Indiana Beach (IB) Discussion Thread

[JT325]

I've heard from a reliable source that "it's gonna be a while" before the coaster starts going up.  They want to do it right, sometimes that takes a longer time than hoped for.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I'm always pretty patient about these things. Absolutely better for a coaster to be built right than quickly. But knowing the history of this one, y'all take as long as you need to fix it up safe.

[prozach626]

Has Indiana Beach made any more improvements during the off-season?

[tanthonyam]

Midwest Coaster Fans posted a good update from opening weekend.  Skip to the 20 min mark for the Schwarzkopf coaster update.

 

[prozach626]

Smart move putting the loop up first and leaving it there while other preparations are being made. Free advertising.

[Midwesterner]

Indiana Beach's park map was released for the first time under new ownership sometime this past week. The updated map now includes the new coaster as "Triple Loop". Looks about as massive as it will be in person, re-confirming the color scheme as well. Can't wait!

https://indianabeach.com/park-maps/

[tanthonyam]

I hope thats not the final name for the coaster. Pretty bland.

[AmyUD06]

37 minutes ago, tanthonyam said:

I hope thats not the final name for the coaster. Pretty bland.

I don't mind it.  It spent most of its life being called "Dreier Looping," which literally translates to "Triple Loop."  Then again, I also see nothing wrong with CF naming their drop towers "Drop Tower."

[prozach626]

I think the simplicity of it fits with the nostalgia charm the park is going for.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Honestly, if they name it anything except "Quimera" or "Chimera," it's a win.

[Coasters & Lamps]

It just hit me. Indiana Beach should stick with their Midwest theme and name this coaster "Corn Dreier".

I've never had the pleasure of traversing a Swartzkoph loop, so I'm feeling the suspense in awaiting its completion. Though I'm not surprised it has taken that long with all the work that is potentially needed.

 Unless something else comes up, this will be my very first visit to Indiana Beach.

[Nrthwnd]

I could go back and forth between Triple Loop and Steel Hawg, any old time.

[DoinItForTheFame]

QUESTION!! (as I don't follow this park very close at all) Do we know the progress of the new coaster?? Looking at visiting the park for the first time next month, and really hoping it's going to be open by then!

 

[tndank]

4 minutes ago, DoinItForTheFame said:

QUESTION!! (as I don't follow this park very close at all) Do we know the progress of the new coaster?? Looking at visiting the park for the first time next month, and really hoping it's going to be open by then!

 

Probably not.  On the 15th of this month, only 1 loop was together and half painted.  Another loop was starting to go up.

[DoinItForTheFame]

^ Thank you

[prozach626]

I wonder if it will debut in this season, at all. It's good IB is taking its time. I might save my first visit until next year when it will surely be up and running.

[coasterbill]

After seeing the photos of this thing in it's current state I mean... I'm not an engineer and maybe this is irrational but I'll let you guys go first.

[prozach626]

Maybe they're waiting for lumber prices to go down...... What I mean is at this point it's probably cheaper to paint and erect the coaster than it is to build the station, so there's no hurry, right?

(joking/not joking)

[tanthonyam]

I have a feeling it may open late in the season, probably not summer at all.   It needs alot of TLC.

[Canobie Coaster]

I'd rather them do this right rather than rush and have an issue.

[ricklap77]

It will probably need quite a bit of testing once it is all assembled.  The coaster needs some tlc and I would imagine after what happened in Mexico, testing might take some time.

[AmyUD06]

Photo TR:  August 14th, 2021

Well, if you recall, I'm in the middle of a road trip to Indianapolis for a work conference, so I decided to stop by Indiana Beach.  I knew full well that Triple Loop would not be open (or even constructed), but I figured I might as well since who knows the next time I'll be back in the area, and the park never really seemed like a "destination" park to me.  That was thoroughly confirmed.

First things first, apparently there is an absolutely MASSIVE wind farm south of the park.  I had never seen so many windmills in one place in my life...by rough estimates from driving through, I'd have to guess it was 3-400.  Here's the best picture I could get while driving:

I arrived to the park right around 11, when the rides are scheduled to start running.

