Indiana Beach - Photo TR - 7.15.08

[Theme-Park-Urge]

This past week, I took some time off work to do a little Midwest park tour. When all was said and done, I had put 1,000 miles on my rental car in addition to two Nashville/Chicago flights of 500 miles apiece; not bad for a last-minute trip that would hopefully gain me about 15 new credits.

 

First stop: Indiana Beach.

 

The park was all I had hoped it was plus more! It’s one of those places that welcomes you in such a way that you really don’t want to leave. Luckily, crowds were non-existent on this particular Tuesday, and I was able to command multiple re-rides throughout the day and nite.

 

So, you’re probably wondering about Steel Hawg: Is it all it’s cracked up to be? Is it painful? Was there a long wait? Is it worth the trip (back) to Indiana Beach? Is it a world-class coaster?

 

Well, I say: Yeah. Nope. Hardly. Absolutely. Not quite.

 

The seats, even though they have OTSRs, are quite comfy. The lift is super-fast. The sharp turns don’t hurt at all (fyi: I’m about 6-foot and 200 pounds). The 120-degree drop is fun as hell. The outside-banked turn is a nice touch. The hangtime in the roll-to-dive is incredible. The angled barrel roll kicks major a$$. Yeah, it feels a lot like a Eurofighter.

 

Operations were good: efficient loading and unloading of the two cars in operation. I didn’t see the coaster experience any down-time whatsoever. The only thing that I was kinda surprised about was the lack of enthusiasm on the riders’ part. Perhaps it’s because Steel Hawg, even with all of its unique elements, is not a scary ride at all. It’s just pure fun.

 

As for its length, it’s hard to explain… With the amount of elements and the way the transitions flow, Steel Hawg is long enough to satisfy but short enough that you want more; if that makes any sense… Let me try to put it this way: It’s not a disappointing ride by any means, but you kinda wish that it was a bit longer. Being that it’s so smooth and pain-free, it’s a pleasure to ride. Maybe that’s why I’m having a hard time putting my finger on it. Either way, Steel Hawg is a winner in my eyes!

 

Aside from Steel Hawg, the park has a good collection of coasters: a couple CCI/PTC woodies (I enjoyed Hoosier Hurricane much more than Cornball Express btw), an old Schwarzkopf Jet Star (a blast!), an old Zyklon Galaxi (sadly, not in operation that day), and the unexplainably random Lost Coaster Of Superstition Mountain (LoCoSuMo). Oh sweet Lord, what the hell were they thinking when they built/redesigned that ride?!?

 

Their flat collection is pretty typical: Ferris Wheel, Music Express, Falling Star, Swinging Ship, Flying Bobs (a must-ride for me), Tilt-A-Whirl, Double Shot (love ‘em), etc. However, some of their flats (Scrambler, Paratrooper, Chairswing, Flyers) being placed directly on the water is what makes this park so great!

 

Anyway, it was an extremely long and enjoyable day. I’m glad that I finally got to make it to a park that I saw commercials for ever since I was little in Chicago. Indiana Beach definitely is a unique park experience with plenty of charm and attractions!

 

Thanks for reading! Now, on to the pics (posted in multiple parts coz there's a whole bunch!):

Satisfied riders, it would seem. Hold tight for the next batch of Steel Hawg pics: Artsy shots & coaster porn ahead!

For the most part, everyone held on pretty darn tight.

Some of the few brave riders I saw that day with their hands up!

It ain't big but it packs a pretty good knock-out punch! (Much like the coaster itself)

...the over-banked turn!

Even after you exit the Barrel Roll TO Hell, there's one more element for you to conquer...

Oh my!! What a cool element!! Probably the scariest thing on the ride.

After that, it's time for the barrel roll toward the ground.

Again, though, the coaster is so fluid. Even with the intense maneuvers, there's no shaking/rattling/etc. This Hawg seemed smooth as silk.

I could definitely feel my muscles tense up right about here.

The dive back down is perhaps the most intense sensation on the ride.

This element is pretty drawn out. You feel like you're hanging forever traveling upside-down.

Hooray for hangtime!!

...hangtime!!!

The inside-banked turn that follows is tight but not too forceful. It prepares you for...

The outside-banked turn is a unique element & very fun! It feels like you could just drift off the track.

The brakes definitely slow your momentum but it's so fluid that you really don't even notice them.

Let's take a closer look at the brakes on the first drop, shall we...

Instead of uber-intense, the first drop is just pure fun. I may even like it more than Maverick's...

I was expecting the drop to be uber-intense. It wasn't!

I was expecting the turn-around at the top of the lift to hurt like hell. It didn't!

The lift is super-quick!! It takes you up 100 ft in a couple of seconds.

