Indiana Beach (IB) Discussion Thread

[swfan1988]

Does anyone know if there are any confirmed rides or attractions that are NOT reopening with the park?

[Rollercoaster Rider]

I’d imagine the Haunted House will be closed

[prozach626]

I saw clips of the opening ceremonies and the park in general on the Indiana Beach Facebook page. The crowds look very sparse. Today their social media was hitting hard on their bar area with a band. They quickly panned away from the empty tables. I hope the video clips aren't an accurate perception of attendance. If so, I kind of feel sorry for them with the work and effort put into bringing the park back from the dead.

[SharkTums]

^Thanks for the info, I was wondering what was going on as we've heard almost nothing.

[Midwesterner]

Per their website, and like many parks currently, IB is maintaining a 50% capacity limit on attendance through July 3rd. Even if attendance restrictions are lifted it's gonna be a whacky year the gauge guest turnout obviously with all parks taking a big hit, especially those not open year round. Likely won't be till late 2021 when IB can start to assess whether the investment is paying off, after a hopefully "normal" operating season.

[KarlaKoaster]

I was curious about the reopening too and found a video on a well-known coaster channel which showed what I would describe as decent crowds on the VIP day, but also a living breathing petri dish of potential covid infections.

 

I am not sure I have ever felt so uncomfortable watching a video. I felt like Ace Ventura when he found out Finkle is Einhorn.

 

 

Virtually nobody was wearing masks (staff included) and social distancing didn't exist. I don't mean it was there and people were ignoring it, it just wasn't a thing. Every table was being used, every seat on every row on every ride was being loaded, masses of crowds swarming around bottle necks, huge queues with no spacing... unbelievable. Un. Believable.

 

I hoped to see a heartwarming video about a small park rising from the ashes, but instead it was like 8 minutes of torture porn showing everything that is wrong in humanity.

 

I hope that when our ancestors look back at our generation they can laugh at the fact that we could so easily have defeated coronavirus by wearing masks and giving each other space, yet we'd rather go to a theme park and get up close and personal with a load of strangers just as the number of cases begins to spiral out of control again. Honestly the self entitled privilege of people is difficult to swallow.

 

Shame on vloggers like this who should be setting an example by practicing social distancing and wearing masks but are putting their 'likes comments subscribes' before anything else.

 

And shame on the park too. As much as I want to wish Indiana Beach every success in the world, seeing staff not wearing masks, the ACTUAL OWNER of the park putting his arm around someone as he did the opening ceremony in front of a crowd of non-socially-distanced neanderthals and every seat being loaded on every ride makes me worry for humanity.

 

If I turned up at a park and it was like this, the first thing I would have done would be to leave. And then shower.

 

So yeah... sorry about this rant but I feel really strongly about this. I look to things like the Indiana Beach reopening as a positive news story during a terrible time. At times I feel like these are the only things that keep me going.

 

But it turns out Indiana Beach is part of the problem and not the solution.

 

I really want to support smaller local parks, but not at any cost. I've not linked to the Youtube video for hopefully obvious reasons but hope it's OK to use these screenshots instead. And I hope nobody catches covid just by reading this post!

 

Huge non-socially distanced queue next to non-socially distanced tables

 

At least the guy in orange in the bottom right has made his own mask out of his hand

 

Every single row being loaded. Station and queue both busy with no social distancing

 

At least this guy is wearing a mask even if it isn't covering his face

 

Park management setting the gold standard

Edited June 29, 2020 by KarlaKoaster

[DBru]

Wow.

 

I saw a video of a friend's birthday celebration in Alabama the other night: a dance club packed should-to-shoulder, people screaming their lungs out, not a mask in sight.

 

I guess stuff like this is happening everywhere. It's unbelievable.

[prozach626]

I understand the desire to rant. I understand your concerns. I don't completely disagree with you. But, at some point you're just going to have to let it go and realise that you're not going to change anything. That's life.

 

Aside from that... Like I said earlier, I was hoping that there were bigger crowds than shown in the videos, which turned out to be true. The silver lining is that it's at least good that there are more people in the park, despite being so tightly packed in. Outside of the things you're not going to be able to change, I'm happy people interested in Indiana Beach.

 

Maybe their social media just sucks, making the park look dead. Everything they have posted so far makes it look so hokey and ugly, which is weird because last year they did a great job of making the park look desirable. Maybe there's someone new running the show.

[KarlaKoaster]

To be honest, I didn't intend to 'change anything' by posting, but I get what you're saying in that I shouldn't get frustrated with things that are out of my control. But having seen people make observations about other parks and the way they're handling things, I thought I would do the same with Indiana Beach, particularly in the context of this conversation.