Any recent visitor to the website will see this note that ride operating schedules rotate around based on staffing, but today I only saw that apply to the kiddie rides.  Note that Falling Star, Alpine Bobs, and the Skycoaster did not operate at all during my trip and were noted on the sign at entry as non-operating.

Anyway, I made my way across the very scenic (and unsettingly moving) bridge to the park.

I got a lot of Knoebels-esque vibes from this place, which would sadly not translate to the quality of the rides.

Water swings looked cool with the waterfall effect, but didn't really appear to do anything special, so were skipped.

Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain was my first ride of the day.

First, that name is ridiculous.  I get that it was rebuilt from a dark ride called "Superstition Mountain," but adding "Lost Coaster of" at the beginning just sounds corny.  Second, I absolutely appreciate the effort that went in to designing and building this ride.  As everyone knows, everything at IB is kinda intertwined and overlayed on top of eachother, and the extremely tight turns and sharp inclines/declines featured on LCoSM are no exception.  The elevator lift was cool, too.  And I understand the need for the wonky net/cages around the cars, because otherwise everyone and their mother would be sticking their arms out and getting their hands ripped off by the scenery.  What I do not get is the need for backwards-facing seats.  I got stuck in one of them, and out of a need to see what was coming on a coaster with as tight turns as this one, I ended up with a wicked crink in my neck from turning halfway around the whole ride.  Also, capacity was horrible...I didn't see any other trains, but they were only running one.  This would become a pattern throughout the day.  Wait and ride time was 25 minutes.  Overall, yeah it's a cool concept, but the roughness and backwards ride just weren't for me.  4/10.

Next up was the awesome dark ride, Den of Lost Thieves.

Complete with a hilarious limit of only one rider over 54" regardless of weight per car, maybe viewable in this picture if you zoom enough.

What did I think?  Great classic.  Great effects.  Simple and well-executed shooting mechanism, with accurate guns. What more can be said?  Wait and ride time of 19 minutes.  8/10.

Paratrooper seemed to be running a stupidly slow cycle, so was skipped, especially given I have Knoebels awesomely-run one so close to home.

While walking down the midway, I came across their pinball arcade, which also features some old-school Sega and Nintendo consoles set up for play.  Pinball fans rejoice, since I took pictures of all of them!

I continued to wonder, and just kinda took in the scenery.  I imagine that much of the park looks like it did 30-40 years ago, which is great.  Grabbed a pretzel and bottle of water from a stand, went outside and took a smoke break, and came back in and decided to hit some more coasters.  They also had a Fascination parlor, for those many of you here who dig it.

Next up was Tig'rr.  Pronounced like the Pooh charcacter, or Tiger?  The world may never know.

Ether way, old-school Schwarzkopf Jet Star 1?  Hell yes!  They were only running two cars (out of three visible), which meant I had a total wait-and-ride time of 25 minutes, but it also meant that none of the block/trim brakes activated, resulting in an absolutely FLYING ride through the course.  I hadn't ridden one of these since the one at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights was replaced in the late '90s, and it was just as good as I remember from my teen years.  9/10.  I also had to laugh at the old-school transfer track "mechanism," which I use the term lightly, since it's just "move a lever and push the track that way."

Next up was Cornball Express (sorry I didn't grab a pic of the sign, so this one of the train pulling into the station is all you get.

No grouper?  Yay!
PTC Buzz-bar trains? Double Yay! 
Super-lackadasical enforcement of seatbelt tightness?  Triple Yay!
CCI hybrid typical roughness?  Boo.
That said, this was a decent enough ride for one lap (I don't think my brain could take a second), in the front row.  Got plenty of air, but some of the laterals were just too much with the shuffling along the track.  Also, this was only running one train and I didn't see a parking track anywhere for a second, which makes no sense.  13 minute wait-and-ride time for the front row.  Now that I look back at it, I should have gone around for another lap in the back, but that'll have to wait for the next trip.  7/10.

The most hilariously poorly-housed Musik Express ever was skipped due to a WAY too long line, and much better examples being located closer to me.

