Saturday, April 25, 2015

A couple of hours at Gatorland

Just some random photos from my yearly visit to Gatorland, the Alligator Capital of the World.
Yaayyy road side attractions (and animals!)
Its also one of the few things around here built before Disney World.
Woo.
Woo, Gators! And uh, an awesome sign.
And more Gators...
And Baby Gators! :D
And a rare Leucistic alligator.
(not Albino, look at the eyes)
Two Egret's going for rides on two Gators?
Because, well, Florida.
Crocodile
Great Horned Owl :D
Uh. a Deer
Moo?!
Quack quack.... quack
Uh... and this goat.
And these Peacocks that got a little close to me :/
Macaws
<3 <3 <3
Yeesss!
The highly endangered Florida Panther
Natural Cypress Swamp boardwalk area
With its Cypress Trees
More boardwalk stuff.
Oh man, look at this giant Air Plant!
Observation Tower and viewing platforms
Overview of the main lake and the Observation Tower again.
Screamin' Gator Zip Line
Feeding time for the Ducks!! (and goose)
The parks up-charge train ride, The Gatorland Express
Oh, and their little splash pad area.
(someday they'll add a coaster here... even if its just a kiddie, haha)

Woo, animals... and stuff.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Florida (ewww Strawberry!) Festival - 2015

Strawberries are disgusting and I hate them so much but if they're gonna have a festival for them with a bunch of rides I really like.. I can forgive them, but only for a few hours or so... until I'm done at the fair.

Uh, the 2015 Florida Strawberry Festival in Plat City, Florida!
Celebrating 80 years in 2015
So I guess the farm animals are having a party?
(moo?!)
Ewww, although I guess its still a cake.
(but I wouldn't eat it... ew, strawberries)
Plants! Uh, in Plant City? Who knew.
Neat little wooden ride models.
CANDY LAND!
Yeeessssss!
And the amazingness that is Red Velvet Funnel Cake!
Sooo good (and messy)
And clearly, the greatest sport ever invented.
Love me some PIG RACES!
<3 <3 <3
The back side of Moo's?
Mr. Rooster?
Oh yeah, and a pretty massive Midway too!
(By mostly Belle City, and some independent booked pieces)

Over the day we took rides on all four Ferris Wheel variants found at the fair
Like the Mulligan Wheel, in Kiddie Land
The Eli Wheel!
(that I was sad didn't show up at State Fair....)
Chance Giant Wheel, on the Main Midway
And my love, the Sky Wheel!
And now a few overview photos... from those wheels!
Far end of the Main Midway
Kiddie Midway
Mid-Main Midway
Entering the ride area of the Fair, the KMG Freak Out was the first ride we passed..
Jeff sat it out, but I took it for a ride (as the only rider, ha)
It ran a pretty good cycle :D
We also rode the terrible Disk'O
I wasn't amused.... in fact, I pretty much hate the ride and find them boring and uncomfortable.
But I'd never ridden a portable model, at a fair at least.
I also hoped on the Spin Out, themed as 'Spin-A-Tron" and chrome plated.
Mmm, and I was sure to ride Space Roller a few times!
Love me some Monidal Top Scan.
<3 <3 <3
Yeesss! The SDC Galactica was back!
MoonRaker, its so awful but so amazing! I wish someone would make an updated model!
Bah, still after all these years... I've still not ridden Belle's Wacky Worm
(they have a 'No Adult' rule.. that only seems to be in play when I try and ride)
So we moved on to the Zyklon, only cycling a single car at a time for some awful reason!
We took 2 rides.. but due to the odd cycling process taking place today, didn't wanna waste more time in line....
Plus, I'd rather ride Magnum! Yaayyy! Monidal Shake! :D :D :D
This awful looking Swinger ride was new for both of us too, I'd never seen it before.
Don't know what its deal was... but it looked kinda Chance built?
It was pretty meh.. but hey, new for me rides?
There was also a Chance built Yo-Yo with a unique paint job.
And an old school Ring-of-Fire
(with the lap bar train!)
Crazy Mouse was down for the first part of the afternoon.. but we saw it running later in the day and made our way back over to ride it.
Woo, pretty ok spin mouse!
We also rode both dark rides at the fair, placed next to each other.
Random Dark Ride #1
Random Dark Ride #2
And before making our way back to Orlando... We took a spin on the Hurricane.
(one of the oldest rides I remember marathoning as a kid)
Oh, and there was a Zipper!... But it was skipped, since Jeff was still on probation.

Woo, the 2015 Florida Strawberry Festival, good times.
I really need to get myself back down to Miami Dade's fair... but until than I'll keep this as the second best fair in Florida (after State) Its always got such great rides and while this year it seemed the midway was lacking 2 or 3 things we've seen here in the past. Its still a pretty fantastic fair and I always look forward to its return.

Twitter Stuffs?
Pig Race! - Photo
Ride Video (via Vine) - Video

Woo, Amusement Related blog posts!