Wild Thing is the tallest
roller coaster located at
Valleyfair! amusement park at 207 feet. Wild Thing was built in 1996 and made
Valleyfair! become a major competitor in the Upper
Midwest region for
amusement parks. It claimed space opened up by the removal of the second
amphitheater, which once featured a
high-dive show and a
dolphin show in the park's early years. Built by Morgan Manufacturing (now Chance-Morgan), it is the first coaster in the Morgan
trilogy for
Cedar Fair Amusement Parks. The other
rollercoasters in the trilogy are
Mamba of
Worlds of Fun and
Steel Force of
Dorney Park. Wild Thing differs from the other
coasters in the trilogy due to its two s-curves, relatively shorter second
hill (which creates a feeling of coasting over the hill rather than near-stoppage), end of ride
tunnel and yellow and
neon green color scheme. This steel sit-down non-looping
out and back hypercoaster claims the longest low-
gravity section for any
roller coaster. Strong rumor indicates that there was to be a longer bunny hill section after the
tunnel to slow down the trains before entering the
trim brakes. However, for some reason, this was not done and the ride will end at a very abrupt stop if the
ride operators are moving slowly on a three-train operation day. Unfortunately, there is no
theme song played in the station for the
roller coaster.
Statistics:
- Length of Track: 5469 ft.
- Length of Ride: ~3 minutes
- Top Speed: 74 mph
- Theoretical Capacity: 1700 passengers per hour
- Height: first hill - 207 ft; second hill - 103 ft; third hill - 130 ft; fourth hill - 103 ft
- Trains: 3 with 6 cars each. 3 rows of 2 persons per car.
- Staff required: Minimum-6; Maximum-9
sources: personal experience and www.valleyfair.com