Visiting The Riviera of the Midwest

Indiana Beach, built into Lake Shafer, has been a boardwalk of amusement since the 1920s. You'll find it in Monticello, Indiana... located an hour and a half north of Indianapolis. The original family that owned the park sold it in 2008 after eighty years of ownership to an entertainment company. This place is the definition of a fun weekend getaway.

There's no shortage of things to do just judging by the map. Roller coasters, a year-round haunted house, waterslides, the log flume and more; but we found that being in-person showed even more countless possibilities.

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Monticello was a three-hour drive west of Peoria, Illinois. This was a spur of the moment decision, so lodging at Indiana Beach was already booked up. However, for those planning head, they do have accommodations available here. My strategy is always to find the cheapest hotel that doesn't have bed bugs, and I was in luck to find an incredibly pleasant and clean stay at Best Western Plus Brandywine & Suites in Monticello that truly exceeded expectations with a nice pool and complimentary breakfast.

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After breakfast, we traveled three miles down the road to get the day started at IB, and could tell we were getting close once we saw the roller coasters. If you don't mind a trek, you can utilize free parking or you can pay to park up close. We were right next to the entrance. After a whole day of walking the park, the last thing we wanted to do is a long distance to find the car.

Keep in mind that the time the park opens is NOT the time that the rides start. We arrived at 10am to find that rides don't start operating until 11am. In fact, the staff was mostly setting up. We couldn't even find any stores that were open so it was prime wandering time.

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The train was a hit and we waited the whole hour for it to depart the depot and take us for a lap or five around the amusement park. There was a good variety of things for the whole family from toddler-sized to adults.

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Like any fair, we found a couple of hotspots with all sorts of both hand-on arcade games and carnival games featuring a breeze of air conditioning in the 90 degree weather.

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Eventually, we had to stop and grab something to eat. A lot of the restaurants on-site were PACKED, but there were a plethora of options that you can see here. Next time, we'll start to look right at 11am or after the lunch rush hour to plan around the crowd.

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After we got through the rides and games, we wandered over to the waterpark section with slides, a kids area, and more right on the lake. I'm not going to lie - the lake was not the cleanest and as a lake swimming lover, being in it was not my favorite. Even so, there's plenty of happenings on Lake Shafer such as kayaking, jet skiing, fishing, etc., so it can't be that bad (I don't think).

We still had a fun time playing in the sand!

After a long day of riding and playing, we changed and headed out as the sun began to set. We were wiped! Indiana Beach offers live music and fireworks, so I was bummed we couldn't hang but there's always next time! If you're looking for a fun weekend getaway in the summer heat, look no further. And of course... we had to grab a funnel cake on the way out ;)