 

Anyway I'll take your advice and let it go

[boldikus]

The silver lining is that it's at least good that there are more people in the park, despite putting theirs and others lives at risk all in the name of a good time.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Canobie Coaster]

As far as I can tell, the only thing Indiana Beach really did during that even was a temperature check. Everything else (social distancing and masks) is encouraged but not required by staff or employees.

 

This is surprising since a local news article said rows would be blocked off and employees would wear masks, but there was no evidence of that in the photos shared. It also says you need to reserve a visit, but I can't find anything online about having to reserve a day.

 

https://www.jconline.com/story/news/2020/06/24/indiana-beach-prepares-saturday-reopening-general-public/3249122001/

 

Indiana is currently in the fourth stage of reopening the state. The fifth and final stage is still slated to begin July 4.

 

Under stage four, Indiana Beach will operate at 50 percent capacity, with reservations required using an online reservation system through the park’s website. In addition, some rides and attractions will have rows and seats closed, in order to maintain social distancing. Tubes will be required to use the park’s Lazy River attraction.

 

Employees will wear face masks, and while park-goers are encouraged to wear masks, they will not be required.

[dankeykang]

^Reservations are required for the first week (i.e. through 7/3), and you can find the link by scrolling down a bit on their main page. Not sure if anything is required after the 3rd, though...

[805Andrew]

Dang, too bad. I'm glad to see people visiting Indiana Beach but I wish they would distance and wear their masks when they can't distance. I can't be too surprised though as Indiana is the state of Mike Pence and there's a lot of people there that don't think the virus is still going around.

[teacherkim]

So I just bought a couple tickets. There was nothing on the website about reserving a date after July 3 (we don't plan on being there until Aug 1) just a note that all 2020 tickets must be used by Oct 31. We've never been to IB before but since our theme parking this summer is obviously going to be somewhat restricted we are making a HW, KK, KI, CP run out of STL and decided to stop at IB on the way home. Seems like the perfect summer to support small parks and make those stops we never made time for before. The lack of almost any precautions is a bit disturbing but I will just monitor things and see where it all stands in another month and either cancel or not depending on how safe we are feeling and where the virus is raging, or not, at that point.

 

At this point we may just have to accept that it's going to rage through since human behavior is what it is.

[RideWoodenCoasters]

^One thought with this lead time is you could carry N95 material masks with you and wear them when you have concerns. Really depends on the conditions you find, as you say.

[cal1br3tto]

It's...interesting to see a park opening with no notable precautions or changes. I'm surprised to see a park actually attempt this, but I suppose I'm not particularly surprised that said park is Indiana Beach.

[prozach626]

But having seen people make observations about other parks and the way they're handling things, I thought I would do the same with Indiana Beach, particularly in the context of this conversation.

 

[ilrider]

Dang, too bad. I'm glad to see people visiting Indiana Beach but I wish they would distance and wear their masks when they can't distance. I can't be too surprised though as Indiana is the state of Mike Pence and there's a lot of people there that don't think the virus is still going around.

 

But the new owner of IB is from Chicago, which is in a state that has one of the strictest and slowest reopenings in the entire nation. I am surprised they are not taking more precautions at IB, though Indiana does not have nearly the problem with case numbers as your home state right now, since you insist on politicizing the issue.

[grsupercity]

So I just bought a couple tickets. There was nothing on the website about reserving a date after July 3 (we don't plan on being there until Aug 1) just a note that all 2020 tickets must be used by Oct 31. We've never been to IB before but since our theme parking this summer is obviously going to be somewhat restricted we are making a HW, KK, KI, CP run out of STL and decided to stop at IB on the way home. Seems like the perfect summer to support small parks and make those stops we never made time for before. The lack of almost any precautions is a bit disturbing but I will just monitor things and see where it all stands in another month and either cancel or not depending on how safe we are feeling and where the virus is raging, or not, at that point.

 

At this point we may just have to accept that it's going to rage through since human behavior is what it is.

 

If a mask is a big deal to you just wear your N95 and carry hand sanitizer and your should be fine. Sanitize your hands after every ride if your concerned

[Dan the Coaster Man]

How hard is it to get N95's these days? Our family has had 3 for months now to use when we absolutely positively need it. Not sure if it is possible to get an N95 for every day you go to a park.

