Houston Rodeo Ride List (?)

[Adam Sandy]

Anyone know know where I can find one?

Thanks
Adam

[Bill Steele]

In article <687f159d-3cc8-4614...@googlegroups.com>,

Ray Cammack Shows has the midway contract. Their ride list is here:

http://www.rcsfun.com/index.php?option=com_djcatalog&view=show&layout=blo
g&cid=1&Itemid=56

No guarantee they're bringing everything, of course; they're coming all
the way from California. Their press release about Houston only mentions

"The Flying Dutchmen, the Zombie Mansion, the Groovy Bus, the Monster
Trucks, and the new Alien Abduction. In addition, the Hydro Slide has
been newly themed as the Wild River featuring an all new Amazon flare."

[Mike R]

I have been trying to get a list but not had any success. I expect the usual, but without the Hi Miler (Which really is the one ride that makes me want to deal with the Cowboy Halloween that is The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo).

Not sure if the Windstorm will be back either as that is not a RCS ride but brought in by its owner.

It was pointed out to me that RCS bought a Chance Morgan Freestyle Ride which looks like it might be fun.

They are staring to put everything together now so we should have a pretty good idea within the next week.

[Bill Steele]

In article <63319353-0251-4914...@googlegroups.com>,

This might be a good time to suggest that we remind fair operators that
it would be a good idea to include a ride list on their websites. Mot of
them (probably prepared by outside Web companies whose only interest is
to make it look good) have a "midway" link that goes to a page saying
"You'll enjoy our thrilling rides." It's like a restaurant handing you a
menu that just says "We have delicious food."

I have written to several of them pointing out that the midway is one of
the major reasons people come to the fair, and that the wonder of the
Web is that you can give people more details than they will find on a
poster or in a three-fold brochure. (I offer the Minnesota State Fair as
a shining example.) Maybe if lots of people did that they'd pay
attention.

[Surf Dance Chris]

On Feb 14, 3:40 pm, Bill Steele <w...@cornell.edu> wrote:
> In article <63319353-0251-4914...@googlegroups.com>,

I really wish more fair websites did that. Its pretty frustrating.
carnivalwarehouse.com posts ride lists on their forum where available,
but its not many.

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

Let's be honest, though. How many of their customers actually care exactly
what rides are there? Or at least care enough for it to be a deciding
factor in their decisions whether or not to go?

I'd imagine that it's less than a dozen people per show, at the VERY most.
Which equals out to a tiny fraction of one percent of their business. Is
it worth their trouble for the chance to make maybe an extra hundred
dollars total per show? They make that in ten minutes on just one of their
rides. They could make more than that just staying open an additional 5
minutes one night.

Most people just wander around the fair and ride rides or eat food that
they happen to run into.

When I visited the Florida State fair, there wasn't a single person at the
fair who had any idea how many coasters were there. Literally not one.
Most of them didn't even know the coasters from their own company. At
most, a few people could point out 3 of the 6 coasters I eventually found.
I ran into one guy from Wade Shows who was really helpful, and helped me
find most of them. But even he didn't know all of them, though he did know
all of them from his company. He did, however, point out a bunch of rare
and newer flat rides.

Admittedly, this was the opening day of the fair -- but I got the
impression that this was a question that they'd never been asked before.

Even at the MUCH smaller Osceola Fair in Kissimee, there were maybe two
people there who knew that there were two coasters there.



"With the first link, a chain is forged. The first speech censured,
the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us
all irrevocably." -Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
"The Drumhead", _Star Trek: The Next Generation_

[Surf Dance Chris]

On Feb 17, 5:11 pm, "David H.--REMOVE \"STOPSPAM\" to reply"

Coasters are generally not considered big moneymakers as far as rides.
They are costly and require many trailers to move, vs many flats or
walk throughs that use less trailers (many just one), and make equal
or more money at the spots. That's why generally fair coasters aren't
too interesting (some exceptions like Hi-Miler) compared to parks, but
if you want good flats, generally fairs are better than parks.

