2 Parks 9/8/18 & 9/9/18

So during our 18 day Burning Man / National Parks / Amusement Parks tour, Luke and I decided to end this amazing trip hitting 2 parks neither of us had been to before. Considering how fantastic the first 16 days had been, we were really hoping to end on a high note with these 2 parks.

On Saturday, we hit Valleyfair. I figured Wild Thing would be decent, which it was. I definitely like Magnum a lot more and Steel Force slightly better. The old wooden coaster was a lot of fun and Excalibur was surprisingly much better than I had expected. But, the coaster I was looking forward to most based upon Youtube reviews of it was Renegade. This coaster FAR exceeded my expectations. While I find Mystic Timbers to be a lot of fun, Renegade kicks its butt. The only other GCI I've ridden that comes close to being this good is Lightning Racer at Hersheypark and that is due mostly to how perfectly they race each other. Renegade was absolutely awesome. As far as the park goes, I really enjoyed my time there.

On Sunday, we hit the most surprisingly good park we hit all summer...Indiana Beach. Now, the storm that hit them earlier that same morning is the same storm that shut Cedar Point down at 2pm. So, we got to Indiana Beach at around 2pm. For $3 more than a daily ticket, we were able to buy season passes that are good the rest of this year and all of next year and include premium parking. Walking into this park makes me feel like I'm going to one of those boardwalk amusement parks...kind of a mess but really cool. The way Hoosier Hurricane is built over Cornball Express (LOVE this corny name) and CE completely surrounds Tig'rr is very cool. Our first ride was on Hoosier Hurricane and was really fun. The next ride was Cornball...OMG what a fun ride. That first drop is only 50 feet high but was more fun than the 300 foot drop on that Giga that is one state over. The airtime and headchoppers from HH made this, by far, my favorite ride in the park which, for many rides, had just me and my buddy on it since the earlier storm had kept people away. While getting my pass processed, the employee working in the office said there were less than 250 guests in the park so that made things even more fun. We barely stopped in the stations and the ops would just hit the start button again. Tig'rr was pretty fun as was Steel Hawg. I prefer Steel Hawg by S&S to the Gerstlauer, Impulse, at Knoebels. It's not as twisty or nauseating as Impulse. I think we only stayed 4 hours because we really couldn't ride anymore. I also hadn't slept in my own bed in 18 days, so I was ready to go. Since visiting IB, I became disappointed to see on several YouTube videos that Lost Coaster is such a fun ride. Unfortunately, it was closed while we were there. Probably hitting Indiana Beach and 6 Flags Great America the 2nd weekend in October. Lost Coaster looks pretty crazy, so I gotta do it.

I had the opportunity to visit this park for the first time ever on 9/29. I thought the coasters were very fun and Cornball Express was my favorite. Like you I was also offered the 2019 season pass for $3.00. I got one just in case. Not many people were there and sections of the park were closed. They closed Tig'rr and Steel Hawg early.

I am going back next weekend on Saturday on my way to Chicago and Great America. I am REALLY hoping to ride Lost Coaster. Looks like a giggly ride.

Lost Coaster was my favorite. I hear these days it’s a hard catch.

While I was there, I thought we were just missing another mine ride. The YouTube videos really bummed me out. I was also surprised to see that GCI is responsible for the conversion to what it is now.

It was nearly empty this last weekend. As was most of the park.

Just for the record - Impulse at Knoebels is a Zierer, not a Gerstlauer.

^Oops