Enterprise fire caught on video
Monday, May 21, 2007
Some quite remarkable footage from a fair in Estonia has surfaced following a fire on Friday which injured 37 people who suffered from smoke inhalation and burns.
The cause of the fire isn't yet known, but the footage shows in detail a large fire developing at the bottom of the supporting arm with gondolas on the ride passing repeatedly through the flames. Photos taken after the accident show what a remarkable escape people had from the fire.
With the availability of cameras and phones that can record video, it has become easier than ever to capture incidents, and publish them online. News organisations are also keen to give airtime to videos like this. Although poor quality, footage like this is priceless - media organisations often do not pay for this footage, and it often shows the incidents as they happen as opposed to having to reactively report on them after they have happened.
Police are still investigating the cause of the fire. Arson has apparently not been ruled out, although arson seems unlikely on a fair ride that is open and running. It's interesting that despite the fire, the ride seems to run quite happily - something that undoubtedly meant that 37 people had a lucky escape.
The footage below shows in quite graphic detail the fire in Estonia. Please watch it with discretion.
Hollenblitz has opened in Stuttgart. Despite my reservations, photos on onride.de show that it looks outstanding come night fall with the rocky facade lit up with a spectacular multi-coloured lightshow.
The ride now includes a reprofiled drop that goes all the way down to ground level instead of swooping across the top of the payboxes. To accomodate this, the payboxes are now either side of the building instead of the dead centre.
There are other improvements too. All four of the outer walls are now painted meaning the rather unflattering rear view has been given a facelift. The waterfall, too, cascades down with gusto onto the track below until such a time the train appears by which time it slows to douse the train with only a residual spray.
If you miss Star World's robot (like I do), it's worth knowing that he's up for sale. It's not known whether the price includes the two lorries that transported him.
Hollenblitz will be appearing at the following fairs on the following dates:
Stuttgart: 21 April - 13 May
Schweinfurt: 8 June - 18 June
Darmstadt: 28 June - 2 July
Dusseldorf: 14 July - 22 July
Duren: 28 July - 5 August
Straubing: 10 August - 20 August
Nuremberg: 24 August - 9 September
Munich: 22 September - 7 October
Bremen: 9 September - 4 November
Hamburg: 9 November - 9 December (unconfirmed)
Those crazy people at Mondial have been showing off their new Heartbreaker in Germany called Phoenix which appears to be the Dutch manufacturer's answer to the infestation of Miami rides in the UK.
Like the Miami, it packs onto just one trailer. This should hopefully mean it will be a popular ride with weight-conscious British showmen. As costs of travelling rides climb year on year, showmen both in Europe and the UK are looking for new and innovative rides that are easy to transport and build.
This has always been KMG's selling point, but Mondial have also been trying to capitalise lately on small but unique rides. Lately, we've seen the ludicrously popular Capriolo, and more recently, Diablo .
Heartbreaker, like Miami, makes high-speed sideways loops much like a Magic Carpet ride with riders sat in long rows either side of a central arm. Unlike Miami, Heartbreaker's two eight-seater gondolas are free to roll over, much like they do on a Top Scan.
I did wonder how effective this feature would be, but thanks to counterweights on the gondolas and the incline of the supporting arm, the gondolas roll over quite sensationally.
How do I know? Well, a couple of videos (offride and onride) have been posted on Kermis Movies.
Hopefully there is some god and showmen will remember the popularity of other British Mondial rides such as 2Xtreme when considering replacing their haggard old Miamis.
Star World goes to a galaxy far, far away
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Unlike theme parks the presentation of a fair ride is extremely important. Despite the adage that you should never judge a book by its cover, people do, just like they judge fair rides on first impressions.
While coasters like Eurostar speak for themselves, most effort is reserved for dark rides which somehow have to sell their wares to an often sceptical public.
Ironically, an enclosed ride at a fair is likely to be worth less than one at a theme park, reason being that most rides are enjoyed in the darkness with special effects and lights whether enclosed or not.
Consequently, you can see what an uphill struggle it is for enclosed rides at fairs. Not only are people 'paying blind', there's no guarantee that the ride will be any better from being indoors.
Star World originally opened way before the new entourage of spinning coasters lately such as Spinball Whizzer and Dragon's Fury as Magic Mountain. With a massive animatronic King Kong-style ape outside the front, it was hard to miss and did everything reasonably possible to get crowds of people reaching for the Duetchmarks.
