IndyGuy4KI

Going with the Batman movie names, I think The Dark Beast would work well!

I don't think you can be an enthusiast and not love the Voyage. That goes for those that are more steel coaster fans. I am not partial either way, if it is a coaster I will ride it!!!

Glad you had a good time! I hope to make it back to the island soon!

That is wierd for you would think KD would have the Virginia market?

My father and I went to Monticello Indiana to put my seadoo and my Father-in-Laws seadoo on the water for some fun on Lake Shafer and afternoon fun at Indiana Beach. We left Indy around 7am and headed to Danville IN (20 miles west if Indy) to get the seadoos at my father-in-laws house. He has the double trailer for the wave runners, but one is mine and the other is his. My dad has never ridden a wave runner or a jet ski before so it was a real treat for him. We were a little worried about the weather, but the forecast was rain early and then clear up. We took 39 over to I-65. We stopped at the Flying–J to fill up my truck and seadoos. We ate at the little restaurant in the truck stop. Breakfast buffet for $6.99. Food was really good. (I did not take any pics this time for I had on my swim suit and my camera phone was in truck.) When we left there it was raining. We make it up to Lake Shaffer around 9:30. It was still raining pretty good. Indiana Beach has a camp ground with a boat ramp, but never used it without camping for it is free for campers. The other boat dock (that I know about) is at Lake Shaffer boat rental and marina and is $20.00 to launch. We pulled into the camp ground and asked how much it would be to lunch and it was only $10.00. My plan originally was to launch at the marina and rent a life vest from them for my dad, but since we decided to launch at IB campground we had to buy one. At this point it is still raining hard. We went back to the local Wal*Mart and he got a nice one for $40.00. Still a little expensive, but being so close to a lake and legally can’t go without it, that was not bad. After we got out of Wal*Mart we headed back to the IB campground. It had stopped raining, but it was only 67 degrees outside so it was a little chilly to be getting on the water. By the time we paid and got to the boat ramp it was starting to clear up and warm up little. I think it may have hit 70 degrees at that point. Got my dad oriented on how to drive, turn and all the gauges we headed out towards the main part of the lake. Lake Shaffer is really a river that has been dammed for flood control. So it is long, but fairly skinny. There are 2 “big” parts to the lake, one part being by the dam and the other on the other side of IB boardwalk. The rest of the lake is narrower. We played out on the water for about an hour and a half and we needed to go to the rest room. We docked at IB, for they have a place to dock so you can come eat if on the lake. We used the facilities and started walking back towards the seadoos. Some couple stopped us and asked when the ski show is going to start. Since we were in swim trunks and life jackets they thought were part of the ski show they have at IB. We told them we did not know and that we had just stopped in for a few minutes. We then headed back out towards the dam area and played for a while. There were not really any boats on the lake so there were no good wakes to jump with the seadoos. There were a few pontoons, but they don’t make very big wakes like a ski boat or cabin cruiser would. We made our own wakes and waves to jump, but we had fun none the less. We had been on the lake for little over 2 hours and I was getting tired for I was really playing hard on mine and even threw myself off of it once. I knew my dad was getting tired as well for a first timer it is more tiring from being nervous about ridding it. For those who have never ridden a seadoo they are only something you can do in moderation. Really 30 minutes at a time is ideal, but when you drive that far to put them in the water you want to play as long as you can. After pulling the seadoos out of the water we pulled into the IB parking lot and headed toward the boardwalk. Park admission is free this year so you can go walk on the boardwalk all you want. We were really getting hungry so we headed to the Sky Room