Indiana Beach 8/31

After reading the Cornball Love Thread, and finding out that this was IB’s last weekend open this year, I decided to gather up a few non-enthusiast friends and drive the 2 hours from western Chicago.

This was my second time at IB (the first was July 4th weekend this year), and the first time for my 3 friends.

We got there a little after 4:00pm and bought our wristbands. After a quick stop on the best/fastest Falling Star around, we headed to Hoosier Hurricane.

HH seemed to be running slower than what I remembered, but we all had fun. It’s a nice out-and-back, but it’s nothing I’d call outstanding. The second bunny hop on the return leg, though -- the one that throws you to the left a bit -- still is one of the scarier moments at the park. It’s so sudden and unexpected... I love it! So we all had fun on that, then walked over to Cornball.

I should point out, that since July 4th, I’ve been signing the praises of Cornball to anyone who will listen, including the 3 guys with me. The ride op on Cornball yelled at us for waiting for “special seats” since we were trying to get the 4 of us onto the same train, so 2 of us went, then my friend and I went after they got back. CE was fun, but again, it felt a lot slower than what I remembered. More on that later...

It gets a bit blurry after that, but we hit every flat we could find and managed to ride LoCoSuMo twice in there, too. The big surprise of the night was the Double Shot, though -- I’ve read here on CB numerous times that it’s the most violent Space Shot that S&S ever built, but after riding Power Tower at CP and then comparing it (in my mind) based on size, I figured the Double Shot wouldn’t deliver. We walked over there anyway, saw that there was NO line at all, and climbed aboard.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was hanging on for dear life during that first ride -- not since my very first ride on Raptor at CP back in ‘98 have my legs been wobbly after getting off a ride -- but we ended up riding it another 6 or 7 times that night. The only downside to it is that after dark, there’s a huge swarm of bugs around the lights, and you usually smack into one or two of them during the ride. In the middle of one of the rides, at the top of that second shot, my cell phone flew out of my shorts pocket, but a little girl in line caught it and gave it to a ride op. I didn’t realize what had happened until I was walking through the exit gate. The ride op was really amused by the whole thing...

A few other random points:

• The tacos next to LoCoSuMo are good, but not spicy at all.
• Don’t ride Tig’rr at night with your guy friends -- they put 2 people in each seat, and that’s not comfortable at all! (In more ways than one...) The ride op at the exit said the cold night air combined with the lake breeze can lead to rollbacks, so they have to double up the weight. Makes sense...
• Elephant ears rock!
• Den of Lost Thieves would have been a lot better if my gun was working.
• The mini golf next to the suspension bridge is a lot of fun, and pretty easy. I shot a 22, which is 9 under par.

HH and Cornball both sped up considerably after dark. Cornball at about 10:30 was just insane -- great air and some fantastic intensity through that helix at the end. The bunny hops after the helix are fantastic! (reminds me a lot of the two quick hops after the drop off the MCBR on Ghostrider at Knotts).

All in all, a great day, and we left happy. I love IB!

Next TRs: SFGam and Holiday World, both in September.

[edit: pasting from Word removes line breaks? Weird...]

*** This post was edited by KenK on 9/1/2002. ***

Good TR, I was also last night if you saw a person with a Deja Vu T-shirt on that was me. Also did you see the action going on around the Shafer Queen last night? The boat lost steering and had to be guided back into its spot with help from the IB campground ferry's. Glad you had a good time.

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Deja Vu Count = 23
CoasterWorld