Negative. There's only about 20 people in the queue. Amazingly, it would stay like this all day!!

I'm finally in the park & ready to try this bad boy out! I hope the line isn't massive!

Hey! There's that 120-degree first drop. That looks like fun! (And it is!)

Hey! There's that outside-banked turn. That looks fun! (And it is!)

Steel Hawg in all its orange glory as seen from the paid parking area.

Ah yes, the (in)famous crow welcomes me to ride Steel Hawg. I grew up with this crow on IB commercials.

OMG! Their new baby Steel Hawg is right here! Looks like I won't have to walk much to get to it! Score!

Hooray! I'm finally here! Only a half-hour behind schedule since I-65S was closed.

The day started with a 2+ hour drive thru a lot of corn. BTW: There ain't much besides corn in IN, despite what people may lead you to believe.

[Theme-Park-Urge]

Part two (Steel Hawg artsy shots & coaster porn):

When the contraption is attached to the thingies (I know, not real technical...), the ops can raise/lower restraints. When the thingy-majig comes off the car, everything seems to be locked into place. The little computer box seems to be the car's brain that communicates with the control panel.

...to attach itself to those pins. This seems to be how the car's functions operate.

Well, this contraption comes up from under the track...

I will captionize these though... See those little piston-like pins toward the bottom of the car?

I won't caption-ize these pics coz they're pretty self-explanatory.

[Theme-Park-Urge]

Part three (the wooden coaster section of the park):

Cornball wasn't as photogenic as Hoosier Hurricane. And I didn't find it as much fun either; lots of jerking & shuffling.

Turn left at the log flume.

Cornball's exciting twisted first drop.

So Cornball Express is UP the steps?!? Well, why is the arrow pointing DOWN then?!?

Good. They have a Merry Go Round. Isn't it a requirement, or something?!?

Time to venture further into the park. What's this?!? A Mini Pirate Ship. How cute?!?

So here's a little more of their "midway" with a barn-full of games to hide you from the sun.

Happy riders once again! BTW: does anyone know why the block(ed) off the 1st row?!?

The return route back to the station.

An absolutely gorgeous setting for a great coaster!

There we go. A full train! Hooray!

Obligatory shot #2.

Yes, that's right: Eight people. Did I mention that crowds were light that day?!?

Obligatory shot.

Hey! Another train! That only took five minutes... (grumbles to himself)

Pretty!

Hey! There's a train! (With one train operations, it was a game of patience before you could finally get a good pic)

See?!?

Hoosier Hurricane really is one of the most photogenic coasters I've come across.

And here's the drop...

Here's the pre-drop curve...

Next up: Hoosier Hurricane.

It only provided a little splash. Dare I ask: Acceptable amount of wetness?

Rocky's Rapids Log Flume wins - not for scenery, mind you; I just chose it first.

Choices... Choices...

I've seen better but it'll do...

With Steel Hawg conquered (a couple of times) I ventured into the park.

[spaceace12]

As for blocking fo first row, I don't know, but I know the white trains padding on Hurricane SUCKS! It is not this soft leather padding, it is hard plastic molded seat that is not nice to wider people (I am not that wide but I hated my ride in June).

 

As for Cornball, I sure hope it was just a bad day because Cornball kicked my a$$ and I loved it.

[Theme-Park-Urge]

Part four (featuring LoCoSuMo & puke {yes, puke}):

But perhaps just as random & freaky as the LoCoSuMo bear, I present Color Your Hair. (The lady on the top left kinda scares me...)

Yes, the infamous bear. I didn't see any Mardi Gras beads on him though...

...never to be seen again.

Speeding uncontrollably into the mountain...

More of the same but with flowers. Somehow LoCoSuMo & flowers don't mix...

LoCoSuMo's outside track layout.

Hmmm... Odd location for a sign on a coaster... "Hey Jim Bob, we need to put up a sign warning riders". "I got it Rufus, let's put it UNDER the track".

Actually, it is quite forgettable coz you have no idea where you're going as you twist & dive through the tunnels, er, mountain.

The start of your unforgettable journey...

The very unique (& freaky) elevator lift in action.

The kids are all smiles while mom reads the newspaper. I wonder if they'll be so content AFTER the ride...?

...this is what happens when you ride LoCoSuMo if you are in doubt. Ewww!

I don't doubt this sign but, perhaps, they should fill in the letters at the bottom more. Coz...

Next up: LoCoSuMo. Oh, sweet Jesus...

Since I was racking up the credits & rides rather quickly, I decided to take a ride on the Antique Autos.

This is their shooting gallery & more of Frankie's castle in the distance.

Dr. Frankenstein's Haunted Castle was the world's #1 walkthrough attraction in 2006?!? I probably should've done it but a $3.50 upcharge was out of the question.

