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Photo TR - Washington State Fair, Puyallup WA


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So, after skipping the nearest summer fair due to weather (Rain in Washington- who would have thought?) yesterday I had the chance to head down to the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, about an hour south of me. I got a free educator pass from my Mom and found free parking so that took care of a lot of upfront costs. The only other thing I spent money on was an all-day ride pass, I was expecting it to be $30 (online price) but it was well worth it even at $40. The tickets are only $0.50 but any worthwhile ride is 10+ tickets, so it doesn't take long to rack up $40.

 

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The Wave Swinger was one of my favorite rides, I was able to swing around backward at one point

 

So, armed with my wristband, I headed for the obvious first choice- Classic Coaster aka Coaster Thrill Ride. This has been around in one incarnation or another since the 1930's, and has been rebuild and renovated several times due to fire or other reasons. Most recently it has just undergone "a five-year renovation to last the next 100 years" according to the fair's website. Whatever they did, it worked.

 

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This used to say "Coaster Thrill Ride"

 

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View from the station

 

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Some photos of reconstruction after a fire, or maybe the recent reconstruction

 

My first ride on this coaster yesterday was the first time in my coastering life I was genuinely afraid that I might be thrown from the car. The pre-drop was good, the first drop was great, then up to the turnaround and the second drop and HOLY $#&%! I don't know how exactly to explain this drop, but I'll try. As you complete the turnaround there is a little chicane to straighten back out, and at this point sitting in the last car the train's already going pretty fast, so you get violently yanked to the side just before being absolutely ejected from your seat down the drop.

 

Did I mention the refurbished Prior and Church trains have no seat belts? No? Oh, they have no seatbelts.

 

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That drop

 

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So after my near-death experience, I decided to go on a few more rides. I tried the "Vertigo," a tall wave swinger, "El Nino," and the "Falling Star" as I always call them in honor of the old one at Wild Waves. The "Evolution" wasn't running earlier in the day, but I kept seeing them test it. They had a really nice Huss Enterprise, but I was not allowed to ride alone

 

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View from the carnival gate

 

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Coaster about to coast

 

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Looks like fun...

 

My next destination was one I was approaching with a sense of building dread- Rainier Rush. Ever since I learned this was at the fair, I have had a morbid curiosity about it, and finally riding this thing did not dissappoint. It's a Top Fun "Typhoon" model, which traveled around for quite a while before ending up here. It looks good from a distance, but the miles and years have begun to show on this baby. I don't know if it ever was a "fun" coaster, but any semblance of fun is long gone from this ride, IMO. Even the normal "GP" people I rode with knew this thing was not right. It's supposed to be an "inverted" coaster, because it has an inclined loop right in the middle. According to the sign, this pulls as many G's as Mindbender or Olympia Looping- I'm not sure.

 

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Regret

 

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Here we gOH NO

 

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Inclined looping fun for the whole family

 

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Are you sure about that?

 

At this point I was starting to get hungry, and a browse through the fare quickly reminded me why I always bring my own food if possible.

 

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'merica

 

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The same company redeems itself with some Disney flair

 

Next I went to do some other non-ride things, such as:

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Hobby Hall- half of this was just people's collections of various items

 

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I liked the personal nature of these, much different than your typical commercial fair displays

 

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New Fair Record!

 

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Holy cow

 

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Lots of pretty produce

 

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I grew some Dahlias this year, but nothing like this

 

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So many flowers!

 

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Carnivorous plants- Cape Sundew

 

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I have several species of these at home, I may enter something next year

 

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Bitchin' Venus Fly Trap

 

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Rare Striped Donkey!

 

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This whole room was almost all different breeds of pigeons...

