Indiana Beach Coaster Weekend 8/17-18

On August 17th and 18th Indiana Beach hosted their 5th Coaster Weekend event. This is the third time we have been able to attend and we always had a great time. The event is very well run and is really worth coming back for. The staff puts a lot of time and effort into it and it really shows. The park and coasters have been reviewed many times in the past, so I’ll concentrate mostly on the event itself.

We arrived at the park around 6:30 pm Friday evening and picked up our registration pack, which contained our wristbands, schedules and personalized Letters of Marque. The theme for this year was titled “The Legend of the Shafer Shipwreck” and featured rich and chewy pirate goodness. We had until 10:00pm before the meet-and-greet so it was off to the boardwalk for rides. IB has gone to a limited smoking policy and it was nice to see everyone respecting that. Every time we have attended this event it seems like Friday nights you can easily walk on most rides. Indiana Beach has a great collection of flats and we concentrated on those, since we would get to the coasters during ERT. I started off with a ride on their skylift, since I love that ride and I have a hard time finding them these days. We saw the Chaos had been removed, but it was not running last year, so it was no surprise. I wonder what they’ll ever find to fit in that small space. The water show also had a pirate theme and was a nice break from the usual ski show. We managed to hit all of our favorite rides at least once during those 3 hours.

At 9:45 we wandered back to the ballroom to meet our fellow enthusiasts. The ballroom was nicely decorated in a pirate theme and Captain Jack Sparrow was there to greet us. We also had punch served in pirate mugs and a wonderful dessert plate from the Skyroom restaurant that included zesty lemon bars, fresh raspberries, chocolate cannonballs, and chocolate mousse served in a chocolate treasure chest. Captain Jack read out the Pirate’s Code (also known as the rules of the event) and we were given our first clue for the treasure hunt that would take place the next day. The park was clear by 10:35 and hearts racing from chocolate overload we were turned loose for our ERT on the Cornball Express and Tig’rr. Special thanks to the couple who convinced us to squeeze four people into Tig’rr so we could experience a ride on a Jet Star fully loaded with adults.

Saturday morning started out with 10:00am ERT on the Dodg’em and Den of Lost Thieves. After a couple of times through the Den (still trying to break 300 points) it was off to the Dodg’ems. This was my first event where bumper cars were an ERT and I was a bit overwhelmed. Apparently my driving skills aren’t up to par with the people going all directions. Congrats to the people who have mastered ramming the wall at full speed and throwing the car into reverse for a truly massive hit. I didn’t expect that one. We did manage to get a double-row train of 10 cars stacked up though with the encouragement of the operator. We had a couple of hours until lunch so we decided to try and work through our treasure hunt clues. Each clue was written in appropriate pirate jargon and had apart of a map on the back. Each clue had to be deciphered to lead to the next clue. The final clue led to a chest where we each picked out one key. A locked chest would be brought on the night cruise on the Shafer Queen and one of the keys would open the chest and win the booty. Since it’s not a race, you can take you time and enjoy the park while you’re doing it. We found our key and managed to get in a few more rides before lunch.

At 1:00pm we met at one of the picnic pavilions for lunch. The Cornball Express is built directly over the pavilion, so you had the sound of racing coasters all through the meal (appropriate, I’d say). Lunch consisted of salad, shrimp, pasta salad, potatoes, a chicken rice dish, BBQ beef, and desserts. You never seem to go hungry at this event. After lunch we had the rest of the day until the cruise and the crowd split up for various rides. I should mention just how much I enjoy the ambience of this park. Sometimes I think that time must have stop in the mid 1950’s, especially when walking around on the boardwalk. Anyway, we used the remaining time to hit our favorites, go through Frankenstein’s Castle, watch the water show, and take a lot of pictures. The lines were a bit longer, but I don’t really mind waiting since it seems like people seem to like to chat at this park. I had a great time talking with a couple of 10 year olds who were telling me all about the roller coasters they had ridden while we waited for LoCoSuMo. We also got to spend some time playing Fascination while we were waiting to get on the boat.

At 10:45pm we all met at the Shafer Queen for a night cruise on the lake while the park was cleared. This park looks great from the lake at night. Someday I’ll manage to get a good picture of it from the boat. There was more food (roast beef, fresh fruit, cake) and drink. After the snack and a short trivia contest to win more keys, the locked chest was produced. I can’t really tell you who won since it’s kind of dark out there, but the winner received a whole lot of Indiana Beach swag. We then headed back to the dock for our last ERT on The Hoosier Hurricane and Cornball Express. I love the Hurricane at night, but it’s even better during the ERT. The lights in the park are all off so you are racing over the dark water and around/over all the darkened rides and buildings. We rode our fill and called it a night around 12:15am.

*** Edited 8/20/2007 8:41:32 PM UTC by Frantic Ferret***

Tig'rr is even more fun with FIVE people. :) We overshot the brake by about a foot and got a round of applause. lol.

It was another great weekend at IB, despite being feeling a bit under the weather the whole weekend. Thank you to IB. I don't know why you go to such great lengths to please us, but I certainly appreciate it.

IB plain ROCKS....thanks to everyone at the park for making it (another) special weekend.

Especially appreciated the bumper carrrrr E.Arrrrrrr.T. :)

Still think we shoulda tried cramming six in on Tig'rrrrrrrrrrr.... ;)

^Next year, Bill. ;)