Indiana Beach: A little park with a lot of history

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From it’s origins as Ideal Beach in 1926, Indiana Beach has entertained and thrilled visitors for almost 100 years. This small boardwalk park is located on Indiana’s beautiful Lake Shafer, and has previously been home to over twenty rides and attractions, aimed at families and thrillseekers alike. On February 20th 2020, Apex Parks announced the sad news that they would be closing this much loved park permanently after nearly 100 years, and many who had made memories at Indiana Beach or had planned to visit the park were shocked and saddened by the news. Let’s take a step back in time to see the ups and downs of the history of Indiana Beach, and have a look at the golden years, and, maybe not so golden years, of this much loved boulevard park.

The Early Years of Ideal Beach

In Summer of 1926, the Spackman family opened Ideal Beach, a beach resort on the coastline of Indiana’s Lake Shafer. During the it’s first year of operation, Ideal Beach featured only a bath house, a refreshment stand, and of course the beach the resort was known for. 1927 brought the addition of Ideal Beach’s first amusement attraction, and this kickstarted the expansions and growth that would make the park what it is today. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the resort was famed for it’s Ideal Beach Ballroom, which housed many seasonal events and celebrations, with some of the USA’s best known bands playing at the ballroom.

In 1951, the park declared it’s first and final name change, as Indiana Beach, named after the state the park is located in. Later that year, Indiana Beach announced the addition of their first rollercoaster, a steel family coaster that would open with the new Kiddyland area of the resort. Officially opening in 1952, Little Dipper was built and manufactured by the Allan Herschell Company, which would eventually go on to create many well known kiddie and family coasters, including the defunct little dipper family coaster Das Katzchen at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia.

Rides on the river’s edge

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Little Dipper would continue to be a family favourite at the resort until the ride’s closure in the 1970s, when Galaxi, a steel coaster built by SDC, would replace it as the only rollercoaster in the park. During this time Indiana Beach would feature other family rides, including Giant Gondola Wheel, a retro Ferris Wheel, and Grand Carousel, which is, you guessed it, a grand carousel. Seven years later, the park would make what would arguably be their most valuable investment: an electric-powered darkride known as Superstition Mountain, in which riders were taken on an adventure through an immersive artificial mountain. The new ride was an instant success with visitors, and, in 2001, it was announced that this much-loved darkride would undergo an extensive renovation by Custom Coasters International, or CCI.

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The ride reopened for the 2002 season, under a new name: Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain. Parts of the track had been replaced with new CCI wooden tracks, and an elevator lift was installed at the beginning of the ride to act as a kind of lift hill. Even now, Lost Coaster is considered one of the most intense coasters in Indiana and possibly even in the USA, so much that the park actually had to install trim brakes to make it a more comfortable, family friendly ride!

Between 1994 and 2008, the park added many new attractions, some large, some pretty minor. Major additions made by Ideal Beach included Hoosier Hurricane and Cornball Express, both thrilling CCI woodies, and Tig’rr Coaster, a Schwarzkopf Jet Star coaster relocated from Pontchartrain Beach, Louisiana in 1984.

The Morgan Era

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In February of 2008, after 82 years owned by the Spackman family, Indiana Beach, it’s waterpark and campgrounds were sold to Morgan RV LLC, who already owned several resorts and campgrounds across the USA. Although no official reason for the deal was given, it is likely that it was due to financial issues faced by the park.

It’s difficult to decide whether or not this was a good move for the park. Sure, Morgan RV added some new attractions that no doubt saved the park from bankruptcy, including Steel Hawg, an S&S 4D that brought many more thrillseekers and coaster enthusiasts to the park, and Dragon Wagon, the park’s first family coaster since the closure of Little Dipper in the 1970s. But some of the changes the company made to Indiana Beach were… questionable. Many visitors felt that Morgan didn’t put the same love into the park that the Spackmans did; instead they focussed on their other resorts, meaning some of Indiana Beach’s rides fell into disrepair, experiencing extensive downtime.

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This led a large proportion of Indiana Beach’s workforce to walk out in protest in August 2011, over concerns that safety regulations were being violated. Employees expressed their concerns raised by the large amounts of downtime faced by many of the rides, saying that the downtime was due to Morgan RV refusing to buy new parts, whether it be that they didn’t want to spend money on the park, or because they simply could not afford to. Derrel Price, a former employee at Indiana Beach, resigned from his job at the park, saying that rides were being operated in unsafe conditions, and that he wanted guests to know what a “sad state” the park was in. Signs held by the protesters read “80+ years of memories destroyed” and “get me off this ride”- the protest was even broadcasted on local news, with protest leader Derrel Price being interviewed live about his concerns for the park. Park officials hit back at the protests, saying the park “looked better than ever” and that ride safety precautions were at their highest in park history. Despite their efforts to restore Indiana Beach’s reputation to it’s usual high, and the ruling that the park had not breached any safety regulations, it still suffered significant losses, and, for the first time in park history, Indiana Beach’s future looked uncertain. It may have been the first, but sadly this wouldn’t be the last time the park would face this kind of uncertainty over it’s future.

Apex Parks: Indiana Beach’s final owner

In September 2015, Morgan RV LLC sold the park to California based company Apex Parks Group, who owned a number of small amusement parks and two water parks, as well as the Boomers Family Fun Centre chain. Many felt that this was a brilliant move for the park, with Indiana Beach officials saying that it was “an exciting time for (the park)” and that the deal would bring the opportunity for expansion.

For the next few years after this the park continued to run smoothly, and although no new coasters were added, it seemed that the park was finally getting the love it had been deprived of under Morgan RV’s ownership. However, Indiana Beach was slowly but surely declining in value, and by 2018 Apex were trying to sell off rides such as Dragon Wagon in an attempt to save the park. Rides were removed and employee numbers were cut, yet the park still couldn’t be saved. On February 20th 2020, Apex Parks groups announced that despite their diligent attempts to find a buyer, they were unsuccessful, and Indiana Beach would subsequently not be returning for the 2020 season. A day later the same company announced that another one of their amusement parks, Fantasy Island in New York, acquired by Apex in 2016, would also suffer the same fate.

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Anyone who had visited Indiana Beach in the past and made memories there, or had plans to visit the park, was obviously shocked and heartbroken to hear that this historic boardwalk park would be closing permanently. It’s fair to say that while many of us will be sad to see this classic park go, it isn’t really surprising given the way Apex Parks has been struggling frantically to find a buyer, even selling off some of their rides in the process. Indiana Beach is a staple of Indiana and the Lake Shafer, and holds so many memories for so many people who will deeply miss this much loved park.

Having never before travelled to Indiana, I never had the chance to visit this iconic boulevard park and waterpark, but I am heartbroken to see such a huge part of theme park history just being abandoned, and I, like many people, am still hoping a buyer will be found for Indiana Beach before it’s too late.

What are your favourite memories of Indiana Beach? What do you hope will happen to the park, and which rides and attractions will you miss most! Let me know below!

1. 

   Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoy them. Sorry about the late reply -Lily 🙂

2. 

   Your articles are amazing. Thank you for your hard work.

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   It’s definitely worth a visit! 🙂

4. 

   Interesting! Never heard of that park before

5. 

   Love this Lily

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