Here's their swinging ship. Not for me.

Here's the park map. Is it just me or does it seem like every smaller park has this style of map these days?

Such a cool location for flyers! And even though there was no snapping, they still gave a good ride with a very long cycle.

What?!? What?!? What?!?

Time to check out the flyers: Air Crow.

What a fun coaster! I think every park should have a Schwarzkopf of SOME kind!

It looks so harmless...

Now that's a twisted mess of track!

I love me an old Schwarzkopf Jet Star!! With no restraints!!

Enough with the closed kiddy attractions! I want some excitement! Tig'rr Coaster should provide some!

There's a train station down here too.

Ah ha! Winky The Whale's operating!!

Kiddy Whip. You guessed it: not operating.

Kiddy Cycles. Not, um, operating.

Kiddy Cars. Not Operating.

Kiddy Boats. Not Operating.

Time to check out the Kiddyland section. Many rides in here, like Convoy Race, were not in operation.

[spaceace12]

Hmmm... Odd location for a sign on a coaster... "Hey Jim Bob, we need to put up a sign warning riders". "I got it Rufus, let's put it UNDER the track".

 

FYI: that sign is for the old ride that was in LoCoSuMo before it was put in. If you look, you can see the track bed for the old powered dark ride.

[Erik Johnson]

Great update! I really want to go back to IB sometime.

[Theme-Park-Urge]

Part five (the boardwalk & panoramic pics)

Then, I found this cool retro sign touting IB way back in the day. I love when parks keep stuff like this up. It so adds to its character!

Hooray!! I absolutely love Double Shots! Hate drop towers. Love Double Shots.

Oh please, for the love of god, let the Double Shot be open...

Cute little Frog Hopper, why are you closed too?!?

Monster Trucks 3D. Nothing could interest me less.

Splash Bash is the interactive water park that was pretty packed. I seem to pick days at parks when everyone is on the water side. No complaints here, though.

(Lazy) Action River. This thing was totally in a dream I had about nine months ago. It was such a strong deja vu moment that it gave me chills. Still does. Moving on now...

Continuing on, the Big Flush was down. Although I can't even imagine how hot a black water slide gets after it bakes out in the sun all day. Just an observation...

This is the Skyroom where they have live bands & dancing. This area totally reminded me of the Myrtle Beach Pavillion (R.I.P.).

Dodgems were operating though. (Whew)

The obligatory Tilt-A-Whirl; also not in operation. Ya know what? As I'm typing this TR out, I'm realizing that MANY flats were down that day...

That's coz I was doing what this girl is fixin' to do: Shoot some Pirates! (or whatever was in The Den Of Lost Thieves; I told you I can't remember...)

This skeleton was cool but I honestly don't remember much about the ride itself.

Time to check out The Den Of Lost Thieves - their shooting dark ride.

Exclusive Flying Bobs mirror POV (see previous caption for admission of lameness).

Exclusive Flying Bobs POV (before the ride started - I know, I'm lame).

Now that I escaped the fish, time to grab a ride on the Flying Bobs.

I could, however, see them eating you in a couple seconds. Seriously, these things are digusting!

Actually, I can't see sleeping of any kind going on with these fishes.

Whoever's in charge should sleep with the fishes!

Too bad this was as close as I would get. It wasn't operating all day/nite. Boo to my first missed credit that I can recall.

Time to get my final credit at IB: The Zyklon Galaxi!

Here's where you get ribbon fries. Good stuff!

There's a Scrambler here too but it only operated half of the time. From what I could tell, they alternated running the Paratrooper & Scrambler, since they're right next to each other.

The Boardwalk has a bunch of flats, like the Paratrooper, placed directly on the water.

Time to venture down the Boardwalk. From this pic, the park kinda looks crowded but it really wasn't.

Aptly named, the Water Swings swing you over the water.

Of course, no trip to IB would be complete without the Water Swings.

And got these panoramic pics.

So I took a walk across Indiana's longest suspension bridge (I think that's what they said) & came across this little sign. Funny, I don't remember a looping steel coaster at IB. Nevertheless, I took the sign's advice...

Sadly, the signature ferris wheel wasn't operating all day/nite.

This way, huh?!? That's gonna be difficult. Wait! I thought it was called the GIANT Wheel...

They also have a putt-putt course located under/within Hoosier Hurricane but I didn't see anyone playing all day.

Music Express provided tons of laterals! And it ran backwards!

The Falling Star with a dizzying view of the lake. Seasick anyone?

These Splash Battles seem to be popping up everywhere. It looked like fun & the riders can shoot people on the Boardwalk & vice versa.

[ebl]

"The kids are all smiles while mom reads the newspaper." (Theme-Park-Urge)

 

Odd place for your mom to read a newspaper...