[teacherkim]

So I just bought a couple tickets. There was nothing on the website about reserving a date after July 3 (we don't plan on being there until Aug 1) just a note that all 2020 tickets must be used by Oct 31. We've never been to IB before but since our theme parking this summer is obviously going to be somewhat restricted we are making a HW, KK, KI, CP run out of STL and decided to stop at IB on the way home. Seems like the perfect summer to support small parks and make those stops we never made time for before. The lack of almost any precautions is a bit disturbing but I will just monitor things and see where it all stands in another month and either cancel or not depending on how safe we are feeling and where the virus is raging, or not, at that point.

 

At this point we may just have to accept that it's going to rage through since human behavior is what it is.

 

If a mask is a big deal to you just wear your N95 and carry hand sanitizer and your should be fine. Sanitize your hands after every ride if your concerned

 

 

A mask is not a big deal. I follow the requirements of whatever business I am in; with the exception of the grocery store, I wear one there even though it isn't required because I feel it is just plain polite since everyone needs to go there. Otherwise I simply do what the business requires of me. I don't have an N95 and don't feel I need one. Although nothing against those that do. I wasn't making a judgement call so much as I was just surprised that this park wasn't doing much in the way of covid-19 protections when all the other parks are and stating that IF we are concerned when the time comes (which I do not anticipate) we will simply cancel.

[Canobie Coaster]

I decided to be a guinea pig for Indiana Beach since I had booked a hotel in the area before photos from the opening event circulated. Here's what I saw.

 

Temperature checks were not done when I entered at park opening, but they were when I re-entered in the afternoon.

 

Hand sanitizer was stationed at the entrance of most rides and shops. The only place I noticed it missing was by Fascination, which is probably one of the places you'd need it most.

 

I did not notice any cleaning breaks or wipedowns for ride vehicles.

 

It is true that they were loading every row on the coasters like nothing was wrong. On Lost Coaster, the op would ask if you were comfortable sharing the caged car with another group. I'm not sure if that's because of social distancing or because it'd be a tight fit for 4 adults.

 

There were social distance markers in all the queue lines. The op working the Ferris Wheel said there were more, but they were washed away when it rained shortly after they were placed. I hope they go back and re-add them especially for Lost Coaster.

 

In terms of the crowds, it was comparable to my visit on Memorial Day weekend 2017. There was a healthy amount of people, but almost everything was a walk on. It is true that very few guests wore masks, but as I saw in Myrtle Beach, guests seemed to respect my space while queuing. On Lost Coaster in particular, I started queuing outside of the switchbacks just to avoid getting crammed in there and no one behind me had an issue.

 

In terms of the rides, this was much better than my visit in 2017. On that visit, 5 of the 6 coasters broke down by the end of the night. On this visit, Lost Coaster and Steel Hawg just had some downtime at the start of the day. And the only rides closed all day were the log flume and Paratrooper.

 

So in short, Indiana Beach has felt like the most normal park I have visited. But I didn't feel unsafe since people respected my distance in queue lines and I just kept using the sanitizer.

[prozach626]

We need to have more arguments about masks. I can't find enough on Facebook.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

I decided to be a guinea pig for Indiana Beach since I had booked a hotel in the area before photos from the opening event circulated. Here's what I saw.

 

Temperature checks were not done when I entered at park opening, but they were when I re-entered in the afternoon.

 

Hand sanitizer was stationed at the entrance of most rides and shops. The only place I noticed it missing was by Fascination, which is probably one of the places you'd need it most.

 

I did not notice any cleaning breaks or wipedowns for ride vehicles.

 

It is true that they were loading every row on the coasters like nothing was wrong. On Lost Coaster, the op would ask if you were comfortable sharing the caged car with another group. I'm not sure if that's because of social distancing or because it'd be a tight fit for 4 adults.

 

There were social distance markers in all the queue lines. The op working the Ferris Wheel said there were more, but they were washed away when it rained shortly after they were placed. I hope they go back and re-add them especially for Lost Coaster.

 

In terms of the crowds, it was comparable to my visit on Memorial Day weekend 2017. There was a healthy amount of people, but almost everything was a walk on. It is true that very few guests wore masks, but as I saw in Myrtle Beach, guests seemed to respect my space while queuing. On Lost Coaster in particular, I started queuing outside of the switchbacks just to avoid getting crammed in there and no one behind me had an issue.

 

In terms of the rides, this was much better than my visit in 2017. On that visit, 5 of the 6 coasters broke down by the end of the night. On this visit, Lost Coaster and Steel Hawg just had some downtime at the start of the day. And the only rides closed all day were the log flume and Paratrooper.

 

So in short, Indiana Beach has felt like the most normal park I have visited. But I didn't feel unsafe since people respected my distance in queue lines and I just kept using the sanitizer.

 

How much was Fascination?

[Canobie Coaster]

50 cents per game.