Mmmm, 2015 Florida State Fair.....

It's the Most.... Wonderful Time... of the Year...

FAIR SEASON IN FLORIDA!

But more importantly, the Florida State Fair!

2015 was the first time I've visited the FSF as non-independent midway, with Wade Shows providing almost the entire midway (outside of a few pieces they booked themselves) Wade has done the Central Florida Fair every year since I've lived in Florida and was always a large provider for State Fair but I was a little hesitant about them having full control over State.... In the end, they turned out a pretty amazing midway with some 10 "new" for 2015 rides! Although the lack of a few big pieces from shows like Reithoffer was sad... overall it was still probably the second best State Fair trip I've made and as the 2015 fair has come to an end.... I'm already looking forward to 2016 :D
So, uh, lets go?

Quick run down of the animals before we get to the rides...
and stuff <3

QUACK QUACK!
:D Pekin Ducks :D

Bock Bock?

Moo?!
Be sure to join us for the 4 O'clock milking...

Also, Cow Duck?
Shh, its nap time....

Aww, little baby peep peeps...
And also... this happened...

THE HORRIFIC MIRACLE OF COW BIRTH!
(and while exciting... it was less dramatic than last year... where we saw TWIN cow birth)

Awwwww, baby cow!

And because it wouldn't be the fair without Sea Lion Splash!

And also some extremely unhealthy food...
This is my chocolate battered, deep fired, peanut butter sandwich
(and it was amazing)

Ok, now for a whole bunch of Midway photos... yaayyy!

Overview photo 1 -
Mostly of one of the kiddie land areas with some of the bigger rides in back.

Overview photo 2 -
The far end of the major ride midway.
woo

The Sky Ride is almost always our first ride at the fair, since it takes you from the entrance down to the ride midway... where I started tackling all of the new for 2015 rides
(some were new for the season, and some just new for the State Fair / Florida, but most were things I'd never even been on yet so I was pretty excited!)

New ride #1 - The Technical Park PEGASUS 16
By the name of Delusion, one of three now touring around North America.
It...was.... amazing <3
(this was also my first time encountering the ride)

New ride #2 - KMG Inverion
Called Khaos
Massive disappointment here...although I look like I'm having fun in this photo Jeff took of me riding it....
The cars never unlocked and went into a free swing/spin/flip... like its designed to...
(My first time encountering the ride... Although I'd seen it demo'd before...)

New ride #3 - Majestic Flying Scooters
named... well, Flying Scooters
Almost snapable, run very fast, lots of fun :D
(my first time encountering this ride)

New ride #4 - Larson Star Dancer
Called Observation Tower
For some reason it was marketed as a "thrill ride" at the fair... not so much.
(had ridden the one that used to be at Silver Springs)

New ride #5 - ARM Frenzy
Eh.. named Frenzy
Pretty boring as far as the ride went.. but it looked rather nice and well, different.
(my first time encountering this ride)

New ride #6 - Chance SkyDiver
SKY DIVER! Ohhhh man!
Out of everything at the fair I was most excited for this! <3
(I'd ridden Lakemont's a few times.. but the last few I've tracked down have been closed on my visits)

New ride #7 - Fabbri Sky Swinger
Named Air Flyer
Pretty ok, better than the Zamp and ARM models... but kinda ugly and with a poor seat/lap bar system....
(my first time encountering this ride)

New ride #8 - Fabbri Booster Junior
Named Speed.... but don't let it fool you, its not KMG for sure
But far better than the clunky one I had ridden at Blackpool years ago.
(Ridden an older version of it elsewhere)

New ride #9 - Quasar (I believe the ARM model)
Named Quasar on the ride list... but posted as Music Express
Run nice and fast... but lacked any directional change :(
(I failed to get a good photo of it in the day time... so here's a photo I found online)
(Ridden elsewhere)

New ride #10 - Zamperla Twister Coaster 420STD
Named on the ride list as Mighty Mouse Coaster, lacked any name at the ride itself.
ZzZzz, the staff were doing their best to balance cars to avoid any sort of spin...
(ZzZzz, ridden it as Opa... before it tossed a rider to the ground.)

And... uh... the rest?

Amazing Polar Bear themed inflatable slide... featuring penguins.

<3 The HUSS Rainbow returned and while starting off rather clunky, it ran well
I only took a single ride on it this year, although at its re-debut last year I did some 10.
(and it'll likely be at the Central Florida Fair soon enough!)

