Uh, the 2015 Seminole County Fair

Uh, well... then there's the Seminole County Fair.

This is the most hit or miss local fair for me it seems. I visited it in 2010, 2011, and maybe 2013? It used to be a rather large fair, being held in the parking lot for the Seminole Towne Center mall. Now it takes place just past the mall in a grass field alongside I4, the fair has also shrunken dramatically over the years and is now pretty basic. That being said, I still managed to have a fun couple of hours and it was nice to see Rok'n'Rol up and running, since I had to skip it at State Fair... I was sure to ride it, here in Sanford.

Last year Strates Shows announced they would no longer run their show by rail, and due to this change are unable to travel with their Huss Top Spin as its not "street legal" in the US. I hope they try and reconfigure the trailer for it, since it's what I consider the shows best piece. Now its just left sitting unused on Orange Ave in Orlando.... Anyways, Seminole County Fair

Once finding the fair, kinda hidden in a field in the middle of nothing alongside the interstate... We got our armbands and headed to the giant wheel so I could get a few photos before the sunset.

Yup... the Giant Wheel

Overview of almost the entire midway. 

Its kinda funny to me, back home this would have been considered a major fair... But by Central Florida standards, its kinda small.

Zyklon!

Yaayyy! Roller Rides!! Uh.. and that guy too!

Ah, just a basic seat belt for the restraint. <3

Woo, coasters

Starship 2000
In the early 90's I would get so excited to ride these... as they were one of bigger "thrill rides" fairs in New England had... but now I tend to overlook them for things better.

But since it had been a few years since I had ridden one, we took it for a spin.
(although it was lame they yelled at people for going sideways / upside down)

Rok'n'Rol!!
It has typically been at the Seminole County Fair every time I've visited.. but it still excites me to see it show up.

Since we skipped it at State Fair, we were sure to ride it here... Although it was placed in kiddie land for some reason and it also ran a disappointingly short cycle.
(but I still love the ride)

Him al aya, while looking rather banged up.. is in oddly great running condition and ran with a super long ride cycle!

Jeff sat out while I took the Fireball for a ride... It gave a strange 3-in-1 cycle... Where it kept cycling down.. and restarting. It was also kinda strange to ride a Fireball without any sort of audio playing.

Zamp Sky Flyer... Its too early in the night to ride you!

Haunted House was on the better end of the 'crappy portable dark-ride' spectrum.
It wasn't good or anything... but it was far better than most of the ones I've encountered.

The Zipper!
(Nope, not gonna happen, my face still hurts)

Pretty sunset.... and stuff

Swamp Gator
(no, I don't have this credit....)

We took Zyklon for a second ride as we made our final lap around the midway

Zyklon from the wheel.
it was kinda funny seeing the reactions to people riding it just thinking of how many massive coasters Orlando has.... and yet this seemed to terrify people!

Before heading out to get some snacks and drive back to Orlando we grabbed a couple of quick last-rides, including one on the Giant Wheel. And for a wheel with 24 cars, it seemed rather unnecessary that the two of us were paired up with another group of riders...
(for a ride with maybe 7 people in line.)

Ah, much better! Sky Flyer is almost always the last ride we do at a fair.
I don't know, tradition?

And while I promised myself I'd never ride a Zipper with Jeff again...
(after the horrific PHONE SMASHING MY FACE incident)

We went for a spin, his phone.... left in my car!

Yaayyy....the 2015 Seminole County Fair

Bonus video via Vine - Video
woo

The Rivership Barbara-Lee

Hm... lets combine lunch... sightseeing...  a river cruise.. and animals all into one?

So one day... I took a ride on the Rivership Barbara-Lee. Why? Uh, why not?

kinda-adventure?? I don't know.

 Hey look, there it is... uh, The Rivership Barbara-Lee!
 a 105 foot long ship, built in 1986. 

 But better yet, some ducks!!!

It was the ship of dreams... wait, no, that was Titanic.

But it was still a ship of.. fun?

 Hey look, the sternwheel paddleboat has uh.. paddle-wheels!

 And these fun wrap-around stairs going deck to deck.

 The boats dining room and also dance floor.

There was live music and a host/tour guide for the duration of the ride.

 Snacks, eaten while leaving the dock in Sanford, Florida.

 Salad... that came near the middle of the ride....

 And the lunch itself that came out about 3/4s of the way along the cruise.
(there was cake too, but it was ruined with strawberry)

Lake Monroe... real Florida, and such.

 where Lake Monroe and the St. Johns River meet.

 Once the Sunrail's Drawbridge was out of our way, up the river we went.

 Cruising along the St. Johns River

(the longest river in Florida) 

After about an hours ride down the river, the boat circles one of the many islands and heads back to Sanford and the dock on Lake Monroe.

After getting off the boat I walked over the this little park at the edge of the parking lot where I found.....

 !!!!! SO. MANY. DUCKS!

(mallard overload?)

 Oh man! Bonus Pekin Duck!!!

And, uh, me with my "Photo of the Day" / 365 photo :D
yay

(its also worth saying that outside of some kid who was like 6... I was pretty much the youngest person on the boat, haha)

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!