Skywild

This was the best day of my 9 year old grand-daughter’s life as she easily handled the beginner courses and then took on one of the intermediate courses after receiving permission from the very capable staff. I, on the other hand, felt challenged by the beginner courses. Your leg and arm muscles must be able to lift your body weight, so if you’re overweight like me you’ll put all your strength-​training exercise to good use.
The course is designed so that non-​climbing family, friends, and others can walk under and through the challenges cheering you on from below and can also take great pictures of you.
We’re already planning a return visit!

SkyWild recently opened at the Science Center. This review will draw comparisons between my experience here and at Go Ape (a new treetop ropes course, in Raleigh).
Reservations
Currently cannot be made online, which is a bit inconvenient. I called them, was connected to a person, and able to inquire as to availability. They asked for the ages of the individuals in my party (so be prepared with that info), and sent a confirmation direct to my email address.
Arrival
Park at the Science Center and go to the regular ticketing area. They located my booking and I paid. I mentioned I had a Greensboro resident in my party (the website indicates a discount), and the employees made a call (without prompting) to see if they could discount my whole group instead of just the resident — this was great customer service, and very appreciated! Along with our SW access wristbands, we each got a pass to access the museum, valid for one week. A family member who was not doing the course wanted to stick around and take photos — she was told over the phone that she did not need to pay entry to the museum in order to be an observer, but this does not appear to be true. We were required to use one of our passes to get her in (which worked out fine, but is an important detail and is distinctly different from Go Ape, which is in a public park and encourages observationists, complete with pathways below the course. Make your way to the back of the museum and outside (towards the zoo), then follow signs to the SW check-​in. Here, you’ll sign waivers, weigh in, and get a locker for your loose belongings (a nice perk that Go Ape did not offer).
Gear
You’ll suit up in nice new unblemished gear, including a helmet (not part of the Go Ape experience). Helpers come around and make sure you’re properly secured. The main difference here is that there are no carabiners, just a cable pulley, & no hooks on your belt to fasten it.
Training Course
Small and hands-​off compared to Go Ape. The latter had mini versions of all the main obstacle types you’d be encountering (eg, ladders, zip lines). Part of the reason for the difference is that Go Ape is far more self sufficient — you unhook and hook your carabiners and pulley on your own with no supervision. At SkyWild there is an employee at the start of each course who checks over your equipment and secures your pulley for you. I still preferred Go Ape because it lent me confidence as I started the courses, and helped me understand what to expect. At SW, there were a few obstacles we weren’t sure how to tackle… halfway into them, an employee from the ground would call up that we were doing it wrong.
Ropes Course
There are 6(?) total courses. 3 are beginner routes; the other 3 are intermediate to advanced. You have to start with the beginners courses to demonstrate your ability. All of the courses depart from the same platform — again, this is quite different from Go Ape, which has one long course that snakes through the park and gets progressively taller and tougher. The three beginner courses veer off of the lower level of the platform, while the more advanced courses veer off of a taller level. I am not sure of age limits between Go Ape and SW, but there seemed to be younger children at SW… this is the better fit for families with young’ns since the beginners’ courses are better suited for kids, and even the design is done for visual effect (eg, hanggliding birds and butterflies; cheese wedge rock walls). The downside however is that kids can get stuck on course; the dancing discs trapped more than a few. Luckily, we didn’t get stuck on any platforms waiting for folks to get rescued.
The two biggest differentiators between biz’s?
1) Bigger better thrills and more aggressive obstacles at Go Ape. If you want to scale taller heights, zip line from steep perches over great distances, or freefall Tarzan swing into a cargo net, go with Go Ape. There are a couple of zip lines at SkyWild but they have built-​in slack and traverse at a safe snail’s pace by comparison. In general, Go Ape is more physically challenging.
2) Timeboxed access at SW. My biggest regret with the visit is that we weren’t clearly informed that we had only two hours to play. Our assumption was that the booking was modeled like Go Ape (which allows for as much time ‘as it takes’ to go from start to finish). Because the design here is multiple courses from a single platform, as opposed to an end-​to-​end course, you are not guaranteed to complete all the courses within your timeboxed booking. Alas — we did not! Had we realized the time limit, I’d have skipped one of the easy courses in favor of the upper level. Unfortunately, we were only able to tackle 2 of the 3 on the 2^nd story. Depending on how fit you are and how crowded the courses are (ie, how slow folks in front of you are), you could complete all the courses in one visit. They cut me off with 10 minutes to spare; 15 minutes is their apparent «cut-​off» time.