A Wild Adventure

My family and I had the pleasure of visiting WildPlay on Monday. I have to admit the experience was beyond wild – it was absolutely exhilarating! I’m a little bit of an adrenaline junky. I’ve been paragliding, skydiving, cliff jumping, and the experience at WildPlay was thrilling. Let me tell you why…

Nestled in the Maple Ridge forest, near Golden Ears Provincial Park, WildPlay has built a playground for all ages. They offer multiple courses, a freefall jump (WTF), and axe throwing. At some of their other locations you can also find bungy jumping, primal swinging, and ziplining. We were fortunate to try them all except the axe throwing since it’s for 12+.

The best part about all of the adventures is that no matter how bad, clumsy, or uncoordinated you are – you can not fail! During the entire experience, everyone is securely harnessed and attached to a safety line. A safety line that I still held onto tightly even though I knew that I could not fall.

When my husband, 10yo son, 6yo daughter, and I arrived at WildPlay we started our adventure with a safety lesson and proper harnessing. The employees were extremely knowledgeable and made sure that everyone had the harnesses on correctly and were secured properly. Once we were all strapped in we went for a demo and test run. My daughter and I went to the Kids Course where she was taught how to use the carabiner to get between the lines on the course. The Kids Course has been designed for shorter humans, and this single-level course reaches up to 15 feet high and is ideal for kids between the ages of 5 and 12. She loved hustling through the course and by the end of the first round, she was quite the expert.

My husband and 10yo son went to get started on the Classic Course. This course is divided into 3 levels of obstacles that get higher and more challenging as you go. They did the Green and Blue sections and I traded off to complete the Red section with my son, while my husband watched our daughter master the Kids Course. In retrospect, maybe I should have swapped in earlier because each level is in a specific order to allow you to increase your intensity. Maybe that’s why I was nearing adrenaline overload on my turn. I made it through though and my son gave me supportive hugs at the end of each obstacle. The experience was a rush!

After I had finished my part of the Classic Course, my daughter and I hung out on the much-missed ground for a while. My son and husband continued on in the trees and did the Extreme Course! As per the website, “The Extreme Adventure Course offers the highest and most challenging games to those brave enough to try. This course is ideal for those who have completed the Classic Course and want to push themselves even further.” I must admit, I’m glad I didn’t do this course, but maybe next time.

Once we had completed the courses there was one more challenge to undertake – the WTF (What’s To Fear) Jump. This is a secured jump from a 40ft platform. You start by climbing the ladder up, then, you’re securely tethered to a jump line. When you’re ready and the employee calls out “WTF” as a queue to jump, you leap off or walk off the edge of the platform and enjoy the ride down! The jump line ensures you’ll land softly on your feet or bum. Only my 10yo son managed to land and keep his feet, and the rest of us landed more gracefully on our bottoms. It was a blast and both my children said this was their favourite part of the WildPlay adventure! My husband and I enjoyed it but actually found the courses more thrilling because we had full control and the challenge lasted longer.

As a comparison to my other “extreme” adventures, I found WildPlay more exciting. Skydiving is pretty insane, but the thrill doesn’t last as long and since you’re strapped to an expert it wasn’t as scary. It’s also not suitable for younger people and my children absolutely loved the thrills at WildPlay. My husband also found WildPlay to be more exciting and he said he felt like it pushed him to the limits and allowed him to feel as though he was fulfilling “the call of the void” a strange impulse to hurl yourself into, well, a void. Luckily at WildPlay you can jump all you like and know that you are completely safe!

I would highly recommend a visit to WildPlay for a family adventure!