Chippewa Lake Park

Wild Mouse

 

Wild Mouse

Chippewa Lake Park's Wild Mouse coaster was a Ben Schiff Wild Mouse that is believed to have been purchased from Geauga Lake in the 1970's... there is some disagreement over the exact year, but it is believed to be 1972 or 1973. Like the Little Dipper, the Wild Mouse was not a customer designed coaster, but rather a pre configured coaster that could be found at several parks throughout the US around this general timeframe. The coaster gets its name from the Mouse Shaped cars typically found on the rides as well as the darting and quick mouse like path of the coast. These coasters had a single lift hill followed by frequent sharp turns and dips. They had a steel track built on to a wooden frame.

Chippewa Lake's Wild Mouse operated until the day the park closed in 1978. The cars were on the track at various spots until the late 1990's when they were removed by a local who also appears to have taken some sections of track. According to what I have heard, the cars were removed using a tow truck, although I have no evidence to support this claim. It is not know to me where the cars may have ended up, but if they're in your garage, I'd love to have a photo of them. I've heard that many of the Chippewa Lake removed items can be found behind garages in the area if you know where to look... but alas, I do not.

As of this writing, the coaster sits rotting away like the others, with fate unknown as the supposed redevelopment looms.

 

Pictures of The Little Dipper
Click any picture to see a full sized
Overview of the top section of the ride, as consumed with trees in 2005... as you can see, there were a series of sharp turns.
Some of the dips in the lower section of the Wild Mouse, also taken in spring 2005.
An overview of about half of the ride taken in spring 05... its tough to get a better overview because if you back up too far, you lose it in the trees.
Another view of the coaster taken from a slight distance.
The loading platform is lost amongst the trees in this picture. This is looking directly at the platform.
A collapsed turn as taken in spring 2005.
A close up of the track for all you die hard coaster buffs that get in to this sort of thing.
This is a more visible picture of the loading platform. Taken around 1999.
More track sections as taken around 1999.
The lift hill taken in 2005
As you can see here, the dips were pretty steep and quick.
The lift hill as taken in 1999... very similar to the 2005 picture.

 

To see the entire unlabeled gallery of all of my current Little Dipper pictures, click HERE

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