Tampa State Fair

I won't be hitting Disney on this trip - I'm only in town for three days, so I figured I'd save my remaining park hopper days for after the new mine train opens :)

Credit whore! :)

Well yes, but that's not my real motivation here.

I've been to all the Disney parks – and I'm not ten years old any more – so I don't feel it's worth spending a day at the Magic Kingdom when I'm going to want to do it again in a few months time :-)

I was just giving you a hard time.

Richard Bannister said:

...save my remaining park hopper days for after the new mine train opens :)

I'll be pulling out *all* the stops to get on that thing when it opens!

Right, I'm going to go tomorrow morning if anyone else fancies joining me.

Durn it, Mr. Bannister, I was there all day yesterday. I would love to have met you and have a riding partner.

The midway was nice, as usual, although deserted. It was sunny but chilly (well, by Florida standards, and I'm tired of hearing it. It's six degrees at my house...) Anyway, there wasn't a vendor I talked to that wasn't unhappy about this years run. They all said they're running about half from last year. It's funny, when I visit various state fairs around the country I always run into friends on the circuit that I know from our Ohio fair. Everyone's hoping for a good weekend and it's predicted to warm up.

Here was a bonus, there were midway armbands yesterday for 20 bucks and I didn't even know it until late afternoon. I hadn't ridden anything at all as individual ride prices are 6 or 7 bucks, so when I found out I busted em out til evening. I took in RC48, Crazy Mouse, and Comet II. (which I verified is indeed a Schwartzkopf Wildcat, in fact the operator told me its a 1975 model # 671. The layout was the same as CP's first Wildcat, not the latest one. Slight differences include the approach to the lift and the top of drop four, the one in the back that sits against the lift. The cars had been redone slightly and were really loud.) As far as flats go I rode Fighter, Big Bamboo, Hit in 2000 (SO fast, omg), Magnum, Kings Circus, Bayou Funhouse, Arctic Blast, Crazy Dance, Tornado (best Huss Flipper ever, another omg), and Dutch Wheel (great for pictures). I coulda done more, but it was chilly, and in my old age I can't seem to do as many spinny/flippy rides as I used to. But I was happy with the price in the end.

Warning. On many rides the show has a no single rider policy, which caused me to miss a few here and there, notably the Rainbow which I really wanted to try for old times sake. I could've waited and ridden with a stranger, but...well, you know... I have space issues sometimes anyway, and in that situation? No.

Btw, you wanna make a carny really grouchy? Hand him a scanner to use. As Mr. Gator noted above, the cashless system pretty much sucks. (for them). Ride cycles tend to be long there anyway, but if the system happens to be down, a fix is to let you on and run the ride until they can reboot it. This wasn't so great for me on Arctic Blast,(see note about spinning rides) but was great on Dutch Wheel. So there ya go. Another in the long list of reasons why it would suck to be a carny.

Have fun, Mr Bannister. It's going to be a beautiful sunny day. Other than rides and food, the fair isn't much, but be sure to check out Cracker Country, the reconstructed historical area. It's quite beautiful, and gives a history of early settlers to Florida.

I had a good time, but the single riders policy is really quite irritating.

It makes perfect sense when the place is busy, but it wasn't this morning, and being turned away from a dark ride because there must be someone else in the car... seriously?

On the other hand, I did get on all seven accessible coaster credits, including a number of runs on the Schwarzkopf, so my inner credit whore was satisfied. Dragon Wagon was a non-runner but I knew that before I got there.