We were hungry, but wanted to hit Wild Thing before the crowds. When we got to the big, lime green coaster, we realized that the ticket seller hadn't been kidding. There really wasn't anyone in the park. We guessed the employees outnumbered us at least 2:1 and there were probably under 100 customers in the whole place. (I had to keep reminding myself we weren't guests and cast members.)

We wound our way through the queue for Wild Thing and up to the top of the stairs. They hold you on the stairs while the train is out of the station. There were two guys riding in the front row and the rest of the train was empty. There were four employees running the coaster. One who let us in through the gate, one pushing the button, and two checking restraints. While the coaster was out of the station, they all had their cell phones out, apparently playing games or checking text messages. None of them acknowledged us and we didn't interrupt them.

We were the only ones in line and went right to the front row. I sat on the left and pulled down the OTSR. The restraint checkers checked us and off we went.

It seemed like the coaster went really slow. We clinked up the track slowly and Erik said it just wasn't the same without the California Screamin' soundtrack. (Not to mention the launch!) I told him to pretend we were riding the Cali broken green train that doesn't have sound.

Erik insists that Wild Thing used to be "The Skittles Coaster" when it opened. As far as I know it has always been Wild Thing at Enchanted Village, but maybe it was sponsored by Skittles in the early days?

The giant inflatable black widow clings to the side of Wild Thing

Wild Thing was fun but it seemed like we slowed down on every corner and every loop. I liked the tear drop loop, but the two corkscrew rolls were sooooooo slow, it felt like we were going to fall out. The track is pretty short and probably takes under a minute, so when you get back to the station they check your restraints and send you through again.

Lift hill and tear drop loop

OK! Now we were really gonna get some food! We hiked up the hill looking for Subway when we noticed through the trees that the Klondike Gold Rusher and Timberaxe were running! If they were operating, we didn't want to miss it! So we bypassed the food and ran up the hill to Klondike.

There were two mine train cars, with two rows each, running on the track. We hopped in and away we went! Now, I don't really like wild mice. The reason is that the only wild mouse I've ever ridden was Mulholland Madness at Disney's California Adventure. I rode it alone, and constantly slid back and forth on the slippery seat. Then when the car took the sharp downward dives, it felt like every vertebra in my spine compacted and my teeth painfully crunched together. Not a pleasant experience. Klondike was much better though! It was a smidgen too jerky/violent for my taste, but not nearly as painful as Mulholland. I liked that Klondike had individually molded seats, instead of a bench, so my butt stayed in one place and I didn't slide around too much.

After our trip on Klondike, we came back into the station, got out of the mine car and had to step over a collection of employee belongings; backpack, lunch sack, water bottle, sweater and coat, that were haphazardly dropped in the middle of the unload platform beside our car. It seemed like they could have found a better place to stick all that stuff, but at least they weren�t text messaging the kids working on Wild Thing.