McSalsa's Coaster Adventures: Indiana State Fair 2014

[McSalsa]

Hi Everybody! I went to the Indiana State Fair for the first time in years today. Here is my trip report- this trip included me, my sister, and her best friend. Later on one of my sister's friends I didn't know also joined us. We didn't do rides until VERY late in he day, so I'll break this into 2 secions: a general section of what I did during the day, then the rides at night.

PART 1: THE FAIR
Our day started off with arriving at the parking lot, and I was a bit suprised at how many rides the fair had- and some looked quite fun. We entered and I was told to find some food (my sister basically paid for this trip, I thanked her of course at the end). Since it was $2 day, I looked for something at that price and eventually got some curly fries- they were OK but not anything remarkable. After my sister and her friend came out from the new-for-2014 beer & wine tasting area (I don't drink at all so I skipped), we headed around checking out more of the fair's food options, where I tried a Gyro for the first time, and it was great! We then wandered around for a bit, searching for the "Deep Fried Girl Scout Cookies" my sister badly wanted to try- we did find them, but that didn't happen until much later. I needed to use the Bathroom, and went into the "Cattle" Pavillion to do so. Couldn't resist checking out the "champion" cow while there- what a beauty she was. Later, we entered an exhibit that had awesome displays with local fish (Rainbow Trout are huge and Salmon are even more monstrous), another was a cool butterfly garden, and a exhibit with goats and other small farm animals- including Zebus! And there was a cool parade with a old school fire truck, the Butler Bulldog (who is awesome), and more tractors than I could count including some VERY old ones. I then got a $2 slice of pizza, which was HUGE and tasty for that price (a rival pizza vendor was only giving half slices for the same price- I went for the bigger one for the money). After that, we headed up for a free concert (I didn't bother to watch but did listen to the music- it was Dustin Lynch, who sounded more "rock" than I expected and it was actually very good sounding music). I had looked over the map of the fair and we discovered the location of the deep fried cookies at the Girl Scouts booth, so after the concert we headed to the ride midway as the cookies were being sold in front of the Giant Wheel. We still didn't ride anything as the lines for tickets were crazy at this point. The deep fried cookies were incredible as my sister had hoped. We then met up with another of her friends who I didn't know before this point and headed to get more food mainly for my sister (I was still fairly full from the pizza slice earlier). She got a grilled cheese, and I was given half of it- it was awesome. After this, it was finally time for rides, and thankfully the lines for tickets had gone way down...

PART 2: THE RIDES
We rode 4 rides during the night- not to much but my sister didn't have THAT much money to blow. Here they are...the names may or may not be accurate as for carnival flats, I really don't care to much...

Ride #1: Crazy Mouse (Spinning Wild Mouse)

*****
Having never been on a Wild Mouse before, I was very curious to try this out. And to my suprise- this little thing gave Backlot Stunt Coaster a run for its money, and I'd put it above Invertigo! It had some good laterals (but not nearly as strong as I was expecting) and the drops were very fun. It didn't spin too much though, which dissapointed my sister. It also looked very small and could easily fit in the old Crypt building at KI. I wish I knew who made this as well. Mack? Gerstlauer? Is this an old Arrow ride? I dunno...

Score: 8 out of 10

Ride #2: Giant Wheel (Ferris Wheel)

*****

OK...I have figured something out. Huge roller coasters? No problem for me anymore. But put me on something with minimal restraints, that rocks and sways 100+ feet up, for a few minutes? That scares me. A lot. When the ride actually started it felt a lot better, but to my dismay the ride cycle was PATHETIC and it only went around once, so I never got used to it. It was OK I guess once I got over the initial fear...

Score: 6 out of 10

Ride #3: ??? I Forget The Name (Hammer)
*****
One of the more interesting-looking flat rides I have ever seen but not ridden, and now I realize why you need a OTSR, lap bar, foot restraints AND cage around you here- this has EPIC hang time and great forces! It also, unlike most of the other flat rides, had a very long, thrilling cycle. Probably my favorite ride of the night. My only complaint is it can also kinda hurt- especially when it "stalls" at the top.

