Omaha & Kansas City - Memorial Weekend Trip 2023
Updated: Jun 15
Our Omaha & Kansas City - memorial weekend trip kicked off with some bad news one day before we were scheduled to leave. Worlds of Fun's new coaster, the Zambezi Zinger, wouldn't be opening after all on May 26th. The opening was delayed to some point in the future. This was a huge letdown, the prospect of riding a brand new roller coaster just days after it opened was something we were all looking forward to... a couple years ago we got to ride Velocicoaster at Universal Orlando before it officially opened, and it was very exciting to be one of the first people on the new coaster. So the news was disappointing, but wouldn't slow us down on this trip.
First stop was Harrah's in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the river from Omaha. Guy Fieri's Kitchen + Bar has just opened there. My wife is a big fan of Mr Fieri, and we have ate at his restaurant in Vegas many times, so we had to check this one out. The menu was mostly the same, with a few different local dishes, and while the presentation was great, to me the food is just average. My wife, of course, disagrees, but...... she is wrong....
We did sit outside on the patio, which has a great view of Stir Cove, the venue where they have live music through out the summer.
After the girls went to bed, I went downstairs to the casino at Ameristar Council Bluffs and spent a little time at the video poker (break even), slots (down $100), and craps (up $300). I hadn't had a good craps session in awhile, so it was nice to hit 5 points with no craps rolls in between them! Leaving a casino with an extra $200 is always a good start to a weekend!
Our room at Ameristar had a nice view of the Missouri river, the casino boat, and the Omaha skyline in the background. The Missouri river separates Nebraska and Iowa, as well as Omaha and Council Bluffs.
The next morning, we were off to the Omaha Zoo. We were bracing for large crowds, but it really wasn't too bad. It was a Friday, so perhaps we beat the memorial rush by visiting before the weekend actually started. I went off and started filming video for OmahaZooWalking.com while the girls went to the aquarium.
The majority of the exhibits and attractions were up and running, but there were still a few notable closures. The Lied Jungle has been closed for awhile because of roof issues. Rumors are circulating that it might not be open at all this summer. Hopefully, that is not the case, its a really great attraction. The Glacier Bay food court was also closed when we tried to eat there for lunch. Expedition Madagascar was partially closed and didn't appear to have any animals in the outdoor exhibit. The Aviary was closed so we didn't have a chance to get up close and personal with the pink flamingos. And the children's play area was closed, although I saw a post on FB the next day saying it had opened for the season.
We did take in the new Sea Lion exhibit, and the Asian Highlands. Then we hopped on the train, which was very busy as usual.
My daughter live-streamed the train ride to our Omaha Zoo facebook group and I filmed it for OmahaZooWalking.com. The train is a nice break from all the walking, and you get to see a few things that are visible only from the train, such as the back side of the lion enclosure.
After the train ride, and the mandatory gift shop visit, we headed south down I-29 to Kansas City. Our original plans was to get to Worlds of Fun and ride the Zambezi Zinger, since it was supposed to be open that day, but after they delayed the opening, we decided to take in an Kansas City Royals game that evening.
It was an entertaining game, lots of runs scored and several home runs, but the Nationals got the W in the end.
On Saturday, we went to Oceans of Fun and rented a cabana. Oceans of Fun and Worlds of Fun are one park, but we tend to do our first day at OOF and second day at WoF. This was opening day for OOF and it really showed. Hurricane Falls never opened, and several of the pools and slides were closed until very late in the day, the reason we were given was lifeguard training. The wave pool water was absolutely freezing, so while our girls braved the cold water temps, I was content to just lounge at the cabana. We did sneak over to the WoF side once to ride Mamba and get our coaster fix.
Sunday was the main event... Worlds of Fun day! Worlds of fun has been open for almost 2 months and it showed... compared to OOF, much more of the park was "alive" and the rides were running. We hit the Mamba many times, as well as Prowler, Patriot, Detonator, and even the extremely rough riding Timber Wolf.
This year is the 50th anniversary of Worlds of Fun, so we made sure to hit some of the classic rides too, including 2 rides that have been there since the park opened, the log flume ride Viking Voyager and Le Taxi Tour which lets you drive old style cars around a track.
My youngest daughter's favorite ride is the pirate ship swing called Sea Dragon. Do not underestimate this ride's ability to make your stomach queasy. I was able to handle all the coasters without issue, but riding the Sea Dragon was one and done for me.
Another classic water ride at WoF is Fury of the Nile. Its not a guarantee you will get wet on this ride, but its a pretty good possibility. This is a great ride for a hot day, which Kansas City sees plenty of in the summer.
Towards the end of the day, as the sunlight was fading, we went up on SteelHawk, which is a 300 ft tall "swing" ride. The views were amazing at dusk, and as long as I didn't look straight down and realize how f-ing high I was, it was a really fun ride. I have dismissed this ride in the past, and it has a history of being down a lot, but its really a cool ride if you can handle the height.
A relaxing trip on the train provided us with great views of the new Zambezi Zinger, which had been testing all day. The spiral lift hill pays tribute to the original Zambezi Zinger which stood in the park until 1997.
The great thing about having an annual pass is you can visit the park for just a couple hours and not feel like you are wasting the money you spent on the ticket. So we usually hit the park for a bit before heading out of town, and this time was no different. A couple more times on Mamba and Prowler, and my youngest daughter conquered her fears and rode Detonator... and absolutely loved it.
Even without Zambezi Zinger running, we had a great family trip over Memorial Weekend. We'll be back to tame the Zinger soon. They are testing it daily and it feels like only a matter of days before they will open it up.