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:08:01 -0800 (PST), Surf Dance Chris
<surfd...@aol.com> wrote:

>Coasters are generally not considered big moneymakers as far as rides.
>They are costly and require many trailers to move, vs many flats or
>walk throughs that use less trailers (many just one), and make equal
>or more money at the spots. That's why generally fair coasters aren't
>too interesting (some exceptions like Hi-Miler) compared to parks, but
>if you want good flats, generally fairs are better than parks.

Agreed on all counts. But my point is that very, very, very few people
will base their decision about whether or not to go to a fair based on the
specific rides they have.

[Mike R]

As far as The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, David is right. Most people just hit the midway before and after the show. They really don't care what is out there. Alcohol probably playse a big part in that. Probably only a couple of dozen of us missed the Hi Miler last year. Its not an "amusement park" crowd but the masses of people who want to go to the rodeo so they can dress up.

On the positive side, there is nothing better than watching some guy wearing a western shirt, boots and cowboy hat that he only wears once a year puking on the midway after riding something to impress the girls.

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

On Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:21:24 -0800 (PST), Mike R <mikedr...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>As far as The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, David is right. Most people just hit the midway before and after the show. They really don't care what is out there. Alcohol probably playse a big part in that. Probably only a couple of dozen of us missed the Hi Miler last year. Its not an "amusement park" crowd but the masses of people who want to go to the rodeo so they can dress up.
>
>On the positive side, there is nothing better than watching some guy wearing a western shirt, boots and cowboy hat that he only wears once a year puking on the midway after riding something to impress the girls.

LOL!

It's also funny seeing people who don't normally go to amusement parks get
totally freaked out by rides that aren't all that scary to the rest of us.

At the Florida State Fair, I was riding their meager freefall ride with
this couple who were screaming like babies! And the guy was all macho and
making fun of the lady at first, too!

Then again, now that I think about it, Doctor Doom's Fearfall at IOA is the
only freefall ride at a major park in Florida. Unless you count Fun Spot
and Miracle Midway. So, it's possible that they've never actually been on
a freefall ride before.

[Bill Steele]

In article <3ai8i8ddhrlodvnqi...@4ax.com>,

"David H.--REMOVE \"STOPSPAM\" to reply"

<davidhhh...@bellatlantic.net> wrote:

> On Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:21:24 -0800 (PST), Mike R <mikedr...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >As far as The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, David is right. Most people
> >just hit the midway before and after the show. They really don't care what
> >is out there. Alcohol probably playse a big part in that. Probably only a
> >couple of dozen of us missed the Hi Miler last year. Its not an "amusement
> >park" crowd but the masses of people who want to go to the rodeo so they can
> >dress up.
> >
> >On the positive side, there is nothing better than watching some guy wearing
> >a western shirt, boots and cowboy hat that he only wears once a year puking
> >on the midway after riding something to impress the girls.
>
> LOL!
>
> It's also funny seeing people who don't normally go to amusement parks get
> totally freaked out by rides that aren't all that scary to the rest of us.
>

Yet it's part of the business model. The cxarnival depends onthe surge
that comes out of the show (at any fair) to give them riders. My
observation is that a lot of people just walk around looking at the
rides, but eventually they decide they should go on at least one ride,
just to say they did. Good business for the dark ride.

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

I'll say this. The dark rides at the Florida State Fair were
embarrassingly bad!

[thekma...@gmail.com]

David H:

At least up here on the CT church bazaar circuit, most people attend either to see or be seen. They could care less about rides, unless they are under 10yrs old or are the parents of one.

Myself? I'm all about the rides!!! Whether it's Six Flags or a church side-lot. It gets very lonely though - the wife won't go on something that gets packed onto a trailer every two weeks, and the CT commie rules about "two-riders" per car. My guy friends are all sissies when it comes to rides of any size/type!

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

It's funny how many of the fair rides require two riders. Generally, it's
not a safety issue; they're just trying to maximize their profit. But
they're not doing that when BOTH seats go empty when they are refusing
paying customers.

