The perpetual-motion midway at the South Florida Fair boasts more than 90 rides for all ages and thrill threshholds. Planes, midget trains and automobiles for the kids. Spinning tea cups and Tilt-A-Whirls for families. Pendulum-action pirate ships and out-of-control bobsleds for the steel-nerved and iron-stomached.

With so many options, how do you separate the “amazing!” from the “meh”? A little insider information can’t hurt.

Frank Zaitshik, owner of Wade Shows, which has furnished the fair with its Ferris wheels, Frightmare and Ring of Fire for eight years now, gave us the back story on some of the midway’s more notable rides, and we talked to breathless fairgoers as they exited the attractions.

The 67-year-old Zaitshik, who grew up in Miami and now lives in Tampa, has a soft spot for the RC-48 Coaster, which previously shook up visitors to Surfside Pier in North Wildwood, N.J.

You’ll find the RC-48 on the western border of the fair, which runs through Feb. 3 at the fairgrounds on Southern Boulevard. It takes fairgoers on a 54-second loop around a steel track at an average of 35 miles per hour. Says Zaitshik, “By the time you’re scared, it’s over.”

THE INVERTER, a.k.a. The Head Rush

New to the fair this year and erected on the grounds’ southern edge, the Inverter slowly rotates riders upside down and holds them there for a beat or two before making a big, slow loop and repeating the same, anticipation-filled process.

Timid souls watching from below can easily see the scared faces of riders and make out their screams of “Let me down!” and “No, not again!”

The cries are warranted, said 14-year-old Sarah Pollock of Boca Raton. “I felt like I was going to fall out, and all the blood was rushing to my head. When we were hanging upside down, I was like, ‘What did I do to myself?’”

Joseph Rosario wondered the same thing. “I felt like I was going to pass out. I prayed the whole time,” said the 19-year-old West Palm Beach resident. “On the ground, I’m good. I’m secure. I’m tough. In the air? No.”

THE ZIPPER, a.k.a. The Stomach Flipper

A sign near the Zipper, which is a couple of rides west of the Inverter, warns guests about what awaits them: Strong front-to-back forces. Strong side-to-side forces. Rapidly changing turbulent forces. Rapidly changing heights. Hmmm, fun.

“I’d never get on a Zipper,” said Zaitshik, speaking for many who’ve vowed to never again endure the ride’s chaotic spin pattern (that would include this reporter).

A carnival staple since its invention in 1968, the Zipper is something of an endangered species, Zaitshik said. “So many moving parts. That makes it difficult to maintain, and that’s why it’s not an attractive ride for carnivals to buy nowadays.”

Its relative rarity has made it that more attractive to some. Said Zaitshik: “There’s a whole cult of people who follow Zippers.”

Count Breanna Thomas of Riviera Beach out of that cult. She was the one screaming for most of the two-minute ride. “Oh my, it was flipping around and going every which way,” she said.

But Moses Briggs of Orlando said the Zipper didn’t live up to the hype. “You’re caged in so you know nothing will happen. The scariest rides are the ones that are open.”

THE GIANT WHEEL, a.k.a. The Eye Candy

If there was a face of the fair, it would be the photogenic Giant Wheel (although the Sky Liner is actually the fair’s most popular ride, according to Rick Vymlatil, the fair’s president and CEO).

The 100-foot wheel is where you steer the youngsters after you’ve scarfed down a footlong corn dog and fried jalapenos with a side of Mylanta.

“It’s just a very peaceful ride,” Vymlatil said of the Ferris wheel. “It’s got the big gondolas, so you and your friends or family can all get in one gondola and ride together. You get a really good view, up above the noise and the clutter of the fair.”

From the ground, fairgoers get a really good view, too: an everchanging light display. Zaitshik spent $150,000 to convert the wheel to an LED light system with roughly 100 different programmed shows.

Entertaining and energy-efficient, he said.

THE DRAG STRIP, a.k.a. The Seat Warmer

Zaitshik custom-ordered this colorful slide from a Colorado amusement maker. “It’s well-engineered,” he said. “Even adults enjoy it because it takes them down fast, but they don’t get airborne.”

Well, not usually. The 225-foot journey, which most guests treat as a race, isn’t always smooth.

Wearing a fetching straw hat on her visit to the fair earlier this week, Lee Love of Boynton Beach was the senior member of three generations of her family who drag-raced each other down the slide.

Love came in last, but she did it with style.

“My thought was, ‘Is my hat going to stay on?’ And then it didn’t, so I reached for it with one hand, then I got off balance, and I lost it halfway to the bottom.”

She finished Drag Strip on her back, but with a big smile on her face. “We really liked this ride,” she said.

THE MEGA DROP, a.k.a. The Hair Raiser

“As I was growing our carnival,” Zaitshik said, “I thought every ride I bought would become our signature ride. But guess what? It never does because the public gets used to it.”

In 2001, he purchased Mega Drop, which whooshes riders 135 feet skyward, holds them there so they get good and nervous, then drops them so they experience a downward force of 5 g’s. Said Zaitshik, “This was my signature piece. Two years later, it’s chopped liver.”

Actually, it remains a treat for many, and Zaitshik always places it near an area with plenty of seating, so the terrified expressions on the faces of Mega Drop riders become one more midway show for onlookers.

After exiting the ride, Riley and Zach Bertsch, two Lake Worth brothers, used their Gold Access VIP passes to jump right back on.

“I like how when you fall, it just scares you, and you don’t know if you’re going to land hard,” said Riley, who is 13.

Said 8-year-old Zach, “It wasn’t as scary the second time.”