| Coaster | Year Built | Designer/Builder | Type | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rollo Coaster | 1938 | PTC | Terrain.Out-and-back | 4 |
| Wild Mouse | 1988 | Vekoma | Jumbo Wild Mouse | 4 |
Roller coasters and parks are rated on this scale: 0-5, with 0 being the worst and 5 being the best
I visited Idlewild Park on Thursday, August 16, 2001.
IDLEWILD PARK - Ligonier, PA
Overall Rating: 5
Idlewild Park is the third oldest amusement park in the United States. It is a big, great, fun old place with good and unique rides. It has seven themed areas: 2 have adult rides, 1 is an included waterpark, 1 is Storybook Forest, 2 are kiddie sections, and 1 is Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. "Adult" rides include: Rollo Coaster, Wild Mouse, Caterpillar, paratrooper, Confusion Hill (crooked house), Dizzy Lizzy (tame magic room), train, giant old-style Ferris Wheel, and then the usual rides. The waterpark (Soak Zone) has some slides and a pool. Storybook Forest is a walk-thru attraction with scenes from old storybooks and fairy tales. Mister Rogers Neighborhood is a trolley ride through a life-size animated Mister Rogers Neighborhood of Make-Believe (from the television show). Idlewild Park is a beautiful forested park filled with large old trees. It is a unique park with strange "parking lots," rare rides, and neat attractions. Overall, Idlewild Park is a great old amusement park with trees, shade, great fun rides, and short lines.
Rollo Coaster: 1938 PTC Terrain.Out-and-back
Rating: 4
The Rollo Coaster is a great fun, very enjoyable, unique old wood roller coaster. It takes advantage of Idlewild’s hilly terrain, and the layout is kind-of an out-and-back. It is only 27 feet high, and could be considered a kiddie coaster (I don’t think so) but it is a grand old roller coaster that is just very fun! After the lift hill, the train encounters two nice drops. Then the Rollo Coaster gets exciting. There is a drop that is split in two, with a curve in the middle. At the bottom of the drop is a low-banked, fast turn that slams passengers to the left. The best part of the Rollo Coaster is the turnaround, which is a great dropcurve into a ravine. It pushes riders to the right, and is very fun. What follows are some little, fun hills leading to the station. And not only is the Rollo Coaster a fun ride, it’s 100% Classic too! Manual skid brakes, old-fashioned loading/unloading, and two wonderful trains – it has it all!! The short three-car train (2 rows per car) are great classics; they are very comfortable and the only restraint is a nice high Fixed Lapbar!! The trains add to the Rollo Coaster and make it extra fun. No seat dividers means better side-to-side lateral g’s, and only a fixed lapbar make it more exciting. Rollo Coaster ran both trains, so it was a walk-on. Loading was very fast and efficient so one train would be out of the station before the other train returned. Idlewild Park’s Rollo Coaster is an old unique wooden with fun hills, wonderful trains, 100% classic, no lines, and a fun dropcurve turnaround!
Wild Mouse: 1988 Vekoma wild mouse
Rating: 4
Idlewild Park’s second roller coaster is the Wild Mouse, which was built by Vekoma. It seems every steel coaster company builds wild mouses, and this one-and-only Vekoma Wild Mouse is among the best. It was installed at Idlewild Park in 1993 and was moved from England. Wild Mouse is really huge, and is actually the world’s largest wild mouse! Idlewild has a world record coaster! Wild Mouse has fun sharp hairpin turns, very quick drops with airtime, and other intense turns. However, because Idlewild is really a true "family" park, this coaster can’t be too intense. Therefore, every brake (except just a few) was turned on! Some hairpin turns are less-than-exciting and a few of the dips are slow and not thrilling. Most of Wild Mouse, though, even with the trim brakes, is a wild great ride. The four-person cars (with individual U-lapbars), which are shaped like mice, are very long and make the turns more unexpected and fun. The world’s largest Wild Mouse is a unique, fun, enjoyable wild ride that could be better, but is a great roller coaster.
Other rides:
Caterpillar - a very rare old ride. You ride one or two people, side-by-side, in small cars. The ride goes around in a circle, with one or two hills thrown in an otherwise flat course. It produces strong lateral-g’s! the neatest part of this very rare ride is after a minute of riding around the track, a canvas canopy goes completely over the cars. A fan, mounted underneath the track, goes on and gives a nice blast of air through the bottom of the cars (they have a metal mesh floor that wind can blow through). With the green canopy covering all the cars, the ride looks like a long caterpillar moving around, when viewed from off the ride. This is a great, old, classic, fun ride that should definitely not be missed!
Whip - a classic ride, like the ones at Kennywood Park, Coney Island (OH), and Dorney Park. This one is not covered by a roof! A rare fun ride.
