AZ State Fair: In Search of Deep Fried Everything on a Stick and Monkeys Riding Dogs!

[Aladdin]

The Arizona State Fair hit Phoenix, and brought a combination of all kinds of Deep Fried foods, anything on a stick, all sorts of creatures from Elephants to Monkeys riding dogs, an assortment of crappy carnival games and rides, along with a never to be forgotten Footsie Wootsie "Massager"!

I car pooled with DLandFansAZ Family and arrived early afternoon. Even with entry only a dollar a person, it's sure easy to blow Disneyland Size Dollars on things that don't reach near the quality. And yes, we have plenty of DL and DCA comparrisons!

But to start off:

If you wanted some Route 66 "Sideshow" Attractions, these were the building for you. Look! Some people are really going in! Like the old saying goes - there's a sucker born every minute.



Among the other side shows this year, The Pink Lady, who grows cotton candy on her head? DLandFansAZ kids pose as this lady who would fit right in with sideshow bob!



Toward the exit of the first fun house, we see our Cotton Candy ladies approaching!


THINGS on a STICK

This year saw an astronomical increase in the number of things served on a stick (regardless of whether or not they were edible) among those:

The common "hot dog on a stick" (no, not the one found in the malls with primary colored tank tops)


Pattymelt on a Stick, Cheese Burger on a Stick, Chicken Fried Steak on a Stick,


Pizza on a Stick?


Footlong in a Bun on a Stick, Polish in a Bun on a Stick, yeah, no comment


Of course what could follow a footlong or a polish??? A Frozen Chocolate covered Banana on a Stick!



DEEP FRIED EVERYTHING!

OK, you already got a few glimpses of some of the deep fried stuff, but you ain't seen nothin', YET!!!

cheesecake, cookie cough, twinkies, snickers, oreos, moon pies, etc. . . .


No deep fried root beer floats this year, but how about . . . .

yeah, deep fried reeses whips!!!

Deep Fried Artichoke Hearts, and WHAT? Deep fried Coconanas???


This place just placed anything they could imagine in their deep fryer, the list went on and on and on . . . . .


And deep fried pickles, here . . . . .



And everything else

I wonder if he wishes he was and oscar meyer hot dog?


and all the sweet stuff




And Beer, Daiquiris, margaritas and mudslides . . . .




Rides with Disney comparisons

Hey, what's that, in the middle?


Yeah, the guy with the newspaper?

Orlando???????????????????

Right near the front gate, a blow up simba! (yellow ones center left)



Down Main Street we see Esmeralda's buddies


Peter Pan's pirate ship leave much to be desired, Look a mr hook look a like!


Either Mr Toad drives in Circles, or a less adventurous Autopia


King Arthurs?


Hey, Casey Jr! Think we have a HOT looking date for you!



and you should see the jewels on her caboose!

Looks like we've hit goofy's garden!
Brocolli, anyone


How about a crawl through a Corn Cob!


Leaf me alone!


Gotta milk these jokes


Why doesn't DL have these

Ahh, the old Skyway




The Matterhorn could use one of these Bavarian Nut Guys





Ride a Bull, with the parent making the bull buck


oh, probably because one is broke already!



Oh, wait, DCA IS getting one of these, when the orange rind is removed


No fun house on the pier yet





Celebrities at The AZ State Fair

A hybrid of McCain and Obama


everyone ooo and aaahhhh! It's Michael Phellps!


AZ Roller Derby Gals!






The Wildest New Ride at the Fair this year"


Mrs Thumper was the only one with guts in our group, The rest of us didn't WANT to display our gutts.






Local Channel 15 and a couple of news reporters were covering the AZ Fair also






Time to meet up with some more Micechatters:

Sally and Chuck were having some sort of contest, seeing who could keep a straight face the longest

Looks like Sally may be cracking first . . . .


Who's gonna break first? wait, now chuck is showing a little crack


OOOHHHHHHHHH! SALLY BREAKS COMPLETELY!!!!!


Looking over sally's shoulder, Lisa spots the first thing she wants to try out, NO, not the "Fine Cigars"


It's the Footsie Wootsie!!!!! Mrs. Thumper wants to try is out too!


Ah, you know THAT's not going to be the end of the story of this attraction, for Lisa!


Lisa decides to be MORE Adventurous,


Lisa is One of MiceChat's greatest Imagineers!