Sky Wheel was back as well! And now covered in LED's
It had some rather awkward side-to-side shuffling
<3 love the ride, miss Fun Spot having their own.....

I didn't ride the Gravatron... but this one, named Centrifuge looked amazing.
The staffer at it said it was just weeks old at the time.

RC-48 was in the "time out" area of the midway, where Crazy Cat typically had been. We didn't even give it a pity ride this time around but may at Central Florida...

Enterprise was running in poor-poor, Cedar Fair style.. barely making it to 70*s and coming right back down for a landing.... SKIPPED, sadly :(

Taking the first of my two rides on Speed. I got on it with very low expectations... seeing is how awful Spin Doctors at Blackpool was... But this ran at a good enough speed to actually flip the car.

and while fun... It fails to meet the ride the KMG model normally at the State Fair gives.

Comet II was back from last year as well... Although it still seems to have a lot of issues, much like last year.

We did get two rides on it by nights end but its odd placement on the midway made it slightly inconvenient.

ZzZzz
Jeff and I both had already ridden Mighty Mouse Coaster at its original home but didn't have the "ridden together credit" yet... Had we, it would have been skipped.

After being MIA last year, in favor of the Zamp AIR RACE.... The Wave Swinger has returned to the far end of the Midway, much to Jeff's enjoyment.

And next to it... for my enjoyment...  The lovely Mondial Top Scan, Space Roller.
The cycle was very fast paced... but lacked any directional change (massive letdown) and failed to ever fully invert my car (uh, bench?) hopefully its better at Strawberry Festival... because I really do love this ride. 

Crazy Cat... skipped, ridden it dozens of times in the past.. and I'll likely ride it later next week at the Central Florida Fair.

Took the pity ride on the Spin Out... I was the only rider during my cycle... and it was very... bumpy?
I still love it :(

The ARM Frenzy... kinda wanting to be like a portable S&S Swing.. but its not very good..

But it looks nice

 

We didn't really see many people ride it.. and, well, it was... meh

(also, OTSR's were a big turn off for me)

LED covered KMG Freak Out was very nice looking but having ridden it a whole bunch elsewhere, it was skipped in favor of things we can't find elsewhere....

Like the Sky Wheel <3

Delusion again... super fun flat.. Would love to see more of these pop up

Sky Diver at sunset, pretty pretty.
Due to rules made by Chance... you need 2 riders per car to ride and Jeff was letting me know not to get excited because he had doubts we'd even fit together in the relatively tiny car...
But we fit... barely... and I did my best to give us a good ride <3

Uh oh... the Dragon Wagon had vallied... haha

Air Flyer turned out being rather good and had a long cycle, unlike the ARM Vertigo also found on the midway
(that we skipped)

Zombie Apocalypse may have been new... or just a retheme of the front. Inside lacked anything of interest and consisted mostly of us making Simpson jokes...

M A G N U M!
My beloved Mondial Shake
One of my absolute favorite rides, ever.
(likely #1 if I had to pick)
...Can I just have this in my non-existing backyard?

The flying scooters again... We were both pretty surprised to find these at the fair.
I hope more shows pick them up.

"Observation Tower"

I believe this is the only one now in the US with the removal of Silver Springs'

Khaos... while borderline BORING... looked rather nice at night
I'd give the ride another try... if I could verify the seats going into free spin mode...

Oh, also, there was an Early Spider on the midway!
It ended up being our last ride of night and was a sort-of "memory lane" ride for me.. seeing is how a lot of the New England parks had them but have been removed.

And just because it looked so awesome.. 2 last photos of the Sky Diver at night <3

I loved when the LED's did this DARK rainbow color scheme. It gave it that sort-of retro look and dark colors seem to be missing in most LED light packages.
(I also liked the font used on the ride sign, unlike that of the others I've come across)

 The LED's also featured the more typical "bright rainbow" look, that also looked very nice.
(I was just a bigger fan of the richer, darker colors)

 Woo, the 2015 Florida State Fair! Here's hoping Wade can top themselves next year with an even better fair... But again, I'll still be a bit somber with the lack of some of the bigger (mostly the KMG and Huss') pieces that failed to show this year. Top Spin, Flipper, and things like Tango, Speed, Fun Factory....

Bonus stuff from Twitter... and stuff.
Midway overview - photo
Sky Diver - photo
Delusion (via Vine) - video
Comet II (via Vine) - video

Is it time for the Central Florida Fair yet??