Long before the concept became stale, Magic Mountain became Star World, as much a Star Wars ripoff as Magic Mountain was a King Kong rip off. Gone was the ape, in came the animatronic alien in battleware.
With fireballs and a token swoop of track across the top of the payboxes, the deal was done and money became ride tokens as people queued to ride.
Earlier in the year, I was sent a photo of Star World in a state of undress, sans frontage, avec track swooping across the facade all the way down to ground level. Obviously, the owners wanted to make more of this showpeice element, but it also raised the question as to whether Star World would be getting yet another face lift. It would, after all, be the perfect opportunity.
Unsurprisingly, my hunch was correct, and soon after the artist's impression you see top right appeared online. It showed quite a spectacular frontage, not - it has to be said - dissimilar to its original incarnation as Magic Mountain.
The full sized artwork showed the payboxes now off to the side of the frontage, with the swoop of track dropping to the centre from right-to-left. The rocky outcrops on the front are a mixture of fire and - towards the centre - a Valhalla-style waterfall.
It looks amazing, of course, although to a certain extent we have been fooled.
The newest photos show the new-look ride under construction and although the artists' impression appeared to show a lot of track on display (in addition to the trademark swoop), much of the detail is in fact just a montage painted on. Most of the ride will in fact remain enclosed and the detail such as the faces through which you will dive are unsettlingly two-dimensional.
There's no doubt that the waterfall in the centre of the ride will be real, although this is a commonly used attention grabber on the German fair scene - it will be interesting to see how many heads this will turn in comparison to the unmissable 100ft alien.
But of course, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
Update:New photos of Hollenblitz have appeared online showing the near-complete ride facade complete with waterfall. Note the use of 'Der Coaster' on the sign emphasising the fact this is a coaster as opposed to an inocuous walk through.
Unlike
last year, for me - at least, the weather obliged at the Nottingham Goose
Fair, arguably the best fair the UK offers, undeniably the most historic.
British
Fairs get a lot of stick, but while Goose Fair lacks the elegance of
Dusseldorf, it does have a raw energy to it, and some excellent rides to
boot. Still, there were the perennial niggles, such as ride duplications
(numerous Waltzers, Dodgems and four Booster-variants) and staff with
wideboy attitudes and cigarettes hanging out of their gobs with a phone
stuck to one ear.
But,
there's a gigantic flipside. There were some excellent rides which
restored my faith in British fairs. Tango, which I last saw in Brighton,
looked fantastic. It's an excellently presented ride, and was being run
excellently. Despite a heavy reliance on jingles, you have to wonder what kind of brazen operator thinks it's OK to play "It's
flipping fast" jingle repeatedly well before the 9pm watershed in
front of childrens' fragile ears. Replace the word 'flipping' with another F-word.
Booster
Mark 2 was in attendance, along with three other Boosters. To Goose Fair's
credit, each one was different; there was BuzzBom, which, despite being
just a Fabbri Booster seemed popular enough. Elsewhere, was Storm, a KMG
Speed and 2Xtreme, which was running idiotically intensely.
Booster
Mark 2 was the most over-priced, often rising to £6. It's decent enough,
I suppose, slightly more G-heavy than the original but no real discerning
difference. It looks great, though.
It
was interesting to get back on Wild River Rapids, the Reverchon rapids
ride, especially having ridden Wild 'n' Wet at Dusseldorf. It's difficult
to compare them, but Wild River Rapids was actually still an excellent
little ride, even after the mighty Wild 'n' Wet.
But,
the star of the show has to be Space Roller. I haven't felt so passionate
to use the caps lock since complaining about the state of the Bubbleworks,
but it is a point that needs stressing, and for far more upbeat reasons:
SPACE
ROLLER IS PHENOMENAL.
Everything
about it was faultless, and it gives Move It 32 a run for its money in
terms of giving the UK a little taste of Germany.
The
presentation is magnificent, with excellent lighting and all the neon
trimmings. Whoever was on the mic deserves a knighthood. With enthusiastic
Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyups and other patter, even with the slightly sub-par sound
system he could give even German operators a bit of competition.
The
ride itself is Top Scan vintage. It is powerful, unrelenting, and the only
thing to distract you from the massive bouts of lateral Gs is the slight
concern that your head may explode or collar bones break. That's a small
price to pay though.
Overall,
Goose Fair was well organised, well policed, trouble free and by far the
best fair I have visited on these oft-outshone shores.
.