After Prying them off of the "Footsie Wootsies"
But, unfornately, NOT before both of them exploded.



After those adventures, it was time to cool off a little:

Can you find the hidden Mickeys in both containers?????

(look closely, sometimes the same "ear" is for more than just one Mickey!)



Sally and Mrs Thumper cool off in a different way!





Some of the exhibit halls had some even stranger "attractions", Just a Week ago, we saw several people in red shirt, none of who were as scary as this bunch. These must have been from some sort of cult! They were all lined up in front of chairs, they must be trying to keep people from coming in.


After sneeking by those red shirted peeps, we find a rubbery type toy, in various shapes, that you "SPLATT" on a flat surface. In about a minute, the regain their original shape


In this case it's a tomato!



Back Outside, there were THREE ferris wheels.


After roaming through the food carts, it was time to eat.


The sandwich was ok, but the strawberry funnelcake was fantastic! There was a cart with different kinds of beneights (spelling ?) those french donuts, but this was already too much.


Lisa debated whether or not she should bring a "footsie wootsie" machine home


While we ate, we were also entertain by some elephants (YES! REAL LIVE ELEPHANTS) right next to us. They were giving rides (for a price). All that separated the elephant from reigning chaos on the AZ state fair was a three foot fence.

After eating, we decided to watch the "Banana Derby" where Monkeys ride dogs! One of the monkeys (bobo) was mean and started biting the ears of the dog it was riding! Here's some of the action!








Sadly, we missed the Bear show, BUT at least we could watch them for a little bit.


Anyone still hungry??????? Think again, because you really don't want to eat these . . . . .


Because NONE of it is FOOD. IT'S ALL ROCKS!!!



There was even an Adventureland of Sorts - Congratulations to Sally who was the only one in our group to make it through the maze!





Then is was time for Big Thunder Ranch





Gotta Love Hamsterpalooza!!!!! (or something like that) Nearby were TONS of Rabbits!


A Couple of Smoking breathing Dragons!







And one more fun house for our cotton Candy Ladies to laugh through!




Is this THE END? ? ? ? ?



Nope! This is! No Bull! (well, actually it is a bull)

[Kuzcochik]

First of all the title alone was hilarious. Secondly 10 to 1 I probably actually one that staring contest Great pics Todd!

Oh and this picture should read: "Your trip reports are the best..." "No, yours are"

[Aladdin]

AZ State Fair Report in all it's color and oddities has now officially opened!

[wvnative]

But you forgot the mermaid themed fun house that was playing "Under the Sea". lol

I tried really hard to talk the kid into sharing that strawberry funnel cake with me, but she insisted I try fry bread instead.

Looks like we missed all the fun. We'll get it together at some point I'm sure.

[pratt55]

We had a blast and what was supposed to be one event weekend turned into too many things this weekened so thank goodness Aladdin posted his pictures. I am just going to hijack his thread and add in my pictures.

We arrived at about 3:30



Timmy has undergone a few minor changes after Gay Days in Anaheim



I know some people think 1955 is important because that is the year Disneyland opened. Personally I think it was important because it is the year that Timmy came into the world.



This made me think of the MC debate lounge.



No comment required.



Why is that whenever I see this exhibit:



I expect to find this:



In one of our exhibit halls the miniature train people have had this set up for as long as I can remember going to the Arizona State Fair. They continually add new pieces and replace pieces every year.





Look Millie Wyoming is stalking me, first at Disneyland now in Phoenix.



Our state fair offers childcare services.



I saw this ride and said heck no.





Corn is the perfect food



Some random fair pictures











These balls were a lot bigger than they look, reminded me of Wipe-Out



We met up with DLandfansAZ, Ms. Thumper and kids and Aladdin



This was the original facility where the Phoenix Suns played. The nickname was Madhouse on McDowell. Now it is used by off-off sports such as women's roller derby.



It was nearly 5:00 so time to meet up with the rest of the Zonies, GdwnPhx, Kuzkochik, and Darkwing Chuck.



Darkwing Chuck trying to look mysterious.



I found a penguin hanging out by the boys bathroom, Penguinsoda do you care to explain?



We decided to go through one of the exhibit hall's where Chuck and I found a swinging place to relax.



There are some Micechat girls that know this to be true.



Time for some food pictures. First off fudge, lots and lots of fudge.







