Fun at the LA County Fair!

[Sir Didymus]

Hi all!

This is my first trip report ever, so bear with me through some of it.

DISCLAIMER: Pic Heavy, so take some time to grab a couple of snacks and maybe a glass of Kool-Aid to help you get through it, but most of all, enjoy!


Welcome one and all to the fabulous Los Angeles County Fair!


A view of the carnival skyline from the end of the RIDICULOUSLY large parking lot that took a full 10 minutes of walking to get to the gates...okay it was more like 5.


Take a look down one of the main midways of the carnival section of the fair, you'll get a pretty good idea of what the crowds were like on a sunday afternoon.


The first carnival ride of the day was a little something called the Tango, or as me and my other male friends aptly re-named it, The Nut-Cracker-Stomper-Squisher-3000 Death Machine...The Sequel.


A look at some of the colorful prizes up for grabs at one of the seemingly endless game-booths, rigged of course.


This guy got lucky.


I don't think I will ever come as close to actually pooping my pants as I did while on this beast of a ride.


PTHLTPBTH....sorry


The alwaysgoodforalaughwhensomeonefinallytrippsandfall s funhouse.


Another midway shot.


Unfortunately we didn't get to ride this one because none of us had decent life insurance.


I don't know what it is about watching amateurs ride a mechanical bull but its just so entertaining.


Spooky door is spooky


More crowds for ya.


Stupidest lazer tag arena ever.


I definitely suffer from that fifth ailment.


Tension.......Building........


Wheeeeeeee!


AAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!!!!


BOINGGGGG!


Let's delve into some fair foods, shall we?


Disneyland turkey legs ain't got nothin on these babies.


Must......Eat.......Funnel Cake!


Chicken and...Everything!


The theme for the fair this year was some sort of pirates/pacific island motif.


See?


The seriously giant "Giant Slide"


These guys had to be going at least like 20 mph!


The bark park was a big hit with kids.


They had this little neighborhood of doghouses, one for each puppy in the enclosure.


Cute!


Ummm, pool's leaking...


Purrdy.


I seriously want to live in a beach shack at some point in my life


Where are the dole whips?


Then we came to this place that looked like the forest ruins from Price Caspian.


That looks dangerous.....Let's get closer!


Spooky in here.


Gettin' all artsy fartsy on ya.


It was real pretty around here.


Aslan?


The Habitat for Humanity home that gets built and then demolished by volunteers each year.


Pretty pond


The crowds are still going strong


Okay, that's enough for part 1 of the fair, and there's plenty more pictures on the way.

Still to come: the wonderful miniature train exhibit, smelly farm animals, night shots of the fair, and a really BIG surprise for me.....stay tuned!

[Sir Didymus]

Part 2!

We're picking up at the miniature train exhibit, so....all ABOARD!



Amazing stuff here.


A night at the movies.


The circus in the distance.


Anyone notice something oddly familiar about this scene?


Hmmm, I didn't know that California Screamin' was themed to a circus, then again, it doesn't have much of a theme anyway, so I'll buy it.


Circus performers doin their thang.


Pretty.


AAHHH! BLURRY!


Fixed.


I could just watch these things go all day.


They had this weird piece there that had something to do with the future....


....and vampires


It was still really cool either way.


Apparently the future is going to look like Tokyo DisneySea.


Awesome bridges.


So many tracks!


Seconds after this picture was taken, my hand proceeded to be demolished by a train coming up behind me that i couldn't hear. Luckily there were no tiny deaths or lawsuits.


Everyone say CHOO CHOO!


These were significant in some way.


I want my backyard like this.


Moar tracks.


They even had little trains going around the planters!


Even the trees were tiny.


Theming


So cool.




Let's see if we've got any eagle eyes out there...


Chugga Chugga


Oh no! I'm tiny!


K, back to normal


RUN IT'S GODZILLA!, it looks like godzilla, but due to international copyright laws, it's not, STILL WE SHOULD RUN LIKE IT IS GODZILLA!, though it isn't........AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
Please someone relate...


Crazy stuff for sale.


There were these really cool aquariums that i wanted to buy.


Luckily my friends intervened.


More junk.


....Well, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flatt - nah it's just good old-fashioned copyright infringement.


Let's mosey on over to the animal barn.


That gator ate a tater.


Guess what?.....


CHICKEN BUTT!!!


This guy was a hoot.


I wonder if she has trouble shopping for bikinis?


Uh oh, they must have seen a wolf in sheep's clothing.


MMMMmmm, bacon.


MOOF! .....(bucktooth cow)


Let's see, I got four butts and a sheep with no head, pretty good shot if you ask me.


Little lamb chops.


sniff sniff.....I smell BS.


Cute little fluffballs, otherwise known a rabbits.


Bunnie butt.


Moar bunnies.


