I've been to the fair most years since I was in elementary school (probably as early as 2001), and most things inside don't change year by year, for starters. There's always the same rides, the same Showplex with more or less the same vendors every year, and food-wise vendors are also the same or very similar. This year they're celebrating 125 years of the fair, so it looks like they revamped the small area with the rooftop bar with a new mural and some new eateries - this area is called The 1900 on their map. And when there's food, that's where I can review and then talk about it with my experience here!
This was on a sunny and hot Saturday. You can usually park at either the several provided parking lots near the respective gates of different colors leading to the fair (though you might get sidetracked by an employees-only parking lot near the golden gate) or many of the residencies offering their parking spaces for somewhere within the same costs as parking at said gates near the fair. Either way, get here early or prepare to face both car and fairgoer traffic.
It's pretty hard to get mad at how expensive the food here gas gotten, also it's a fair/public event so food is never gonna be cheap. If you can look past that, this year's food selections weren't too bad:
- I tried one food vendor inside The 1900 called Fat Panda under a trusted foodie's recommendation, and their bao buns were relatively good though their rice bowls are average and seem to have the same kinds of rice and veggies that nearly every rice dish in every part of the fair and every vendor that carries them serves. The chicken katsu was better than I expected, though the Mongolian beef definitely did not taste like Mongolian beef.
- My mom got some curly fries for herself, and I got to try some. Pretty standard but for some reason we tend to get them every fair.
- The Dole whip station closest to the barns at the green gate was out of order, so we had to walk back to the blue gate where we entered from the get their pineapple soft serve. I'm honestly not a fan of Dole whip, but it hits hard and good on a hot day.
- We also got some churros to take home. These were prepared well and tasted really good.
- We then got a baker's dozen of Fisher scones. It's better to get more compared to just getting one; you can get 13 scones (a baker's dozen) for $30, which is essentially $9 off considering each scone is $3. This is also another food I like to get here every year I go to the fair.
There's so many other things to do here as well:
- Barns had all the animals as usual. I got to see horses, bunnies and swines throughout this visit. They did close shortly after for the owners of the animals to clean up.
- I went to the Showplace Stage to watch something I can only describe as a remixed reimagining of The Little Mermaid. It was very entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
- As mentioned before, the Showplex has tons of vendors that sell stuff like bags, beef jerky, honey, crocheted amigurumi, shoe cleaners, knives, pots, honey, licorice, mattresses and other things.
- If you have to try anything here at least once it'd be their earthquake burgers since those have been advertised throughout each fair. From when I had them last year or so, they're subpar if you've had a ton of burgers.
Last but not least, the rides! Though I didn't go on any this year, most rides looked pretty much the same. And from years of going:
- I've never ridden the Extreme Scream before nor do I think I ever will. Same with the Sling Shot. If you're into heights these would be the rides for you.
- I do have a thing for rides that are close to having tall heights like the Enterprise and Super Orbiter.
- My usual defaults on a normal day would be the Matterhorn, Cliff Hanger, Inferno, Wave Swinger and Classic Coaster. All these have really long lines since they're some of the most popular, especially the latter two.
- The Skyride (the carts hovering above the diagonal of the fairgrounds) is perfect if you wanna see the full view of the fair without all the vertigo that the other rides provide.
Tons of things to do, you just gotta go visit for yourself even as a Seattle native! read more