would work yourself up to like I can do this like I can do the finish playing but then they would you know you get stopped in your tracks so they'd be like you've got flip-flops till next summer to like get up the guts to do it. But there was one called the bamboozler, which was also one that just spun around and then got higher and higher and kind of tilted on its side, but it strapped you in so you could wear whatever shoes you wanted. And there was a day that my friends and I went to Worlds of Fun.

I think we were 12. And it was definitely a day where it was. like we got to go alone and like meeting boys was in the conversation like we could meet boys I remember wearing I wore a shirt it was like a tiny tee with a little collar and like a pink teddy bear thought I was really cute because like a couple weeks before I had gone to boys to men Montel Jordan concert and I met Montel Jordan in that shirt and I was I paid $10 to meet Montel Jordan and get a picture.

That's a good price. Jeez, that's a good deal. Lucky shirt. So we go to Worlds of Fun. We get in line for the Bamboozler. There's a guy working the bamboo. Of course, all the guys who, first off, we went to meet guys,

but we were too scared to talk to anyone that wasn't a ride operator. Because that was just like, they had to talk back to us and like you know those were like high school guys so we thought every single one of them were cute but there was one guy who was working the bamboozler named j who you know he was funny and nice to us and we love the bambootsler and we you know we immediately got a crush on him and so we just kept on getting back in line and like riding and riding and riding and right and um he definitely tolerated us

I know that we wrote that probably 40 times because there was no line and we weren't getting sick. And I remember going home in my journal that day and I was like, I met a guy.

His name is Jay. He works at Worlds of Fun. I think he likes me. He definitely noticed me. I can assure you. And me more than my friends. I definitely sense more connection than with everyone I was with. And had plans of like, I think I can make it back there tomorrow or I think I'll

see him next week. But like the sad truth was worlds of fun is like a 35 minute drive. So it was like a and it was expensive, you know, so it was like a once a summer type thing. And you'd already pay that $10 for Montel Jordan. So it's been an expensive summer as is. Yeah. Oh, another Kansas City long distance romance spurred by the bamboozler. So much potential at World's a Fund, but we just never, nothing was long last.

Yeah. Did they have like an annual pass back then? Yes. but that which I imagine was probably $35 and like you'd get unstar or it was like there was always a promotion where it was like bring a six pack of Sprite and get in half price for some names but seriously that felt like a million dollars like that was just never an annual pass was not an option for me and when there's a when there's a financial transaction in order to see your boyfriend Jay

That feels a little dirty. Now that doesn't feel like pure love if there's money involved. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure all of those places, because outside of his Disney and Universal, like, annual passes to theme parks are like $20 more than just a day ticket, $30. But at the time with my parents, too, I was like, we never got like an annual pass to Six Flags Great America. It was like probably just too much.

We are not spending the extra $25. We go here once a year, if that. But I, you know, I'm using just a terrible term of just saying, like, poor man's brain. But, like, when you're in that financial spot, both me as a child and the way my parents were thinking, you're also not able to even do the math of it's only $20 more. Like, you just, it's just, it's $20. It's not thinking about it over time. It's just $20 more today and that is off. Sure. Yeah, yeah. You don't calculate value. You don't even let yourself look at that sign and dream. You see the words annual pass. And you go, that's not, that's for millionaires. All this stuff, I think it was like a revelation in my 20s that I was like, you can get a pass to Disneyland and I can just drive and hang out. I don't even think I knew that was impossible. Because like we did, these things were once in a while. This was just not, we were not going to these things very often.

which also keeps them special i still believe like kids should not be able to see have money or see behind the curtain like you know i just think you built yeah my kid's gonna my kid's gonna be ruined though so she's not gonna think it's special you already universal every five days yeah yeah it's already it's already happening uh um let me ask this in the realm of because now you've you've touched on the sort of awkward flirting era. And earlier you mentioned like going on the rides with the lap seating. So I think it has to be said that you did a sketch on a S&L that memorialized not only

Worlds of Fun and the Ride Viking Voyager, but also this like very 12-year-old syndrome of using theme parks for the most awkward flirting ever. This was a couple years ago, this was like, or sort of, it was in like the pandemic era a little more. This was a, Nick Jonas is that,

is that, is that career, who's the host? And this was this, this is the sketch where you're, there's, teens are pairing off and figuring out who will sit where and doing the biggest,

most performative show of would we, I guess we would pair up and, but then leaving, our buddy Kyle to alone with the life-size Joe Gardner from Seoul to be his lap partner.

