To possibly top the Jamaican experience yesterday, today we went to the new Mystic Mountain attraction.
Jamaican Bobsled Track at Mystic Mountain, Jamaica
The winner here was definitely the recreated Jamaican bobsled track that we got to go on. Conceived in part because of the surprise success of the movie Cool Runnings (about the first Olympic bobsled team), the ride puts you in the position of a Jamaican bobsledder.
You control the bobsled with levers: forward means go and back puts the breaks on. Other than that, you just go as fast as you’ll let yourself. The fact that I got to go on the bobsled (twice!) while in Jamaica just totally made my trip. Folks, it’s OK to be silly.
The fun didn’t end there, though. After a drink of fruit juice, next up were the zip lines through the jungle.
We got harnessed up and were led to the first line. After the first few came the surprise- a vertical drop of almost 50 feet. Not death-defying, but enough to make my stomach jump to my throat. I’m sure I let out the best scream of the group.
What an incredible day! Mystic Mountain was the perfect amount of attraction without the hokey gimmicks of some tourist sites. Only opened in July 2008, it’s still gaining attention. When some of the Olympians visited Jamaica this year, they had a blast here going down the bobsled track and zip lining.
Record breaker Usain Bolt was quoted as saying it was his favourite part of the trip.
UPDATE: An article about my experience was published in TravelMuse magazine: Bobsledding in Jamaica.
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We went on this in November. It was a very wet day and the brakes did not work. We had two sleds joined and I was at the back. My cover came open just after setting off so left nothing to hold on to or keep me protected. I almost got killed. I was holding on to my one strap across my lap and had to slide down for safety.It went twice the speed due to the rain. When it ended the staff said the covers had come open a few times. This ride is unsafe and seriously lethal.
WOW, really? What a different experience than mine…
I see you did go on it. Sounds wild and lots of fun. But then I have jump out of plans and off perfectly safe bridges in Africa
It’s certainly not the wildest thing I’ve done. The bobsled ride is more about the novelty of the track and the ziplines are, well, ziplines. But it’s a fun atmosphere and the jungle and coastline views are fantastic.