We were only able to spend one day of the original plan of two days here. One of the ride workers told us that we were smart to come on a Wednesday instead of our originally planned Saturday because of the light crowd. It seemed pretty crowded to us though. That same operator said that since the new waterpark opened the park crowds have been really low as it pulls 5-10,000 people everyday. Take that with a grain of salt.

Overall thoughts

This is the nicest Six Flags park I have been to so far. It has great coasters, good ride operations, great themeing and is clean and just fun. The park goers here were much nicer than I have seen at a lot of the other Six Flags parks, there was no line jumping or other mis-behaivior. Maybe it was because it was a weekday?

I have to laugh at Six Flags though for charging so much for their food. The parking lot was full of people eating out of their trunks because of the ridiculous food prices inside the park. Even us, who are used to the expensive park food were shocked at the prices. $5 for a small funnel cake? Ugh.

Monica: I had heard that this was one of the nicest Six Flags parks. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I am normally not a huge fan of Six Flags, but after a recent trip to Six Flags over Texas, I began to appreciate the original goal of what Six Flags was meant to be before they started to buy out smaller parks and fill them with duplicate rides. I really liked this place. I loved all of the themed areas. It was really different from any other Six Flags. There was lots of walking space and it had an atmosphere of fun.

The Rides

Viper

I was expecting a rough ride with a short line and I got a fun ride with a long line, but it was worth it. I would imagine the ride gets even better as it gets later in the day, it seemed just a tad sluggish.

Good operations here, they got each train out of the station as the other was returning and they controlled the traffic in the station itself which is something I wish more parks would do. I hated the corporate park headrest PTC trains though, I never really got the point of these.

Raging Bull

What is with that trim brake on the second hill? It kills so much speed so early that the rest of the ride is gimped from that point forward. If I had never been on another hyper coaster before this would probably be my #1, but since I have it was just OK. Was the layout inspired from Titan and Goliath at all?

Monica: This was my favorite ride of the day. It reminded me of Nitro at Great Adventure which is always a good time.

Ragin’ Cajun

This was my third installation of this ride, and was just as good as the others, Exterminator and Crazy Mouse. The themeing of the ride was nice and followed the rest of the New Orleans area nicely. Well done. The queue could be less jam packed however.

Monica: This ride had the slowest line of the day. It was the same thing as the Exterminator at Kennywood, but was outside. I like the inside experience much better.

Whizzer

What a neat ride this was. Monica and I sat in the same car and smiles on our faces from the spiral lift hill until the ending brake run. I hope the rumors about this ride being replaced are not true, or it is relocated somewhere else.

American Eagle

It is quite a hike to get to this station! The eagle is a racing coaster that if it were maintained better would be a top ten coaster in my opinion. I liked the backwards side more, but what is the point of the head dividers? Typical corporate park not keeping their woodies in good shape.

Monica: This was another frontward/backward racing coaster. It was an interesting experience and the line was short. Don’t pass this one by!

Iron Wolf

I could have done without this coaster, stand ups are not my thing. Monica: eh! Nothing special.

Déjà V

We waited to ride Deja as the line was pretty long and the intervals were long. I was determined to wait as long as it took though just because it looked so damn cool! Man, what a waste of time, the restraints suck. They were the typical vekoma harnesses and don’t clamp down far enough. When I am going 90 degrees I want to feel secure. The bottom of the drops felt like we were hitting the ground, not a pullout.

Logger’s Run

A bumpy old log ride with an extra large ending splash.

Monica: This ride was nuts. It was in the upper 70’s or 80’s the day we were there so I wasn’t interested in getting soaked on a water ride, but in general the log fumes don’t get you that wet. We are big fans of log rides so we rode it and got absolutely drenched. There is a secret rapid at the bottom of the hill that gives you an extra splash. Boy was I cold when we got off that one. I would absolutely love it on a hot day.

Food

Monica: I was disappointed that there weren’t a lot of vegetarian options. We ate at the Mooseburger Lodge which had overall good food, but the ordering process was a nightmare. I wanted to get French fries on my salad instead of chicken as a vegetarian version of the salad. They could not understand this. I thought for sure that I was getting chicken on my salad. The salad came out without the chicken, but the fries were missing. They did not seem to be used to special requests. But if I hadn’t ordered a special request I would have starved, there was nothing on the ordinary menu for me.

Accommodation

Courtyard Marriott Waukegan

Monica: There was nothing special about the hotel. It was nice and what you expect from a Marriott property. It was an exit away from the park and it looks like there is going to be a lot of new development in this area. In a year this area could be really nice, but now it was nothing special. One perk was that it was within a short drive of an IHOP which is a must stop on vacation since we do not have one in the Pittsburgh area.

Reasons to go back

• We didn’t get to go to the water park
• It’s a big park and we did not get to ride things multiple times.
• Great ride operations kept the lines moving.
• Great atmosphere

Question Marks

• Expensive food ($5 for a funnel cake !@$&*&^#)

Indiana Beach was the forth stop on our adventure. The drive from Holiday World was really long and filled with corn and other various vegetables as the only scenery. We ended up going to the park the same evening that we arrived because of a family emergency that was to cut our trip short. After waiting for the boat at the campground to take us over to the park, we were there. Wow! What a cool place. We received the ACE discount for half-price off of admission for the evening session. The park closed at 10 or 11 so we had plenty of time to do everything.

