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Apex Parks Group adds Indiana Beach to their portfolio


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Just saw a billboard for Indiana Beach in Speedway, IN. I'm really glad to see they are advertising in the Indianapolis area. Apex seems to be taking all of the right steps to bring the park back to it's former glory.

Awesome, I have not seen an IB billboard in Indy for years! Where is it located?

It is located on Crawfordsville road. If you head west from Indianapolis Motor Speedway towards 465, the billboard will be on your left across the street from Kroger.

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  • 1 month later...

I visited Indiana Beach on Saturday. It was the first time I have ever visited the park. The park was clean, almost everything was running at least part of the day, I ran into two of the coasters having some downtime but at least one was short. The only coaster I missed was the kiddy one, Dragon Wagon. Operations were not great but lines were not too long.

The park has a lot of low capacity rides. The ride which should have the highest capacity, Hoosier Hurricane was only running one train, the second was parked on the maintence track in pieces. The log flume requires only one log on the belt leading to the drop at a time, yet the only way to make sure of this is for the operator to time the dispatches of logs, and signs warning to not slow the log. The shooting dark ride, Den of Thieves, has a scale next to the operator who then used a calculator to verify that the people in the ride were less than 300lbs total. So basically every car which has two guns was going out with only one person.

Overall I enjoyed myself and could see myself visiting the park again in the future. The park could stand to do some ride upgrades to improve capacity. But overall a fun little park. If you are thinking about visiting I would give the park a shot.

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Was Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain running?

It was running the entire time I was at the park. It got stuck twice while I was waiting but maintenance got it moving again quickly. Someone said it was normal in the mornings until it warms up. Sounds like it was not triggering a sensor on the MCBR.

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It was down for about 3 hours mid-afternoon, but was re-open with a full queue when we left at about 645pm on the 4th.  Thankfully, I got my first two rides ever on it, on Fathers Day.  Funny thing, I rode it once at 1145, and then again at 1430, and had it stick on the MCBR both times as well, lol.

 

I am a fan of the park, places like IB are a lot more up my alley than Corp parks like CF parks, and even HW now :(.  Much more relaxed atmosphere, much LESS money-grubbing, more diverse flat collection, and a perfect example of how to be a good park without relying on chasing records for every "est" in the industry.  I just hope they are financially able to send all three woodie trains to PTC for refurb (although Cornballs train doesnt really need it, may as well make it a trio) and to give Hurricane some track Love.  That CCI has NOT aged well, very much a reminder of Villain.

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The 3 visits I have made to the park have been great. My daughter is only 46" and their PTC's height requirement there is only 44". That is what sold me on getting season passes at IB instead of KI for the rest of my family. She is just not tall enough to get on a coaster outside of PS at KI this year.

 

The last visit we made was with electricsun on July 4th. We meet up with IBEW_Sparky and his family. It was an awesome day. You can tell they are still working on park improvements even as the season progresses. The Big Flush has been repainted since Memorial Day.  They are still working on the pool for the bumper boats, log flume is now working, LCoSM seems to be giving them fits, but they get it back up and running and not just give up on it. You can visually see they are still investing in the park. In park food is reasonable, good portions, meats are made fresh on the grill when ordering, and you get your food within a few minutes. 

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So glad to hear that the park is doing much better and seems to be in great hands. Remember going each year as a little kid and was sad to hear how bad a shape the park had gotten into. Definitely plan to make a trip back up there sometime but probably won't make it until next season

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Anyone here eaten in the Sky Room recently? At one time, it was splendid, with food lovingly prepared by nice, old ladies who could and did pass for your granny.

Is it back to being great again?

Same older ladies, but they are now serving regular park food up there instead of a traditional sit down restaurant menu. That I wish was different.

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If you are comparing them to the Mason ones, I've seem babies crawl faster than the latter.

Honest.

Sad!

The only ones Ive ridden that compare in terms of speed and ride cycle, are the ones I used to ride as a young child at a yearly summer carnival back in Iowa, and the Rough Riders at Holiday World.  Ive not had the pleasure of Knoebel's.... yet.

 

 

In regards to the Sky Room, I will second Brad's statement, in that there needs to be a return to the splendid food you speak of, Terp.  There is honestly only one meal that isnt regular park food, and thats the Chicken pasta dish.  The waitress who served us was incredibly nice, and was actually engaged, interested, and knowledgable about the park and its current activities.  THAT, was a very welcome deviation from what Ive come to expect from non-suit wearing park employees.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Visited Indiana Beach with chugh43 this past weekend. 

 

I see a ton of potential for the park. Having been purchased by Apex and it being led by Al Weber I see good things coming to Monticello. Chris did say that it looked a whole lot better than it did it last year when he visited. I definitely want to go back to ride what I didn't ride this time around.

 

Food prices were reasonable, and the environment screams old-time amusement park. I love it! I could play Fascination all day long!

 

Left two coaster credits on the table...Cornball Express and Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain as they were closed. Favorite coaster there was Steel Hawg. Tig'rr was a fun ride but with only a seatbelt I didn't heed warning to prepare for right turns. My sides are still bruised! Hoosier Hurricane is one of the roughest wooden coasters I've ridden, and they have an amazing selection of flats! Especially the dark ride and the Tilt-A-Whirl.

 

First time I've seen someone smoking a cigarette while nailing boards on a wooden coaster as well! 

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2017 season passes on sale already $40.00 for the rest of 16 and all of 17!

 

 

Buy a Day, Get a Season Pass for 2017!$39.99 / each

BUY YOUR 2016 FUN DAY PASS TODAY!
Funday Pass 48” & above $39.99
*Includes free admission to the remainder of 2016 and the entire 2017 season when you convert to a season pass on the day of your visit
*Park visit must take place during the 2016 season and season pass offer expires if not activated on the day of your visit

 

 
 
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That deal went Live last Tuesday or Wednesday, and you wouldnt believe how many clowns on the FB page were saying things like "Oh no, thats just for free ADMISSION, you still have to pay for the rides".  Of course, me being me, I had to link the Season Pass purchase page from the IB website to each and every one of their responses and make note that IB doesnt even SELL a Season Pass that is valid only for gate admission.  its amazing how many grown adults have to be spoon fed.  I just may buy my 2017 Pass when I go up on August 28th for Passholder Appreciation Day.

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I had tossed around the idea of doing Sunday/Monday up at CP but I dont know how much Im feeling it to be honest.  Its still up in the air, and who knows, I may decide A)To end up in Sandusky the 28th/9th or B)that Im done except for Pride and maybe one Haunt night and end up skipping the IB day as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I started it, but when it came to the 'What did they do right" and "What can be improved" questions, I simply logged out.  To quote the meme "Aint nobody got time for that", when the things I would suggest would not be implemented (Access to the beach for guest who purchase a general admission non-rider wristband and a retracking of at least 75% of Hoosier Hurricane), or are likely already in the process of being rectified (Hurricanes second train being operational for 2017).

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  • 2 months later...

Not sure how many got to visit IB this past season, there have been a lot of talks on IB Facebook fan pages about what is next for IB. Some gloomy and other talks about restructuring some of their practices to make 2017 even better. 

 

IB has a much better year in my opinion compared to when it was owned by Morgan. I think Apex may have had unreasonable expectations when it came to bringing the crowds back and per caps spending the first season of ownership.

 

There are talks about Falling Start possibly not running in 2017. Not due to issues, but the ride manufacture no longer supplying parts. No official news on anything new in 2017 or what if any current ride improvements that will be done. I think if they spent another year focusing on current rides and getting some track work done on their wooden coasters would be a great off season and get them set up for a great 2017 season.

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