The Our Lady of Peace parish carnival runs for four days each year in mid May. At one time it was three days but a forth was added possibly because each year there is one throwaway day which is marred by rain or storms; this year was no different as the first day consisted of an all day rain event followed by two fairly brisk days before finally getting a warm, dry day to close out the fair. Blue Sky Amusements provided the rides and some games for the X year in a row now (lost count!) The fair had…
- Zipper
- Himalaya (Wisdom)
- Starship Gravitron
- Riptide (ARM Ali Baba)
- Round Up
- Big Wheel
- Swinger
- Scooters
- Sizzler
- Berry Go Round
- Fun Slide
- A bunch of kiddie rides
- A myriad of games
- A selection of greasy treats
- A few vendors
Zipper sported a massive line on Friday and Saturday night, partly because it was the only inverting ride at the fair and partly because it loads pretty darn slowly. Next door was a Watkins Swinger, a pretty run of the mill swing ride that can rack small enough for practically a sedan to pull it. It ran pretty fast compared to most swing rides I’ve seen lately; it was also the fastest to start tearing down soon after 11pm on Sat.
On the other side of Zipper was a Wisdom Himalaya which is a big step up from a Venture Mini Himalaya but not as impressive as a Musik Express or other full sized Himis; of course a full sized version A. racks on more than one trailer and B. is just freaking big. Scooters was the next ride over; not much to say about them other than that you got a nice waft of grease or whatever the heck that smell is when near them.
A Hrubetz Round Up decked out with LEDs along with the old tube lights sat beside Scooters. It’s one of the better looking Hrubetz Round Up rides around as well as one of the best run, rising up to a very steep angle, something that a lot of Round Up rides don’t do. Here’s a video of the Round-Up, it was actually taken last year but just recently edited.
Next to Round Up was another centrifuge based ride, Starship Gravitron, a brand new Wisdom Starship 2000. This was actually the ride I was most looking forward to seeing after reading a post about it on Matt’s Carnival Warehouse. The ride was fully souped-up with LEDs set to wildly flashing sequences and an electric orange ship with some glitter thrown in. It’s one of the best Starship 2000 rides I’ve seen, right up there with Reithoffer’s “Starship 2000” and Morey’s Piers’ “Cygnus X-1.” A video of the ride can be found in a previous post.
A Wisdom Sizzler was next on the midway. It seemed a bit darker this year with some of the lights not turned on or something, I can’t really place my finger on it. It did run really fast compared to other Sizzler rides however; the sweeps holding the cars actually spun faster than the main boom. Riptide, an ARM Ali Baba with a better theme, anchored the back right side of the midway. The ‘Rip’ in Riptide was not working on the days I went which resulted in hearing “let’s go on the Tide!” more than once from random carnival patrons. Finally, a medium sized gondola wheel sat near the front of the midway which sort of served as a backdrop for the row of games set up closest to the school.
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–Brian
I FINALLY RODE THE -ZIPPER- LAST NIGHT!!
It was in Mercer County Park (Reithoffer Shows provided the rides there) around Trenton, NJ, where it was sort of a fundraising campaign for D.A.R.E, a campaign to “keep kids out of drugs and violence”..and stuff like that.
Though I came alone but I had some somebody to ride along with me
My 1st ride on Zipper at around 8pm (the time I’ve arrived to the fair) was not much exciting because the car i was in, didn’t flip much as I thought it would. And in my 2nd/last ride @ around 10pm (after their amazing fireworks display) on that “Screamin-Metal Death Trap”, was absolutely…INSAANE! I Must thank you for providing me the information. 😀
I CAN’T WAIT TO RIDE THE RIDE AGAIN TO -WHEREVER IT WILL BE-! Thank You Sooo much. I owe ya! 😀
–Robert
Nice! I’ve noticed sometimes you’ll get a pretty tame ride on Zipper, just the luck of the draw I guess. Also after a few more rides you’ll start to get a feel of when to rock the car to make it flip multiple times, that’s always fun! Although I think the best is when the car points away from the center while going around the turn; you just get launched off the seat during those moments!
1. Yeah you’re right, I’m guessing when it comes to that ride, 1st rides on it are just sometimes less intense than on 2nd or more times on it, lol! 🙂
But glad I finally conquered it. I finally got to feel what I’ve missed out SOOO MUCH after fearing Sooo Much about when in my younger years. Though I was pretty skeptical as I got on to the car, and asking the operator, “Omg, Make sure it’s locked in securely!” and I was unsure about it. As the ride started I shouted “Ooooohhh S*******!!” while holding on to the bars on the cage’s door tightly for dear life! And in one of those moment when my car shifted directions from one end to another, my head almost banged against the door..that was something I didn’t expect from the effects during the ride. Also on my 2nd/last ride on Zipper before headin home, the car I was in flipped 10 times (even while the ride starts rotating the other way)…WOOOWW..:-D That was….UNBELIEVABLE.. I’m glad I took that chance. It was either NOW..or NEVER. And I also love the ride because of the cars’ original cushion-y leather interior. 🙂
I saw some were worn out or abused. but I was lucky enough to get in on one of the good cars (with the best kept leather interior)
2. Also, I researched -Blue Sky-‘s website on the line-up they have, and the only good ride they have is..of course,….”The Wicked Chainsaw” ride, better know as…”ZIPPER”.
Their line-up wasn’t that much cool as Reithoffer’s rides are. They have some Spectaculars also such as -Pharaoh’s Fury- (I LOVE THAT RIDE, MY 3RD FAVE), -Ring of Fire- (MY 2ND FAVE) and their -Zipper- (MY 1ST FAVE AS OF NOW) at night, its lights twinkle brightly and proudly as it should (including the the ride’s name sign) 🙂
We are also 1/8th the size of Reithoffer Shows. Not every company can buy multiple big rides every year.
I agree with that statement.