Overall thoughts

Monica: I really didn’t have any expectations of this place. Ryan added it to the agenda, but I had never heard of it and I really didn’t know what to expect even after reading the web site. I am glad that we went to the park during the evening session, the crowds were really light so we walked from ride to ride without more that one cycle’s wait.

Indiana Beach was unlike any amusement park that I have ever been to. Since it has been around for 80 years or so, it had that old time atmosphere. You could feel the history and sense all of the fun that people have been having there generation after generation. We went to the Skyroom bar for a Corona and in my head I could picture people jitterbugging, swing dancing, doing the electric slide, or whatever other popular dance of eras past. I was happy to see that they still offered “Fascination.” I think I only played that game once, but there is a certain feeling of nostalgia that comes over me when I see it. Since the park is located essentially over the lake on boards, it provided a complete unique experience. I felt like I was at one of the boardwalks on the East Coast that I love so much.

Monica summed it up for me, the atmosphere here was incredible and their wooden coaster duo take second place only to Knoebels. I wish it were closer to us. Does anyone know if there are any houses on the lake to rent for a week?

The Rides

Den of Lost Thieves

This ride was a really fun old dark ride retrofitted with electronic guns. what a great way to preserve an old ride and make it fun for the new generation.

Monica: I love dark rides! This one was great. I loved shooting the targets and I think I even beat Ryan for once.

The Hoosier Hurricane

The hoosier hurricane was a cool coaster. It didn’t have as much airtime as I expected, but it was fast, smooth and relentless. I loved it. Throughout the evening we walked on, or waiting for the train to come back into the station to board.

Monica: I loved it. It felt like an old-time coaster. There was no line and we couldn’t get enough!

Cornball Express

Cornball was a complete shock after seeing how small it was in person. It packed quite a tight little punch with airtime over each hill, just enough laterals to keep it intense without pain, and some nice headchoppers. The buzz bar restraints are such a great way to experience any coaster let alone one with some good airtime moments.

The Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain

I had heard a lot about the comfort level of this ride, and while I can’t say it was comfortable being squeezed into a tiny car looking across from two strangers trying to avoid touching legs, I can say that it was really fun and maybe a bit scarey. I never knew which way we were going as the turns were so tight and usually hidden.

Operations here were rather sad though with only two cars running, that means four people riding at a time. This was the only ride with a wait for us.

Monica says: This ride was a lot of fun and different than any other mine ride I have ever ridden. You ride up in an elevator and then you are dropped on to the track. The ride is very compact so there are lots of twists and turns. I think I laughed the entire time.

Haunted Castle *

Sitting in the holding area waiting to go into the house a costumed grim reaper walked up to us, didn’t say a word and motioned for us to enter the elevator. As we went up the elevator the reaper simply looked forward and never made a peep. This set us up for a cool walk through attraction. Two thumbs up to the actor. We let the two young kids walk in front of us for a bit so we could experience all the gags ourselves. This is a good time, and highly recommened for even the most jaded coaster enthusiast.

Monica: I am sort of embarrassed to admit this, but I was actually really scared in this thing. I don’t want to give away any details about it to ruin the experience for anyone else, but it’s so dark in there and disorienting that I couldn’t wait until we were finished. I think I was more afraid than the little girl who went in ahead of us. Oh well!

Food

We weren’t really hungry when we were at the park because we stopped at and had pizza on the way. I was disappointed that we couldn’t try the Skyroom. But as mentioned before, we loved the bar area.

Accommodation – Indiana Beach Campground

Monica: From the get go, I was more impressed with this place than Lake Rudolph at Holiday World. I noticed on the map that we weren’t too far from the dock to take us across the lake which was an added bonus. Our campsite was large and sufficiently wooded. I loved walking on the wooded pathway to the lake. I really felt like I was one with nature. Again, we got stuck with rowdy neighbors and were graciously educated in whether or not we might be rednecks from the Jeff Foxworthy recording amplified from their truck’s sound system.

Ryan: The campground seems to be falling on hard times as the docks, mini golf course and other amusements are falling into dis-repair. Other than that the campground was really nice. Our site was large enough and close to bathrooms. As Monica said we continued our tradition of loud neighbors. I don’t get it, every campground we go to is silent at night except for our neighbors.

Reasons to go back

• Cornball Express and Hoosier Hurricane
• Unique atmosphere of the park
• Various lake and boating activities
• Atmosphere again

Questions Marks

• Too far from Pittsburgh.

• Coaster operations were odd, they wait for a full load before sending off the train, and re-rides are exhausting without jumping the railing and skipping the stairs.

• There is an up charge for this amusement to keep out the riff-raff

Kennywood’s Swing Shot construction is coming along, rumor has it we should see the ride arrive on site by the end of this month.

See all progress updates