 

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...as was this

 

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Clydesdales

 

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Dumpsters of Doo-Doo

 

I had to go out to move my car due to 4-hour parking limits, but luckily they had hand stamps to get back in. Then I went for some more Roller Coastering! I couldn't get on WildCat, a Schwarzkopf Wildcat, again because I was by myself I guess I'd rather be alone than with someone really annoying, though... One of the nice parts about being alone is you can meet people in line etc, but if you decide you're done talking/they're annoying you/you're annoying them/whatever, you don't have to be around them the rest of the day like you do with your family

 

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I'm a marked man

 

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Coaster pron - it has a separate inclined unload platform with level transfer track between that and the loading area. The ride ops had to *spoiler alert* push the yellow train into the loading area because the transfer track is not inclined

 

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Friction brakes; overshooting the station a bit was common

 

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Schwarzkopf Wildcat, looking pretty against the sunset

 

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They also had a NOPE

 

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$30

 

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It appeared to be powered by a big stack of springs

 

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I wanted to try this but there was no time- Coastering was calling

 

So after another walk around, I went back to the Coaster again. I arrived at the station in time to see them transfer a new train onto the track!! The ops actually had to push the train off the transfer track because that section is level. They had been running one train, Orn'ry Orange, all day until now. Now that the line was shorter than it had been all day, time for another train!(?) It was weird but I wasn't complaining, 2 trains are better than 1 any time of day. Plus, the new train, Ol' Yeller, was FAST. It was noticeably faster than the orange train and the ride was even more crazy over that second drop than it was before. I tried my best, but every time I sat in the back I couldn't keep my hands up for that drop.

 

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2 TRAINS!!

 

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Ol' Yeller was ready after resting on the transfer all day

 

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More Coaster pron

 

After a few more rides, I was unlucky enough to be there for the day's excitement- a drunk guy tried to hop out of the train before it was completely stopped, and in the words of one of the ride ops, "Now his leg looks like chop liver." He proceeded to lay on the station floor with people gathered around while everyone watched from the loading platform, and eventually they just shut the ride down and made everyone leave. I was actually loaded in the back seat at the time, and had been about to dispatch, so that was a bummer. It took at least 30 minutes for medics to get this drunk guy onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the station, and then another 15 minutes to re-open due to paperwork. I should point out that the ride ops were awesome during all of this, trying to keep people happy despite being held up. I found it funny that they did not hide their disdain for the injured rider and how he was holding everyone's night up.

 

I took this opportunity to try my first wave swinger in a long while- I quickly realized I could use my legs as a sail and was able to swing around completely to face the people behind me That was super fun. I don't think the ops appreciated it because when I rode again at closing, they made sure to tell me (I was the only one on it haha) to not swing, not twist, just sit and enjoy the ride. It seemed like it went super fast with just myself riding though. After swinging, I checked out the Classic Coaster park, and by the time I was done, the coaster was back open.

 

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The best part about this coaster was that they have kept it as true to the original experience as possible. Even with the rebuilt track and the opportunity to put in modern safety measures, they didn't comply to the norm of erring on the side of caution. The trains still don't have seat belts, and it doesn't even have station gates:

 

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GP are trusted with their own safety!?

 

Unfortunately, as the crowds slowed, the ops were instructed to load the last 3 cars in each train with 5 gallon buckets filled with sand, and only the first 5 cars were used. It wasn't quite as extreme when not in the back seat, but still fun. It was actually nice not to be nearly thrown from the car for a couple of rides. By the time the night was over, the ride ops had seen me a good dozen times, and the girl directing people to the gates just gave me the rear seat each time I came back through

 

Well, that was my 1 fair trip for the year I believe. It was actually really fun, and exceeded my expectations as far as ride selection and other things to do. I would recommend it for the Classic Coaster alone- a very nice, if slightly scary, wooden coaster which everyone should ride if you have the chance.

 

edit; I will try to get a video thrown together later, I think I got some good stuff.

Edited by LuminousAphid
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Awesome PTR! Nice pics.

Coaster Thrill Ride is the best roller coaster in Washington State, in my opinion! So much airtime. It's too bad it's only open for 3 weeks out of the year.

Rainier Rush is... Yeah painful. There's no other way for me to describe it. Regardless I've been on it 5 times...

It's too bad you didn't get the chance to ride Evolution, it looks like a great ride. I'm curious, was the Fabbri Hard Rock still there?

