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 Review of Cornball Express, The @ Indiana Beach
2 Rating Posted by: shag9004 on 9/5/2008 8:30:00 PM
Date Ridden: Labor Day weekend of 2008. Times Ridden: 10 all over the train. The Cornball Express was our reason for visiting Indiana Beach. This coaster is constantly ranked among the top wooden coasters in the world and I really wanted to see what the hype among enthusiasts was all about. Based on the short, intense layout, I was fully expecting a Top 20 ride with possibly a perfect score. Unfortunately, I did not get that but Cornball is still pretty good. The ride has 3 or 4 serious moments of air time in both the front and back seats. My first ride was toward the middle and it was very underwhelming. The front is probably the best seat (I rode it at night for my final ride) but the back is excellent also. One problem is that the single train has really taken a beating and needs some serious TLC. When riding the back seat, there was a screw that kept popping out on the car in front of me causing a piece of trim to flap around right in front of me. I was constantly taking off my shoe and hammering it back down into place so as not to get my eye put out. I mentioned this to a ride operator who just smiled and said they would work on it before the next day. The ops themselves were very friendly and allowed re-rides without having to walk around if there were empty seats. That is always a plus, but it is also important to make sure all screws are locked down tight. Each seat on the train had numerous signs of wear and tear on the restraints and the seats themselves. Some of the seatbelts were very ragged as well. All of the problems seemed very minor. I think just fixing a few areas could really make this thing look and ride like the world class coaster it has the potential to be. Let&#39.s face facts. This ride could score a 10. It has enough airtime, a smooth track, and only a buzz bar/seat belt restraint system. These three facts, plus the fast and friendly station crew (despite their adversity to a simple screwdriver) make this a fun experience. The view of Lake Shafer was gorgeous as well. In conclusion, riding in the middle of the train gets a solid 8 while the front and back are very high 9&#39.s. I do score rides based mainly on my experience and I had a great time on the Cornball Express. I will give it a 9 with a little more love by the park bumping up into the ranks of the top wooden coasters in existence. As of right now however, it is not there.
 

Review Comments

Timberman on 9/5/2008 11:09:07 PM said:
I like Cornball Express (the Boy Named Sue of roller coasters), but I suspect I haven'.t really caught it at its best. In this genre I think Rattler is the superior, more consistently gutsy ride.
ginzo on 9/5/2008 11:14:30 PM said:
I rode Cornball on Monday and frankly it wasn'..t running all that great. I remember it running much better last summer. Oh well. Maybe my opinion was influenced by the fact that I had recently been on Phoenix.

But yeah, I think Cornball slipped down a few notches for me.
bumprnugit on 9/6/2008 12:02:42 AM said:
Ahh, another classic Timberman musical analogy 8) . One of these days I will meander out to Indiana to ride Cornball which, if not for this site, I would have dismissed as a non sequitur.
shag9004 on 9/6/2008 12:12:52 AM said:
Missed you by a day ginzo....we were there on Sunday and Beech Bend on Monday....like I said, the middle of the train was a virtual snooze-fest with only the front and back offering the intensity I had expected. The Rattler is a good comparison. I only rode it twice (should have gotten in more) but I had a little better experience on the Cornball. It could be so much better though.
ginzo on 9/6/2008 1:53:49 AM said:
Cornball is one of those coasters that really grew on me with repeat rides. We had two night ERT sessions on it last year and it was just fantastic for this. Insanely forceful for its size and infinitely re-rideable. Just pure fun.


I agree about the middle of the train. It blows. The very front and very back are where the action is at. What'.s annoying is when they enforce their absolutely retarded ".no waiting for special seats". rule.
shag9004 on 9/6/2008 10:02:22 AM said:
That'.s strange because they did not enforce that rule when I was there. They would call out when their were open seats if people would like to ride them but they did not force anyone out of the front line to ride somewhere else. I had heard they did this but did not see evidence of it happening.
ginzo on 9/6/2008 10:15:56 AM said:
They were only enforcing the rule for part of the day. I had seen them enforce the rule two years ago, but not last year. The one nice thing about this non-customer friendly rule is that the ride does run better when weighted down with a complement of riders. Unfortunately, this mostly benefits those at the extremes of the train because the middle just ain'.t that great, even when weighted down with a full load of riders.
shag9004 on 9/11/2008 9:14:59 PM said:
Ginzo, this is really what I was thinking. Despite it being a great ride, I simply was not blown away, even in my front seat ride at night. But then again, the train was very rarely full, so I may have missed out on the Cornball at its best. I do wish they would do some minor repairs on the train however. That really bothers me, particularly at small parks.
ginzo on 9/12/2008 2:34:06 AM said:
^Well, they only have one train. So, doing those minor repairs during the season is quite difficult because they don'.t have another train to operate the ride with while they fix up the other one.

Personally, I care a lot more about how well the ride performs than mere cosmetics on the train. There are a lot more dilapidated rides out there. I guess the jury is still out on Indiana Beach'.s new owners. We'.ll see if they'.re up to the task or if they'.re going to run this as just another crappy corporate park where coaster maintenance takes a back seat to fattening their margins.
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