‘OK, so which fair ride is best one?’
Published 12:37 am Thursday, October 8, 2009
SELMA — Hey, wanna ride?
The best show in town is down at the Lions Club Central Alabama Fair. The experts have agreed on several pulse-pounding, gut-grabbing rides.
The Selma Times-Journal sent three youths: Ben, 8; Jenny, 11; and Megan Davies, 12, to review the rides on Youth Night so other fairgoers could see what they have in store.
Among our three experts, the coolest ride was Moby Dick, which swings you up and down, then shaking and up and around — sort of like the waves of the ocean.
“It was the best ride ever,” said Megan, who rode the great white three times before handing down her decision.
Jenny said she loved the ride and Ben gave it thumbs up on the coolness factor.
But the Predator had five arms with three cars on each arm, spinning clockwise while the arms spin counterclockwise, that had Ben saying, “I think my shoes came out of my mouth.”
Warning, our three critics agree: Don’t eat before boarding this one.
The Superslide didn’t thrill anyone. You ride down a bumpy slide on a rug. Three experts agree this one is for younger children.
Pharaoh’s Fury gained a “better than awesome” from Ben. The Fury looks like a Viking long ship. It swings about 300 degrees back and forth and uses G-force to turn your stomach.
“It was super cool, but no puke factor,” Megan said. “It was kind of disappointing.”
None of the rides earned a puke factor from the pre-teen.
Scooter, or as many know them as bumper cars, earned a doze from two of the experts and an OK from another.
The Roundup, which uses G-forces to keep you up, had our riders thrilled. This ride came the closest to getting a thumbs-up for the puke factor. Ben recommends not eating.
Megan didn’t ride the Turtle Cages because somebody lost their supper just as she was trying to get on. That was enough for her. The Turtle Cages are similar to a Ferris wheel, but with cages that let you control how you flip the cage. Ben said the ride was scary. Jenny’s cage stuck upside down. She wanly gave a thumbs up, but couldn’t talk because she had screamed so much.
The thriller of the night came for Ben who rode in No. 13 on the Ferris wheel that once belonged to Michael Jackson. The No. 13 bucket was Jackson’s favorite seat.
“On top, you could see for miles,” Ben said.