Meadowlands Fair Trip Report

Place: Meadowlands Fair (East Rutherford, NJ)
Date: 7/5/04
Arrival Time: 2:30PM

July 5th was the last day of the Meadowlands Fair. A friend and I drove to the fair and while we were on I-78 it started to pour! Luckily by the time we got to the parking lot at the fair, the rain had let up, it was just a slight drizzle now. They had a deal going on that day; Pay $20 to get admission to the fair and unlimited rides. We did that, went in, got out hand stamped and went on in. The first thing you see as you enter the fair is the 300 foot "Springshot" and the Turbo Force rides in the "Xtreme Zone." "There's no chance in hell I'm going on that" my friend said pointing at the Turbo Force. We walked by all the venders and food stands and made our way to the main midway. There were many kiddie rides, fun houses, and spook houses, towards the back were the big rides, and in the middle were all the moderate rides.

After seeing what was there we decided to go on the first ride we see when we turn the corner, and that was the Music Express (or whatever they called it.) It was run like any other Music Express really: fast, longer backward spin time and the guy played bad techno. Next was the Fireball, one of those KMG swinging monstrosities. They gave the 3/4 loaded ride a pretty short ride, maybe only a minute or so. Then again 1 minute is probably too much for some even on this thing as it pull some huge Gs at the bottom of the swing and some sick airtime at the top of the swing. Next we walked over to the Crazy Mouse spinning wild mouse coaster. Always a fun ride, there was constant spinning from the time we started to spin till the unload platform so it was a bit nauseating. We then walked around to the Round-Up. This was an old, beat up round-up, in other words it was your typical round-up. It made a nice creaking sound on the way up and down, fun ride overall though. Next was the Cliff Hanger, which is like a laydown Paratrooper ride. The guy gave a pretty long ride. Then we did the Fireball again.

Now we walked back to get something to eat at the overpriced foot stands. Proceeded to go on a Spook house where the ride-op at the end had to catch the cars at the end (as opposed to brakes.) When we got to the loading platform the guy said to my friend "Can't you people read!? No drinks on the ride!!!" A simple "Sorry no drinks on this ride" would have worked, jeez! We walked back to the flea market, then to the bathrooms in Giants Stadium, then we hung out for a bit in the shade on one of the spiral walkways of the stadium as it was hot and humid as hell outside.

We came back to the fair, went on the Fireball again, and then went on *dun dun DUN!* the Zipper. We waited once around and then got in our little cage. The guy would turn the ride on and off to put the loading cars in position so it was pretty jerky sometimes. As we went up we noticed all kinds of fun things like the can on primer on one of the rungs going up the side of the arm that hold the ride up, the little skateboard type wheels to hold our cars frame to the track, the locking and non-locking nuts to hold the car together, and other odd things. The guy gave us about a 2 minute ride. We did so many flips that at some points we had no clue what direction we were looking. The best part was when the car stayed completely upsidedown from one turnaround to the other turnaround. Next we went over to the Bansai, one of those floorless Kamikazi type rides. The operator loaded up one ship, excluding the outter two seats and the other ship, and made us and many others wait for another time around. I'd like to see the logic in that but I guess I never will. He gave us 4 times one way, 4 times another then 3 times the first way and slowed us way down at the top. Not a bad run I'll give him credit for that. Next was the Fireball...yet again. Then the Zipper again (the highlight this time was our car flipping 5 times in a row) And after that we were done. Any other spinning ride would have made me and him sick. I did it once again! Rode rides until I was too nauseous to ride anymore! We took the Skyride back and looked around a shirt stand and left at around 8:00PM.

I think the fair was worse than last year. They did not have: Touchdown, or my favorite the Space Roller this year as for a bunch of other rides that normally graced their midway.