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The York Fair (formerly called the York Interstate Fair) is now in its 240th something annual run. The main midway and rides is one of the traveling units of Reithoffer Shows out of Gibsonton, FL, with the food and other stands by more local companies and organozations. I will just go into detail about some (but not all) of the rides on the main midway…
Anchoring the west end of the midway is the large Ferris wheel and the Flitzer roller coaster. This coaster is a standard "Flitzer" model (identical to that located permanently at Morey's Piers in Wildwood NJ) and has MINIMAL theming (NASCAR themed in this case… outer space themed at Morey's). For a portable coaster, this one is really quite good. It has "a lot" of track in an very small area and has some quite fast turns and drops (fast, but not very steep or long). It has an S-curve section near the finish that really picks up the speed. Actually, like my wife stated, this model of coaster, portable or not, is more fun than some of the large permanent multi million dollar scream machines out there. Not very thrilling, but lots of fun!
Their new Cukoo house was also there. This is a fun house with some of the "old standards" …shaking steps, roller floors, revolving disks on the floor, vibrating floor boards, revolving barrel. Along the way you also encounter the "air jet" that shoots up from the floor. In the "golden age" when women wore skirts and dresses instead of pants and shorts, this stunt caused a lot of interest as their dresses would be blown upward by the air jet exposing their "unmentionables". This is the first time I have ever encountered this "classic" stunt.
The Pharaoh's Fury is your typical swinging ship. Not sure who the manufacture is, but it is the narrow version, not the wide version made by HUSS (the wide version like Hersheypark's Pirate). Sitting in the bow of stern of the ship you really get that funny feeling in your stomach when you hit the high point of the swing… a point when I swear you are actually above the pivot point of the swing!
Two new rides also made their debut at the Fair this year.
One was Power Surge (the ride that has been asked about in the forum's sometimes… the same style of ride that replaced AXIS at Knoebels). This was not my favorite ride to say the least… it is one of the only few that I actually get nervous on. The arm that revolves does so at a relatively fast speed, but not fast enough to let the G's hold you against your seat. Instead, when you are spinning upside down the full weight of your body is pressed against the OTSRs. I don't like that feeling… it feels like you are going to go plummeting head first to the ground.
Next up was Sling Shot. This is a relatively short turbo launch / turbo drop tower. I have been one ones at parks that either slowly take you to the top and then shoot you to the ground, or shoot you to the top and then slowly lower you back to the ground… but I have not encountered any that have done both, especially with a traveling fair. What got me was the fact that I did not expect both. I saw it operating as a drop tower when I watched it, but I was completely caught off guard when it shot us upward.
Anchoring the east end of the midway is my favorite… Wild Claw. This evil looking contraption has supports similar to a HUSS swinging ship (but larger). From the mid point is an arm that acts like a pendulem. Attached to the pendulem are 5 sections of 4 seats, all facing inward and looking like the claw of some large bird. The seats all revolve around a mid point at the end of the arm and the arm starts to swing back and forth like a juge pendulem. You are never really inverted, but when it reaches the high point of its swing you are very nearly to that point. There are moments where you feel 0 G's at the top of the swing as well. This is one wild ride that I wish some of the local parks (Hershey, Knoebels, Dorney) would get. While portable, it is no more of a "carnival ride" than the likes of Hershey's Chaos (okay, so that is a permanent model), or Dorney's Sea Dragon.
A side note. Being a fair, there are lots and lots of food stands there. And being in PA (near the PA Dutch country), we love to eat up here and we love fried stuff. Funnel Cakes are always a staple at the fair, but this year we tried something new… Fried Oreo's. They take Oreo cookies, dip them in funnel cake batter, fry them, and then sprinkle them with powdered sugar. I did not know what to expect, but they were quite good! The cookie actually gets kind of soft inside… its like a chocolate filled funnel cake! Okay, okay, I know… good for the taste buds, but bad for the arteries… but what the heck, it's the Fair and it only comes once a year .
The York Fair runs from Sept 7 to Sept 16, 2001.
NOTE: For the immediate future, the Flitzer roller coaster is closed. A child died after riding this coaster on Monday afternoon (9/10/2001). According to the local newspaper, the boy (age and name not released) was thrown forward when the car he was in came to an "abrupt stop". He was first treated at the fair's first aid station but when his condition worsened he was taken to York Hospital where he died while in the operating room. Driving past the Fair on my way to work, yellow police tape is wrapped around the coaster.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 9/11/2001. ***
Intamin Fan said:
"Their website also lists a Zamperla Engergy Storm as new for 2001. Did they have it there?"
No. Power Surge, Sling Shot, and Cukoo House were the only "New" things on their site that were there.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
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