Indiana Beach Visit (first time)

[Chicago]

On 07/12/2013 I made my very first visit out to Indiana Beach in Monticello. I have always gone to Six Flags Great America which sits around 70 miles away from my house, while Indiana Beach is 110 miles away, but I was looking forward to going somewhere completely new and somewhere much cheaper. Going on a Friday allowed me to use their current promotion of buy one get one on admission (which includes theme park, and water park) when you buy $10 worth of Coke at any Wal-Mart.

 

For the trip I went with my fiancé, as well as my brother and his gf. Parking in the south lot ended up being free which is fantastic in comparison to Six Flags ($22 to park my car, seriously?). With the BOGO the total cost for my fiancé and my admission was at $35.95. Unbelievable price for two people.

To get into the park you go over a bridge that has some sway in it, and a pretty spectacular view of the park in my opinion. I started the day off by finding a bathroom, (which could use some better signage as to where they are). Immediately following the restroom we hit the swings which are over the water. The swings were unlike the ones at Six Flags where they are 2 or 3 chairs deep, but instead consist of a singular row with maybe 25-30 swings. Very fun, and unique flying over the water and they seem to have a really great amount of swinging in and out which I thought was really cool.

 

I had been the one vying to get everyone to go to Indiana Beach, so I had hoped the coasters were going to be really good (albeit small). The first coaster we went on was the Galaxi, which has a very wide based track which I found unusual. The ride ran a little rough initially, and the end experience on it had everyone glaring at me because it felt a little “carnival-y”. However, we ended up riding this coaster 2 additional times at nighttime, and found it to be much smoother riding (perhaps being our first coaster of the day, we just were not acclimated). Riding it at nighttime also gave it a much more “romanticized” feel with the Ferris wheel lights in the background. Not a bad ride for this park, however I do not think it would hold up in a larger, corporate type of park.

 

From Galaxi we headed over to Tig’rr, which had a line of around 6 people. This ride train resembled that of the Whizzer at Six Flags Great America, which is one of my all-time favorite rides. However I think it should be noted that it does only ride one car at a time (4 people per ride) and the operators were only running 1 train on the track. This one did not impress any of us, and we only ended up riding it the one time.

 

I think at this point we had wanted to ride the Cornball Express, however it was down. We walked a short 30 foot distance to hop on Hoosier Hurricane, however that ride was also closed down as they had repainted all of the stairs as well as the rail (Blue rails and Yellow stairs). The paint job looked very nice, and I know many people have commented on the lack of upkeep at the park, so I think this was a step in the right direction. The ride directly next to the Hoosier Hurricane, the log flume, was also down and does not look like it has run this season as the track was dry.

 

My group was again glaring at me, as everything looked to be closed and or not up to their coaster tastes.

We headed back to the car to retrieve our suits and hit the water parks which were only open until 6 pm. I won’t review the water park aspect other than to say the tubes were extremely fun and I really enjoyed the “Black Hole” tunnel which was pitch black the whole way down. My major complaint is we were unable to ride the Big Flush (Giant Black slides on the North end of the park). The complaint is due to the fact that we stood in line at about 5:50ish and the second it hit 6pm they closed it. They did not let those that had been waiting in line finish out the ride (maybe 15 of us, we were next to go. Grr). There had been no warning as to the time, and it was pretty much a “sorry, we are now closed”.

 

Back to the cars to put our suits back in and hit the rest of the coasters.

 

After getting back inside we stood in line for Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain, which ended up having the longest wait time of anything at the park. (About a twenty minute wait). This ride was excellent, we went down facing the track which I thought made it more fun as you were able to see the theatrics of the ride. L.C.o.S.M. also ended up being the last ride we went on before we left at around 10:50 when it was dark, and we went down backwards. While fun, it was much better facing forward on this one. Good coaster, and very unique in that it takes an elevator instead of a hill climb.

 

From Lost Coaster we went back to the Cornball Express which ended up being everyone’s favorite ride. A wooden coaster with great turns and drops, this coaster could easily be in any theme park out there. Something that I found unique about it was the inversion while going back up after a drop. Really good coaster, and probably one of my favorite coasters that I have been on.

 

To our luck, the Hoosier Hurricane’s stairs and handrails dried and the ride was up and running. With a wait time of only about 3 minutes we were able to step right on and get front row on Indiana Beach’s largest coaster. This wooden big boy went fast, and it was rough. Really rough, however it had some fantastic views (especially when it was dark and it comes right next to the lit up Ferris wheel) and really good drops. I suppose the roughness is inherent with wooden coasters, but this one felt especially rough to me. If it had been smoother it may have been one of the best rides they had, but it is what it is. We ended up riding this 3 or 4 times in different spots, each wait in line was no more than 3 or 4 minutes though, so that is fantastic.

