The Monkey C Monkey Do Zip Line Park is opening this spring on Rt. 1 in Wiscasset. The new facility is Maine’s first and only high flying family adventure and zip line park.
According to Wiscasset Town Planner, Jeffrey Hinderliter, the Wiscasset Planning Board approved the course about a month ago and the business is fully licensed. He said the “discovery course”, which is fairly popular in Europe, is expected to open up for the crowds by Memorial Day.
“I’m excited they chose that location,” Hinderliter said, adding he was glad to hear the company, Maine Adventure Courses, LLC, decided to stay in the area. “I’m hoping they’ll be successful this season.”
The family adventure course will consist of 29 obstacles, four levels and two zip lines located 20 and 50 feet in the air. There will also be a Little Monkey course for children aged four and up, which will also be used as a training course. Young children have to be accompanied by an adult.
The family business is owned by Bill King and his wife Danielle. Danielle’s parents Roland and Brenda Lacombe and her brother Nathan will also help operate the facility. The park, located south of Shaw’s Supermarket, is just a few short miles from where Bill grew up in Woolwich.
First time customers will watch a 30 minute training video, sign a waiver, then be fitted to a safety harness. Small groups, of roughly 10 people, will then go to a 10-15 minute ground school where they will go on a couple of obstacles located one to two feet off the ground, to get comfortable with their safety harness. Once comfortable and confident, they will progress to the Little Monkey course and then to the main course.
Once trained, participants will be in the system and will not have to go through the training on a repeat visit.
Before entering the main course, participants will clip into the safety system and remain clipped in throughout the course. The obstacles on the main course range from a tight rope, to a Burma Bridge (Indiana Jones type with boards tied together with ropes), to poles suspended horizontally, and suspended stirrups that participants step from one to another. The main course is suspended 20 to 50 feet in the air. Once through the main course, participants exit on one of two 350-foot long zip lines to the ground, where they can enter the course again. There is a two-hour time limit on the course, which does not count training time.
“There will be staff monitoring the course at all times. If there are any incidents of freezing on the course, the staff will be there to help.” Bill King said. Staff will be trained in talking people down, and if necessary will use special equipment to hoist participants down.
Bill King said the adventure courses are popular in ski areas. The builders of the Monkey C Monkey Do course, Absolutely Experiential, also built the largest adventure course in the country at Catamount Ski Area on the New York, Massachusetts border. A video of that course can be seen on their website. A similar course built in Conway, N.H. “a couple of years ago is extremely successful,” King said.
“These courses are used nationwide to develop confidence, build teamwork, develop corporate teammate and are used as therapy,” King added.
The cost will be $40 for adults, $35 for students, $25 for children aged 4-13, $99 for a family of four pass, $205 for a season’s pass. Special group pricing, and birthday party prices are available. They will also hold Maine Monkey Days, where Maine residents will get a discount. They strongly suggest making reservations, by calling 882-6861.
The Kings hope the park is completed and open by Memorial Day weekend. They plan to operate it through Labor Day, then open up on nice weekends throughout the fall.
“They are a lot of fun. We want to get people outside, and away from video games. We want them to have a good time in the fresh air,” King added.
King said Monkey C Monkey Do’s family adventure course will “absolutely” draw business to Wiscasset and Lincoln County. “I truly believe it will bring quite a lot of people in. It’s exactly where the worst of the traffic slows down. If we can get them to stop for a few hours, they may go to a local restaurant, hotel or campground.”
To keep track of the progress of the park, check out their website at www.monkeycmonkeydo.com.
(LCN reporter John Maguire contributed to this article.)