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Volume 2, No. 10. June 14, 2002

New Arrivals

It’s a roller coaster!
Indiana Beach in Monticello, Indiana, announces the arrival of The Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain, June 8, 2002. Measurements: 45 feet high (14 meters), 1,410 feet long (427 meters), three trains of two cars each. Delivered by Custom Coasters International, Force Engineering and Larson International.

At least Tom Spackman Jr. kept his sense of humor. When a planned grand opening gala for his park’s new coaster in mid-May turned into a media preview of an unfinished ride, the Indiana Beach General Manager joked that “The Lost Coaster is still lost.” Wet and cold weather and some supply problems delayed construction, and the track itself was not completed until the week of the scheduled opening. Then the days of testing turned into weeks, and finally the state ride inspector gave his blessings June 6.

Opening ceremony? Last Saturday just after lunch Spackman rounded up the maintenance workers and landscapers who had worked so hard to clean up the construction site and took them on a debut ride. Then he proclaimed the coaster open. Attention in the crowded park quickly turned to the Mountain when guests saw staff erecting queue lines. “They almost stampeded us,” Spackman said of the guests. In less than an hour the queue was “stretching almost down the boardwalk,” he said.

Superstition Mountain started life in 1978 as a coaster-type ride designed and built by Tom Spackman Sr. The past few years the ride was becoming a maintenance nightmare for the park. “The typical call we had almost all last season was ‘Ride supervisor or maintenance to The Mountain,’” Spackman Jr. said. “Many of our guests here can tell you stories about being walked off The Mountain.”

CCI has turned the old coaster into something of a revolutionary ride for the industry. Removing the slow lift hill that occupied a chunk of the park’s boardwalk in front of the mountain, CCI installed an elevator that takes the trains from the station straight up to the top of the track. The 35-foot-descent down the mountain generally follows the original track, but with several surprising twists and hills. The trains comprise two mine cars with passengers facing each other in seats roomy enough to handle a total of “four large people in each car,” Spackman Jr. said. “That was one of the criteria: this is corn country out here.”