INDIANAPOLIS — Jodi Schmitt and Mindy Ortiz aren’t going to the game, and they aren’t going to check out the NFL Experience.
“I’m a Colts fan, but I don’t really care much for football,” Schmitt confessed.
But the Indianapolis friends are sure as heck going to ride the zip line, even if they have to wait all day in a queue to get tickets.
“If we don’t get it today, we’ll be back tomorrow,” Schmitt said.
“We’ll get the tickets some way or another,” Ortiz chimed in.
Along Capitol Avenue in Indy, from Georgia Street to Maryland Street, they’re cheering for the zip line.
Billed as the largest temporary zip line in the U.S., the attraction has become the focal point of the Super Bowl Village, just as it dominated the other attractions at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
The same company, Ziptrek Ecotours, rigged both sites. The main difference is the line in Vancouver was about eight-hours long, while the line for Indianapolis is more like five, Super Bowl volunteer Steven Haines said while answering questions for the public outside the starting tower Monday.
“It’s for everyone, from little kids to the elderly,” Haines said. “Anyone who weighs between 65 pounds and 275 pounds.”
After working out the first-day kinks, the Indianapolis Super Bowl Committee decided to begin selling tickets at 8 a.m. each day, with the tickets to be used during a specified two-hour time block later in the day.
Monday, Schmitt and Ortiz arrived at noon, and were stuck hoping some of the people ahead of them in line didn’t purchase their four-ticket per person maximum allotment.
Meanwhile at 3 p.m., those who’d arrived around 11:30 a.m. were nearing the ticket machine.
But with a maximum of 100 people per hour zooming down the zip line, a wait is unavoidable — unless you purchased your tickets online.
Beth Sentany and son, Nick Sentany, of Brownsburg, Ind., were beaming as they unharnessed Monday.
“It was a little scary, just when you step out onto the plank they have there at the start,” she said. “You have to lean back in your harness, and it’s just the fabric holding you up. But once you go, then the fear is gone, and you’re zooming through the air.”
“It was fantastic!” she added.
“I was scared when I walked out onto the step, my heart was beating real fast,” said Nick, 13. “But it was great.”
The zip line operators are hoping to stick to the 100 person, per hour rate, but said it depends on how the weather cooperates.
Monday was glorious for Indianapolis in January. Super Bowl Village visitors in wore windbreakers and sweaters, with the sun out.
Winds can create drag on the zip line however, so things slow down if it gets blustery. If the gusts get past 40 mph, the attraction has to shut down, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Ninety feet below the zip lines, down on Capitol Avenue, there’s always something going on. Monday, kids were playing pickup football, with a referee monitoring the game. Saturday, a guy with a microphone was leading a game of Simon Says. The fun never stops.
Up above, it’s screams and yells of elation, waving arms and legs, and mugging for the cameras below.
“They really don’t care how you go down the line,” Haines offered. “You can do a turtle, do a cannonball, hang upside down, whatever you want.”
Schmitt and Ortiz planned on each buying four tickets and distributing them to friends, then bringing everyone down and videotaping each other.
“We’ve got to do it, it’s the only time something like this is going to be in Indy,” Schmitt said.
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