Love the sketch. I loved it at the time. I did not realize that it was a Worlds of Fun tribute, that it was the specific ride, and that you show a shot of the park and of the balloon at the beginning. This must have been awesome to get to

commemorate Worlds of Fun on the show. I mean, it was so so cool. It was, it was just based off a bit that Mikey and I were doing at rehearsal of both of us remembering that energy of like, were you guys riding together? Are you?

This show, this, funny little show for yourselves and everybody knows what they're dealing and still I'm sure it's like, I have had versions of that in adulthood. It's just, it's such a, yeah, it's like

you know it deep in your bones. But we were doing that and then there was one Wednesday morning before that table read where I just thought like I didn't have enough material and I was like I should just write another sketch and I was like Mikey and I were doing that bit and I started writing it and I was like that's just not enough of the game or something to live in three minutes and at the very beginning of the sketch I had just you know you always want like an opening joke and I had someone be like whoa like I can't believe you you won a life size version of the guy from Seoul because I like this for some reason sketch made it. It was really funny just to have that. But then if you're like

if you're not sketch, then I was like, oh, well, what do I want to see? And I'm like, you know, Kyle's my favorite performer of all time. And it's like him in a ride life size version of the guy from and like a beat up version of the guy from something like an off market guy so he's so janky it's such a funny prop yeah but then what was so cool is that then it felt like a cool thing you know sometimes at the show you know you're so selfish and you just you're like I want this thing or I want to show that I can do this or this and that sketch for me was like it felt again like probably because it was last minute and I couldn't overthink things we were just writing it. It was like, it was almost like, okay, I'm kind of servicing me

in this bit that Mikey do, but I want, I want, um, I want to see Kyle do this thing. And so that was so fun to see that. And then, then as it's, it gets in, it's getting made. And you know, it's always like sets like sending you like, do you want this or this? And, you know, I forget about, yeah, it's like, they need an establishing shot. They're going to be like, do you want this? shot like and that next day when they're like which shot of like actual worlds of fun do you want to open the sketch and I'm like oh my god wow and states got so much higher because I was like if this makes it people from Kansas City might be watching and they're going to fucking see worlds of fun on us you know like and um and so then so that was so cool I'm like please

fucking make it for my city and then it made it and then what was the best thing ever like I still think I probably kept the messages I got so many messages the next day from people

from PN City that were telling me about like my first kiss was on the Viking Voyager or I remember feeling that way because it was one of those ones you sat in someone's lap there were just it was like so many heartwarming

stories of like awkward pubescent moments for people at worlds of thought it was so cool oh gee that's so wow well it's something that probably felt very like personal and specific to you and then like put it on the show and then realize it was so it was like so much broader more universal than you thought uh that's so cool it's such a funny see i also just love that like because i felt this too you know probably being more on the kyle end of the end of the line but the sadness of like what your got your awkwardness is popular kid awkwardness that's a lot

That's a loud sanctioned awkwardness. And Kyle's kind of awkwardness is just for, like, there's an invisible line that's like, no, that's not the same as us. You have, you're different. You have to be with Joe Gardner. Oh, it's so sad. It's such a, um, poor cuck. And that is, I was talking. And it's like a little detail you kind of catch at the beginning and then it starts piling.

They start saying it's, you start saying it's so much more pointedly, the saddest. Just, oh, it gives you, like, I get, like, embarrassment goosebumps thinking about that, which means you did it right. Oh, my God. Heidi, I have a very specific Missouri thing. I was looking at the restaurant at World of Fun. I was reading through all of them, and I was like, oh, pretty standard theme park food. and then at River City Grill,

the description end it with Don't forget the ooey-gooey butter cake. Now, I wanted to ask you, do you like gooey butter cake? Because I've had gooey butter cake, and I will explain it to my host eventually. But is this a thing? Someday.