I live really close to the fairgrounds so I'm going there on Friday with my friend! But sounds like a great event this year.

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It's too bad you didn't get the chance to ride Evolution, it looks like a great ride. I'm curious, was the Fabbri Hard Rock still there?

I live really close to the fairgrounds so I'm going there on Friday with my friend! But sounds like a great event this year.

 

NO! They had your standard Orbiter, but I have never seen that ride, it looks much more fun and less pukey. Or do you mean this crazy thing?

That looks MORE vomit-inducing. I don't think that was there, although I can't be certain- I didn't realize they had a Hexentanz until halfway through the day when I was on the lift of Rainier Rush.

 

I actually did get to ride the Evolution, which I just saw is also a Fabbri- it was up later in the day, though there was a guy greasing the main baring with a caulking gun while we were riding it (carnivals are awesome, I wish I'd had my camera out) It was really fun, in fact I actually liked it a lot more than SpinCycle at Silverwood, which is my only real comparison. It was much more forceful and the way it tilted to put riders on their backs made it a very different and fun ride. I'm sure you'll enjoy it! Have fun, and be safe- there were several strongarm robberies of merchants on Sunday so it's still The South End

 

I have to agree on the nomination for best coaster in WA; I have ridden all the major coasters in the state now (except that Wildcat) and can safely say this is by far the best! The airtime is good, pretty much every drop gives you a nice lift from your seat

 

Ayy I see Gary! Looked like a good time. I'm sure the Weird AL concert was a lot of fun too! This report needs more food porn.

 

I'm not the person to turn to for food porn- I have somehow become the biggest cheapass ever when it comes to everyday normally-priced food, so fair prices just put me off of the whole thing. I didn't buy anything at all food-wise that day. I know it sounds sad to go to a fair with no fair food, but I didn't go to eat, I went to ride! Plus nothing I saw or smelled really made me go, "Damn I wish I had some of that"

 

edit for the nth time; also, who is Gary? The awesome guy running the coaster?

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I finally got to the fair last Friday!

I didn't get to go to many exhibits because of time restraints. It's a shame too, they look great from this tr!

The two notable rides were the coaster and evolution. That new sign looks amazing on Coaster Thrill Ride!

This was the first time I'd ridden in the very back and WOW. I usually don't hold on to anything when I ride roller coasters but I was sure I was gonna fly out if I didn't hold on with this one! XD

Evolution was lackluster for me, I've been wanting to ride a pendulum style ride for years but this was more like a hang in restraints for 2 minutes kind of a ride. But I can't say more than that because I have nothing to compare it to!

 

Yeah, that Fabbri Hard Rock was here last year! I'm disappointed in myself for not riding it, it's apparently very rare. But it was gone this year. In fact I noticed they were missing the rock-o-plane, inverter and jumping too. More vendors means more money vs rides I guess.

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Yeah, that Fabbri Hard Rock was here last year! I'm disappointed in myself for not riding it, it's apparently very rare. But it was gone this year. In fact I noticed they were missing the rock-o-plane, inverter and jumping too. More vendors means more money vs rides I guess.

Dang, they apparently had some rare rides, I don't think there are very many Jumpings out here in the U.S. either. I hear the inverter is more of a "good riddance" ride anyway, but I have never ridden one, I would have tried it if it was still there.

Glad I wasn't just such a noob I was scared of nothing in the back seat; it has some intense ejector huh? Especially with no belts. Some good floater too, though, on some of the drops. The second half is very fun.

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So wrong, this is...

 

But if people love it - and eat it - good for them.

 

I wish them a speedy recovery from their clogged arteries, lol.

 

Good Fair Report, by the way. Must go back to it, some year.

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Looks like a real gem.

It's pretty OK until about 1:00 after the 'loop,' when it just starts to get ugly. "This is not right" is one thing I remember saying aloud as it clamored over that inexplicably banked section along the front.

 

It was worth it. Rode 3x, hurts but still fun!

 

edit; Here are some videos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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