As Worlds of Fun adjustments palms once more, a former park supervisor wonders if Kansas City’s coaster staple will lastly reinvest or keep in impartial

Cole Lindbergh nonetheless thinks about Worlds of Fun like a supervisor.

More than a decade after leaving the park, the previous video games supervisor—as soon as featured on National Public Radio program This American Life’s “Amusement Park” episode, spotlighting Lindbergh’s outsized enthusiasm for theme parks—nonetheless tracks pricing, attendance and trade tendencies. So when possession of Kansas City’s amusement park began shifting once more, Lindbergh had ideas.

“Maybe they will recognize that the park needs a major overhaul,” says Lindbergh, now a tech skilled and 2024 U.S. Air Guitar Champion. “I would hope they reinvest and get back to the roots of, ‘This is the Kansas City local amusement park.’”

Lindbergh labored at Worlds of Fun from 2001 to 2013, rising from a teenage seasonal worker to supervisor underneath Cedar Fair, the corporate who owned the park on the time. He watched as the corporate grew by buying parks throughout the nation, however not often reinvested closely in its Kansas City property, he says.

“The money that the park made went back to shareholders,” he says. “The park never really got to the point where they were going to make large investments.”

Now, one other possession change is placing that dynamic again in play.

Worlds of Fun is being acquired by Kansas City-based EPR Properties in a $342 million deal that features six different parks. A Florida-based firm, Enchanted Parks, will function the properties. The transaction is predicted to shut by the tip of June, shortly after the park opens for its 53rd season on April 25.

The sale additionally closes the door on a lingering query: whether or not Worlds of Fun may change into a Six Flags park. Six Flags Entertainment Corp., which gained management after merging with Cedar Fair in 2023, is as a substitute promoting.

The park has modified palms solely as soon as earlier than, from authentic developer Lamar Hunt’s Mid-America Enterprises to Cedar Fair in 1995.

Lindbergh doesn’t anticipate speedy adjustments this season however says the second yr underneath new possession could possibly be extra telling.

For now, EPR is signaling continuity. “The parks will continue their regular operating schedules, and all season passes sold will be recognized through the 2026 operating season,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.

EPR owns greater than 300 “experiential” or entertainment-focused properties nationwide, from film theaters to Topgolf venues.