Central Florida Fair '08

I waited around for some friends at the usual meeting spot before we all head over to the Central Florida Fair.






Then I remembered we were actually meeting at Julie's place where I was greeted by a miniature version of herself.....






.....then Christian showed up.....





.....and then FINALLY Ray.






Hoo-ray!






I was so stoked to find out I was tall enough for the big kid rides.






Ray needs to grow up quickly or else we're leaving him behind with all of the strangers to talk to.






Ray grew up rather quickly but certainly didn't mature all too much.






But I didn't care about the maturity since I'm at the same stage.






Ray hadn't eaten for a while and so he started to view Christian and Julie as farm food.






The fake farmer totally pulled a "made you look" joke on me. I always fall for those!






When I looked the other way everyone in the group were trapped inside gigantic fair peppers.






Ray didn't care though and ate his way out.






Christian was in awe to see cows behind the sturdiest chain linked fence he had ever seen.






Betsy was in awe to see the brightest camera flash she had ever seen.






I can only hang around cows for so before I have freak outs so I slipped into my Spider-Man costume and swung out as fast as I could.






Then I accidentally hit Ray and Julie as I was swinging by and knocked them both back to the stone age.






I also hit Christian but he was only knocked back a few years when Blues Clues was extremely popular...and apparently I also knocked myself back to that time while I was at it.






This clown don't mess around.






We all got wristbands so we could go on rides as many times as we desired! And even more impressive when all our powers combine we produce in on the top of our hands that form TENNIS BALLS!!!






First up, the Yo-Yo.






It was quite fun!






Ray held on as we were coming back down for the landing.






It sure looked like fun, but it might have spun around a little too much.






Ray and Julie dare to defy death by riding the Mega Drop!






It was great knowing both of these fine people.






And away they go!













After all of that excitement we walked 100 feet over to the Hydro Shock roller coaster!













We were all ready to go on The Zombie, but when we got in line it broke down.....






.....so we headed over to a nearby fun house where Ray enjoyed walking backwards on the sliding floor.






While I was spinning around on this thing I made everyone address me as my stripper name, which according to Yahoo! Answers is Lola Glitterslide.






Christian and Ray make their way through the rotating tunnel to exit the fun house.






Julie begins her journey through the tunnel while Ray is still trying to figure out which way he needs to face while running.






Ray, Christian and Julie walked into the Starship 2000 while I was backing up to take a picture of the Starship 2000, and before I knew it they were all taking a whirl Starship 2000-style.






They all got off and Ray acted like it was no big deal to ride Spaceship 2000 at all.....






.....then he threw up an entire funnel cake that he didn't even eat.






We headed over to another fun house and were ready to get blown away by the POWER OF ROCK!






We're not sure where this is going to lead to but hopefully it will be a rockin' good time.






We didn't find a rockin' room but did however stumble upon a swingin' room.






Which turned out to be great for Ray since he likes to do the swingin' thing.






Everyone violently joined in!






But they didn't know swingin' was not allowed in the House of Rock so they went to the rockin' jail for about five seconds.






We found a haunted house and were all ready to go inside.






Judging from the quality illustrations I could tell this was going to be spine-chilling.






I flashed the light on my camera and was scared by Christian's back.






Apparently Julie didn't want to go any further.






As I was walking out of the exit I was confused why there were so many bells ringing.






But Ray doesn't like noises.






Ray cheered up though as we were heading over to a ferris wheel.






It was quite an amazing view to see all of the carnies' trailers strategically hidden behind fun houses, midway games and spinning rides.













If you direct your attention to where the arrows are pointing you will see where I have challenged Julie to a Super Slide race in order to prove my point that girls are always slower on potato sacks.






And as I was coming down on the final hump I accelerated past Julie at a blistering speed to win the race...I swear it happened that way.






Now it was time to go on a ride that...yep, you guessed it...spins.






We were spinning around so fast Ray was crushing me against the edge of the comfy metal seat.






I didn't feel so good after all that spinning and leg crushing.....






.....so I took a breather while Christian fanned air on my face and Julie did nothing.






While I was still recovering from the last spinning ride I ran into an old friend from Chicago, Jumpy Al Gallo, so we both went to a joint that had the cheapest real lump crab cake sandwiches we could find and caught up for a few minutes.






