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Tap Water No Longer Free at American Theme Parks, Egregious Charges Added Amid Government Mandate

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Posted on by Alessia Dunn 2 Comments
A group of people with their hands up enjoy a ride on the Corn Ball Express roller coaster at Indiana Beach Amusement & Water Park. The inset image shows the entrance sign to one of the state's beloved theme parks, with a pathway leading into the park.

Credit: Inside the Magic

What would you do if you showed up to a theme park, were told you cannot bring in your refillable water bottle, that there were no fountains, and if you wanted a cup of water from a soda machine, it would cost you nearly $5.00 after tax?

A person dressed in a yellow shirt is drinking water from a glass under a bright, sunny sky with the sun directly overhead. Battling the scorching heat wave, a Mickey Mouse mascot in a white suit and black bow tie stands to the left, smiling at Disney guests while they try to stay cool.
Credit: Inside The Magic

Sadly, that is what is happening with one American theme park, which could be the jumping point for many others.

At Walt Disney World, for example, if guests want to buy water, they typically have the choice between Dasani and Smart Water, with the former being the pricier option. However, water bottles are not the only options for drinking water, as there are many free choices available. Firstly, there are water fountains around the park, located at nearly every bathroom and other sporadic locations. Many locations also have water bottle filling stations, making it easy to open your reusable water bottle and stock up on some H2O, since reusable bottle are allowed at Disney.

Guests also have the option of going to any quick-service restaurant in the parks to ask for a cup of water. Typically, many of these locations have cups pre-poured with ice waiting in them to give to guests who have been out in the Florida sun for hours and need hydration. While these cups are typically small, they are entirely free, and guests can ask for as many as they need.

With ongoing heatwaves scattering across the United States at the moment, with some temperatures raising so high that even airlines are having a tough time with the heat, as soda cans are exploding in flight due to the excessive outdoor weather, it is important that anyone visiting a theme park of any kind through the summer stay hydrated.

This has been such an issue that a government-mandated heat warning has been put into place. 

Indiana Beach Amusement and Water Park seems to disagree.

A large, intricate roller coaster features multiple loops, twists, and turns. The blue and red track intertwines in an elaborate design. Tragically, a coaster accident once occurred here that killed two people. The ride is set in an amusement park surrounded by trees under a clear blue sky.
Credit: Indiana Beach

Indiana Beach Boardwalk Resort is a seasonal amusement park located on the shores of Lake Shafer in Monticello, Indiana. Established in 1926, it’s a popular destination for families in the Midwest. The park offers a variety of rides, water attractions, shows, and concessions.

Indiana Beach boasts several thrilling rides, including the Hoosier Hurricane, a wooden coaster; the Galaxi, a steel spinning coaster; and the Corn Popper, a swinging pendulum ride.

One of the park’s newest attractions is the All-American Triple Loop steel roller coaster.

Indiana Beach’s All American Triple Loop clocks in at 5.6 G’s. That places it on a list of some of the top-ranked roller coasters in the world for the amount of G-force (the pressure your body feels when it’s accelerating), according to roller coaster aficionados at Coasterpedia.net.

The most forceful roller coaster in the U.S. is the Shockwave at Six Flags Over Texas with 5.9 G’s of force, according to the park, meaning that a rider weighing 100 pounds would feel like they weighed roughly 590 pounds on the roller coaster.

The new roller coaster travels at a top speed of 53.4 mph, and the ride will last about two minutes, according to Indiana Beach.

The All-American Triple Loop underwent a significant overhaul before arriving at Indiana Beach. Previously operating at another park, the coaster endured a tragic accident in September 2019. An investigation revealed that a lack of proper maintenance and exceeding the ride’s recommended speed resulted in a malfunction.

Indiana Beach acquired the coaster in 2020 and undertook a meticulous three-and-a-half-year refurbishment process. This comprehensive effort prioritized safety, ensuring the ride met the highest operational standards before reopening to the public as the All-American Triple Loop.

Recently, the coaster nearly experienced another tragedy, with a train full of riders smelling like it was burning after a rollback.

Thankfully, the guests were safe, but with the coaster’s tragic history, any safety issue can cause panic and alarm.

Indiana Beach Amusement Park
Credit: Jessica W., Inside the Magic

The exact number of annual visitors to Indiana Beach varies depending on the source. However, estimates suggest that the park attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Unfortunately, amusement park accidents do happen occasionally, and Indiana Beach has not been immune to such incidents. There have been a few reported injuries over the years, but no major accidents or fatalities. The park has a safety record that is on par with other amusement parks of its size.

Now, it is being stated that Indiana Beach is no longer offering water to guests for free in any capacity. It seems that reusable water bottles have been banned from the park, water fountains have not returned since they were removed from the pandemic, and if a guests asks for a cup of water, they are being charged as if it were a pop.

Joe Melba, a guest at the park took to X to share how livid he was after realizing that getting any form of water would cost him money, even it was water from a fountain machine, which rarely costs any money at any establishment. It seems that the theme park is forcing guests to pay the new upcharge of $4.00 plus tax, which has become a necessity due to the theme park’s lack of shade.

Hey @IndianaBeach , are you fucking kidding me that there are no water fountains (“we took them out during COVID” yet you didn’t enforce masks), I can’t bring a metal water bottle in, AND you want to charge me $4 to fill up a purchased bottle from the tap? There is no shade here

Joe shared a second image of what it looks like to purchase tap water, essentially, that cost $5.00.

It appears this has been an issue for a while. An email to Stef Radeke, an employer of Indiana Beach, shared that the fountains were removed and that guests are urged to keep water in coolers in their car so that they can go to their car to drink for free when thirsty instead of bringing the water inside. It appears only one plastic water bottle is allowed per guest.

Overall, we have seen other theme parks like Disney, for example, take free offerings, like FastPass or FastPass+, and turn them into a paid offering, like Disney Genie+ or the upcoming Lightning Lane Multi Pass. In an attempt to make more money from guests, theme parks around the world are joining in on the idea that they can charge for services that they once did not, in order to have a larger bottom line.

This trend of paying for a cup of water could be one that we see other parks adopt now that they know it is happening in other locations. Will Disney remove their water fountains? Definitely not. But a surcharge for cups of water? I would not be too shocked to see that.

Do you think charging for water from a soda machine is okay for a theme park? 

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