 

One of the rides that I had been most anticipating we did not get on until later in the day, (7 or 8 pm) and that is mostly due to it being off the rest of the “strip”, everything at Indiana Beach is pretty much right on the main boardwalk except for the Steel Hawg.

 

Let me start off by saying I did my research before coming to Indiana Beach and was able to spout of some fun facts about the Steel Hawg, and informed everyone about it at one point being the steepest drop, as well as having the first curve where you are on the outside rather than the inside, etc. But this ride was fantastic. It has a great drop, and is the quietest and smoothest coaster I have ever set foot on. The only downfall of the ride has to do with its compactness. The whole coaster looks like it is about 40 yards long, and maybe about 60 feet high. If they had been able to invest a little more and actually build this thing out more, I feel there is a good chance it could have been the best coaster in North America.

 

There are probably only two other notable things about this park and to me they would be the Air Crow which is a swinging type of ride (however you are given the chance to dictate how you glide through the air by controlling a front rudder) and the Skyride (which is a ski-lift type of ride which gives you a great view of the whole park as you span the entire thing).

 

Overall, I enjoyed Indiana Beach. It was a fun amusement park that had a romanticized feel to it, reminiscent of what I believe the 50’s would have been like. The other 3 in my group did not enjoy it as much as I did, they believe that the lack of giant height rollercoasters makes Indiana Beach a step over a Carnival.

 

A note to those from Chicago, and Illinois in general. There is a time change on the drive, so you lose an hour. Keep that in mind.

-Chicago

Edited July 14, 2013 by Chicago

[SharkTums]

Nice review from a first timer (both posting and visiting!). Indiana Beach certainly has a ton of potential and it's nice to read your review and hope that they're going back in the right direction.

[Chicago]

Thanks, I looked around at many different review sites and think that they really can make an impact on what park you want to visit. I felt it was only fair to go ahead and throw in a first-timers perspective to a park that seems like it is somewhat irrelevant as coasters push for greater heights and faster speeds.

 

One of my major beefs with other parks, such as Six Flags Great America, deals with wait times as well as cost and those lousy flash passes. I felt it was especially nice being able to hit up a park that didn't break the bank and didn't have ride times where the day passes you by as you stand idle watching those who paid more slow your line down even more.

 

I am also heading to Cedar Point early next month as well as DollyWood later next month. Both of those locations will also be first time destinations for me and my family. Although I am currently dreading the drive to both as I have a 2 year old and a 6 year old that will be in tow with me.

[yay101]

That was a great and accurate post. Did you take pictures? And, having SFGAm being my home park and having been to IB before, I can testify that the lines are shorter at Indiana Beach, one time I waited 59 seconds for Steel Hawg, no joke! Also, did you ride Double Shot? That is my personal favorite ride in the park. Better than Giant Drop!

[Philrad71]

Sorry to hear that Hoosier Hurricane was rough for you. I rode once in the front and once in the back and have to say that I found it to be Indiana's smoothest wooden coaster.

 

I also enjoyed the nostalgia of the park and LCoSM is definitely takes the cake as the strangest coaster I have ever been on. So glad I got a chance to ride it!

[DanM64]

Glad you enjoyed yourself! I went to the park for my first time about 3 weeks ago, and I loved it!! The log flume was running when I went, so it must have developed problems since. Let me know if you ever need company, I'd visit IB any time!

[Chicago]

I wish I had taken some more pictures, but these are the only ones I have without my mug floating in them. Wish I had taken a few more, but oh well.

 

Something else that I wish that I had alluded to earlier, something that Indiana Beach should work on that would not be that large of an investment is increase the lighting on the roller coaster tracks throughout the park. I think that would be pretty visually stunning and would make the park even more alluring.

The walk over the bridge giving a great view of the park

The Ferris Wheel lit up at night

[yay101]

I've never been to IB at night, so I don't know what it looks like at night. Those pictures are pretty good. And actually Steel Hawg isn't 60 ft but 96 feet, although I get what you're saying. And is it true that the swings are on the water again???? Last year they were not too far from Steel Hawg, and Falling Star was in pieces next to the coaster as well.

Good report.

[Chicago]

The swings are indeed over the water, where were they originally?

Swings over water. Best swings around

[Cameron]

The swings were there originally, but for the past two years they were situated over by Steel Hawg (don't ask..!).

 

Great report, thanks for posting! I love Indiana Beach (less-so over the last 5-6 years, but I still consider myself a fanboy), so it's great to hear from new visitors. I've actually not made it down there yet this year - really trying to go. Perhaps I'll take a day off work some time.

 

Cameron.