The Big E 2016- Review/Report

On Tuesday, September 20th, I took a trip to The Big E. The Big E is a huge expo in New England featuring a ton of food, state houses, animals, and rides. In this report, I am going to be focusing on the Midway provided by North American Midway Entertainment. I will be going through all of the rides that I rode, giving detail on them, and what I thought of the cycle being run. At the end, I will give my final thoughts about this years midway.

• The Blitzer Roller Coaster- In the past, this midway has been home to a spinning wild mouse coaster, named The Crazy Mouse. Within the past two years, it has been replaced with The Blitzer. The Blitzer is a Pinfari Zyklon Z47.  My first thoughts were that The Blitzer did not look as nice as the Crazy Mouse did. I also was thinking about how rough it would be, considering the other Pinfari coasters I have ridden were not very smooth. I boarded the 4 passenger car and the ride op physically pushed us out of the station. We were off! The lift hill took us up about 40 feet and into a turn. This ride has multiple drops, turns, and helixes. To my surprise, Blitzer was actually smooth and somewhat thrilling. While it was not as great as the spinning coaster, I believe that this ride should be ridden because of its rareness. It is also just plain fun!

• Wipeout- This is your standard Chance Wipeout. I have ridden multiple traveling Wipeouts, along with Wipeout at Lake Compounce and The Jokers Wildcard at Six Flags New England. This ride cycle was miles above The Jokers Wildcard, which runs a very mild cycle. They ran this ride very quick, and many directions. Right as the rider is about to get dizzy, they change directions. I thought that this was a very well run Wipeout!

• Skymaster- This is the typical inverting pendulum ride. In previous years, The Big E has had a suspended version called Bonzai, which I much preferred. This version featured an over the shoulder harness, along with a caged in ride compartment. Already I preferred the more free feeling version. The seats are also very tiny. I never felt like I was actually in the proper seat. The cycle was pretty typical. There were about 8-10 inversions per cycle. This ride was not anything special.

• Power Surge- This was one of my favorite rides of the night. Power Surge rides are made by Zamperla, and are one of the most intense flat rides that I have ever ridden. This was was run pretty well. I felt that the cycle was somewhat short, but was intense enough to warrent it.

• The Flying Scooters-  The Flying Scooters at The Big E are made by Majestic Manufacturing. I had never heard of them before, and at first look, thought that Larson had made a portable model. These scooters ran pretty quick and pretty high, but I was unable to snap them and did not see anybody else snapping. I did find it to be slightly better than the American Flyers at Lake Compounce, just because they ran quicker.

• Speed- This is a KMG Speed attraction. This was 100% my favorite ride on the midway. It provides great views and very smooth inversions. The cycle was perfect, with a total of about 6-8 inversions. Riders get to experience airtime, front flips, and somersaults, all while towering over the midway!
• Other attractions included a plethora of kiddie rides, a KMG Freak Out and Fireball, 2 ferris wheels, and multiple dark rides.

I do not believe that this is the best midway that The Big E has had. I believe that there are definitely some great rides this year, but it did not feel complete. I 100% recommend getting a midway bracelet to experience some of the unique attractions at the expo this year. 

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