Restaurant. I ordered a Philly cheese steak and my dad got a tenderloin. It took 23 minutes to get our food. Not sure what was up with that? The Sky room restaurant sits above the boardwalk at one end of the park so we were watching the people walk by and talking about our seadoo ride, so the wait was okay. Food was good once we got it. The park was not crowded so we went and got our wristbands for a POP (pay one price) as they call it. The wristband comes with bar codes now and you have to scan your arm each time you go up to a ride. I did not like that. Especially when they placed the wristband on your right arm and the scanners were placed in a way that was awkward to get you arm in to scan. Some were placed so it would have been fine if the band was on your left arm. Most rides were walk on for the park was not busy. The beach only had probably 20 people in there and the water park was not busy either. We first went to Hoosier Hurricane. We had a good ride on it, but seemed shorter than the last time I rode. It is not as good as any coaster at HW, but it is still IB’s first wooden coaster. We then headed over to Cornball Express. I wanted to ride it very much for as you may have read in my last TR about HW I though CE was better than the Raven. I wanted to make the comparison. I had a fun ride on CE, but was then torn between Raven and CE… I still cannot decide totally, but almost leaning more toward the Raven. It is a real toss up for me. I then went and rode Tig’rr a compact steel coaster. This was the first time I had ridden it with actually seat belts. Ride was sort of scary before with no restraints. I wanted to ride Steel Hogg for it was down the last time I made it up there last year. My dad did not want to ride it. He is not a steel coaster fan, he likes wooden coaster exclusively. The first drop is amazing with the inversion in. I wish it had a little more speed though. It sure files up the lift though. I would say it is as fast at DB’s lift. The cork screw is good as well. Did not care for the ½ a loop though. It almost stops as it inverts you to make the loop. It is still a fun little coaster. We then wanted to hit Dodg-em the bumper cars. Their cars are really old and are twice as fast at KI’s bumper cars. We had a lot of fun on those. We then hit The Den of Lost Thieves. This is their SCATHC. We enjoyed this ride, even though I got beat by my dad with my score! We then went and rode Galaxi another compact steel coaster, we then hit Falling Star which was fun. We then rode the sky ride back to the other side of the park. We went and rode Double Shoot. We then went and made our second trip around the park. We rode Hoosier Hurricane again, still a good ride but nothing spectacular. Went back and rode Cornball Express, my favorite coaster there! I went and rode Steel Hogg again and did enjoy it, but again fun but nothing spectacular in my book. We then hit Sea Dragon and rode the Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain. This thing just jerks you around and really is not fun at all for just for a few small drops. My dad did not like this one at all even though it is a woodie. We were getting tired and were getting ready to leave. I hit paratrooper (Umbrella’s) on the way out. We headed back towards Danville to drop off the Seadoos at my father-in-laws house and then drop off my dad at his. I got home around 7pm that evening, we had a good time. Some things to compare IB vs HW since I hit both places in the same week. For me IB is more special since I spent more time up there as a kid. IB is more compact and does not have much room for expansion unless it builds further in the lake where HW looks like they have plenty of room for expansion. I like the free admission to IB and then paying for rides if you wish, but do not like the new wristband scanning at each ride. IB may have more coasters that HW, but HW has more quality coasters. There are water recreations at IB if you have a boat. Don’t know of a lake at HW. HW could use a steel coaster for IB has 3 up on them. HW employees are friendlier and seem to be more proud of their park. Free drinks at HW not at IB. Rides seem to be better maintained at HW than IB. HW is much cleaner than IB Over all I think HW is the better park. Thanks for reading!