Was this a thing for you growing up, and do you like it? So I like buttercake, but I did not, this, I did not have that. And I can tell you probably why, because River City Grill sounds expensive. Guarantee that number one, I would have never asked to eat there while at the park, because it sounds like a restaurant inside the park. And that would have been like absolutely not. And that, yeah, my parents would have avoided that, like, the plague.

Hmm. It sounds sit down. You're right. Grill. I don't know if it's a grill with an E. You throw that E on the grill. Now we're in a now we're, yeah, now we're in Tycoon zone. But outside of the part, was gooey buttercake a part of your, because this is a...

Where is this going? So, well, because here's the thing. I have not encountered this a lot. So gooey buttercake is like a coffee cake kind of thing. And I always knew it as St. Louis buttercake. And because my dad and my family, there was a place in Ocean Sea, New Jersey, Ward's pastry, just closed, like just shy of 100 years. And they had this St. Louis style butter cake. and it is really good

but it's a sort of thing we would get for breakfast to have with coffee and then after you eat it your chest hurts oh good but I was trying to figure out I was like oh this is a Missouri specific

the St. Louis kind of specific thing and I was like I wonder how this one bakery had it and then the Wikipedia page for Goey Buttercake says it is also widely popular in German-style bakeries

throughout the Philadelphia metropolitan area as well as down the Jersey Shore so but it's a St. Louis thing that migrated is what you're saying yeah it's a and there's there's a lot of versions

and apocryful stories of how it was made is it like the lemonade at the Panero that would kill you it's a butter cake that would try to kill you is what you're saying um it was a i think the one main story is that like it was made during the depression on accident and they're like well uh supplies are hard uh so we're going to sell this anyway and that was a hit it's basically like a very thin cake with a layer of like butter heavy icing you would think that Missouri like Kansas City we would adopt that but I will say I didn't even know what

butter cake was maybe until like 10 years ago and probably because it's a St. Louis bang and there is the St. Louis Kansas City rivalry which is unsafe okay but we won't like we kind of actually do dabble in St. Louis pizza but we will not adopt anything from St. Louis And even when you said that it was like, once you said St. Louis and then I, in my head, I was like, why was it World's Fun? That's not their theme park. Whoa. Yes. Shouldn't have been there.

Yeah. This is a mistake. You'll make a point of not having it. Well, yeah. I mean, if you have it, if you were to visit St. Louis and have it with coffee for breakfast. are going right back to bed. Like that day is, you are dragging that day.

If we could convince you, it seems like you don't want to have it, but remember, it will hurt your chest. Is the butter cake from because we get the buttercake from the California Pizza Kitchen, which is right over here sometimes. And that's very good. And it does not, it's not painful.

It's not painful at all, though. I can eat it and I'm not, I don't have to go to the hospital. There's variations that are more, Yellow cake and cream cheese focused. And that's more of what the CPK version is. That's like a beginner buttercake. Like with coasters, that's what you start out at. You start.

Okay, yeah. Until you get to the Ui-Gui one later. Yeah, you had to work, just like you had to work up to Mamba. You have to work up. Yeah, yeah, climb the buttercake ladder. Got it. I'm a novice with buttercake, got it. A question about food in this place in general.

bad news are you trying to get how you're trying to not eat there if you're there or do you recall having food that was uh fine at worlds of fun i i pretty much i'm not eating at all i because i also feel like i need to clarify like we were we were doing fine but like this type just like real class family but like i will say that like like anything that felt like amusement or like you're going out felt like you only got one part of that like if you're going to buy the ticket you don't you eat before so I just can honestly say like when I'm really thinking about this I'm like I don't remember ever eating at worlds of fun ever which maybe means I was just having too much fun um but yeah I I can't I can't recall anything

that's what it felt like to be just take in the overview i jason found like i guess the one distinct thing but it it sure seemed to me like what because i'm starting to get this way at places of like oh i can especially all these like cedar fair six flags kind of parks i'm like all right this is the kind i'll go there i'll go on a couple rides but i need a meal plan i need to figure out how i'm eating before and immediately after so that i'm not stuck in like an hour and a half line for two times as expensive panda express as it should be because I obviously go to amusement parks now and now the food has become so much a part of it

and I feel like oh my God well I need to eat the food at the Ant Man Cafe because it's minuscule or I need to try all this but honestly I don't think it's doing me any favors at the park and I kind of don't want to waste my time doing that anymore because I don't know it like slows me down for sure.

