Toy company Mattel announced plans Wednesday to open a $487 million amusement park in western Wyandotte County called Mattel Adventure Park Kansas City. The park is the second in the world from Mattel and Epic Resort Destinations and will feature some of the toy company’s iconic brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels and Masters of the Universe. Mattel hopes to break ground before the end of 2024 and open the park in 2026.
A Margaritaville resort and hotel, named after the song of the same name by the late Jimmy Buffett, is set to open in 2025 on the site of Schlitterbahn in Kansas City, Kansas. The hotel will feature an outdoor resort-style pool, entertainment and activity offerings, a retail location, and Margaritaville-inspired restaurants and bars.
With two new theme parks and resorts heading to the Kansas City area in the future, let’s take a look back at the area’s other theme parks — both current and former.
Are there any parks and resorts we missed? Let us know at kcq@kcstar.com.
Worlds of Fun: 1973-now
Worlds of Fun has been open since 1973 and has been a staple in Kansas City ever since. The park is the largest in the Midwest with over 235 acres including its amusement park and water park, Oceans of Fun.
The park was founded by Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, who worked with his business partner Jack Steadman to bring its original 60 buildings and 20 rides to Kansas City.
It took 17 months to complete the construction, according to Worlds of Fun. Local Kansas City companies JE Dunn and Burns & McDonnell were responsible for the general contracting and engineering of the park.
The park is now operated by theme park giant Six Flags, which announced a merger with Cedar Fair in 2023.
Rides include the Mamba, a 205-foot-tall ride with two large drops that debuted in 1998; the Patriot, which goes through a series of four inversions with your legs dangling that first took flight in 2006, and the Zambezi Zinger, a wooden ride that debuted in 1973 and made its return in 2023.
Great Wolf Lodge: 2003-now
Great Wolf Lodge is located at the Legends Outlets in Kansas City, Kansas, and has been open since 2003. The indoor water park resort is 38,000 square feet and kept at a warm 84 degrees year-round.
Inside the resort you will find a minigolf course, laser tag, an arcade and MagiQuest, an immersive game experience that takes you through Great Wolf Lodge.
The resort, with locations in Dallas, Minneapolis and Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, was included on a 2023 list for “Best Family Travel Nationwide” by advice and guidance website Parents.
Coco Keys: 2008-2020
Coco Keys Water Resort was located inside the Adam’s Mark hotel, right across from Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium. The indoor water park opened in 2008 featured water slides, a lazy river, private pool-side cabanas and an arcade inside the hotel.
The Adam’s Mark Hotel and Coco Keys temporarily closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened.
Schlitterbahn: 2009-2018
Schlitterbahn opened in Kansas City, Kansas, near the Legends Outlets, in 2009 to much fanfare, according to previous Star reporting. The park had 13 attractions, including Torrent River, which was billed as the longest tidal wave river in the world, and Verrückt, then the world’s tallest and fastest water slide.
Verrückt, standing at 168 feet, 7 inches, was met with many delays before it opened in 2014. The ride shut down in 2016 after a 10-year-old was killed on the ride. The infamous accident led to a huge settlement for the family of the boy, Caleb Schwab, and an attempted criminal prosecution. The ride was later torn down in 2018.
In 2018, four rides at Schlitterbahn were closed following an inspection by the Kansas Department of Labor that found the rides were not in compliance with the Kansas Amusement Ride Act.
The water park closed in 2019.
Merriam Park: 1880-1990
Merriam Park sat near what is now I-35 and Turkey Creek, and is the oldest theme park created in Johnson County. The park was open from 1880 to 1990, when former President Ulysses S. Grant was on hand to help open the park on July 4, according to the Johnson County Museum.
Built by the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad and designed by landscape architect George Kessler, Merriam Park was 40 acres of baseball diamonds, tennis courts, and a pond that was used for boating in the summer and ice skating in the winter. The park also had a zoo, where people could see bears, lions, monkeys and more.
After the park closed in 1900, real estate developers Richard Weaver Hocker and O.M. Blankenship built Hocker Grove Park along the Hocker Grove Electric Trolley Line that ran from Merriam to Kansas City in 1908, according to the Johnson County historical database. Hocker Grove Park had spots for roller skating, dancing, watching professional boxing matches and playing basketball.
The park closed shortly after the death of Hocker in 1919.
Fairyland Park: 1923-1977
Fairyland Park operated on 80 acres at the southern terminus of the Prospect Avenue streetcar line at 75th Street from 1923 to 1977. While many remember its fun attractions, including The Wildcat roller coaster and Fairyland Twin Drive-In theaters, others recall the exclusion of Black people from the park.
Salvatore Brancato, a blacksmith from Sicily who immigrated to Kansas City in 1896, opened Fairyland Park on June 16, 1923. The park was billed in advertisements at “Kansas City’s Million Dollar Playground.”
At one time, the park only allowed Black people to visit the park only on one specific day each year. A 2023 play in Kansas City was based on the discriminatory policy.
Along with a roller coaster, Ferris wheel and other rides, Fairyland offered carnival acts and games, a fun house, a massive pool and an outdoor pavilion that showcased the nation’s top musical acts, many featuring Black performers.
Electric Park: 1900-1934
Local distillery J. Rieger & Co.’s Electric Park garden bar was inspired by an amusement park of the same name.
First located near the East Bottoms in 1900, each night, Kansas City’s “Coney Island” illuminated in the night, as the 100,000 lights that gave the park its name shined. A roller coaster, scenic railway, carousel, skating rink, swimming pool, dime museum and bowling alley were also in the park owned by brothers Joseph, Ferdinand and Michael Heim, who also owned the Heim Brewing Company.
They later moved the park and its many attractions to Brush Creek in 1907, where it would stay open until 1934, where a second fire forced what remained of the park to shut down.
Today, J. Rieger & Co. operates its distillery out of the old Heim Brewery’s bottling facility, adjacent to the original Electric Park in the East Bottoms.