I think The Vortex is good, it is minor pain, but the inversions get my sinuses aggravated for I have allergies and it gives me a sinus headache. I ride it anyway, I love the first drop most of all on Vortex. I think SOB gives more pain no question, but it is a different pain. Vortex I think jerks you around more left to right, but SOB is constant vibrating up and down. I hope that makes sense. I can see where some people like or dislike one more than the other.

I enjoyed your report, thanks for sharing!

Yes, I enjoyed the park a lot. Visited Indiana Beach Thursday. I have been North and South this week in Indiana! TR in the making now. Will do some comparisons as well that might spark a converstion I hope! I will be posting soon.

I took my first trip ever to Holiday World on 6/15/09. We got on the road at 7am and arrived at 10:15. Not bad since we stopped twice on the way, once for food, and then a potty break. We had 4 tickets so it was my wife, my son, my sister in law (who is 7) and myself. There is a 20 year gap between my wife and her youngest sister! After we got in we took the little ones to Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch to get them moving from sitting in the car for 3 hours. While they were there I went on ahead and rode The Raven. I was very excited to ride it since it was supposed to be one of the best coasters out there. I got back to the station a little disappointed. I was really expecting more coming from a coaster that had won awards and such. I kept Korbin (my son) at RRR while my wife (Kim) and sister-in-law (Sierra) went to ride The Legend. Korbin having Fun! Kim and Sierra said The Legend was really good, but scared Sierra a little. So, I headed over to ride it as well. After ridding, I was very impressed with The Legend. The ride I got on The Legend is what I was expecting The Raven to be. I really enjoyed The Legend. We rode quite a few flats for a while and finally made it back to the Thanksgiving section of the park. We ate lunch at Plymouth Rock Café. They have very good country cooking meals very cheap. I got a picture of my food before we ate. All this for around $11.50 (with the pie.) All 4 of us ate for $30.00, we got really full and was it was very good food! Pilgrims Plunge was not running yet, but The Voyage was, so while everyone one else was finishing lunch I ran to The Voyage at 2:10. I really like the station and queue theme. I was hoping it was going to be as good as Giga had said from her TR to HW. Man Giga was right again, what an amazing ride. The ride seems to last for a very long time as well considering the speed that thing runs the whole time. It just flies around those banks and turns. What an amazing coaster, very fun! I rode The Voyage again about a half an hour later, as I pulled out of the station it was starting to sprinkle, but not bad enough to be needles on the face. Another great ride on The Voyage. Kim, Korbin, and Sierra were marathoning Gobbler Getaway. It is the HW version of SDATHC. This ride is newer and was very fun as well. Interesting shaped guns though! While they were doing that I noticed PP was now open so I made my way back there it was right at 3pm. It was starting to rain as this point, but I was getting on a water ride. The elevator ride was the most fun for me on this ride. It feels really weird while going up. The drop was ok, but it needed to be steeper in my opinion. I thought we would have gotten more speed, although I had just rode The Voyage so maybe it was just my perception? I enjoyed it, but was not blown away. Sierra and I rode Eagle Flight two times in the rain. It had started raining really hard at this point and Korbin had fallen asleep. We had him covered up in the stroller, and Kim was hiding under trees and going under what she could to keep her and Korbin as dry as possible while he slept. It stopped raining about 45 minutes later. A lot of the park had cleared out so lines were even shorter now and everything was walk on. Sierra and I rode some more flats and came to Rough Riders bumper Cars… No not cars they were shaped as bulls and horses. They were quite fun, especially due to their shape. Sierra wanted to ride HalloSwings so she and I did that. She wanted to ride again so I let her. Kim watched her ride while Korbin was asleep. I went and Rode The Legend again. It had stopped raining at this point and things were now walk on, but they were only running 1 car on The Legend. I enjoyed my ride on it. Got back to HollowSwings and Sierra was marathoning them so I went over and rode Frightful falls. A log ride that does not have water going down it's drop? You don't get very wet, but very fun little ride. It was interesting for the river was built in the ground, not above, so you were even with the ground while ridding. After I got back over to Hallowswings again we told Sierra it was her last time. She rode it 8 times in a row! By this time in the day my cell phone died so I could no longer update Twitter on my location and ride status. The rest is all from memory. Korbin woke up so we went back to Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch. I told Kim to go ride The Raven since she had not done that yet. She enjoyed it, but commented it was very short. I decided to give it a second try since I was expecting more the first time I needed to ride again with no expectations. It is a good ride, but I told Kim I though Cornball Express (at Indiana Beach) was a better coaster in my opinion. I wanted to ride PP and The voyage one more time before we left for the day. We slowly made our way to the back of the park again and rode a few more flats. Korbin rode the Salmon Run ride and loved it. I could not get him off of it. We made it back to Thanksgiving again and we all rode Gobbler Getaway. Although I commented on the ride earlier, this was my first time ridding it. I went to Pilgrims Plunge, but there were lots of people back there and a 20 minute wait, so I decided I would rather spend my time in The Voyage queue instead. Kim, Korbin, and Sierra were marathoning Turkey Whirl while I rode The Voyage. I got up there and I was next to get on and they said that there was a error on the control board and maintenance was on the way to clear it. So they ran 2 empty trains. I got on and it was another great ride. Got back to the station and no one was in queue for my seat so I rode again. We started to make our way out of the park for it was around 6:30 their time and 7:30 our time and I had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. For some reason I could not get Sierra to ride the Raven earlier in the day, although she had ridden The Legend? So on our way out I told her this was her last chance to ride. I finally talked her into getting on the ride. When we got back to the station her first words were "I wish I had ridden earlier." After we got off and meet back up with Kim and Korbin Sierra told her what she had said and she told us to go ride one more time and she would take Korbin on out to the car. So we rode one more time before leaving for the day. We got home around 11:30. Big Ride Count The Raven -4 The Legend – 2 The Voyage – 4 Pilgrims Plunge -1 Total Big Rides = 11. Not bad for having 2 kids with me. Thanks for Reading.