It makes me tired. It's going to make me sick. It's almost like if I had more time, it's like I should do a day where you just eat and then where you just ride. I don't know. That's exactly true. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I guess to put a bunch of time into getting food that's kind of overpriced and overrated. And if you're not going to do the Instagram post, then why even it's not post or the... If you're getting a souvenir mug of some kind or glass, that is an extra incentive to do it. But yeah, then you still probably have to sit down. Let me, let's make sure we give a little time to Oceans of Fun to the water park that is adjacent.

That opened in 82. This park opened in 73, I think, and then they added this in 82. Strong memories of Oceans of Fun. Oceans of Fun, I remember when I heard about Oceans of Fun, it was the same... My dad was basically, like, Kansas City's getting a notion. It was a big deal because we were going to, and you found out we were going to get like that wave pool thing, which just big and cool. This was the same thing. I guess this is a theme in my family with the like, you know, come to the dry cleaner.

We've got Andre the Giants underwear, Kansas Cities get in a ocean. And when I got home from school, the day that they announced, like, that the Luxor was coming to Vegas, my dad was like, America's getting a pyramid. Like, you know, it's just that we're like, oh, my God, so. This is magical. Yeah, this is how it should be. He appreciated it more than others. He wasn't Plazaier. But it took a while, I think, to get to oceans of fun.

I think I only saw commercials for it and heard about it. it for a long time and then once I got there and then also what was crazy was you could go to worlds of fun and you you could go to oceans of fun and you could go to oceans of fun and you could ride a couple of the rides at worlds of fun if you like had short shorts and shoes you could put on but you couldn't like you couldn't be in full clothes and then go over to Oceans of Fun or something. You could do both in a day, but, like, it was confusing. So there's all to say, sometimes you had to just make a, like, a Sophie's choice of, like,

is it going to be Worlds of Fun or Ocean's Fun? And, you know, most friends wanted to do Worlds of Fun just because the coasters and stuff. But Ocean the Fun was awesome. The Wave Pool. It's like, I know wave pools get a lot of flack for me, disgusting. but I remember like when you learned about the existence of these as a child you are like the world has this this is something this is an option to not that I haven't done one I don't think in 30 years but at the time you're like holy shit a pool that behaves like the ocean well now I've heard everything yeah and just and we've also like you know it showed just the same as like a height chart shows you're getting taller. I also think it showed you getting braver

because, like, you know, I would start all the way to the back where the beach tears were. And then, like, the closer you got to that wall where the first wave was created, like, that like a big deal to work up to that. So,

that was very cool. There were a couple rides that there was a ride there called the Python plunge, which was one that you could do with both parts. And it was, I still think that was just one of the best rides ever. It was basically four water slides.

Two were open slides, which were just kind of speed slides so you could race a friend. And then the other one was a close slide where you could also race. But again, I think there were, you could do two. So it was like a double raft or whatever,

to hold, you know, you could sit in. Oh, got it. I also felt like if the Viking Voyager felt a little spicy, you know, the tubes were like, you were enclosed. Oh, boy, yeah. In swimsuits, much left, my God.

It just felt very spicy. But the most PG, maybe not even PG spice. That's what's so funny about all this. You're like, what could happen? And probably nothing, like, almost in any of these scenarios, nothing happens. You try to touch a shoulder and then your arm flies away. You fail.

But that was great. And then I even asked, and I don't know that I've gotten a good answer, one thing that I really remember being a big deal at Oceans of Fun was there was like an alcoholic or not an alcohol, an alcohol part of the part where you could drink alcohol and is it as kids I don't know that just felt like I was like called like

YPP no one has oh wait castaway coat is what it was called oh that's a good name for that kind of thing sure I think now it's called

belly up bar but like being a kid and looking over like being in the wave pool and then looking over at like people It sounds so stupid, but, like, people floating and drinking look all to me. Someday.