Bunch of rowdy chickens.


Wat you looking at hooman?


I'm not quite sure what happened to this cow's head, if anyone manages to find it, please let me know.


A look onto the horsetrack from the opposite side of the grandstands.


A nice silhouette of the carnival from a distance.


The big bend.


We found this weird thing that looked like a cross between a zebra and a donkey..........we named him Zonkey


Zonkey butt.


A nice view of the farm area.


The obligatory visit to the fried everything stand.


Dear God this thing should not exist!


I played it safe with a nice meatball sammich.


.....Which, of course, was followed immediately by a ride on the craziest, most awesome ride at any fair.


Wheeee!


Fun


No way in hell am I gonna get on this thing.


If you could only hear the noises it was making.


This guy's face says it all


Following a trip back to the car to lock my friend in for the rest of the night (more on that later), another shot of the skyline, this time at night.


So much more exciting at night!


Evil ride again.


We are now sterile.


The always fun, Spin'n'Puke.


....Which then suffocates you for no reason at all.


Yes friends, YOU TOO can win a giant stuffed banana COMPLETE with a creepy smilie face.


BEERLAND!!!


Beerland after a visit or three.


The fairplex's yearly "scare at the fair" was pretty "meh" this year, but it still looked cool.


Yes, in case you were wondering, that is a clown wielding a chainsaw.


You probably can't see from this picture, but there is a family that took their two terrified children to meet and take a picture with one of the monsters. Needless to say......It was hilarious!


As the sky gets darker, the lights get brighter.


This is the scariest freakin swing ride you will ever see, that thing is at least 120 feet up!

Well I'll leave you with a couple of shots of the crazy coaster that i thought came out quite well:





And for those of you that stayed with me through this whole thing:


Hope you enjoyed it!









Oh and my surprise friend I mentioned earlier?
Here he is:





Thanks!

[DisneylandorBust]

What a trip!! And I love the one of Wall-E in the minature scene!! Very cute!! And THAT IS ONE LARGE SCOOBY DOO!!! Lol.

[nursemelis374]

Yeah! I am going to the LA County Fair on Thursday and this got me so excited! I am looking forward to breaking away frommy diet for a day to enjoy all the fried goodness!

[Sir Didymus]

^ yeah, that definitely won't be hard at all

[Grumpy4]

Great report! Glad you had a good time!!

[sir clinksalot]

Aweseome pics. Looks like a LOT of the rides from the OC fair made their way over to LA this year. I also wonder if those are the same little pigs we saw at the OC fair. They were this big at OC.

[Olympicnut]

I haven't been to the fair in probably 30 years. So my question is, is the monorail still there?

[pratt55]

Great pictures and report. BTW I rode the ejection seat at the Puyallup Fair about 11 years ago. I would love to do it again, its a blast.

[Sir Didymus]

Originally Posted by sir clinksalot

Hmmm, I don't recall seeing any dark colored oinkers, but I'm sure a lot of the farm animals get shipped off from fair to fair every year, there were LOTS of little piggies everywhere

[Sir Didymus]

Originally Posted by Olympicnut

I haven't been to the fair in probably 30 years. So my question is, is the monorail still there?

I don't think I remember ever seeing a monorail at the Pomona Fairplex, then again, I'm not even old enough to remember anything 20 years ago.

[penguinsoda]

What great pictures and commentary! People don't actually ride on that stuff do they?? Good lord you couldn't pay me to get on ANY of those rides... but I love the atmosphere and the food... oh yeah!!!

Love the giant Scooby!! What did you do to get that???

Its been years since I've been to any fair too. All these fair reports lately is reminding me that I miss going... might have to fix that someday.

[sir clinksalot]

Originally Posted by Sir Didymus

Hmmm, I don't recall seeing any dark colored oinkers, but I'm sure a lot of the farm animals get shipped off from fair to fair every year, there were LOTS of little piggies everywhere

Do piggies change color??? Maybe they got a tan.

[Olympicnut]

Yea, it was a "hanging" monorail, very 1960's. Similar to the one at the 1964/65 New York World's Fair:

Pavilions & Attractions - AMF Monorail - Page One

[Sir Didymus]

Originally Posted by penguinsoda

What great pictures and commentary! People don't actually ride on that stuff do they?? Good lord you couldn't pay me to get on ANY of those rides... but I love the atmosphere and the food... oh yeah!!!

Love the giant Scooby!! What did you do to get that???

Its been years since I've been to any fair too. All these fair reports lately is reminding me that I miss going... might have to fix that someday.

Yeah, those rides are definitely an acquired taste, and if you read my report, not all of them are that enjoyable.

As for the giant Scooby, he cost me about 2 bucks worth of tickets at the ring toss booth. Got him on about the third of fourth ring, I was ecstatic!



Oh and thanks to everyone for all the feedback!