Riding The Alpine Coaster At Leavenworth Adventure Park

The moment I saw that there was an Alpine Coaster at Leavenworth Adventure Park in Washington state, I knew I had to ride it.

Growing up in southeast England, I have fond memories of going to Windsor Safari Park as a kid. It’s now where Legoland is located, but in its former incarnation it was a safari park that had an incredibly fun toboggan ride. It was always a thrill rushing down, especially considering it was more like a bobsleigh where you’d slide up and down the sides.

I hadn’t been on a similar ride in about 35 years, so having the opportunity to ride something similar while in Leavenworth made it a must-do activity for me.

You have to buy tickets for the Alpine Coaster online ahead of time, picking a time slot for when you want to ride it. When we visited in April 2024 the time slots were wide open when booking a couple of days ahead of time, but I imagine they’ll get booked up much more quickly in the summer and other busy times of the year in Leavenworth (e.g. Oktoberfest).

When picking up your tickets, you’ll get a wristband which will show how many rides you’ve paid for. At the time of our visit, here was the pricing:

• Adults (ages 13+): 1 ride = $20 or 2 rides = $36
• Children (ages 7-12): 1 ride = $17 or 2 rides = $30
• Children (ages 3-6): 1 ride = $5 or 2 rides = $10

Knowing that I’d likely want to ride it more than once, I booked two rides for $36.

Just before starting your first ride, you watch a quick safety video which explains how to use the brakes, etc.

Once that’s done, you’ll hop on to one of the carts…

…and start the journey uphill.

Part of the instructions you’re given before setting off is how to use the brakes. You push forward on the brakes to speed up and pull back to slow down.

They also advise that you need to stay at least 80 feet from the cart in front of you in good weather, or 160 feet when it’s wet. There are markers all along the ride indicating those distances to make it easy to assess that distance. Unless the person in front of you applies their brakes the entire way down, it’s doubtful you’d get that close though as they seem to space out riders with lots of distance between them when setting off at the top.

One of the best parts of the ride isn’t the ride itself – it’s the spectacular views that you get. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought I was in Germany or Austria rather than in the middle of Washington state.

Once at the top, it was time to ride down. The Alpine Coaster at Leavenworth Adventure Park is, on the one hand, a little more tame than that toboggan ride at Windsor Safari Park I mentioned earlier because the cart you ride on is fixed to the track. However, having the peace of mind that you’re attached to the track makes it more of a thrill because it gives you confidence to go much faster on the way down.

On my first ride I still applied the brakes a little at times, but on my second ride I felt confident enough to push them all the way forward to hit maximum speed. The Alpine Coaster advertises top speeds of 27mph; that feels slow when you’re in a car, but trust me – when hurtling down a mountain on the Alpine Coaster along a half-mile long track, it feels much faster!

I wanted to be able to give you the best idea as to what the ride is like, so I wore a GoPro on both rides. This gives a much better idea of what the Alpine Coaster ride is like, along with its stunning views.

If you plan on visiting Leavenworth, I’d highly recommend visiting Leavenworth Adventure Park and riding the Alpine Coaster. They also have a rock climbing wall and mining sluice in case those activities appeal to you and/or your children.

Another nice feature of the park is that the grounds are dog-friendly. Pups aren’t allowed in the buildings, but it did mean Truffles was able to join us as Shae was waiting for me at the end. Shae doesn’t care for coasters, so she was more than happy to stay on solid ground.