Yeah. It is, I mean, it is kind of cool. I get it. Still, and as an adult, it's like, pretty fun, you know. Yeah, for any of the touching that I was getting done in that fucking tube on the Python flying, like, these people were just, like, open, in swimsuit. It's a drinkie. Oh, yeah. That's where the touching leads.

If I can, if I get, if I become of age and I do my touching right, one day I'll be a confident adult hanging out and double tubes whenever I want and drinking a beer. And now there's cabins like we can walk in and out from the cabins right outside World Fund. So it's like, I mean, that's honeymoon right there. You know, you're drinking in a pool. You're walking to the cabin that has like, Like a pond outside, you know? Yeah. In northeast Missouri, Kansas City, that to me looks like Beverly Hills 9-0-2-and-ow.

Like the beach bug. Like that season, the season where they work at the, yeah. Wow, wow. Would you ever today, well, here's what I'm doing today. I'm going to Cabana Bay or whatever. I go or castaway Caste away Cove Cabana Bay is in

Orlando Oh yes that's what yeah right yeah Would that even make sense As an adult today or is that weird I'm shocked I haven't Now that you say it I know that I will And I did

I had some friends go Last year The same friends who rode the Mamba So they got it all confused They went to Oceans of Fun Had their day there And then they thought they could just cross over in their

swimsuits and no shoes. They got in line for the Mamba. Man, the ride operator got on there and was like, excuse me, to the girl in the bikini and the guy in those...

Oh, man. I'm gonna need to go put some clothes and singers on. I want to ride. Humiliation. Oh, my God. it's an adult story wow yeah um if you can have i i i like would be horrified to be called out on an intercom but it seems like there's a lot of people who are plenty comfortable at all these places like i'll keep my phone out and get yelled at by a loudspeaker that's fine that's how much i want

to have my phone out totally totally cool seeing kids seeing kids that seem to not be bothered by getting yelled out was like watching a real superhero when you were a kid for me. Yeah. Like, because there would be kids that would be getting yelled at constantly and they would not do what the person was saying. And I was just like in awe of that. I was scared of it. I wanted them to go to jail.

Don't get me wrong. But I was just like, I can't believe what this kid is doing. I would never try that. Did they not read the code of conduct before they arrived? Oh, that's right. No cusses. and yet they continue to cuss My family

my mom especially was such a planner and there were we went to a number of parks that were eventually owned by Cedar Fair who owns World of Fun like Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom or King's Dominion

and that was a big deal because you would have to pack a change of clothes because they would have a water park that was included with your theme park admission and it was so i looking back i'm like oh my god my parents probably had to do so much extra labor for the day where it's like all right we're doing the theme park in the water park because everyone's got to bring a change of clothes and then you rent a locker and so like i uh i was not waiting for the roller coaster and no shoes because like from a very young age, I was like, well, we don't know when we'll get back to civilization.

We got to prepare her, you know? But that's amazing to me, because I listen to that, and I'm like, that is pre-internet. So how did your parents even get that information, like, of, oh, of how we are? We always had, like, she, for, like, planning or traveling, there was always, like, a stack of brochures and, like, everything. Wow. And so she, she would be like an expert by the time we got to the park, you know.

And I was a weird little kid who loved reading brochures. So I was, I was pretty up to it as well. The lockers are only 12 by 12, mom. Can't put too many swimsuits in there. Our large towels may not fit. This park is 20 acres. We better calculate how many calories.

we should know exactly how much to eat before we go. How much buttercake can we pack? Can I read something I always, if we land on a water park that we've never talked about before, something I always like to do is go to the one-star reviews on Yelp and then go past those into the ones that Yelp doesn't recommend. That's really where the good stuff is. The secret unlocked one-star reviews. And there's a few that I really enjoyed.

