Sunday, May 29, 2016

Teenaged Wild Mice



Arrow Dynamics produced four Wild Mice ride systems, two opened in 1999 and are still operational after 17 years. A fourth has been running at Great America, just a few miles from Arrow's Mountain View site, since 2001.

Arrow's wild mouse coasters have a large flat section of upper track consisting of sharp turns with high lateral forces and lower sections of track with a few drops and/or bunny hops.

Myrtle Beach Mouse (Closed 2006)

Their first wild mouse coaster opened at Myrtle Beach Pavilion in South Carolina in 1998. Arrow built three more wild mouse coasters over the next three years before their final bankruptcy, and the remaining assets were bought by S&S.

Michigan Mouse

The second opened at Michigan’s Adventure in Muskegon. Built at a cost of $2 million, it is 1,268 ft long, 68 ft high with a run time of one minute and 30 seconds.

Main Controls for Valleyfair's Mouse

The third mouse is at Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minnesota -  It's 1,257 feet long, has a top speed of 30 mph, also lasts 1:30 and carries 1,000 riders per hour in 8 cars with four riders per car.

Great American Mouse

The fourth is Psycho Mouse at California's Great America, has been running for 15 years and is also 1257 feet long. 

Arrow's Wild Mice were supposed to offer a lower cost alternative, primarily for smaller amusement parks, to Arrow's larger and custom coasters. The Arrow Wild Mice were so sturdily built that industry insiders said if you were ever caught in an earthquake, you'd want to be on one.


3 comments:

  1. Do you know if Arrow was involved with the goofy's sky school ride in Disney's California Adventure park? It opened February 8, 2001, originally as 'Mulholland Madness'.

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    1. Rosario - As far as I know, Mulholland Madness/Goofy's Sky School was built by Mack Rides GMBH & Co. of Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. (Sorry for the long delay in responding.)

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  2. Rosario: That is a Mack Rides product.

    Why Arrow tried to build Wild Mouse coasters as others were building those for years (Maurer, Mack, Zamperla, L&T Systems) is a mystery to me. How did they hope to beat the others experience?

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