Indiana Beach To Get Another New Coaster, Potentially Adding Kennywood’s Former Laser Loop

It’s been a roller-coaster of a year for amusement park enthusiasts. Earlier this year, Indiana Beach was revived, and the park received much success over the summer. A few weeks ago, the park announced the addition of two new rides, a Schwarzkopf Drier Looping coaster and a Polyp flat ride. The Polyp formerly operated at Kiddieland and Lake Winnie while the Looping Coaster was purchased from La Feria Chapultepec Magico park in Mexico. Now, it seems the park may be adding yet another coaster likely for the 2022 season.

In a presentation to the White County Commissioner’s Office on December 7th 2020, Gene Staples, current owner of Indiana Beach, laid out the future plans for the park. He outlined his plans to add major rides every year up to the park’s 100th anniversary — and mentioned that the park was to get a roller coaster “in the next year” (referring to 2022).

In mentioning the new ride, Gene went on to say “It has a lot of positive history to it. It’s almost like riding a piece of artwork if you will. It says a lot in the roller coaster community. It’s going to bring a lot of tourism to the town”.

Considering the rapidness the park has acquired the Drier Looping roller coaster, it seems that Indiana Beach has been actively looking over the used ride market. In the process of purchasing the Schwarzkopf Drier Looping coaster, they may have silently acquired another La Feria coaster, Cascabel 2.0, which many Yinzers (Pittsburgh’ers) would quickly recognize as Kennywood’s former Laser Loop.

As Coaster Nation reported earlier a potential buyer of the ride would be:

With the ride being offered for sale, it begs the question of who would be in the market to buy this 40 year old coaster? Well, the ride still has a large following of Pittsburgh fans aka “yinzers”, as well as coaster enthusiasts from groups such as ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts). Using this fanfare to their advantage for marketing, many upstart parks or parks with legacy rides could potentially be in the market to purchase this coaster. (Legacy rides are rides that are 30-40 years old and the model isn’t produced anymore).

While a $490,000 price tag might sound attractive asking price, that doesn’t account for the additional expenses to acquire it. There will be additional costs to dismantle the ride, transport the pieces to the new park, and construct the coaster. It’s also possible that the ride could be refurbished with a Linear Induction Launch System, as seen with Psyké Underground at Walibi Belgium.

Since Schwarzkopf rides don’t usually get any rougher with age, it could be an instant favorite for guests visiting the park or Fun Center that purchases it.

With Indiana Beach’s most recent addition, the park would fit this profile. Rumor was that the Drier Looping and Cascabel were paired as part of a combo deal. This deal would also provide Indiana beach a cost effective way to transport multiple rides from Mexico to the U.S. at once. The shuttle loop (Cascabel aka Laser Loop) was deemed sold at the beginning of October, as all references to the online listing were removed.

The ride’s stats include:

• Former Ride Names:
  Laser Loop at Kennywood (1980 to 1990)
  Cascabel 2.0 at La Feria Chapultepec Magico (1994 to 2019)
• Height: 139 ft
• Length: 876 ft
• Speed: 54 mph
• Make: Schwarzkopf
• Model: Shuttle Loop
• Launch: Flywheel
• Designer: Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH

For those wanting a peak at what may be coming, check out this video from when the ride operated at Kennywood!

Below is an image of what the ride currently looks like. As you can see, it has a green paint scheme.

We created a video showing how the two rides would fit into the available land at Indiana Beach.. And of course POV’s!

Indiana Beach plans to open for its 95th season in May of 2021.

UPDATE 9/14/20

As shown in the Aerial Image from the fan group coaster world mx, the ride is currently being dismantled.

Would you travel to Indiana for a ride on a piece of amusement park history? let us know on our socials!

For tickets and more information, visit the official Indiana Beach website by clicking here.

Visit the Amusement Park Community FB Group HERE and JOIN THE DISCUSSIONS!

Stay connected with Coaster Nation!

facebook: facebook.com/coasternation

twitter: @Coaster_Nation

Subscribe on YouTube!

www.CoasterNation.com