Okay. I will never go to Oceans of Fun again. While my family, we're enjoying the wave pool when suddenly the whistles blowed and a baby was head under in the water. Lifeguard jumps in. We are all freaking out, only to find out that it was a fake baby used for training. While hundreds of people are in the wave pool. pool. I get it. The lifeguards need training, but why did I almost have a heart attack when the baby's

head was underwater and no one seemed to be going after it? And then when I asked about it, they said his name is Timmy and there's a sign in front of the park that warned you, we throw this baby into the pool for training exercises. So I go to the front of the park and the sign is only 15 by 20 inches and there's only two signs in the whole park, blah, blah, blah, blah. But anyway, that, I mean, And that I guess I see where she's coming from. If you believe that suddenly there was a dead baby floating in the wave pool. You were told, there's a sign. Did you miss the paper-sized sign?

I'm just imagining the manager who's like grabbing the doll by the legs. And it's like, oh, it's my favorite part of the job is just like winging a baby doll into a wave pool. He takes a little, it puts a little too much. Stank on that when he throws a baby He's getting aggression out I got a it's exciting I pick a different spot to throw it every time So keep on their toes

See if I can bank it off A couple of surfaces on the way There's also the version where he like kind of just like Slowly wades into the water with it Like kind of in his shorts and kind of just lets it go Slyly It pops up and he's just kind of hang out Sly baby

Sly baby doll Oh my God When I heard that But then I immediately It's like too much hometown pride Like got defensive in my brain And was like well that's our thing Like that's Timmy

Even though I've never heard of that But I just kind of like her We've got our sign We're letting you know And that's the way we train our lifeguards And this is good fucking work Train them It's like immediate in emergency

And that's our thing Timmy is a beloved Kansas City fixture, damn it. Do you have a problem with my city? You have a problem with my Timmy, I guess. Timmy could be like the next Annabelle, really. He could become a very like an icon. Superstar, yeah, there's superstar creepy babies out there.

Timmy might have what it takes. I loved that. Poor Timmy. And then this one is so haunting I had to get it out of my system. Okay. It was an interesting day. I fell out of my tube on the Aruba tuba and I was squished between two men and Speedos. Then in Paradise Falls, I got my chode stuck in a rope net.

What? Well. And finally, and finally a child took a steaming dump on the water slide right before me, so I slid through his crap. Wait a minute. Could be a joke. I recognize So many things. That's what I think.

Yeah. Yeah. How do you get just the chode stuck somewhere? Heightened too quickly. Heighten too quickly. Need some punch up. No, no, no. Show.

Yeah, you know, showed it's... What slide can there be two other men on each side to be email? There's no free... Well, you all out of a tube. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And how are they next to each other? And then a third ends up in there. No, no, no.

This pushes believability. But even if it is a work of fiction, I have to give it up to this great writer for the phrase, I got my trod stuck in a rope net. The invention there is sparkling. A rope net. Also, just to tie everything together, it makes me, like, boy, imagine seeing this guy's chode in Andre the Giants underwear. You wouldn't be able to find it. I got my chode lost in

Hundred of the Giants underwear I didn't know no one ever offended again did we miss anything or any any summation statements about this place I have a go ahead Mike

there's a Halloween haunt I don't know did you ever do any sort of Halloween stuff there I do think I did a Halloween worlds of fun I don't remember

it that well. Or I might be living through some friends that did it. I just looked at the website now and I was just struck I was struck by it because we love like original characters and this appears to be as far as I know an original character and this is Mr. Tickle.

And it's like a yeah he's got kind of like clown makeup on but he also has like a top hat and like a ringmaster outfit as well. And he seems to be I don't know They don't have so much of him on the website, but he was the one who seems like the star

of like the original characters at this Halloween haunt. I don't know a ton about him. I just wonder how long he's been around. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do feel like that could also be Cyclone Sam. That's all I'm saying. Whoa. Whoa, he's kind of still in a little window on my screen at least.

Oh my God. Compare control. Like, oh my God. It totally could be. Like their heads are turned the same way. I could see it, wow. Yeah, I mean, this is new, this guy, I'm not, I'm trying to figure, like, how old could have cyclone Sam have been at the time, like 10 years, 20 years ago?

It's late 90s, so then. Okay, late 90s, so longer than that, 30, 30 years? Mid 30s in the late 90s, playing 65. It was like a Mr. Six situation. So this is, now he's kind of aged into the, into an older role. like Mr. Tickle. It's possible Cyclone Sam could not be Mr. Tickle.

