The disaster that is Flea World (and the loss that was Fun World)

Intro: So... Since I moved to Florida in the fall of 2009 I've always been intrigued with this place in Sanford named Flea World, "the world's largest flea market". What makes the place interesting is it featured a small amusement park area known as Fun World. At the time I moved, I was living at Jeff and Brian's house and they kinda laughed at me for wanting to check it out and pretty much talked me out of going...although they themselves had never even been. They also were fairly certain the rides were long gone. Jump ahead nearly four years and I'm sitting at home watching random videos on YouTube during a thunderstorm and an ad for Flea World plays showing rides..... Without any real hesitation I called Travis (who used to work in Rails with me) up and asked if he wanted to go on a random adventure... and off to Sanford we went....

woo

FLEA WORLD!

 The world's largest flea market, home to over 1000 booths and restaurants

This place is a beast.

With rows and rows of... well... crap.

And more crap

And also, stuff?

And more stuff too!

Yeah, its a beast....

Shout out to South of The Border in Dillon, South Carolina

Oddly enough a place I've visited some 6 or 7 times now

After searching and searching.... there is (was) an amusement park hidden within

Fun World, the place was Ghetto-Lovely. An odd mix of run down rides...but in a well kept sort of way... and something I'd even say would have been worth a revisit based on one of the rides within, sadly after the 2013 summer season the amusement area of Flea World was closed and removed once and for all but at least I made the trek once and got out there.

$5 was enough to go on six rides although I only rode four 

(Travis rode two with me but got sick after the first one...)

Walking up to the park you only see the kid rides, most of them being things I'd never seen before....

Some looking almost... homemade......

Or right out of Roller Coaster Tycoon!

But outside and around the back were some full sized rides.

Once the rain cleared they slowly started opening but run on a rotation cycle where some rides are open while others stay closed and then they switch?

The Eli Scrambler was in far better condition than the one at Old Town! It amused me a Flea Market could keep a ride better looking than a so-called "amusement park" could.

It also gave a long cycle at a pretty good pace!

 The Tilt-a-Whril looked pretty OK as well, it gave a good ride too. Travis managed to stomach it out with me.

The SPACE ROUND-UP ran well too

I tried to get Travis to ride it with me.. but he sat out while I took a spin.

Maybe I should have had him ride this instead.

There was an odd looking Himalaya style ride next to the round up.. but it was closed 

Um.. and missing a car

Now... the real reason I pretty much dropped everything and ran out to Sanford was for this..... the second I saw it on YouTube I HAD to ride it.... right now

The extremely rare Loop-O-Plane

Since Miracle Strip closed in 2004 I was unaware of any in the state, let alone one 30 minutes from my house.

It might not look like much... but if run well it can be very intense and Fun World didn't disappoint... In fact, they ran it 3 times longer than the only other one I've ever come across, at Keansburg in New Jersey...

(where I had an interesting ride... pretty much... the door opened as the cycle began and the door opening leads to the lapbar unlatching and also opening.....)

But nothing happened on the Fun World ride, well, to me at least... After going around and around some 20 times with at least 3 direction changes and 2 inverted holds...Travis needed some BENCH: The Ride.... <3

So while the overall loss of Fun World isn't the end of the universe... its still pretty sad to lose such an odd place with some classic and fun rides and I'm pretty bummed about the Loop-O being gone (luckily the *new* Miracle Strip opening this week picked up one.... just some 360 miles away from here, but hey... it's still in Florida)

Also...

BONUS HIPPO!