TR: OC Fair

[rcdude]

Yesterday, Wednesday the 30th, I went to the Orange County Fair. I went with my grandparents as well as my brother and sister. My grandparents had gotten free tickets since they were doing a cattle drive behind their house, so we only had to pay for rides. It was wristband day so we bought wristbands for $20 each that were good for unlimited rides until 8:00 p.m. We also got 40 tickets for games to split between my brother and my sister (I don't usually play carnival games). We ended up staying until about 4:30 because it got crowded and we had done all the unique rides already. I will give a review and summary of each ride we went on.

 

Euroslide-This is a large sack slide. It is a lot of fun, and has six or seven humps. The worst part about it is the walk up to the top, which is a sixty foot ramp while you're carrying a sack. If you lay back going over the humps, you can get airtime and make it down in about ten seconds. If you're going fast enough, you will fall off the end of the slide and land on a pad.

Surf Shack-I think this is a new funhouse for this year. It is all ocean and surf themed. The funhouse is two stories and takes about three minutes to walk through. It has moving steps, moving floors, rollers, spinners, and a walk through barrel. It's fun if there isn't a wait.

Sky Flyer-The only way I can describe this ride is a swingride on a stick. You sit in a two person swing that goes up a 115 ft. pole. This was RCS's new ride for this year, and it was one of the best rides there. The ride moved up and down on the pole during the swinging, which was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed this ride, and would have gone a second time if the line wasn't so long. Even though I don't have a problem with heights, I was a little scared up on top of this thing, and don't know if I'd do the one in Florida that is twice as tall.

Crazy Coaster-This is a Zamperla Spinning Wild Mouse. I don't know if it is the braking on this ride or what, but it barely spun during the spinning section. They were running seven cars, so we stopped mid-ride, which practically killed the spinning. Maybe it was the way we were sitting, but the ride seemed pretty tame, and definitely not crazy. It's still the best of the three roller coasters, but just barely.

Re-Mix-I didn't go on this ride as it looked like too much spinning for me, but my brother and sister did. They both liked it, and wished the cycle was longer. The ride is basically an inverted scrambler but the arms tilt out to ninety degrees from the ground, so you are sideways.

Creep Show-The better of the two dark rides at the fair. This ride is pretty cheesy, but it is still worth a go if there isn't a line. Don't expect to be impressed, however. The most unique part of this ride is the spiral at the beginning. After this point, the ride is pretty boring.

Hydro Slide-This was the only water ride at the fair. It is a small log flume which features a small doubledrop and a larger, steeper drop. The ride lasts all of about two minutes, unless you have to stop. We stopped on the second lifthill because the boats were getting backed up. I think that they were having problems getting the station pickup to work, and the boats were sitting outside it. Given that this ride didn't open until about two, I'm surprised that it wasn't working better. Either way, it's a fun ride, but it doesn't get you very wet.

Haunted Mansion-This is the other dark ride. It is even more cheesy than Creep Show. The cars are small so tall people might not be able to fit two to a seat. The ride takes about a minute to go past a few figures accompanied by noises. Not very haunted, but still worth it if there isn't a wait.

Evolution-Another ride I didn't ride, but this one was because I don't like stopping upside down. My brother rode and said it was fun. This is a long arm with a spinning disk on one end, where the people sit. The arm does 360's while the disk spins. The cars alternate between upright and reclined during the ride.

Mardi-Gras-This is the mirror maze. It takes me about two minutes to complete, but I saw some people in here for close to five. The whole thing takes about four minutes because you go upstairs after completing the maze and ride down a spiral slide. Fun but not a must-do.

Starship 2000-This is a gravitron ride, where you go in and it spins, sticking you to the wall. As the ride accelerates and decelerates, the wall panels slide up and down. I assume the g-force causes them to slide, but I don't know for sure. The ride lasts about a minute, and doesn't feel like it's spinning at all.

Speed-This is one of the best flipping rides at the fair. It is a long arm with four seats at each end. The arm rotates and the seats are free to rotate. You go both directions during the 50-second ride cycle. I convinced my sister to ride this and she enjoyed it.

Hi-Miler-This ride was not operating when we got there, but it opened up eventually. It is the other big roller coaster at the fair. This ride has a multiple out and back design, with either one or two hills before a wild mouse like turn. If you ride in the back, you get thrown around during the ride, especially if you are singe. For some reason, my brother doesn't like this ride very much. I think it is good for a portable coaster, but if it was at a permanent amusement park it would be nothing more than a family ride.

Moscow Circus-This is the big fun house. It is four stories tall and takes about five minutes to get through. It is also the best fun house I have seen, anywhere. This fun house has moving floors, moving stairs, spinning platforms, conveyor belts, punching bags, a spiral slide that spins around four or five times, a spinning tunnel and rollers. It didn't open until late so we didn't have time to do it twice because of crowds. There is an alternate route down if you don't want to take the slide that just involves a vibrating floor. For some reason, it was roped off when we did this ride.

Mega Drop-This ride is one of the most intense drops of any drop ride I've been on. It is only a 115 ft. tall tower but it launches you downward pretty forcefully. You go up the tower, sit there for about five seconds, then drop. The whole thing is over in about 40 seconds. I convinced my sister to try it, and she wasn't sure whether she liked it or hated it.

Zipper-My brother talked me into riding this as we were leaving. I decided to try it as I had never done it before. It was fun but left me slightly dizzy. It also beat me up. For anyone who doesn't know what a zipper is, it's a ride where you are locked in a freely rotating cage attatched to an arm that rotates while a chain runs around it. You are whipped over the ends, causing several flips in a row. The ride goes both directions during the minute or so cycle.

 

The rides are about all we did at the fair, because of the crowds. It was a fun day, but not the best we've had at the fair. It seemed to be smaller this year, but it might just be my imagination. There were at least two rides that we didn't see running at all during our day, so they were either broken or just closed for some reason. If you're interested in visiting the fair, you only have until Sunday before it moves out for Los Angeles (I think that is RCS's next fair).

[Pandabear1832]

I love the OC Fair. I haven't been yet this year but I usually go annually. Thanks for the accounts of the rides...good to know what not to go on. I usually don't go on too many rides cause honestly...some of the operators scare me. This year I need to have some fun though. Thanks for the info.!