Hmm. On that Cyclone Stadium had good, his skin looked good and this guy still is like he's taking care of himself without the makeup. Yeah. I think we just asked the question to the listeners if I'm sure somebody's out there,

somebody can investigate, is Cyclone Sam Mr. Tickle? Would you believe this? Ask that question to the universe and it will hopefully respond to us my favorite question i've heard in 30 years can i can i can i can share the screen really quick because i was going to leave this on the cutting room floor but now that you've brought that up just that odd that you meet mr tickle there uh mike can you play this other

weird ad that i labeled in the chat other weird ad feeling a little down in the domes can't think of anything fun to do? Maybe it's time to let yourself go. Wendy's in Kansas City 41 will help you catch the Thursday tickles at Worlds of Fun for kids 12 years and younger. Take mom and dad to Wendy's and get your special Thursday Tickles coupon. Bring it to World's Putt and get in for half price every Thursday. I like those guys.

Why is tickling a motif at this part? I was really sure Jason was going to say, oh, you've never had Thursday Tickles before? It's a Philly thing. We always do. Back on the shore, we used to have Thursday. Thursday tickles. Oh, Tuesdays and Thursday tickles. Well, third day is two days away.

That's all I'm saying to everybody here. Yeah, yeah. We're recording us on a Tuesday. That means, yeah, that boy, because a regular Thursday, maybe you don't look forward to me. That's just a boring day in your week. But now, if we can see it through this prism, Thursday tickles are ahead of us.

We can all Thursday tickle at our. however we want. When Thursday rolls around, refer to me as Mr. Tickle. That's what I say for now. Thursdays, I got a different name. Park founders and American businessman, Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman, would have loved Thursday Tickles.

This is what they dreamed of. Yes, the owner of the chiefs who opened this park. He dreamed of a world where any Thursday could be a day for Tickles. Yes. And that's what we have now. Well, that's what Heidi has. Have you been this summer? Do you think you'll go?

Is talking about it, wet the appetite? What's your modern relationship with Worlds of Fun? I think that I will definitely, fresh off Branson, I'm like, I got a hit of amusement. But I think I will close out the summer and go drink at Ocean's Fun. Yeah. Oh, if this inspired that, then, yeah. Well, and you do it on a Thursday. and we know how you're feeling.

Do you think you'll big time, Tom? Do you think you'll be like, do you know who I? Do you know who I, as you like slip and fall under the water? Here's the way, if I big time anyone at Worlds of Fun or Ocean of Oceans of Fun, what I would probably use is like, do you know who my mom was with? Cyclone Sam. That's good. Who we now believe it very plausibly might also be Mr. Tickles.

So I could go the dad route and I could be like, my dad was the first man fired from where else I'm on. I am part of multiple generations that aren't wanted in this part. My family has terrorized this park for generations. Thank you very much. Jason, Jason big times the fudge workers on the shore. I want two free samples.

Thank you very much. Well, yes, I hope that there's many Thursday tickles ahead of you in Castaway Cove. Thank you for bringing us to this place and for taking the time today and for checking out our show. Heidi Gardner, you survived podcast, The Ride. What a pleasure. Thanks so much. Geez, really appreciate it. Let's exit through the gift shop, anything you'd like to play.

plug. Oh, just worlds of fun and options of fun. Buy a ticket. Yes, buy a ticket, go, come to Kansas City. Yeah. I really want to after this, and especially, we love getting exposed to a place we've never talked about before in a region we've never talked about before. So this was delightful. So happy to have you. As for us, for three bonus episodes every month, check out podcast thread the second gate or get one more bonus episode on our VAP tier club three. You'll find all of that at patreon.com. slash podcast the ride. And now, at least I'm off to imagine for a while,

what if Cyclone Sam was my dad? Forever. This has been a Forever Dog production. Executive produced by Mike Carlson, Jason Sheridan, Scott Gardner, Brett Boehm, Joe Silio, and Alex Ramsey. For more original podcasts, please visit Forever Dog Podcasts.com and subscribe to our shows on Apple Podcasts. Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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