Wisconsin State Fair 2012

[CstrFan512]

Just found out I've got some free time this month so I'll check it out. For anyone who has been here before, do u have any suggestions for a first timer?

[Ilovthevu']

^I would personally bring a bat and put it in your trunk (Don't go in the fair with it of course) because last year some mob of people were trashing cars left and right on one day. Allegedly, they were going after white people they have seen in their cars, so my point is bringing a baseball bat in your trunk, you could get them if they want to attack you. Luckily I went the day after last year, but I don't trust that those people wouldn't do it again. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report- ... tate-fair/ Also, I think the day they did it, a black singer was performing, so just to be safe, I think you are better off not going black singer day unless you want to take your chances.

If you are still going, buy the Creme Puffs! Those are what they are really noted for. Also, another thing I guess they are noted for is the milk place that has all these different flavors of milk like chocolate, maybe strawberry. They have a bunch of flavors, and it's pretty cheap for a fair. It seemed like 50 cents or 25 cents, and maybe in a book you get at the fair, they have a coupon??

Rides that are there are stuff like Force 10, Orbiter, Zipper, a ride like the Cajun Cliffhanger that used to be at SFGAm, Flying Bobs type of ride, a ride in the order of those Sky Screamers / Windseekers, Gravitron called Starship, Cliffhanger, Freak Out, 2 rides similar to the 1001 Nachts / or similar to SFGAm's Trailblazer, etc. For this year, you can't get a wristband for one price and ride all the rides. You have to pay separately for every ride only.

[FParker185]

2 updates...

1. in an unprecedented move, the fair will be offering wristbands this year for only $30. That's pretty much the deal of a lifetime if anyone plans on going. I doubt they'll have em again.

2. I guess the time is right for these, here are a bunch of setup pictures from the fair taken on the ground over the past 2 weeks.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/musher2012 ... 753132798/

[Ilovthevu']

^I kind of don't agree with the deal of a lifetime even though I understand for their to be a wristband for an independent carnival is unheard of. The way I look at it, is that with admission to the fair, that's really $39, and sure there are some discount days for admission such as one it's after 5 pm (What good is that?), and than they don't have anything on Sat or Sun. I think some IL County Fairs had better deals. Now, again they aren't bringing 2 rides from this carnival, and 2 rides from that carnival at a County Fair, but $39 to me for carnival rides is kind of on the high side.

And the thing is that someone might say well it's not really $39, it's only $30, but really in order to get on the carnival rides, you have to pay to get into the fair (admission), so it is really like $39. And yes, Great America when it's half of a day charges around that, but Great America also has multi-million dollar rides at their park compared to carnivals which might have maybe 1 or 2 rides that could be a million, but most are much cheaper. Great America not only has regular rides, but they also have a waterpark too.

[DeathbyDinn]

It's a fair. It's going to be expensive.

[UWW-10]

^^There are (and were) major discount deals for admission to the WI State Fair. Our family always buys the $5 admission tickets through the ticket office, but those are only on sale through June 30th (not sure when they start selling them though). There's also plenty of other deals that businesses around the area participate in selling discounted tickets.


Bottom line: I truly believe that if you're paying a full price admission to get in the fair, then you didn't do your research.

[mikedoyleblogger]

^I would personally bring a bat and put it in your trunk (Don't go in the fair with it of course) because last year some mob of people were trashing cars left and right on one day.

No need. I went yesterday with friends from Chicago to celebrate my birthday. The security put in place because of last year's violence--both Fair security and local police--was everywhere. Gate bag checks, 5 p.m. unaccompanied youth curfew, and roving groups of officers with plastic cuffs were ***everywhere***, it wasn't oppressive but it totally said, "Don't even think about it," to the knuckleheads. As a result, the whole fair--midway included--felt totally family friendly. It was an AMAZING vibe and way better than the last time I was at the fair.

The Fair is a FAIR. 161 years old, half a mile from end to end, chocolate-covered bacon on a stick, livestock and small-animal barns, fried cheese curds, and giant famous creme puffs. Serious state fair fun.

More importantly for this forum, Spin City, the new rides midway, no longer feels like a sketchy dump with marginal, aging flats, a haphazard layout, and aggressive youth. It's actually charming--like a very well run carnival--with squeaky-clean, new-looking rides, a well-designed layout, and lots of obvious staff and security (a lot like Great America, actually.)

