Indiana Beach - Legend of The Shafer Shipwreck
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Since 2003 the Indiana Beach coaster weekend has been my favorite coaster event of the year. The park does such a great job with every little detail. They really go so far beyond the typical "Hi, ride the coasters and get the hell out of here" attitude of many other parks. On top of the excellent ride times, there is always great food, and amazing people.
This year the theme was pirates, and just kicked ass! Now I admit that I am very neutral when it comes to pirates, but I totally got into the spirit of things here. The theming was very extensive, including the registration packet, food, and a fun treasure hunt on Saturday.
The event kicked off on Friday evening when we picked up the registration packets. The ballroom was all decked out, and the packets well themed and personalized. We even had Captain Jack Sparrow wandering around the park. We were all given a free wrist-band so we could play in the park until 9:45pm, which is when we all went back to the ballroom for dessert. The food they provided us was terrific, tasty, creative, and very appropriate for the theme. During this time they did the welcome and thanks, as well as hand out the first clue for the treasure hunt. Then it was off for an hour of exclusive ride time on Cornball (awesome!) and Tigg'r (also awesome!).
After the ride time was when the real fun began - we all headed back to Frank and Craig's campsite to sit by the fire, drink beer, and generally take part in serious tomfoolery!
Saturday morning started with a bang (well, a bump) as we had an hour Ride Time on the bumper-cars and Den Of Lost Thieves. I don't know about Den, but we spent the whole time on the bumper cars .. by the end of the hour we limped off bruise and aching. Lunch on Saturday afternoon was fantastic, we had shrimp! I mean, a coaster event where we get shrip! The little shrimpies were skewered on wooden swords (about 7 per sword) - it was so awesome. We also had rice, chicken, salad, and cookies for dessert. After lunch a group of us returned to the camp-site to relax, snooze, and play some cards. It was a little too chilly to get a boat, but it was still a really fun afternoon.
There was also a treasure hunt going on during the day. We were all given the first clue on Friday night, and had to find the five other clues during the day. At the very last stop we were each given a key, hopefully the key that would open the treasure chest!
Saturday night we all met at the Shafer Queen (the paddle boat) at 10:45. We were given snacks, and pirate hats! There were some trivia contests (with the winners getting more keys), and question and answers with park management. Then the treasure chest was brought out so we could all try our keys - I didn't win :(
At 11:30 we were back at the boardwalk (which was now empty and dark since the park closed at 11), but Hoosier Hurricane and Cornball Express were waiting! We spent the next hour getting some insanely crazy rides on Cornball - which is running really well this season. But if that wasn't enough, we hit the campsite again after ERT - like the previous night, I didn't get to sleep until about 4am.
If all this still wasn't enough, the park had given us discount coupons for their buffet breakfast - so this is where we all met on Sunday morning. The breakfast is great, with fresh food, and omelet guy, and even a live piano player. We were all quite bleary-eyed, but still had fun.
Saying goodbye was lots of hugs and stuff, then a rainy drive home Overall it was a spectacularly great weekend! Here are some photos:
- The People This is probably what everyone will find the most interesting!
- Event details
- General Park Photos
- Some of the super-cool rides at Indiana Beach
- Photos that other people took
Or, you can return to the Coaster gallery..
