Richard Bannister

Indiana Beach was far less crowded than Holiday World yesterday, with the only significant wait of the morning being a twenty minute queue for wristbands. With that sorted out, we made a beeline for the Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain. I'd previously told James and Andrew about this ride, and insisted that for maximum effect they should do their first ride backwards. Perhaps it's the sadist in me, but I've never had so much fun on a coaster in my life; Andrew's expression was absolutely priceless. It was like a morph between a look of absolute terror and a broad grin. James described it as interesting, which is if anything an understatment.

It was a pleasant surprise to see the credit I'd missed out on last time open for business. Though there are apparently quite a number of installations of the standard Galaxi (#170), this was my first and thus it held novelty value for me. Much to my surprise this turned out to be particularly good fun, particularly the helix sections, though it wasn't the sort of thing I'd bother queueing for.

My favourite coaster on my previous visit was running even better today, to the point that in my humble opinion Cornball Express deserves to overtake Raven as the number one wooden coaster on the planet. Every hill on the ride literally throws passengers into the lap bar, even the last one which is no more than five or six feet tall. It is by far the best ride in the park. One side effect of having such a good coaster is that everything else seems to pale in comparison. So it was for the Hoosier Hurricane, which in any other park would likely have been a signature ride. The rear seats on this ride were surprisingly jarring today, to the point that it is probably time for some retracking.

We did several of the slow and sedate rides in the interests of photography, namely the Skyride, the Ferris Wheel, and the Train. The latter was very cramped indeed not to mention slow; it must have achieved a top speed of almost two miles per hour. To finish up, we tried out the Water Swings, a wave swinger that has been carefully located so that the swings are over water once the ride picks up speed. Part of me wonders how often the chains are checked; it could make an interesting photo opportunity if one of them should snap, flinging its occupant into the drink. It would also make quite a lawsuit, so I assume they're tested fairly regularly!