The Wilds — Attraction in Caldwell

Review based on horseback tour only:

The experience I had with the 9am horseback tour was wonderful based primarily on the trail riding experience I gained as a very inexperienced rider. I mostly wanted to go ride a horse in a safe/controlled but also open-feeling setting and hopefully get to see some animals along the way. So realizing that the trail we'd be going through was through the native wildlife areas was slightly disappointing but didn't change the main reason we were there.

The tour itself was lovely; I wish I could remember the name of the lead rider because she was great to interact with. There was a mix of her giving tour guide information to the group via walkie talkie (like pointing out a beaver den and the trail to the water that had been worn through the brush) and having a conversation with myself and my partner who were on the two horses directly behind her, about her experiences that brought her to the wilds, her enjoyment of working there, and general light friendly conversation. Apparently in any group larger than 3 there is an employee trailing the group as well, and groups max out at 6, so I expect the riders that were further back had equal opportunity to chat with a guide. Our group of four split into two groups naturally, since we were going single file and the latter horses were going slower. We saw several deer, but that was the only wildlife of note. Beautiful scenery overall though, and the tour covered more ground that I expected it to. I underestimated how much distance a horse covers even at a walking pace!

The horseback portion was fantastic. I am one of those "love the idea of horses, have almost no experience with them besides a few interactions as a child" people, in moderate health in my late 30's, and was delighted by how much attention was focused on the "horse" part of the tour. Before we approached the horses the group was given some guidance on how to stop, start, and steer our horse's movement. Then each person is given a chance to interact with their horse before going over to some big wood mounting steps. I took a couple minutes saying hello to Baily and talking to the guide about her age, history, and temperament, before going to mount up. It didn't feel rushed at all. Mounting was easy and they made sure I felt secure before having me walk off so the next person could mount. Once the group was mounted the instructions on controlling them was repeated, with more emphasis on being able to show and not just tell. They also explained the walkie talkies, how to control them, and how they are set up for the tours because distance and wind can make it hard to hear otherwise. Clear instructions were given about safety, what to do if reins are dropped and out of reach, how to request we stop for photography, what to do if an item is dropped, and how to sit when going up or down an incline. We had a few minutes to get used to the horses before being told the order of our horses and guiding them out onto the trail. After the tour the guides dismounted first, and offered to use our phones to take pictures of any individuals and/or groups on their horses. Several pictures were taken in both landscape and portrait and I found that offer to be an unexpected bonus. After dismounting we got to feed them some carrots as a treat, though I'm not sure if that experience is guaranteed.

We weren't shooed off immediately after the tour and got to spend a little more time talking to the guide and petting the horses. I'm impressed at how the employees were able to convey both "we love that you love our animals too! We are happy to talk to you about this environment as much as you'd like" and "please respect that these animals need time to be tended to before the next tour, so you can't spend hours here."

I am happy I went, and would recommend checking the horseback riding tours out if that's something that...

We had a really great trip at the Wilds. I've got a lot to say so I'm gonna say it.

We stayed for the weekend, and slept Friday night and Saturday night in the cabins at Straker Lake. First off loved staying in a cabins, it was perfect for our group of six. They have six twin size beds in the cabin, and 3 rooms with 2 beds each. 2 full bathrooms was nice too plus a full kitchen, and a grill. We brought some meals to cook and wood for the fire pit. I will say I wish each cabin had it's own fire pit, there is only 1 community fire pit which was okay but luckily it was only us and 1 other group each evening, if there was a group from another cabin it would have gotten tight / not enough chairs. Cabin was very clean and seemed almost brand new.

We did the full zipline tour during our stay and we highly recommend it! Definitely do the full tour not the half tour, the half only takes you through a few ziplines mostly in the woods vs the full tour you get to do ziplines over the open safari areas. This took about 3 hours from start to finish. Even if you are a little afraid of heights, I still recommend! My friends who don't like heights found that they enjoyed the zipline.

We got to learn fun facts while doing the zipline too from our awesome guides Matthew and Serina Tyler. We learned about the funny "P" horses, the 6 foot long cat fish, and the harem deer. Other enjoyable parts were our screaming competition, getting princess carried by Matthew if you go too fast at the end of the zip line, and it was really nice that they let us take our own photos along the way (bring a fanny pack and your phone!). Now we may or may not have read the agreement before doing the zipline which may or may not state that there is a small rappelling part right at the end to get from the last platform down to the ground. If you are scared of heights, the guides will lower you down while you hang on for dear life like my friend haha.

We don't know how fast the ziplines go but they feel decently fast while still safe. Management, please give Matthew a speed gun since he too would like to know the speed.

One last word of advice for the ziplines: if the guides ask you where you are from to be friendly, don't just say "Ohio" 😂

So the other activity we did is the open air safari which is included with your cabin stay. Now this was fun and our driver/tour guide was really great, but I do wish we upgraded to the Wildside Safari - this one takes you on a pickup truck fitted with extra seats in the bed of the truck and you drive right up to the animals and I think you can even feed some. But our bus driver did great getting as close to the animals as he could while staying on the roads.

Overall, 10/10. Honestly I would go back again, I had a ton of fun. If you haven't yet been you definitely should...

My family and I did the longer zipline "safari tour" at The Wilds near Cumberland, Ohio. The zipline was fun and the guides were great! (There were 3 guides and they wore masks for COVID). We zipped through some woods and over 2 ponds that did have some animals nearby to view from the towers or while zipping (if you are paying attention to the scenery while flying through the air).

However, we paid for a 2.5 hour zipline tour, and it lasted only about an hour for 10 zips. The 5 zip tour was rated at 1.5 hours, so probably would have actually been over in 30 minutes. I believe that we got done so fast because there were only 5 of us, and they normally would take 9. They are limiting to 6 people per session, due to COVID. Let me tell you that the 10 zip tour is well worth the additional $30 per person, if you can afford it. I will note that you do not get to see all of the animals on the zip line tour, like the giraffes and rhino. You have to book a bus tour to see most of the animals. The thrill and scenery of the zip line make up for that, though. (Tip: Take binoculars or a high zoom camera, and you can see many of the animals from behind the visitor center at the top of the hill. That view is free, except for the $6 parking fee.)

We did encounter some confusion when making the reservations. The Wilds is now run by The Columbus Zoo. When I called to make reservations, I was told that the daily bus tours were booked for our date. So we could not do that. However, when arriving at the parking lot, the very nice attendant said, "Sure, we can get you on the last bus tour." By that time, we had paid for the longer zip line tour, and had to be somewhere else later in the day, so we opted out.

Would I do it again? Maybe in some years down the road, due to the cost and not seeing as many animals that we would have liked to. We had not been to The Wilds in 12 years, and again, 9 years prior to that. It helps to keep time between visits so that you enjoy it better, as it does not offer the amount of animals that The...