Two things of note. They Sky Wheel is beautifully maintained (as if it just came out of a box!) and runs pretty fast. (Definitely the fastest Sky Wheel I've ever been on.) Do not miss it.

The Stratosphere swing tower looks amazing in person. HOWEVER...it broke down twice in the six hours we were at State Fair, including once where the riders were stuck halfway up the tower for at least 20 minutes with no power or lights on at all. So you might want to ask the ops the last time it broke down before you ride. (It also looks to have a really unforgiving lapbar, so larger riders may not fit.)

In terms of tickets, there ARE volume discounts and wristbands (which include a ticket "upcharge" for some rides), and lines were pretty short on a Saturday night, even when State Fair proper was crowded. (That may be due to the new youth curfew.)

Also, know that State Fair is a very large, long north-south rectangle with the rides midway on the extreme north end of the rectangle. If you want to hit the midway first (or primarily), park on the north side of the fair (Gate 7 I believe) immediately south of the highway--that's where the overflow parking is, anyway. The midway is right there. If you park/enter State Fair from the south, the $4 skyride that boards immediately north of the Exposition Center building (very near the south gate) is designed as a midway shorcut. It will take you across the ***WHOLE*** fair (it's like 8 minutes/half a mile) directly to the Spin city midway entrance.

[CstrFan512]

^ Thanks for the update. Glad to heard I can enjoy myself instead of watching my back.

[Ilovthevu']

^^What rides are more money even if you have a wristband. I know the Chairlift ride isn't part of the wristband, but what else? I remember last year the Windstorm roller coaster wasn't either, so did that change or is that no wristbands?

[mikedoyleblogger]

^^What rides are more money even if you have a wristband. I know the Chairlift ride isn't part of the wristband, but what else? I remember last year the Windstorm roller coaster wasn't either, so did that change or is that no wristbands?

Sorry, I didn't pay that close attention because my group used tickets, not the wristbands. You could check for more info on State Fair's Spin City page:

http://wistatefair.com/2012/fair/events ... index.html

[tp41190]

$30 wristband?! YES!

Seriously, that is an awesome deal. I missed out on the advance ticket sales so I was thinking how far my $50 ticket sheet would have gone...not far at all. And I really wanted to try out all of the rides. But this is awesome. Might have to slam a few drinks after work one of these days and get a wristband for some night rides

[Coaster Justin]

Just went there yesterday. Longest line (Take a guess) was the Starflyer like Swings. Everything else was either a walk-on or wait 1-2 cycles to ride.

Only "problem" I guess is that It's like Great Adventure in a way. 2 "Small" coasters on 1 end and Windstorm on the other end.

The Skyflyer (Assuming Vekoma) was the 2nd kryptonite I've found this year (The Other being Mondial Top Scan's.)

[Coaster Justin]

2 updates...

1. in an unprecedented move, the fair will be offering wristbands this year for only $30. That's pretty much the deal of a lifetime if anyone plans on going. I doubt they'll have em again.

2. I guess the time is right for these, here are a bunch of setup pictures from the fair taken on the ground over the past 2 weeks.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/musher2012 ... 753132798/

They're doing wristbands but they give out orange tickets to give to ride attendants. Supposedly, It's to determine attendance per attraction. Hope It's bigger next year, It felt VERY compact when I went.

[DeathbyDinn]

Just got home from the fair. The midway was better than the last few years but still needs some work in my opinion. New rides are great and all, but you should still have the classics like a tilt a whirl, drop tower, himalaya, and drop tower. Stratosphere never opened during the time I was there. It ran empty for the first few hours but once it started to rain (lightly) it stopped and I never saw it run again. The Windstorm was janky but still fun. I'd prefer the Comet, but it's better than nothing. The Sky Wheel was really good and it's always nice to see a rare ride still running, but they were only using two seats on each wheel. It's great that the wheels spin interdependently so if you're on the top you don't have to stop for people on the bottom to get off. The flipper was something I've never seen in the US before. It was ok, but not as intense as I thought. It's basically a tilt a whirl thats on a very steep angle. The highlight for me was the KMG Fun Factory. It had a great program and looks like it was intended for European riders (the instructions on the car were in German.) It had good music blasting too and the last 10 seconds where just great. It doesn't look that impressive from the outside, but once you're on it, it's crazy. It's a don't miss for me.