[thekma...@gmail.com]

David H:

Well, in CT it is state law that dictates it, not how the show provider decides to fill their rides.

WTF do politcians know about a Rock-O-Plane?! ;)

[Bill Steele]

In article <ht9ai8pqlqpaapf3q...@4ax.com>,

"David H.--REMOVE \"STOPSPAM\" to reply"
<davidhhh...@bellatlantic.net> wrote:

> I'll say this. The dark rides at the Florida State Fair were
> embarrassingly bad!

I'll assume the usual Owens Haunted Mansion. What else?

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

Is state law really that specific?

Or is that the state inspectors insist on it?

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

Honestly, I don't know much about carnival rides that aren't also at parks.

I live in downtown Boston without a car, and my friends who go to fair
usually went on weekends when I was working, so I very rarely get to fairs
locally.

I only went to these because I was on vacation with a car, and the parks
closed early. The Florida State Fair was practically on the way home, with
only a small detour. And the Osceola was only a few miles from my hotel,
and form Old Town, where I stopped first. Plus, I have carnival food for
dinner! (Yeah, that's healthy!)

The dark rides in question were just a short ride on one trailer, with some
twists and turns and random bad creatures that they lit up. Most of the
items didn't even move. And there weren't even any partitions between the
scenes. They were really laughably bad. If I hadn't had a wristband, I'd
have been annoyed to pay $4-5 each for them!

While I normally would have ridden the ones at the Osceola Fair, I didn't
bother, since I didn't bother getting a wristband, after seeing the ride
selection. I only rode the two coasters and the zipper, since the ride ops
let me ride solo. But the pulled pork and bloomin' onion were really good!

On another note, what is with all of the "see the world's smallest
woman/pony/pig/etc" attractions? Do people really pay for that? Maybe
after enough beers, I guess. It was particularly funny seeing the same
exact signs at both simultaneous fairs each claiming to have the world's
smallest woman/pony/pig/etc. What's up with the woman one, anyways? I
wasn't going to give them any money for it. But is it just a really short
woman? Or an illusion? I didn't bother to see it, but I was admittedly a
tiny bit curious.

[thekma...@gmail.com]

David H:

All I know is from what the ride-ops told me - two riders per car on certain rides, state law.

[Surf Dance Chris]

On Feb 21, 7:15 pm, "David H.--REMOVE \"STOPSPAM\" to reply"
<davidhhhSTOPS...@bellatlantic.net> wrote:
> On Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:07:25 -0500, Bill Steele <w...@cornell.edu> wrote:
> >In article <ht9ai8pqlqpaapf3qo269unilsvgbqv...@4ax.com>,

> > "David H.--REMOVE \"STOPSPAM\" to reply"

David, I did go to a "world's smallest woman" attraction once. It was
at least 10 years ago at the Westchester County Fair in New York, I
believe. It was simply a very short woman, just standing there in "her
house" talking to the guests that came in. The sign said 29 inches
long I believe, I don't think she was quite that short, though (but I
guess she could've been). It was only like 50 cents or a dollar to see
her.

I haven't seen any of the other "world's smallest" attractions.

I did, however, go to the Worlds Of Wonders attraction at the
Westchester Coujty Fair once (different visit). That was actually a
let down in my opinion. Mostly pictures and uninteresting displays,
and a very, very large (fat) man sitting in a chair trying to get more
money in donations. Seeing Poobah, the little old man eating the fire
outside the attraction (which any guest could watch for free) was far
more interesting than the inside pay attraction itself.

[Bill Steele]

In article <plbdi85v46aht29r1...@4ax.com>,

"David H.--REMOVE \"STOPSPAM\" to reply"
<davidhhh...@bellatlantic.net> wrote:

> On another note, what is with all of the "see the world's smallest
> woman/pony/pig/etc" attractions? Do people really pay for that? Maybe
> after enough beers, I guess. It was particularly funny seeing the same
> exact signs at both simultaneous fairs each claiming to have the world's
> smallest woman/pony/pig/etc. What's up with the woman one, anyways? I
> wasn't going to give them any money for it. But is it just a really short
> woman? Or an illusion? I didn't bother to see it, but I was admittedly a
> tiny bit curious.