Next ride for me was Steel Hawg.  First thing that jumped out at me were that the restraints reminded me a lot of the failed Togo from SFGADv, Viper, in the way the shoulder restraints weren't hinged but instead lowered onto your shoulders.  See video:

What did I think?  Well first off, my concerns regarding the shoulder restraints held true.  While being loaded in, I did sit up perfectly straight, and then slouched a little bit for the ride, and attempted to hold myself off the restraints, but that didn't completely work, resulting in the "hooks" jabbing into my shoulders a few times throughout the ride.  That said, this thing is insane.  It's like a combination of a Wild Mouse with the flat turns and compact layout and an RMC with the outer-banked turns and inverted hangtime.    Honestly I'm surprised so few of these were built and think it would be a great fit for a real boardwalk park like Morey's or one of the ones in Ocean City, MD, and Kings Dominion should've gone with this instead of the S&S Free Spin.  Running two out four available cars, for a wait-and-ride time of 13 minutes. 7/10

Oh, and in the background of this picture, you can see the progress (or rather, lack thereof) on Triple Loop.  I'm definitely digging the new paint scheme though, and hopefully it'll be open the next time I'm passing through the area in like 5 years.

Next up was Hoosier Hurricane.  Once again, I forgot to grab a picture of the sign, but here's the train leaving the station.

While waiting in line, I heard a dad tell his young daughter that this wasn't as rough as Cornball Express, so I had high hopes here.  The layout also looked conducive to some great airtime.  After a 26 minute wait-and-ride time (only running one train here, though they have two, and wasting 30 seconds stopped in the final block brake before the transfer block per lap). for the front row, I was sadly disappointed on both accounts.  While it did carry some good speed and provide a couple of nice pops of air, I still found it way too rough.  Maybe I'm just getting old?  5/10

After Hoosier Hurricane, and taking some more pictures (the park really is very scenic!), I figured I was done here and started to make my way back to the entrance that I came in (of the three that I found).  But alas, what is this?

Only the absolutely best walk-through non-staffed haunted house I have ever seen.  This was a mild upcharge ($3.50), but was easily worth four times that amount.  A large part of it was in near total darkness, and the parts that were lit up were wonderfully done.  So disorienting, I felt like it was 5 stories tall (but in reality was probably only two), with some massive vertical scenes.  I don't want to spoil anything, but there were some awesome mechanical "scares" based around floor movement, and a room with 10 doors in it, only one of which was the right way out, and a group of 5 in front of me couldn't figure it out.  No wait.  11/10.

Ending the trip on a high note, I made my way out about 3 hours after I had arrived.  Oh, and there was an old school Volkswagen show in a parking lot, for those into that sort of thing.

Anyway, a decent enough trip (made solely so due to Frankenstein's Castle).  Not a park I'd ever go to if I wasn't already in the area, and it really makes me sad for locals for whom this is the only park they'll ever know.

A few other observations:
-The only coaster where the ride ops made any sort of "All clear, dispatch!" announcement was Hoosier Hurricane.  On all of the others, once you loaded in and they checked the restraints (maybe), you just silently rolled away.  Oh, the ride op did give me a thumbs up before pressing the button on Tig'rr LOL.
-The water park here has the stupidest lazy river I've ever seen.  It's literally two straight lines, about 50 yards long, with 180 degree turns at either end.  No fountains, no waterfalls, no nothing (that I could see anyway)...just float in a tube in a long rectangle.
-I have never noticed so many guests wearing ankle monitors at a park in my life.

I took a TON of pictures at this place, and will do a massive photo-dump in another post if there's demand.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Indianapolis for a week-long work conference, and then it's Cedar Point on Friday and Saturday.

EDIT: My count now stands at 30 parks and 179 coasters; nothing compared to some of you but something I'm still proud of.

Thanks for reading.

 

[VegasBaby]

Thanks for the trip report, this park is definitely on my list to visit.  But I'll probably wait until the Triple Loop is open and the staffing levels are back to normal.

[djb0808]

Nice report. Despite its sad appearance, that Musik Express actually runs a surprisingly long and aggressive ride cycle.

[SharkTums]

Aww Fascination!! Yay!!

And yes, I remember my first time seeing that 'lazy' river and dying laughing.  Like seriously?! It basically looks like line the ride just in water.