Location: Cincinnati, OH
Date: 7/14/96
Weather: Nice, then rainy
Crowd: Festival packed / Midway desserted.
Admission: Free, rides on a pay-per-ride scheme ($.60 tickets)
Theme: St. Ritafest is the oldest, largest church festival in the Cincinnati area. Church festivals, for the uninitiated, are large annual social/fund raising events featuring games of chance. The money made off these games, as well as skill games and concessions often makes up a large part of the church's operating budget. A typical run is 3 days (fri/Sat/Sun). Larger festivals like this one have added rides midways in order to attrract the kids.
Festival Dates: 7/12-7/14 (3rd weekend in July, usually)
Rides by: Murray Bros. Amusements
A zamperla dragon kids coaster. I was informed I was too tall. The kids got several (10) trips per ride. ($1.20)
As I said, a small midway...
The reason I like this midway is because of the Tempest. For those who don't know what this is, I will try to explain it. Imagine a circle ride, with the platfrom mounted at a 45 degree angle, this platfrom is long and narrow and runs half-way up the ride, attached to it at the center is another arm(mounted in it's center), with 2 arms coming from it, one at either end, On these arms (also mounted at their center) sits a car at each end, or 4 cars total. Each car is an octagon shape cage with seven seats in each around the edges, facing inward, the 8th side is the door. In the center is a round grab bar (like rapids rides), each rider is secured with an individual seatbelt. After the cars are loaded and locked, the big arm( on the platform) starts rotating, then the small arms holding 2 cars each start rotating in the opposite direction, and then the car starts rotating in the direction of the big arm. This causes massive laterals from side to side, and provides an intense ride (re-rides are for those with cast-iron stomachs, as two little girls who were in the same cage as me bragged this was their 5th striaght ride, they both upchucked before the ride ended, and do you think they stopped the ride early, heck No. One of my favorite flat rides. Too bad this particular festival is the only place I see it anymore, anyone know who else has these?
Opinion: Crummy midway, with one good ride , Tempest. While I look forward to riding it year after year, the money I've spent on ride tix for this ride has gotten exhorbitant. When I first went all rides were .50 cents, now it's $1.80 (Who makes Tempest and how many rides (at $1.80 per) would be the equivilant of buying one :) )
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