[tp41190]

All I know is, those fair make massive...massive profit. Those things are cash cows for sure. My friend who works with Chance said that he talks with guys in the carnival industry, and they say they can easily bank a few hundred thousand in a weekend.

I went during the week and I had a lot of fun.

I got one of 3 Stratosphere rides that actually had people on it for the night. Was OK. The Flipper and Fun Factory were by far my favorite rides. Those rides really depended on the kind of weight you had in the car though. First time on the Flipper we had four people, second time I was by myself. It was so much crazier by myself, especially during the directional change. The Fun Factory was cool and probably pulled the most G Forces I have ever felt on a ride. The Rave (Rotor) was also pretty cool and the operator had a lot of fun.

Force 10, Holy Sht. When I rode it I swear I was going die, it was that intense. It felt like the ride pulled a consistent 2.5-3 Gs. Which doesn't seem that bad, but when it last for about 2 mins it really get to you. It was awesome, but I don't think I would ever ride it again.

[FParker185]

The fair makes a lot of money, the ride operators generally break even or loose money. For each $1 ticket they collect they get about 30-40 cents, much less for wristbands which is why most indy fairs shun them all together. And with that 30 cents they get from each ticket they have to cover electricity costs (weather it be paying WSF for power or diesel to run generators, also in that case the cost of the generators), labor to run the ride, labor to set up the ride, lot rent, "tips", Insurance, the initial cost of the ride, maintaining the ride, the cost of trucks to transport the rides, the diesel they burn moving the rides, the insurance for the trucks, maintenance of the trucks, the cost of the permits to move the rides if they are over 80,000 lbs (you'd be surprised how many are), and the list goes on and on.

As for the rides, Fun Factory was much better than I was expecting, that thing was sick. Force 10 always lives up to it's name(also the name poor man's enterprise), Stratosphere is as boring as most tower rides, though still pretty unique in how it transports, and Jungle Twist is easily the most evil spinning coaster I have ever ridden, I've never spun that fast in my life, usually I like to spin, but it was unpleasant and being made by Wisdom it's more than likely unsafe in some way, I doubt I'll ever ride another one, even for the credit. Overall the rides looked and ran pretty good other than Stratosphere which on Thus had a bunch of issues which I hear has been normal, but it is the first time it's ever been set up in the US and most of it's systems are wireless, so there has to be some calibration here and there to make sure nothing interferes with all that. At night the bulb count was pretty close to 100% on everything too, which is always great, a lot of LED Turbo's these days I noticed.

[Coaster Justin]

Wonder if it will be bigger or smaller next year?
http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2012/aug/ ... r-in-2012/

[FParker185]

I know the midway will have a few more big european rides next year, Michael Woods who was busy this year in California is going to send in his Mondial Shake and Tivoli Remix (6 arm)

[Coaster Justin]

THREAD REVIVAL!!!!

http://www.wistatefair.com/wp/spincity/

9 New Rides!!!! (Even though the total is roughly 13)

[FParker185]

Yeah, though all the really cool stuff from Michael Woods will not be coming up, there is a new Independent Fair in So. Cal that he's sending his stuff to. Also the Sky Swing might have just been sold overseas.

[Coaster Justin]

FParker, Any update on what fair companies are providing what rides?

[FParker185]

I know Air Raid is Playworlds, Fun Factory and Big Bamboo are owned by Sky Attractions, the Sky Flyer is more than likely Reithoffer. I wanna say the RipTide coaster is Deggeller. Rest of the rides listed are to common to be able to identify who owns them, most will probably be from local area shows. More will be known in the week or 2 before the fair.

Here's a list of who provided what rides last year...
http://www.carnivalwarehouse.com/brnews ... sf2012.pdf

Also the Wacky Mouse that's listed as new for this year might be the Mouse that used to stand at Pedroland in South Carolina which is now owned by Deggeller, that's unknown yet for sure though.

[Coaster Justin]

Just Got Back, I have some information:


- They are still offering wristbands
- There was no Wacky Mouse, Instead a Wacky Worm/Big Apple with a Dog train called "Puppy Love"
- The Riptide is 100% Deggeller but no knowledge on the Puppy Love, Someone help me here!!!! It has a Springy Tail


Oh and To toot my own horn:

- Riptide (#397)
- Puppy Love (#398)

[Coaster Justin]

Any update on the Puppy Love coaster?

[FParker185]

Puppy Express was booked in by Doug Hayworth