The Wild Mouse is a bit of an unusual roller coaster.
It’s more of a genre than a specific coaster. The Wild Mouse (or Crazy Mouse, depending on the translation – there are many of them all over the world) is a tightly confined coaster, taking up a small physical space, and typically taking the form of a cuboid.
This review is specifically about the Wild Mouse at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. It’s the kind of thing legend, or at least folklore is made of. It’s been there since 1958, albeit with some modifications since then. But that makes it over 50 years old! And still running.
The picture really doesn’t do it justice. It doesn’t look like all the fancy new-world coasters. It looks a bit drab. But looks can be very deceiving…
It’s probably the ride that made me a coaster-fanatic many, many years ago. I remember, as a boy, going on this particular ride again, and again and again. I’ve been back to Blackpool at various points in my life, and always make a point of having another go.
Wild Mouse (Blackpool) Coaster Vital Statistics
- Type of ride: Steel coaster
- Top speed: 35 mph
- Track length: 1266 feet
- Riders: 2 in-line
- Ride time: 1:30 minutes
- Inversions: 0
- Height requirement: 52 inches
- Opened: 1958
- Manufacturer: Frank Wright
For the Blackpool version of the Wild mouse, you sit in a two-seater in-line car. Apparently this is unusual for the genre, but I think it really makes the ride. The car is very narrow ad your knees are against the side of the car, especially if you are the rear-rider.
The continuing attraction of this is the sheer violence of the ride. This one is really not for either the faint-hearted or the infirm of joint.
Just about every coaster in the world sells itself in an almost paranoid fashion; “Do not ride if you have… like anything, split ends or a cold.” There are so many rides I’ve been on where I’ve thought, “Huh? They wasted money on that warning.” Not so with the ‘Mouse.
DO NOT go on this if you have back/neck problems or probably any of the other things they talk about in the warnings. In fact, don’t go on it. You almost certainly won’t be able to handle it and come out walking straight, if at all.
OK, with the warning over, what actually happens? Let me tell you.
The compactness of the track is the key to this ride. The drops are not huge, but the majority of the turns are solid, right angle corners which throw the rider into the sides of the car = pain. The closeness to other rides and the compactness of the track vives the impression of speed, even though
We start with a couple of right angles into the chain lift, to get some height for what is to come. A quick 90o brings us close to the neighbouring ride, followed by a drop, and a quick zig-zag, building up the impression of speed. Then a couple sharp turns and drops, followed by a quick jaunt over the queuing future-riders.
As if your bones and joints were not already sufficiently pummeled, your masochistic trip still has a tad to go. Another mini chain-lift leads you into a couple of violent twists and a final semi-hidden dip, where you leave your seat momentarily, before ‘almost crashing’ into the structure again and a last right angle, neck-snapping turn brings us back to base.
Verdict?
Old skool coaster – rockin’!