It will be a little person, but you'll have to take the "world's
smallest" as hyperbole. I've strolled past these at so many fairs, and
heard them talk about "Tiny little Tina" or "Tiny little Susie," or
whatever the particular woman's name is, and it's a different name every
year at every carnival, so I guess they can legitimately say "For the
first time at your fair."

There are probably many people in the world who have never seen a live
little person, and for them it's worth four tickets for the experience.
Why anyone would want to see a small pig is beyond me.

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

For the small pig, can't they just show a baby? Who would really know the
difference?

[Bill Steele]

In article <gr1gi8pm8gbi5r0r7...@4ax.com>,

"David H.--REMOVE \"STOPSPAM\" to reply"
<davidhhh...@bellatlantic.net> wrote:

> For the small pig, can't they just show a baby? Who would really know the
> difference?

Farmers. 95% of the time it's an agricultural fair.

[Wolf]

>>> This might be a good time to suggest that we remind fair operators that
>>> it would be a good idea to include a ride list on their websites. Mot of
>>> them (probably prepared by outside Web companies whose only interest is
>>> to make it look good) have a "midway" link that goes to a page saying
>>> "You'll enjoy our thrilling rides." It's like a restaurant handing you a
>>> menu that just says "We have delicious food."
>>

>>I really wish more fair websites did that. Its pretty frustrating.
>>carnivalwarehouse.com posts ride lists on their forum where available,
>>but its not many.
>
> Let's be honest, though. How many of their customers actually care
> exactly
> what rides are there?

Probably the same ones who care enough to check out a show company's web
site.

The restaurant analogy is a pretty astute one.

--
|\-/|
<0 0>
=(o)=
-Wolf

[Wolf]

>>Well, in CT it is state law that dictates it, not how the show provider
>>decides to fill their rides.
>>
>>WTF do politcians know about a Rock-O-Plane?! ;)
>
> Is state law really that specific?
>
> Or is that the state inspectors insist on it?

I wonder if the state inspectors know they just assumed the liability for
any incident that occurs in operation contrary to the manufacturer's
instructions.

[Mike Parker]

In case anyone still cares.....

Ride line up in Houston:

La Grande Wheel
Grande Wheel
Wild River flume
Crazy Coaster
Windstorm coaster
KMG Speed
KMG Mach 1 (Speed)
Mega Drop
Sky Flyer
Rave Wave (Musik Express)
Windsurf
Alien Abduction
Starship 2000
Zamperla Disk'O
Techno Jump
Cyclone (Wisdom Tornado)
Tilt-A-Whirl
Zipper
G Force (KMG Afterburner)
Cliff Hanger
Dodgem
Scooter 2700
Yo Yo
Kamikaze (Sartori version)
Eli Signature Wheel
Tango
Storm
Evolution
Flying Dutchman
Experience
Zero Gravity
Remix II
Sky Glider
Haunted Mansion
Zombie Mansion
Creep Show
Moscow Circus fun house
Silly Seaz fun house
Surf Shack fun house
Fun Train fun house
Clown mirror maze
Toon Town Theatre
Mardi Gras
Fun House (McDaniel's)
Cuckoo Haus
Grand Carousel
Euroslide
Goliath Slide
Super Slide
Pirate Island (Wisdom Raiders)
Survival Island (playscape)
Kite Flyer
Hampton Tractors
Hampton Motorcycles
Hampton Hot Rods
Hampton Quad Runners
Spider Mania
Baja Buggy
Dizzy Dragons
Bumblebees
Mini Jet Dumbos
Barnyard Express Train
Groovy Bus track ride
Silver Streak
Traffic Jam
Red Baron
Rockin' Tug
Zamperla Up Ups
Tea Cups
Speedway
Mini Bumper Cars
Little Dipper Roller Coaster
Cobra Coaster
Dragon coaster (Dragon Wagon theme on a Go Gator style track)
Wisdom Monster Trucks