Bubble House Clock (Sun Retrofit)

The Talking Clock in the Bubble House attraction is a retrofit of Sun (Animatronic) at the Texas State Fair. The Bubble House is a fun house attraction with the main gimmick being, as the name implies, bubbles. It is designed to spray and cover the participant with bubbles as they maneuver through different rooms with colorful lights, moving platforms, and fun designs by the end of the experience. The talking clock is included with the many decorative scenes on the outside of the attraction at the top of the farthest right, yellow building. This Sun retrofit was most likely installed to the fun house around the same time as the other Rock-afire Explosion retrofits at the Texas State Fair in the late 90's or early 2000's. In 2021, the Bubble House did receive a restoration which freshened-up its appearance. However, the Sun was here to stay, and can still be viewed at the Texas State Fair today.

Design

This retrofit had one interactive function. Patrons could push a button by the entrance of the fun house, and the clock would tell the time while its mouth moved in synchronization. Often, this would be found to not be operational most seasons. As for the clock's appearance, it uses the Sun's mask without the sun ray wooden backing with no other modifications. In 2015, clock hands were added to the clock's nose and would spin in accordance with the time. In the 2021 restoration, the clock did receive a makeover. It retained the same Sun mask, but now with green eyes, a more defined mouth, and now blue clock hands instead of black. The base color of the mask was repainted with pink rather than the previous faded yellow. Unfortunately, the time-telling feature was also removed during the restoration, but the clock hands still rotate. Though, this retrofit can still be easily recognized as the Rock-afire Sun with a unique charm.