Wild Mouse

Jill and I got up early to visit a small amusement park a little over an hour away. Idlewild is a children's park that opened in 1878. It's one of the oldest parks in the country. We saw a few weeks ago that its steel coaster, Wild Mouse, was operating. It didn't run last year, so we wanted to get to ride it.

I called and learned that it would operate today, so we quickly got ready and headed out. Tickets were $20. We got two rides on the coaster, one on the flyers and one on the carousel. The coaster was really good. It might be my favorite wild mouse now. It's got great tight turns. The lift hill tilts about 10 degrees to the right, which is unique. The trains are fun too. It was my 304th roller coaster.

It opened in 1985 at Wiener Prater in Austria. It closed there two years later. It was moved to Alton Towers (hello, U.K. friends!), where it operated from 1988 to 1991. It was moved to Idlewild and opened in 1993. Its operations are sporadic. Last year, a couple of friends said they seldom see it run. So we were lucky this year.

The park was taking temperatures at the entrance. Everyone was required to wear masks, though we saw lots of people take them off or wear them improperly. It was a bit uncomfortable. Distancing was good, and there are markers wherever there are lines.