Then I read on Southparks that there was a Booster and Afterburner, but no sighting of a Tango.
So I went along today not really knowing what to expect, assuming these accounts to be a case of either/or, not both, especially as I thought (wrongly) that the Afterburner could be Chaos which may have had a change of heart and decided to entertain the gays instead of the Welsh.
I arrived and found the Booster (Buzz Bom) and Tango - the 'Afterburner' (Freakout, really), pictured.
But, in addition to this, Experience was there, as was - much to my surprise - 'Other Tango'.
Along with Extreme, with four KMG rides it was something of a KMG-fest in Brighton. But Tango, Tango and Experience all did what Top Buzz 2 failed to do the other night - reassure me that the art of presentation isn't dead, at least not in the UK.
In the case of (The) Tango and Experience, it is Kroon who should accept the credit for being spectacular rides in their own right, but along with Tango (Freakout), all three were sparkling, both in terms of cleanliness and lighting - it was good to see.
They were still playing cheesy 'Please buy your tokens...' jingles, though.
Thwarted the other evening, I thought I'd give Worthing Fair another go.
Arriving at 6.45, I thought - nay, hoped - that the fair would really be waking up. Again, Top Buzz 2 was parked and shut despite the fair opening at 2pm, yet just before I turned green, piled on the pounds and was about to begin hurling cars around, the lights came on and the ride opened.
£2.50 seemed good value, and by the second ride it was giving utterly brilliant rides. Only a pedant would complain about the ride quality - in fact, no, I'm a pedant, and I'm not complaining, so Top Buzz 2 was giving very high quality rides with gondolas tumbling uncontrollably with massive headrushes for its human cargo.
Presentation wise, the pedant has much to say. Hopefully the ride is a work in progress looking very worn presumably from Ayers' ownership (pictured) and consequent mothballing a year-or-so ago.
Many blocks of lights weren't working, a lot of light caps were missing, some neon broken and the ride looked quite grubby with a lot scuffed and dented from transport. It still puts many rides to shame, but there's still some work to be done.
The Worthinians seem to be made up with Top Buzz 2 - although the fair was quiet, bums were filling seats, so hopefully the interest in large rides at small fairs means large rides in the South of England aren't such a rarity from now on.
Which brings me onto Tango, which will apparently be the star attraction at Preston Park in Brighton on Saturday for Pride.
I was driving past Worthing, so popped in to see the fair that's open until August 6.
Walking past the rubbish swirling on the floor in the wind and social delinquents it was a stark contrast to Dusseldorf to put it lightly.
At 7.30, I thought the fair should really be waking up by now - but no; Buzzin was folded up and ready to leave a week before the fair ended, while the rest of the fair was closed.
The fair is one of the most popular in Europe, and will attract nearly 7m people from 15th July to 23rd July.
A few interesting changes of note this year. Many rides have been moved around - High Energy will be next to Wild Wasser, while Airwolf has moved the other end of Eurostar.
The big hitters will be the awesome Eurostar, joined as usual by Wild Wasser which is a custom-designed flume to fit around a tree on the site with the adjacent bridge offering amazing views of the ride.
Other highlights this year will be Wild 'n' Wet, the largest transportable rapids ride in the world which includes a 65ft rotating lift tower, and Eurostar will be joined by Alpina Bahn instead of Star World.
Newcastle Hoppings should be an interesting fair for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it has an excellent lineup. You can expect to find such big hitters as Move It, Tango, Wild River Rapids and Magic Mouse.
Interestingly, Newcastle will be the first appearance for M&D Taylor's new Booster Maxx, which will be joined by Wallis' Vertigo Booster and as a surprising addition, 2Xtreme.
2Xtreme has already proven that it is more popular than the original Fabbri Booster by having longer queues at fairs where both have been in attendance despite the higher cost to ride and higher capacity. But it will be interesting to see how 2Xtreme measures up against the monsterous 16-seat 164ft tall Booster Maxx.
Other major rides include (links to reviews where available):
BBC News reports that two people have been seriously injured with head, neck and back injuries after a car reportedly flew from an Orbiter ride into a fast food stall.
The women, aged 25 and 26, were taken from the fair at Moxley Park to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
The Orbiter ride is similar to a Twist, where the arms tilt up to an angle. The one at Moxley Park is Thomas Jones'. While the ride was built in 1979, it was last inspected in March.