 

Otherwise, Indiana Beach looks like a fun park. One day maybe I'll give it a try.

 

Eric

[Theme-Park-Urge]

Part six (dude on a crane & nitetime pics):

And to finish it off... Thanks for reading & making it thru this all-too-in-depth TR of Indiana Beach!

Steel Hawg by the light of the moon.

She's almost prettier in the dark. (I wish that wasn't the FIRST time those words were uttered from my lips...)

One last trip past Steel Hawg...

One last look at the lighted Boardwalk.

I like the way this pic turned out even though swinging ships aren't my thing.

The Sea Dragon at nite.

LoCoSuMo in the front. Hoosier Hurricane speeding by in the rear. You don't know how long it took me to get this shot & I still wasn't happy with it.

Falling Star all symmetrical.

Water Swings under the moon. It seems to be everywhere...

The Shafer Queen strikes a pose.

Lake Shafer looks beautiful!

One more lap through the park as it gets dark. Cornball's much prettier than I expected.

Sweet!!!

Ahh...

Ooh...

Back to Steel Hawg for another quick ride & more pics.

Told ya!

I even checked out the Water Thrill Show - something I hardly ever do. BTW: This dude's crazy!

Although the park seemed to clear out once nite set it, that's when I started to have even more fun.

Falling Star standing at the dusk's attention.

Falling Star was all bright & shiny.

The Water Swings were looking especially inviting.

I couldn't have planned this shot any better. This is my new mousepad picture.

Time to show Giant Wheel some love...

Awesome!

Pretty!

As the sun started to set, I headed back to Hoosier Hurricane to get some (hopefully) beautiful pics.

This is the best I could do this time around...

Notice how he's perched ABOVE the floor of the cage?!? No way Jose!!

Oh damn! He's filming! Time to go ride again!

So I get back to Steel Hawg & there's this duder in a crane cage. What's he doing?!?

Yes, Steel Hawg thru the trees. I'm guilty.

Time to head back to Steel Hawg.

[Mechanic]

Nice photos and TR. There was some serious hardore XXX coaster porn in there!

[SLUSHIE]

That coaster looks like something that would be made out of knex.

[TheRapidsNerd]

You know, I really like Steel Hawg's trains. Just a cool shape to them. Good report too.

[gk]

Nice TR

 

IB is one of my top five wanna-visit parks.

[CoasterEricHP]

Incredible pictures!!

 

When Steel Hawg was first announced and all the way up to about 5 minutes ago I thought it was an awful concept and a hideous coaster but it actually looks pretty awesome! It could just be your pictures though! haha.

 

The downward barrel roll is just plain sick looking! There are so many cool things they could do with that. Imagine that element leading into a tunnel or something! *drool*

 

Ok getting too excited. Great report.

[JamesMC]

I was down at the "Beach" for an afternoon a couple of weeks ago and I'll say this about Steel Hawg.

 

It's not nearly as painful as it looks like it might be. The first drop is over so quick it's hard to realize just how over-steep of an angle the ride features.

 

BUT-that hangtime loop and the downward barrel roll are a hoot!!!!!

 

Thanks for the report.

[jamesdillaman]

Nice pictures...

 

But you didn't do Frankenstein's Castle?

 

Fail.

 

Best $3.50 you'll ever spend

 

-James Dillaman

[FLIPDUDE]

Absolutely fantastic TR!

 

I want to go back there so bad!

[nagro5]

Thanks for taking the time to make this! You did a great job!

[Hand 0f Time]

A very large gallery of photos you took. Very epic pictures, interesting things that happened while you were there. This was a really good TR.

[jkwan]

Awesome TR. That Steel Hawg coaster looks sick. I wish more parks had a coaster like that one.

[edgeboy1]

I was at IB the exact same time you were... I think I saw you taking all those pics on Steel Hawg while I was in line riding it!

 

I took some video of the ride from three angles, as well as the Tigerr, and the Skyride. I haven't uploaded them yet, but I plan to early next week. I'm going out of town today, and can't do it sooner.

 

You should have done the Dr. Frankenstein. It's amazing, a lot of fun, and very long. Totally worth the $3.50. They could be charging $5 and I'd still do it!

 

Anyway, thanks for the pics. It really brought my vacation back to me!

[raptor6]

Your positive review of Steel Hawg actually surprised me. I was completely expecting the ride to be uncomforable and even borderline painful. Thanks for the great trip report!

[odie]

That last picture is just awesome. It almost looks fake 'cause of the moon in the background and the light fog. It looks like it should be used for an advertisement for IB's Fright Fest event

Anyways, thanks for the great TR!

[CP_RULES]

Amazing night time pictures, very good TR.