There was a recent question in the poll thread that made me laugh when I saw these.





Funny named company.



Yummy BBQ!





First fried food onion rings



Turkey leg got two thumbs up.



Navajo taco on fry bread



gyro (it wasn't that great)



Corn dog, 3 out 5 men prefer these.



Corn, glorious corn.



Strawberry funnel cake = yummy



Later on while walking around I saw a sign for deep fried banana sundaes. It was scrumptious.



The DlAz kids wanted to hang on Kuzko



But I got jealous



After dinner we decided to see the dog and monkey show. Our location for watching was between the elephant rides, a trash container and the dog and monkey show. To say the least it was aromatic.





Some of us had unique ways to protect our sense of smell.





It was time to go see some more exhibits. We found this maze and decided on a volunteer to see if a Zonie could make it out.



We were so proud when Kuzko found her way back to us.



Timmy has a history with being escorted out of the fair grounds. He likes to see if he can scare the animals, this year was no exception.



Cows I see this in your future.



DlFans got into the action, although I think he was thinking more of rocky mountain oysters.



I was already thinking ahead to Thanksgiving.



What a bunch of .. Zonies



Timmy has been scaring the animals for so long that they actually put our name up.



We had to break off from the group at this point because we had to go back and pick up some keychains.



On the way we spotted something for Grumpy4



We have some freaky things at our state fair we noticed while walking.







Shhhhh... some of my arsenol.


On the way out we stopped by the Arizona Game and Fish building





At one time we did not have air conditioning in Phoenix



An early picture of Sarah Palin



Hmmm



This ain't no bull



She fell off ha-ha



On the way home we made one more stop to pick up some soon to be gone cookies.



It was a great Friday night of Fun, friends and fried food at the fair.

[Aladdin]

Psssst WV, you can get fry bread any day of the year here in arizona! Fresh made funnel cakes, and other bazillion odd deep fried items, not so much!


Nice additions Timmy and Lisa! Everyone should be glad I didn't use the Elephant picture as my ending picture. But I'm glad you got a decent picture of on of the elephants.

And yes, you had a better cotton candy hair lady, than we did!

Did anyone else feel a little unsafe with with hardly any barriers between us and the elephants? I didn't think about it until afterwards.

[tamasurvivor]

The state fair was so much fun... I went on saturday... out of the food my favorite was the deep fried crocodile bites with fries and that stand which had deep fried cheese curds and that mound of fries covered in beef gravy and cheese curds.... then I had some piggly fries and those beer battered onion rings... but after buying myself a deep fryer the novelty of fried oreos and twinkies kinda wore off so I went with cheese and fries... oh and crocodile [since that stand had rattlesnake last year but sadly replaced it with croc bites]

although I went on saturday with family since Larry The Cable Guy was performing...and omg, that was an awesome show!

Oh and the Tango is tame its like only 75 feet in the air with gyrations in all directions... its been at the fair for about 4 years but again, it lost its novelty after 4 years... I kinda skipped the midway on this trip since I have done every thrill ride there last year... that and its usually best to go on an unlimited wristband day or the 10 ride day.

though in Phoenix... the state fair is always fun and I go religiously... though I cant wait until the weekend of the 24th when I go with my sister to the Haunt at Knotts [yes I am a Haunt virgin] and Disneyland... thats going to be one amazing weekend... but until then the state fair was fun

[Aladdin]

I don't go for the rides, so dollar day is ok with me

Missed the crock bites!

[pratt55]

Did anyone else feel a little unsafe with with hardly any barriers between us and the elephants? I didn't think about it until afterwards.

I did, I think I mentioned it to Chuck about how I hope this did not turn into 'when elephant's attack'.

[belle]

Great TR you guys!!!! Looks like lots of fun was had!

[Darkwing Chuck]

Darkwing Chuck trying to look mysterious.

Trying to look mysterious.. and failing miserably.

[Kuzcochik]

I'm so glad I decided to bring the strangest faces I could along w/ me for this set of pics :P

[Aladdin]

Glad you were prepared, the State Fair presents Numerous opportunities to make faces that you wouldn't get a chance to use any other time of the year!

[DLandFansAZ]

Ms Thumper Jr........the Plumber.......

[Aladdin]

Could this possibly be Timmy's Halloween avatar this year????

( Or do you think people would still comment similar to the Mimmy picture
"That's not a very good picture of you"?)