Health and Safety are now inspecting the ride. While this accident does nothing to help the unfair reputation that fairs have with ride safety, it is worth remembering there are more travelling rides in the UK than permanent ones, and they're subject to the same inspections and certification as theme parks' rides.
Sadly I'm not able to reply to a post on Coaster Kingdom's now defunct mailing list but eagle-eyed CK visitor Tom noticed a deliberate (cough) mistake in our last news item.
Typhoon in fact seats (for want of a better word) twelve riders with two per set of chains.
Interestingly though the conversation that followed Tom's correction included the nugget that Typhoon is actually a converted observation tower, and even more interestingly bolts down onto a permanent foundation at the Foire Du Trone site.
It still looks silly, though, and you wouldn't catch me on it for a sizable sum.
To make this post worthwile, point your mice in the direction of this Foire Du Trone gallery, and once you're done there have a look at these photos of the trains on King... replaced from the el cheapo wannabe Schwarzkopf ones with these rather minimalist ones (similar to the ones on Efteling's Python actually) now with overhead restraints.
For those who like to reply to our news stories, and of course point out the occassional clanger, Marcus assures me that you'll soon be able to comment on stories. Yay.
Typhoon Whips up a Storm. Ish.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
The Wave Swinger one-upmanship continues in France with Typhoon, a new Star Flyer-style attraction which cradles riders in the flying position.
In a somewhat dubious twist, the new version which isn't from Funtime, but French manufacturer Troisne suspends riders in a sling similar to a Skycoaster complete with wings so that in theory you can gain altitude by outstretching your arms.
Troisne also manufactured the equally Heath Robinson-like Banzai, a strange V-shaped shuttle coaster which also has appeared at Foire Du Trone.
As you can see from RideDB's photos, Typhoon is an ugly ride, poorly presented and therefore lacking one of the few things John Phillips credited the original (pictured) with in his review a few months ago. It is difficult to imagine even myself on this ride, but it will have no problem filling seats (slings?) no doubt due to the fact only six people can ride at a time.
Typhoon, and about a million Mondial rides, will be at Foire Du Trone in Paris until May 28.
Dusseldorf 'most spectacular ever'
Friday, April 28, 2006
On July 15, the 'biggest fair on the Rhine' opens its gates to several million visitors in a year that promises to be the fair's biggest yet.
There are four coasters confirmed already; Brusch's awesome Eurostar, pictured, is joined by the popular Schwarzkopf Alpina Bahn as well as Spinning Racer and a Wild Mouse.
In terms of water rides, fair-goers can expect to find the phenominal Wildwasser 3, and Loewenthal's groundbreaking Wild 'n Wet river rapids ride.
Perenial favourites are likely to include Kinzler's amazing Break Dance No.1, High Energy (Bling... but pimped), Power Tower 2, Skater (Top Scan), a Top Spin as well as hundreds of support rides. None of these are confirmed, but they're staples in the German fairground.
To give you an idea of just how big Dusseldorf Kermis is, it has as many rides as Alton Towers, will effortlessly belittle your previous favourite spin rides such as Samurai, Dynamo and Ripsaw, has rides that give Nemesis a run for their money and it gets more visitors in nine days than Alton Towers does in a season.
OK, playing catch-up from the last couple of weeks, here's what's been happening at the fairs, both here in the UK and further afield in Europe:
Firstly, Perrin Matthews' Tango, pictured, has recently opened at Hampton Court in London giving Southerners probably their first chance to ride a KMG Tango.
Having inherited the ride from Kroon, it is impecibly presented, and will be open at Hampton Court until Easter Monday charging just 2 GBP per ride.
On the subject of Kroon, his new KMG XXL has opened in the Netherlands. There are photos of the ride running on themepark.nl, as well as photos from earlier in the week of the ride being built up.
We're not keen on the presentation here at Coaster Kigdom, and first reports say that it isn't quite as intense as the original Afterburner, but it is surprisingly cheap at just 3.5 EUR (2.5 GBP) per ride.
As I'm sure you've noticed, 2Xtreme has opened to good reviews. Presentation isn't up to the standards of European rides such as Eclipse, but the ride most certainly is.
Also, Top Buzz 2 is back on the road, but not without initial teething problems. As the ride has been sitting idle for so long, Meadowhall Fair was the first chance for the ride to be built up, and as a result was late opening. Whem it did, though, it was said to be getting good trade.
Capirolo likely to appear at Peterborough
Monday, March 06, 2006
Walter Murphey's much-lauded Capriolo looks almost certain to make its first appearance at Peterborough's Mart Fair from 15th to 25th March.
