Saturday, March 26, 2016

2016 Osceola County Fair

Because... rides.. and stuff, uh, like animals.
Even without my beloved Huss Top Spin showing up this year... I had a few hours to waste on a Friday before Deka came into town for our trip starting the next day.... So off to the County Fair I went!
Yay.
 Woo, the 2016 Osceola County Fair!
We got to the fair about an hour before the rides opened, so we made a lap around the grounds and saw the non-amusement County Fair.... things.
 Like the Country Bumpkin Band
(uhh....)
 And this giant inflatable Cow!
 Hello Mr. Turkey.
 <3 Quack Quack! <3
 Moo?!
 And... this sheep.
 Baby trees? And stuff.
 OH NO!
#Totaled
(Cow down, cow doowwwnnnn)
 ...Ditsy
Uh, the clown.
 Oh man! And there were Pig Races!!!
(And we might have watched two different showings...)
<3 <3 <3
 New this year at the fair was this Technical Park built 22 meter wheel.
(Dreamland debuted it at State Fair and Jeff and I were the *first* riders on it!) 
It may not look so nice in the daytime... but at night, its covered in LED and even the cars themselves glow!
 Strates Giant Wheel.
For now, the largest portable wheel on the East Coast...
 Overview of the ride midway from the wheel, woo.
 Oh hey, and you can see Mako at SeaWorld!
(and Kraken... and Manta)
 And the little Wacky Worm... that we skipped.
(but had ridden in the past <3)
Sadly, Strates failed to bring their adult coaster this year.
 We gave the Musik Express a pity ride.. and it was playing some awful sounding country song.. The Op looked at me and questioned if I liked the song.. and said he'd put on something better.
Yeah, I don't really think Kid Rock was much of an improvement :P
 Haunted House... thing
 Scary stuff, I tell you.
 New (for us at least) this year, was this ollddd kinda beat-up Chance Casino!
I'd never seen one down here before! So we took it for a ride, but the cycle was pretty lackluster and no real changes.
(Sam Pino used to tear it up with theirs in the 90's)
 Also new for me.. 
My first time encountering the Watkins Hustler!
(although I've been on many-a-Tempest)
Same basic ride, but the Hustler isn't on an angle.
(It was fun :) )
I don't think this, or the Casino were owned by Strates Shows but rather booked in by them...
 I also thought this take on the Rock Wall was rather neat. All 3 sides offered different climbs
(the non visible side was like.. a bunch of pipes)
 KMG Fireball!
Ugh... why bring such a fantastic ride... If you're just gonna run it in bitch mode?
Its almost amazing how BAD you can cycle some of these rides :(
 Thankfully.. This was located next door...
Mmm, Chance Zipper...
 With iPhone securely put away.... We took it for a ride :D
(#NeverForget)
 Oh.. and we did a quick lap on the Ring of Fire.. or as Six Flags would tell you, this AMAZING NEW ROLLER COASTER!!!!! (lololol)

And most excitingly of all...... 
ENTERPRISE!
My first time getting to see/ride Strates' Huss Enterprise. I've been to 11 or 12 of their stops since moving here in 09, never saw it... and was beginning to believe the ride didn't actually exist, despite still being listed on their website.
And with a silly 'No Single Riders' rule in place... 2 grown-ass-adults squeezed into a single car... 
while the other 19 remained empty.
Woo, Enterprise!
After making our second lap around the fair and getting another ride in on the Enterprise we made our way to what is typically our last ride at a fair. Anyone who reads these posts by now should know what it is too...
Yup, a Swing Tower... This one being a Zamp built Sky Flyer.
Woo, swings... and stuff.
(Oh, and a Sea Ray we skipped)

Yup, the 2016 Osceola County Fair and Kissimmee Valley Livestock Show at the Osceola Heritage Park

Other stuffs... and stuff.
Sky Flyer video (via Vine) - Video
An extra Enterprise photo - Photo

Woo

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

HIPPO, HIPPO, HOORAY... the Dallas Zoo

Only, the Hippos aren't there yet, They're coming soon... But maybe next time?
Woo, the Dallas Zoo! Opened in 1888, it's the oldest and largest Zoo in Texas and even has a Monorail!
Originally the Zoo wasn't even part of our trip to Dallas.. but since we had a few hours to waste before Zero Gravity opened and ended up riding the DART right past the zoo anyways, we stopped in for a quick lap around the place. As if I was going to complain about visiting a zoo... ha! Its actually a decent sized Zoo and had an entire area blocked off during our visit... So new Hippos aside, there would still be much to see for a future trip, yup.
Woo! a new Zoo credit, the Dallas Zoo!
Zoo Map.. and stuff.
The entire area in the top left was blocked off for a private event while Deka and I visited.
(but they were selling tickets at a reduced rate because of it)
LAME!
No Monorail for meeee :(
(They had a couple of power outages with the system with 2 or 3 incidents involving trains stuck on the open beam for hours at a time and needing the local fire department to help in evacuations... Hmmm, sounds familiar)
((Oh yeah, I was the driver during that!))
Oh right.. There are also animals here!
Just inside the gate is a display of Macaw's and stuff...
And some Aldabra Tortoise.
But more importantly... LEMUR ISLAND!
Aww, a Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur
Annddd the ever-so-bouncy, Ring-Tailed Lemur
<3 :D :D :D <3
Inside the Herpetarium.
Where we found this...
Finally, an actual albino alligator!
 And a Rhinoceros Iguana
The Lappet-faced Vulture came over to us to say hello.
Aww... a Cougar, er Mountain Lion, or is it a Puma, wait no.. its a Panther?
Meh, all the same...
Quack... quack?!
Maannn, look at this duck!
A mass of Reticulated Giraffe...
And some awesome African Penguin's.. doing their thing.
This... Sassy Cheetah.
Ugh, and some Lorikeets... :/
 Giant Anteater
 :O a Nile Crocodile
This... Kangaroo
A Grant's Zebra, uh, the smallest of Zebra?
Annddd....
 Mira mira mira, elefante, elefante!
(never gets old)
Oh man, Also, I met this GOAT at the petting zoo!
I also noted on the map something listed as "Safari Express Train" but it turned out to be this...
That as required by ALL Zoo's it seems...
Drove around these...
'Giants of the Jurassic'
Yaayyy more fake Dino's and stuff.
(Yeah, we skipped it)
And there is also an Endangered Species Carousel with this rather concerned Gorilla.

Also... While it was closed.. I still took a few photos of the Monorail :)
(that's actually pretty difficult to photograph)
The beam.. and such
And...I believe this is the station for it.

Woo, uh, the Dallas Zoo!
and stuff.
Its a pretty nice place and for sure worth checking out if in the city of Dallas.
(plus... Hippos are coming soon!!!)
((also, I had no idea there was an Aquarium Downtown until I was looking up info on the Zoo to make this post... Oops, next time!))