Please see this post created by Giga. http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18266 To help you out by not having to read everything, there is no confirmation on any long term closing or the actual issue right now.

I agree, good for him! I am also inspired when I see senior citizens coming into the park and getting on The Beast and other high thrill rides. I want that to be me when I get up in years!

I voted DB for how fast it moves and how nice it looks. I realize this is because it is new, but none the less. I agree with others, FOF and FD are my next favorites.

Holiday World would disagree with that.... http://themeparks.about.com/library/parks/...lidayworldb.htm http://www.wegoplaces.com/Attraction_39649.aspx And, see the first paragraph here under park history: http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/theme...yworld_in.shtml Knott's opened in 1940, and Holiday World opened in 1946. http://jay-vickyweddingsite.com/Knotts_ber...rm_entrance.jpg What about other smaller parks? Not sure if they would be considered a theme park at the time, but like Indiana Beach. In 1926, Indiana Beach opened to the public.

I noticed the trims a lot more in the front than in the back the last time on The Beast? I know the trims had not changed in one single ride for all I did was change seats on the same train with hardly any change in weight. So I can see how some experienced more trim braking than others on the same ride.

They were not using them last Monday.

On my trip last I never used the SRL. It went to the bottom of the stairs, and the regular line was about 10 - 15 minutes. I figured I was doing my part to move the SRL along and getting on in half the time had I used the SRL!

Thanks for the info. I was almost right about the anti-rollbacks. I do agree with House though, they are very loud!

It did that to me last week as well. I am probably stating this wrong, but I assumed the knocking was the "anti-rollback brakes." What is the proper name of that?

This was not a proposal to do so. I do not even think they would dream about moving it. Just thowing out some Why's and Why Not's!

If you picked up FD and turned it around so the station was closest to SOB's station. To turn completely around and face the same direction is 360 degrees. (FD would be in same place.) To turn half way around from let's say facing north to facing south is 180 degrees. (FD would be in opposite place.) Hope this helps!

I just found one as well. I kidded others about going just for the t-shirt. I worked really had to be there, (got babysitter drove 2 hours) No way am I getting rid of mine! Like some quote says. "Been there, done that, and got the t-shirt!" Ebay page that I found!

I am not scared of heights, but when you are at the creat of the hill at 230 ft in an outside row and you look down. It is very intimidting to me. I have not had a bad ride on DB on any seat, but the rush of 8-3 or 8-4 IMO is better than 1-1 and 1-2. Even though 1-1 and 1-2 give their own experiences that I love as well. My vote: back, outside seat

After ridding FD several times last week. I was wondering if more people would ride it if it was turned around 180 degrees so you don't have such a walk. I love the ride, but don't ride as much as I like due to the station location. I wonder why Paramount built it with the station in the back? I am guessing terrain had a big part of it, but I think they would have had ease of access in mind as well. They would have saved a lot of money on sidewalk concrete! Thoughts?

So far this year it has been KIC shirt, cargo shorts (with pocket flaps with Velcro or buttons to lock things in place,) and sandals. What I don't understand is when I see a female coming in with a nice dress or skirt on. I don't see how this is practical at KI?

With the FH capacity they really do need restrooms back there. I always like to go before getting into that queue, but it takes some planning ahead to remember to do so before you get to X-base, or take the hike if already back there. Maybe they can add a restroom with the contingency money for this "rumored" new ride.