The Capriolo has been touring Europe for a few years now, and although it is Mondial's take on Booster, it is a tenious link at best. Capriolo has become quite the darling of the spin ride world with almost unequalled amounts of G-forces and a much more respectable hourly capacity than double-ended rides.
Joining Capriolo will be a KMG Extreme, Bugg's 'Oblivion' KMG Freakout, Silcock's excellent Speed Flip, Seastorm as well as more support rides.
If you are in the area, we'd strongly recommend visiting, not only for the solid lineup of rides, but also to show support to Murphey for taking the plunge and investing in such a large-scale ride.
Girl breaks legs waltzing
Saturday, March 04, 2006
In what sounds like a freak accident, BBC News reports a 16-year-old girl has fractured two legs and had to be freed from a Waltzer at Bury Charter Fair in Greater Manchester.
Firefighters had to use specialist equipment to free the girl who became trapped in what police said were unsuspicious circumstances.
Two Waltzers were in attendance at the fair, which was organised by the Showman's Guild. One was Hill's Pleasuredome, while the other was Cubbins' Waltzer. It isn't yet known which one was involved with the accident.
Waltzers are a staple of the British fairground. An undulating platform spins numerous four-seater cars around, while staff often spin the cars manually. As much as we try, we simply cannot think how even if horseplay was involved someone could fracture both legs and become trapped inside a Waltzer car.
As is often routine, Health and Safety will no doubt inspect the ride, and the circumstances leading to this bizarre injury may well become clear over time.
The pull-on for Leeds Valentines Fair has begun. Mellor's Space Roller, Crow's Equinox, Morran's Superbowl and Crow's Over the Top to name but a few are already on site and/or fully built up.
The Matthews Experience
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Darren Matthews' KMG Experience is now in the UK and ready for Warrington.
Like many of the fair rides that are coming to the UK this year, Experience has a fantastic heritage. As the prototype, it has come from the stable of Dutch showman Kroon, who also owned Tango (also UK-bound for 2006) and Move It.
Both of these rides are wonderfully presented with the flair and creativity you'd expect from both KMG and European showmen, and although the UK has both of these rides touring already, it brings us yet another step closer to Europe in terms of ride lineups.
In other fair news:
Mellor's Space Roller is due to appear at Leeds later this month, along with Wild River Rapids, Silcock's Speed Flip, Evans' Beach Party Afterburner and Drop Zone to name but a few rides in attendance
Cox's Move It is due debut its newly painted backflash at Leicester Funderworld
The UK's first Mondial Capriolo is likely to be ready to tour for next month
M&Ds have sold Bomber with a view of replacing it with Fabbri's new 16-seater 50m tall Booster
And finally, Mondial have been showing off a new ride car at the Euro Amusement Show. At eight cars wide, it has been suggested it is for their new Heartbreaker ride, although it should be remembered that Mondial currently have many rides in the latter stages of design at the moment. The first was rumoured to have been sold to a British showman, although it is more likely this ride will appear in Germany first.
Swinger Spotted in The Netherlands
Saturday, January 21, 2006
While the size of KMG's new Afterburner XXL became aparent a few months ago when their factory roof was peeled back to reveal the tremendous 120ft ride, it has only been in the last few days where we have truely been able to appreciate the full size of this giant amoung rides.
This monsterous ride is in the test stages, photographed outside KMG's factory in The Netherlands running at full speed by Themeparks.nl forum.
Despite its size, the 20-seater ride folds up onto an economical three lorry loads, weighing a total of 78 tons. With seating similar to the KMG Freakout, it will be interesting to see whether a such a major ride with a capacity of just 780pph cuts mustard with showmen, although unlike Freakout, this page shows that there are five seats per row, not the origionally expected four.
Already, the ride has been sold to Kroon, who has received other KMG prototypes before, such as Move It (32) and Tango, the latter of which arrives in the UK later this year.
Swiss showman Maier, who already has an excellent KMG Afterburner, has purchased the other XXL.
The latest 'buzz' from the fairs
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Just over a month since Coaster Kingdom published an article investigating the tide of change in British fairs, Ridesworld has published a rather exciting glimpse of what next year holds.
I'm no Nostradamus, but 2006 looks fantastic, and certainly does little to argue the fact that in terms of spin rides, Britain is catching up our continental friends.
