Monticello, Indiana
Monticello, Indiana
Indiana Beach is a small family park with a nice selection of rides, and five coasters. It sits on a very thin strip of land that juts out into Lake Shafer, and most of the rides are partially or entirely over water.
Superstition Mountain was a dark-ride built in the 70's that featured a few special effects as you moved around in the mountain in the dark. For 2002 Indiana Beach decided to have Custom Coasters update this ride, by turning it into a wooden coaster. The ride has feature two-car trains that allow riders to sit both forward and backwards, and an innovative vertical lift system. It gives a rough and shaky ride, and really does feel like an out of control mine car. It also retains some of the old special effects, while adding a few new ones such as a talking skeleton.
Construction pics from 5-4-2002:
Corn Ball Express opened in 2001. It only has a 58ft lift hill, but offers an amazing ride with plenty of airtime and laterals. The train is a PTC train with just simple seatbelts and buzz bars, which allow maximum air time.
It wasn't exactly crowded on the day we went...
What is most astounding about this ride is the way they managed to fit it in. It goes over, under, and through several rides. The first drop does a fly-by the Rocky Rapids Log Flume (You may just be lucky enough to get "flumed"!), a good portion of track is within the Hoosier Hurricane's structure, the helix is over a picnic pavilion and kiddie rides, the third drop is over the lake, and the entire ride wraps around The Tig'rr roller coaster (Which itself is built on top of a restaraunt!). Indiana Beach sure does know how to use it's space to a premium.
Corn Ball Express is now the best ride at Indiana Beach (and surprisingly one of the most fun coasters on the planet), and outdoes it's older, bigger brother, the Hoosier Hurricane.
The Hoosier Hurricane was built in 1994, and was one of the first big coasters that CCI ever built. they went on to build such phenominal masterpieces as Shivering Timbers, Megaphobia, the Raven, Ghost Rider, and Tonnere de Zeus, among others, before a sudden closing in 2002. Many agree they were best coaster company around, and Indiana Beach is lucky to have three woodies built by them.
The Hoosier Hurricane's somewhat short 67ft lift hill leads into a 97ft, 48degree first drop that goes all the way down to lake Shafer.
Hoosier Hurricane in 2002, 2001, and 1998.
Tig'rr is a Schwarzkopf coaster, with absolutely no restraints at all. I mean, NONE. There isn't a lap bar, a seat belt, an over the shoulder restraint, or anything. This freedom makes the ride a lot more frightening.
The steep first drop leads directly into a tight, low to the ground 180degree turn, and the rest of the ride is all turns. There are some strong positive G's on that first turn and on the helix later in the ride.
Galaxy is another little steel coaster. It is crammed inbetween waterslides, and fits in a very small area. When a two or three car train is used, the first two drops are very surprising, in the back seat they catapult you upwards for some great air time. However, sometimes only single car trains are used, which cuts down on the fun of the ride.
Indiana Beach also has a bunch of great non-coaster rides. The Double Shot is an intense S&S ride that blasts you up and down. Frankenstein's Castle is a very long walk through attraction with a few great effects (don't miss it!). There are several spinning rides, including an incredible swing ride that is over the water. Also, there is a nice train that travels the length of the penninsula and back.
Another surprise I found at this park were the carp... there are a ton of them!!! I could only describe it as a "writhing mass of carp". They're so thick it looks like you could just walk across the top of them.
Overall Indiana Beach is a great family park, with a fairly wide selection of rides that are all built over, under and through each other and Lake Shafer. "Ride Placement" is done better here that probably anywhere else. The staff is friendly, it's fairly priced, and Corn Ball Express is easily a world-class wooden coaster. In a country full of Six Flags parks and the "biggest, tallest, fastest, etc etc" new coasters, Indiana Beach is a delightfully unique park, along the same lines as Knoebel's Grove, Holiday World, and Lake Compounce.
