The Herschend Park You Probably Don't Know About

When you hear the name Herschend, you automatically think of Dollywood and Silver Dollar City. These two parks are both stand out destinations that have put Herschend Family Entertainment on the map. They have allowed them to compete alongside the likes of other major regional park chains such as Cedar Fair and Six Flags.

A few months ago we learned that Kentucky Kingdom was purchased by the company, adding to their lineup of attractions. What you may not know is that Herschend also owns an array of other entertainment venues that include aquariums, dinner shows, resorts, cave tours, and this one theme park way down South.

Right at the Florida Georgia line sits the fourth Herschend park, Wild Adventures.

I admittedly did not know that this park was a Herschend property until I was in line to buy tickets and noticed their small logo in the corner of the menu board. The company purchased Wild Adventures in 2007 after the owner’s declared bankruptcy. Since then the park has built several new rides and has been working on making it a destination in the gulf coast area. There’s much more to this park than meets the eye:

Coasters & Rides

First and foremost we are a roller coaster website, so we have to mention the lineup at Wild Adventure. While nothing necessarily stands out as an E-ticket ride, the relatively small park does have six credits to its name:

Twisted Typhoon – Vekoma SLC
Boomerang – Vekoma Boomerang
Go Bananas! – Maurer Rides Wild Maus Classic
Swamp Thing – Vekoma Family Suspended Coaster
Outpost Express – Vekoma Junior Coaster
Swampwater Snake – Zamperla Mini Mouse

At first glance you may notice that there are a lot of Vekoma coasters on the list. While Vekoma has increased its quality in recent years, their older models tend to be more rough and have a bad reputation. That being said, Twisted Typhoon was actually not that bad compared to other SLC’s and Boomerang was one of the best kept Vekoma Boomerang models I’ve ridden.

Go Bananas! (yes with the exclamation mark) was my longest wait during my visit at 30 minutes, but it does have a covered queue which keeps you cool and shaded from the hot southern sun.

I will warn you that of the Vekoma Family Suspended Coaster 342m models I’ve been on (Flying Ace Aerial Chase at Kings Island and Kiddy Hawk at Carowinds) Swamp Thing was the most rough. You do get to fly over a real alligator though, which is worth some bonus points.

Our family’s favorite coaster of the trip was Outpost Express. Besides its identity crisis, utilizing the wild west theme with roller skate trains, the ride is quite enjoyable. It was very smooth and had just enough speed to be fun for everyone. My five year old son loved it and we rode it several times on our way out of the park.

I think Swampwater Snake may be the slowest coaster on my credit list. I would be shocked if it surpassed five miles per hour. I had always seen photos of these very compact mini mouse coasters, but had never ridden one. It is pretty impressive that they can accommodate so many riders! If you have a child who is terrified of coasters, this may be the ultimate starter one.

As for non-coaster rides, Wild Adventures has over 20, including a great kiddie section. The whole area is really well themed to a swamp, with all of the rides tying in.

Water Park

Wild Adventures also has a large water park, Splash Island, that is part of your admission. It has over 20 slides, a wave pool, and a lazy river. We originally planned on spending part of our day at there, but unfortunately storms in the area had us heading up the road instead. I wish we could’ve got to visit the water park because they had a variety of slides we could’ve done as a family and also a notably large children’s slide and splash complex.

Animals

Rounding out Wild Adventures’ trifecta of main attractions are the animals. There are 75 different types of animals at the park! I really liked how they incorporated the exhibits into the park and didn’t just have a “zoo” section.

There is a train that takes you through and around several of the animal enclosures. Due to the dismantling (or closure) of the parks Custom Coasters International coaster, Cheetah, one loop of train track layout was not running.

Along with the animal exhibits, were several animal shows. We really loved the tiger show and how close you were able to get to these massive creatures. Wild Adventures is one of the only places in the world where you can see tigers with red stripes!

The other show we took in was the alligator and reptile show where we saw a number of animals and even got to touch a baby alligator! The show hosts were very entertaining and knowledgeable on the animals.

Wild Adventures has something for everyone. There are thrills, family fun, wildlife, and they even host a number of concerts at the outdoor theater. I really hope Herschend continues to pour work into this property, it really could become a destination with the addition of a couple of world-class rides.