Score: 9 out of 10

Ride #4: FireBall (Frisbee)
*****
I was interested in this since I have heard Terpy state that the smaller Frisbees are more fun than the big ones, like Delirium, and while this was a good-sized ride it was no Delirium in terms of sheer size. However, where this ride shined was the fact it felt like Delirium...if Delirium somehow ran at DOUBLE SPEED. Sadly, it also ended at seemingly the same speed- it was a very short ride cycle again. And it was less comfortable and much harder to get in versus Delirium. If it had a longer cycle, it'd be worlds better. As-is, it just barley beats Delirium, but that still means an awesome ride. Also for some reason they had TWO of these- I didn't really see too much of a difference in them. They also had TWO Round-Up Rides...WTF!?!?

Score: 9 out of 10

Interesting-Looking Rides I Never Rode
*****

There was a "Skyscraper (@ Cedar Point)" type ride called Speed, which was the biggest ride at the fair but it had a crazy long line. The Drop Tower seemed about 100 feet or so. You had your classic Spider, Yo-Yo, Scrambler, Tilt-A-Whirl, Thunder Bobs, etc etc. as well as more exotic rides like the Tornado Swings and some crazy "Remix" ride that looked INSANE but also had an insane line. Oh, and a Gravitron UFO I personally made note to avoid after one of them made me a bit sick last time. Yet I enjoy Round-Ups...weird eh?

Well, that's it. After FireBall, we headed out and here I am now at my home. It was a pretty fun day overall. Hope you enjoyed this trip report- even if it wasn't an amusement park, it did still have rides. To finish this TR, here are my usual Pros/Cons...

PROS
+Good ride lineup for a fair

+Very Cool Animals

+Affordable Tasty Food- the $2 deals were solid

+Good music, even though normally Country isn't my go-to

+Lots of bathrooms and hand sanitizer stations

+Pretty clean for a fair

CONS

-Ferris Wheels are scary...(OK- not really a con and I should get used to them eventually but still...for now...)

-Was quite crowded for the most part

-Weak ride cycles on some rides

Hope you liked this! McSalsa away! (Flies off) OH @!^!& DA FERRIS WHEEL!!!
(Crashes into the Ferris Wheel)
KABOOM!!!!!

[Magenta Lizard]

Loved your report! I really must get to a State Fair one of these years.

I'm with you about Ferris Wheels. I was just thinking about that earlier today. I don't get even the slightest flutter of fear from coasters anymore, but just the thought of being up on a wheel (or sky ride) gets my pulse rate up. I still want to do it, of course!

You made me want something crazy deep fried, too.

[LoraX]

We need to head out to the fair so I can ride Crazy Mouse. I am sure I have rode it at some point, because we go most years, but don't recall riding it. I love Wild Mouse coasters, especially if they spin.

We might go next Tuesday.

Thanks for the trip report.

[DJSkyFoxx]

I haven't done the rides at the state fair in many many years. I did go to the fair last year with my girlfriend and her family and I remember seeing the "Skyscraper"/Speed ride and really wanting to give it a go since it didn't have much of a line to it ( it was during the day time ) since I haven't ever been on that type of ride before. I didn't get to ride it though, as my girlfriend's little sister's demo in one of the 4-H buildings was about to start and I had to go and support her achievement!

Glad to hear they still get a solid line up of flats though. I didn't get to explore too much last year to see what sort of flat rides they had.

I do remember riding the Wild Mouse coaster many years ago and it was a great little coaster. I also remember years ago they had some of my other favorite flat rides, a Zamperla Powersurge being one of them and a Disk'O. I miss them having these rides at the fair.

Also glad that you had a nice time! thanks for the TR!

[Gabe]

The concessionaire for the Midway is North American Midway Entertainment, based here in Indiana. I believe this is their 3rd year at the fair. On past visits, I've found their rides to be in good working condition and their employees dressed profesionally (polos and khakis). They have special wristband days, so check the Indiana State Fair website for more info. For those going on a day other than Tuesday, $3 discount admission tickets can be purchased at Indy-area Wal Marts and CVS locations. Our fair is relatively compact compared to neighboring state fairs, but it does offer quite a bit of free or low cost entertainment for the price of admission.

[McSalsa]

^
I can confirm- the employees were indeed all wearing red polo shirts and khaki pants, and they did seem pretty nice & fairly professional.

[McSalsa]

I hate to bump my own old TR thread but I think I figured out what kind manufacturer the Wild Mouse was...it was apparently a Zamperla "Twister Coaster 420STD". This is a similar ride at Martin's Fantasy Island with the same color scheme...

Info Page

http://rcdb.com/2983.htm#

Just found this interesting as I was wondering who made that Wild Mouse when riding it...

[McSalsa]

Oops. Double post.

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