After a poor year for Harry Ayers' Top Buzz 2 (pictured), the ride has been sold to Crow and will tour the fair circuit again after spending most of the year at Margate.
Against expectations, too, Mellors has purchased a French Top Scan which sticks a plaster over the wounds left by the sad departure of Crazy Shake.
So, a year after we had no touring Top Scans, next year we should have two.
The UK looks set to receive the first Heart Breaker ride from Mondial. Similar to their Inferno, this is a family version of the ride seating 16-people that was recently announced quietly to interested parties at Atlanta's IAAPA trade show. This should be ready for the first half of next year.
Meanwhile, Matthews has bought a new KMG Tango from Kroon, former owner of Move It. This excellently presented ride should be on tour from next year.
Fire Damages 140 year-old Carousel
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Harris Brothers' 140 year-old Gallopers has been severely damaged in what appears to be an arson attack.
The historic ride was at Petworth Market Fair when four fire engines attended reports of a blaze last night. While firefighters stopped the fire spreading to other rides and buildings in the historic Market Square in Petworth, the Gallopers were gutted by the fire.
Petworth has held a fair for 800-years. Local supersition has it that if a fair is not held on November 20th, it will never return. Although the Gallopers were damaged, the fair opened as usual today.
Discussion on All The Fun of the Fair suggests that the ride has not yet been written off, with damage predominantly contained to the middle of the ride.
Dutch go Crazy for Shake
Friday, November 18, 2005
Years ago, the Dutch lost one of their most beloved rides, Move It, which ended up in the UK in the capable hands of James Cox.
Maybe it's payback time, because yesterday one of our favourite rides, James Mellors' Crazy Shake, arrived in the Netherlands.
Crazy Shake opened ten years ago, and was the only Shake from British-based company Nottingham UK. It was apparently blighted with technical problems, but nevertheless served Mellors well over the decade he owned it.
The ride has been sold to Dutch showman Hezik, who - it has to be said - certainly isn't one of the better known showmen in Europe. Nevertheless, he has inheritated a brilliantly presented ride, one which the Dutch seem to be genuinely excited about.
Annoyingly, Mellors has no plans to replace it, as he has only recently bought Wild River Rapids. But, if you're pining, King Loops might be the only thing that can quench your thirst for a Shake.
Living Life by Murphy's Law
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Another day, another Booster picture. But, this isn't just any Booster.
Walter Murphy, not one of the better-known British showmen it has to be said, has recently been touring his brand new KMG Speed, eXtreme.
Not content with this, though, Ridesworld reports that he has bought a Mondial Capriolo (pictured) - not the smaller Furioso model - the full-sized 164ft ride which has received nothing but rave reviews.
Unlike the numerous Fabbri Boosters, all eight seats on Capriolo are at one end which means faster loading. With a comically large hovercraft fan on the top, it takes a few swings before the eight-seater gondola is soaring high above the ground.
Another aspect which seperates this from the Fabbri model is the fact the gondola can be locked in any position. One of the most popular tricks is to lock the gondola so it passes through the station upside-down. This sensation is so intense that it is simply without parallel.
It is good to see British showmen taking chances. It could have been easy to be content with the KMG Speed, or indeed the Furioso, but to get a ride that will be truely noticed amoungst the crowd of Fabbri rides will inevitably pay Murphy dividends.
Goose celebrates 711th birthday
Friday, September 23, 2005
Bob Wilson's Chaos, pictured, is confirmed to be attending 2005's Nottingham Goose Fair, the 711th year of the largest fair in the country
In the map published on Nottingham City's website other big-hitters include two sets of Boosters, a KMG Freakout, Mellor's travelling Rapids ride, Crazy Shake, two Frisbees and a Power Surge.
There are a few notable absentees, though. Cox's Move It has yet to confirm (although its usual plot is reassuringly still available), and it doesn't look like Silcock's much-celebrated Speedflip will attend, either. M&D's Tsunami Pinfari inverter is also noteable by its absence with an Arts and Crafts tent in its normal position.
While Goose Fair is a hotpot of the very best rides touring the country, there is no need to fear that these rides will tread on the feet of the fair industry's bread and butter - there are no less than six Waltzers in attendance, as well as six sets of Dodgems and several Twists and Miamis.
Goose Fair's run has been extended this year to include Sunday, and runs from 5 October until 9 October.
Some quite remarkable footage from a fair in Estonia has surfaced following a fire on Friday which injured 37 people who suffered from smoke inhalation and burns.
