Sanford Harvest Festival....fair.........thing

So.... while driving out to the Volusia County Fair with Jeff we passed signs for a Fall Harvest Festival in Sanford.. a quick phone check confirmed there would be rides.... So while Volusia was more than enough to satisfy any fair goer.... we finished there rather quick and opted for a chance for...uh....more... rides. To the Festival we go! woo

Ok, enough intro, onto a few random photos of rides we didn't even ride (although having been to other fairs with the same showman, Carol Stream Amusements, we've ridden the Mulligan Sea Ray, SBF Drop Tower, and the Tivoli Orbiter in the past ) 

LETS GO!

Carol Stream is pretty neat, mostly older, classic rides but all well kept and nice looking.

  Got a Tilt-a-Whirl

 Round-Up

 And the only "old school" looking Scooters I've ever seen travailing.

 The Tornado seems to be one of the "newer" rides in their lineup.

  Along with their Cliffhanger, named Hang Glider.... AND its not painted green for once!

The Mulligan Sea Ray they move was the first one I ever rode, back in 2010 and one of only two I've been on 

(although I've seen a third and skipped it...)

Musik Express! Much like the one Sam Pino used to move in Massachusetts back in the day

 Lovely LED covered Chance Wheel and the Orbiter in front of it

 Woo, pretty LED's

 annddd, the Orbiter.

 Typhoon...thing

 Oh, and they've got a Wisdom coaster too! (one that I've never even tried to ride...)

 ((IE: NOT a credit whore...))

also...

also..

also.

Ducks!

 I don't know, maybe if I ever don't get too lazy... I'll get around to posting some California...Wisconsin...Texas...Louisiana....uhh.. other...stuff from this year... or stuff.

St. Augustine Light & Davenport Park Carousel

So uh, yeah... St. Augustine Light and the Davenport Park Carousel. A very thrilling Sunday adventure from a few months ago.. now to live forever on the Internets via blogger. yay!
So with a day off and an itch for adventure Dan and I left Orlando behind and drove north to St. Augustine.... To climb a lighthouse. yeah.....

This is gonna be amazing.....

Oh, its pretty big!

Like, 160 feet tall big....

Annddd because it was built in 1874... its stairs all the way to the top.

(and because this is America... we did indeed watch a rather large man opt-out and choose to sit on a bench while the rest of his family climbed)

  Yaaaayyyyyyyyyy

Long way down...

The view from the top is pretty lovely too, worth the climb up to see the oldest city in America.

Oh, and like... the ocean too.

In the museum they have the lens from the light... that someone shot with a gun (I guess they thought that was a good idea or something) the FBI even investigated the shooting...

Gives the lighthouse some street cred, yo.

 MY SPACE PHOTO!!!!

(wait, people don't use MySpace.)

Well, after the lighthouse... we drove over into the city itself. The lighthouse is to the south east of the downtown area. Downtown we happened upon a small city park with a Carousel so we took it for a spin. yaayyyy rides

Davenport Park and its Carousel

Woo, and its only $1 a ride! :D

 

Some of the horses were kinda banged up, but the ride does date back to...1927

Although it only came to Florida in the 1990's

yaaayyyyyyyyyyy

(and now that I have my own internet connection ((i know, i know, welcome to 1998)) I'll be able to update here more often :) )

Hmm, somehow I never posted these....

Well, better late than never? maybe??
So... Whats better than working till 5am? Using a *free* day and going to the 2012 Florida Strawberry Festival!" (eww, strawberries!)

Sweet, I might hate Strawberries, but I love me some rides!

yaayyyyyy

Ok, so... Were just gonna skip past the Tractors and Cows and Pigs... and all the other crap and just get right to the ride photos.. and stuff.

OK, rides!

Brand new KMG Speeeeeed, it was closed most of the night... So I never got to ride it.

But the first thing I did ride was....

 The extremely clunky MegaDrop. I love me some drop rides but I don't know what was up with this one.. I even gave it second and third chances.. but it kept just being.... bad.

And it got worse when..

I found my first Zamp Nitro in seven years, closed, the whole night :(

Good thing the KMG Freak Out was open!

And it just kept getting better from there on out!

SPACE ROLLER

You've returned to my life, and I thank you so much for doing so.

Having been MIA at the Florida State Fair the past 2 years and seemingly dropping off the amusement-radar all together.... The amazing Mondial Top Scan has returned <3

And with my day made.. it was time to sample the rest of the rides on the fairly large midway.

Full sized Rev Spinner, hadn't seen this one since Santa's Enchanted Forest or the Meadowland's Fair  :)

 Simple and fun, worth a reride too, woo

<3 SKY WHEEL <3

Also something that was lacking at the Florida State Fair this year, making me have to ride it some 4 times here in Plant City (just in case :( ) Ah, one of my all time favorite classic rides. I still tear up sometimes at Fun Spot standing where it's Sky Wheel once was.

Hmm, now this one seemed like I'd seen it in a past life or something... Not just any ol' portable flume... but in fact one I had ridden nearly 10 years earlier!

Oh yeah, its Fiesta Fiasco Shows! And while it may have new logs on it now.. its still the same ride I just couldn't get enough of at Revere Beach back in 02 and 03 <3 

I didn't even know they still owned a flume!

(((Sun goes down now)))

Woo, rides at night.. with all their flashing lights and stuff.. yaayyyyyyyy

:O Magnum was here, and running pretty long cycles banging out TIESTO <3

Mondial Shake = :D :D :D :D

Crazy Dance = ...not so much

and while better than Wade's 'Twister' its still not a HUSS

 (although it ran a nice long cycle with multiple changes in speed to keep the cycle interesting)

Yo..................yo

One of the few rides left on the midway without LED's and it still looked great.

And now back to the negative. 

Anticipointment 101 right here....

My first Power Surge in 5 years... And I'm told the boom is broken.. So the main arm never rotated... meaning our whole ride cycle remained without a single inversion. One of the few rides Zamp makes right (and was original) and it wasn't even working right :'(

And with that the night was winding down with just enough time for a few more rides.

An overview shot from the Eli Wheel 

(a must have for any major Floridian fair it seems)

The nice and smooth ARM Vertigo

And of course I saved time for one last ride on....

Ah.....

Also,  EWWWWWW

 Oh hey, and Joey

 (cause I know you're the only one even reading this..... I'm about to go on a Dollywood adventure... So I'll send your box-o-crap once I get back from that... and stuff)