Associated parks:
None
This past week I went to Indiana Beach and Six Flags Great America. Saturday was IB and Six Flags Great America was Monday. The Six Flags Great America trip report is soon to follow.
Indiana Beach:
Arrived at the beach around 10:40 or so and put down the big bucks for parking (it is free). Paid the 2 dollars to enter, and got the 19 dollar pop pass. I think the park is really affordable for what you’re getting, and also allows people that don’t ride a lot to not pay that much. Really it is how smaller parks should run, with cheap to enter the park, and a few options with pop and individual ticket, and extra for water park.
Now onto the rides.
Waited outside for a little till cornball express opened. The park opens at 11:00, so very shortly I was in the second to last seat of the cornball express. Coasters:
Cornball express:
Took 3 rides on this great wooden twister. The ride starts off with around a 75 foot high lift hill, which offers some nice view of the park and lake. Shortly there after you are yanked down a twisting drop, with some nice airtime. Great start to a ride, and what follows are some nice airtime hills that turn a little as you go down. This provides an extra twist, as you experience a few laterals along with the nice airtime. The ride then swoops up past Hoosier and turns around it and dives back to the lake. A fast and fun helix with good laterals and positive g’s soon follows. The ride finishes with some great bunny hills, with great pops of airtime. Cornball is one of the better medium sized twisters I have been on, and is a top 10 wooden coaster for me. A middle seat ride I took immediately after and took another ride later in the day in the front seat. The ride is the best in the front, with the most airtime. The hills are shaped such that the front seat delivers great pops of air, and the visuals are of course best in the front.
Tig’rr:
This ride was really disappointing and only rode it once. Definitely no Whizzer and the trains need more padding and a seatbelt could help. A seatbelt would restrict how much you can move around in the car, and make the ride much smoother. The pacing of the ride is poor, with intense turns at the bottom of the drop, but a very boring slow middle part. Galaxy I found to be a better compact steel coaster.
Lost Coaster:
This ride is really interesting and intense. A fun neat ride and took two rides, one going forwards and one going backwards. Forwards was much better as you can see more of the theming and prepare for the tight turns. The trains look cool, and the ride really compares to nothing I have been. I would describe it has almost a wooden mine train or wild mouse with theming. The skeleton guy on the elevator lift said something different the second time, I wonder how many sayings they programmed into that guy. The bear was kind of funny, and overall the ride was a unique quirky ride, that you can’t find anywhere else.
Galaxy:
Took 1 ride on this fun compact steel. Relatively smooth, and had nice drops and turns. I enjoyed it better than Tig’rr, which I was not expecting. Not the best ride by any means, but it is what it is, a fun compact steel coaster.
Hoosier Hurricane:
My first ride was in the middle and later took a front seat ride. Was running 1 train when the park opened, but later ran two so the lines were not bad at all. , Hoosier offers great visuals, speed, and some airtime. Great pacing, love the double up, the curving drop by the lake, and the fast turnaround. Offers great views of the lake and front seat is the way to go with the view that it provides. Although a very good wooden coaster, I prefer Cornball slightly. Hoosier is just outside my top 10 wood list, just waiting on an under performing ride on my list to jump in. I am actually surprise that this ride is not rated in any top 10 list, and is not talked about much. It seems to be one of the better out and backs I have ridden.
Other Rides:
Air Crow:
Being a former ride op on Beast/Scooters at PKI, I had to get a ride on my flyers. I had ridden the flying eagles several times, and by watching some experience riders snap the cables, I picked it up myself and became very good. Although of course the Flying Eagles was shipped to Carrowinds, I needed my fix of them. This is a smaller 8 tub version, and offers a nice view of the lake; the ride is not easy to snap. I prefer the ones that used to be at PKI, but still a fun ride.
Den’s Thieves Interactive Dark Ride:
A fun nice Sally dark ride. I like the interactive rides, although I do like Scooby at PKI better. The ride seemed to be an old dark ride, that was redone to make it interactive. Still feel Knobles dark ride is the best of the old school dark rides.
Double Shot:
Nice and fun tower ride, with a surprise second launch. Great airtime at the top, and overall a fun ride. Definitely not as tall as the other space shot rides, but makes up with it with its airtime and two shots up.
Overall Impression:
I had a great time, had 9 coaster rides on 5 different coasters. In total 12 total rides taken, and really short waits, and a great time. Overall the park was very clean, the rides were well maintained and operating at good capacity for the crowds, very short waits for any ride really, and overall nice and friendly employees. I actually thought it was the best small traditional park I been to, beating out Knobels. Knobles has better wooden coasters, and some better rides, but IB has the best setting with the lake. It also has more friendly employees, better and cheaper food, and great staff. Six Flags trip to follow, so feel free to comment on my IB trip report *** Edited 7/14/2005 2:01:13 PM UTC by Beast Fan***
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