South Florida Fair Opens With New Escape Room and Mardi Gras

Gras Each year fair season premiers the latest attractions at the South Florida Fair. This year, Escape Rooms and Mardi Gras are the big hits. If you can get in!
Photo by: llambrano

It's that time to eat, ride and play. The South Florida Fair officially opened last weekend to beautiful weather, thousands of attendees, and dozens of rides and attractions. One attraction, the Trapped Escape Room, was all the buzz as people lined up to try one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment over the past year.

Located inside a large carnival tent, the Trapped Escape Room staff seemed a little overwhelmed due to the number of people wanting to ask questions and sign-up at the same time. The good news for them, though, is that by 2pm on Saturday afternoon, they had already completely filled their available time slots, and anyone wanting to try-out the escape room, would have to wait until the next day to go.

"My wife had been trying to get us to go to an escape room for the last few months, so when she saw this one here at the fair, we immediately went for it," said Mark Wade as he also took a bite out of a donut burger. "It took us 56 minutes, but we escaped. It was a great time, I can't wait to try another one."

If you are going to be one of the lucky groups to get to try this escape room, (they have two rooms to choose from) you will probably need to sign-up and reserve your spot before 2pm each day, and be prepared to shell-out $25 per person. Each group contains 8 people, so if you don't have 8, they will pair you with other groups and individuals.

Other new fair attractions include the theme for this year's fair, New Orleans Mardi Gras featuring floats and parades. Also straight out of New Orleans is a Mardi Gras Glass House, exactly what you would see at a carnival midway.

Some old favorites are still at the fair including the Yesteryear Village complete with Bayou Ghost Tours, also a New Orleans Ice show as well as as well as a New Orleans style food court.

One let down was the cancelling of the Lady Houdini "water torture cell" escape which promised to be one of the most popular shows of the entire fair. The escape artist, Kristen Johnson, was involved in a car crash just outside the fairgrounds in West Palm Beach and had to cancel the show.

While fair prices can be steep, there are new additions to the fair's schedule that can help you save. Every Tuesday is Two Dollar Fat Tuesday with admission for $2 and rides for $2. Additionally, Wednesdays are two for one admission. Coke cans can save you $5 as well.