Indiana Beach June 23, 2004

There were a couple of Trip Reports last month that did a phenomonal job of reporting on the magic of IB so I'll just note a few things that made this visit unique.

Total time at the park was 6 hours. As Tuesday was the last official day of school for Chicago public school kids, I gathered up my sister and two nieces to celebrate the end of another school year in the bestest way possible!

First observation...the park was pretty crowded for a weekday in June. Of course, crowded is a relative term at a park with waits of usually no more than 15 - 20 minutes when LoCoSuMo is operating. IB, like most parks, really pick up after the Fourth so it was good to see families taking advantage of a glorious Midwest summer day.

Waiting in line to buy our Combo passes - $27.00 for all-day use of waterpark and rides - a very nice woman offered us her CVS receipt. It seems that the park was offering a buy one, get one free thing with a receipt, good only on this day. Sweeeeet!

One of the gazillon reasons I love IB so much? We got to the ticket window, I asked for 4 Combos and presented my receipt. The woman at the ticket counter asked if I only had one. When I replied that, alas, yes, one was all I could muster, she pulled one out from under the counter and WHAMO!, four for the price of two!

Did all the regular stuff - too many quarters spent on Skee-Ball, Tacos on the midway under LoCoSuMo, ice cream from the shop under the Beach House near the Dodgems. Rides? DoLT (twice), Cornball, Hurricane, the new Flyers.

Speaking of the new flyers, is the swing out over the lake cool or what? At IB, the ride setting makes all the difference. These were my first flyers and it's now real easy for me to understand how so many around here get hooked. Whhhhheeeeeeeeee!

Hurricane is running better than it has in years. Remarkably smooth for the speed it's carrying, and it's roaring early in the day now. Again, the setting elevates this ride from just another out-and-back. Still wish the ride could find its airtime. Does the train feel heavy for some reason? Everything about the ride expereince says I should be feeling sustained, floating air but it just never happens. But, I can't hate it for what it's not. Just gotta appreciate it for what it is. Oh, what it could have been, tho....

Now, Cornie, uh....what happened, baby? You just seem so, apathetic. I'm going to write off a very average average ride to the fact that it had some downtime in the early afternoon and hadn't had a chance to warm up sufficiently before my ride in the second to last row. Still incredible, but just not the Cornball that's sitting at the top of my list. My thighs lifting to hit the buzz bar only once the entire ride is not the Cornie I dream about on long, cold winter nights. I'll be back at the end of July, baby. I'm not willing to give up on you just yet.

Get to the Beach, ya'll. *** Edited 6/24/2004 10:29:00 PM UTC by IBsteve***

The CVS receipt deal is good every Wednesday of the season. You can use it for the full day or one session pass.

Dawn :)

I too was impressed on my visit last weekend by the new flyers and there positioning over the water. Especially when you can position yourself so that you are looking down at the lake. Are these the only set of flyers to be positioned over water like this?