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This past Tuesday my wife (Shawna), Alicia, and I made a trip up to the IX Indoor Amusement Park. Yes, it was an odd number, but those who have been up there know that a lot of rides can only seat 3 not 4 people, so it actually worked out kind of nice :) As always if you want to see pictures, a complete ride lis, and a video of it, check out the link at the bottom!
As for a brief description of the IX Center is a HUGE aircraft building that can hold A LOT of things under it's roof and huge ceiling. It's one of Cleveland's focal points for events (ie. Cleveland Car Show, Home and Garden Shows, etc.) It sits right next the Cleveland Airport. It's a lot of fun to go and ride some of the rides here, due to the fact that A) They run everything on "Bezerk Mode" and B) They come pretty darn close to the ceiling!!
When IX runs their rides in "Bezerk" mode it's like saying imagine CP or SFWoA's Music Express running a max of gear 2 out of 6 gears on their ride. IX runs their Music Express on gear 6 and does it FOWARD and BACKWARDS...it's NUTS!! Their Scrambler, Music Express, Tornado, Cycloid, and more do it! Along with those, the Pharoh's Phury, and Ali Baba rides go WAYYyy higher and faster than traditional parks go. When you sit in the back and lift your feet, you get a TON of airtime. With that said, that's why a lot of people come to this place, is something unusual, fun, and you can't find any place else!
We arrived at 5 pm and got our carload special (it's $30 for up to 10 people you can fit into your car). $7 for parking. The parked opened at 5pm today so we got to park pretty close to the front, which is really nice since this is pretty big parking lot. Right when you go the entrance has a huge American Flag now, and you see a lot of carnival rides. Overall this year was more clean than years in the past. Now they have lots of trash cans and the ride ops look cleaner. They have also layed out things better. Kiddie rides are pretty much together, thrill rides are together, and less thrill rides are together. One new thing I thought was pretty funny is a "relaxation station" where you can get a certified massage for $5.
They have 2 new attractions this year. The first being Glub Glow. Club Glow is a dance club in the dark. It's in the way back of the IX all surrounded by a ton of curtains to block out the light. They have A TON of special effects (probably more than any rock concert), two big screens, along with a lot of speakers. It is pretty cool and they do play cool music. The other attraction is Towering Inferno which is really a Highjacker in the dark. The main thing this year is in years past the Highjacker is like a Giant Frog Hopper where you can stop and drop anywhere on the tower. Now they take you to the top in the dark with special effects lighting going on and off then drop you all the way to the bottom, which does provide a good pop of air.
We went to Cliffhanger first because Shawna and Alicia have never ridden this type of ride. This is one ride that is not NEARLY as bad as it looks it actually ranks on my scale in the low excitement category...but it's the only ride there like it...and compared to the other rides yet to come this is a break. After that we hit some swings. Those were quite fun because of Shawna. She really only rides swings at Amusement Parks wich don't lean forward or back on their seats due to the structure and chains, but fair swings lean way forward or way back, feeling like you will easily fall out if you don't know how to control it...she freaked but had fun :)
Next up was the parks adult coaster "Stealth Flyer"...it's basically like a small mouse coaster (like CP's Wildcat). While we were there they were only allowing 1 car on the circuit for a while but then allowed 2. It's a nice fun thrill, nothing I would wait for 2 hours...but fun.
We made the mistake of all three of us riding Cycloid together...BIG Mistake! This is one of those 6 gear rides I was talking about...talk about some G's. None the less it was a fun. They have the new model of Zipper there but I couldn't get Shawna on the thing due to the fact she lost a hot dog eating and riding marathon on it a few years ago ;) We opted out for the Giant Ferris Wheel. This is the world's largest indoor Ferris Wheel. And it goes through the roof into a plexi glass dome, where you can see all around the airport. This wheel also moves pretty fast for it's size. During the Amusement Park time at the the IX this wheel is free. The wheel is permanent so you can also ride it during other events for a fee.
We then headed over to all the climbing stuff where they had an blow up obstacle course. Not turning down the oppurtunity to make a fool out of myself (hey, those boucy things are fun) Alicia and I decided to have a race. I beat here easily but to be honest, I threw a lot of stuffed logs at her ;) (you can see it in the video on my site).
A few people say the food is priced aweful. I don't think it's bad. Expensive yes, but it's the same as an amusement park and this is considered an indoor amusement park. On the good side the ICEE's are cheaper than most places! We had a bite to eat and decided to go ride some more and play some games.
One thing, I noticed this year...WHERE ARE THE GAMES? They usually have A TON of games. They have a few but mostly jus the throw the dart game. This place usually has a ton of throwing games, peach basket, mallet, etc. Not this year. They are even missing the BB gun game. I have one a N64 and Sony PS on that game the last two years (maybe they new I was coming)? I was kind of bumbed over that. Shawna wanted to play the "goldfish pingpong" game so we had a little fun at that and one two quick gold fish with that game. We game them away to some little girls which were SOOooo happy with them. It was cool and fun. They also didn't have the traveling arcade this year so the only arcade they have is the one under the Ferris Wheel. They have added 6 "ICE" airhocky tables (the ones with a metal suface.)
As usual Bates had their trailer/headquaters there. I stopped in and said, "Hi!" We went over to Pharoh's Phury where we got 3 non stop rides with LOTS of air time, I felt if that thing went any higher I would have flipped over and out of the seats! We didn't do any of the fun houses due to the fact that we have done them all at other places around Ohio. They do have the same one that LeSourdsville Lake had last year, Infernal Combustion. We did ride quite a few other rides but I'll spare you all the reading, I'll just tell you they were all flying!! The park also has a water ride which we opted out on...because you will get SOAKED! It's not designed bad, they just have this plexi glass shell on the landings, that make the water go up and back on you instead of up and out.
Overall the IX Indoor Amusement Park was a lot of fun as always, tons of "spin and puke rides" and pretty good entertainment. It's worth the trip, I don't know if it is by yourself, but many people go up there with their friends and have a blast! If you're in the area try to stop by!! Oh, and they have a sign up saying the IX Center will be OPEN for the next 12 years! See everyone around on the midways!!
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"The Future of Roller Coasters"
-RollerCoasterGod
2003 IX Indoor Amusement Park Pictures & Information!
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