Ray and Christian had a hankering for some corn dogs.....






.....and enjoyed them immensely.






And Julie was waiting patiently next to a smiley face for everyone to finish up their grub.






After getting a fill on some healthy fair food it was time to go on some more rides that are assembled from a truck.






So Julie, me and Ray headed over to the truck that transforms into a water ride.






It didn't look like we were going to make it.....






.....but then we did, so please, to all of you home views I urge you to back up off the edge of your seat at this moment.






We're back at The Zombie for a second time hoping to get on the ride without breaking down.






Julie and I are not ready to face the living dead.






Ray and Christian wait in line to get on next to see some soulless corpses.






But then it broke down again and we were asked to get out AND NEVER COME BACK!






We found another fun house to go in.






As you can see Julie is a big fan of fun hallways.






It just ain't a true fun house with a weird cartoon cow.






Christian vigorously punches the air while going down the slide.






Ray rocked it out while going down the slide.






Julie behaved like a normal human being while going down the slide.






I took pictures of my big mouth while going down the slide.






As I was making my way to the exit I had to bust out some of my cat-like maneuvers to make an escape from the man/cat eating 2D cartoon bulldog.






WHAT?! ANOTHER FUN HOUSE?!?! We better go try it out.






Of course, it's not so much fun as it is frustrating as you try to make your way through a room filled with mirrors.






Ray tried to find a way out.....






.....while I held back and tried my best to fill up memory cards.






As you can see I'm still doing a good job at what I do best.






Ray can do pretty awesome trick where he can pull up one leg and then the other one extends downward.






Ray is ready to flap his arms on the Cliff Hanger.






TIME FOR LIFTOFF!!!






AND TIME FOR SPINNING!!!






They made it back down but Christian was the only one who was able to outlast the Cliff Hanger.






I gave Christian a thumbs up for his success.






Julie and I decided to disorient ourselves so we hopped on the Zipper.






Being confused while on the Zipper is our new definition of enjoyment!






We discovered that it's fun to see Ray get flattened by a fake steamroller.






But we also discovered it's not very fun to see Christian inside of a fake clown's mouth.






We couldn't pass up on the classic Merry-Go-Round!






I was still slightly disoriented and had no idea I was sitting on a plastic horse.






However, Ray knew exactly where he was so he took full advantage of the ride.....






.....and so did everyone else.






Okay, we're back at The Zombie for a third time so SURELY we can get on this time.






But alas, it was closed down once again and was burned down to ground so we headed over to another roller coaster.













Somehow Julie and I ended up on Mega Drop and judging by the size of my jaw I'm not frightened at all.






Or maybe I am.






And judging by the height of where Julie and I are right now...this may be a little scary.






I totally screamed like a man.






Now it was time to face the Hydro Shock once again, where Christian courageously faces the ride as it stares right back at him.






But leave it to Ray to ruin Christian's dramatic moment.













Time for the Yo-Yo again!






It's fun to spin in a baby swing.






It's not as easy as it looks to get out of the Yo-Yo seats.






But luckily I am tremendously graceful, so no one was able to make fun of me.






The Rainbow ride looked rather harmless so we were all psyched to try it out.






But it went faster than what it appears from the ground.






Christian isn't too sure about this ride.






Ray was just fine though and didn't know what the rest of us were complaining about.






We don't like the Rainbow ride!






Uuuugh.






We went back in the awesome fun house with mirrors.....






.....and were determined to find our way through the mirror room again to go down the twisty slide.






Ray went first.....






.....then Christian.....






.....then Julie.....






.....AND THEN THE BEST FOR LAAAAST!!!






To finish up the night we headed over to the Super Slide where Julie and Christian race down on those wonderful itchy potato sacks.






Then me and Ray had a very aggressive race down and ended up knocking over a punk teenager.






After a fun filled day it's time to head out.....






.....and take one last group picture with most of everyone partially in it.






As we were exiting Ray couldn't exactly figure out how to leave the fair.






But I was distracted by giving the Central Florida Fair a thumbs up and never saw Ray again that night. He may have found his way back home...or he may have hit the road across the country with all of the carnies.