Why Zip Lines Are On our Family’s Travel Bucket List

Our family has five travel goals. This post is part of a five-part series of posts that explain more about why our family selected each of our travel bucket list goals. In this post you’ll read more about why we chose to make riding zip lines a family travel goal.

To see our progress on our travel goals and read about many of our travel destinations, you can look here. To get more bucket list ideas for your family, you can read our list of family travel bucket list ideas.

Links to the rest of this series can be found below:

Visit All 50 States

Explore More of Our Own “Backyard”

Visit All Seven Continents

Experience As Many Sweeping Vistas, Mountains and National Parks as Possible Along the Way

If you want to learn more about how your family can create and reach their travel goals, you can subscribe here for my free e-book, Creating and Achieving Your Family’s Travel Bucket List:

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Yosemite Zipline and Adventure Ranch in Mariposa, California

Why did we select this bucket list goal?

We haven’t set a specific goal around zip lining, like riding every zip line ever invented, or every zip line in a specific country. We are simply saying that we want to ride as many zip lines as we can while meeting other travel goals such as exploring our own backyard, touring the US, and  visiting all seven continents.

Many of the zip line courses are combined with or also offer ropes courses, so I comment on both below. Our zip line and ropes course reviews are found in this post.

There are many reasons why our family has a goal of riding as many zip lines as we can in our travels.

• They are fun: Obviously we must enjoy them to put them on our travel goal list, right? Zip lines are a really cool way to experience a place that is not a tour or a hike. The ones we have experienced have had very safety-conscious but fun staff that make your experience a great one.
  
• They are family-friendly activities for older kids: Many zip lines and ropes courses have either size or age restrictions. For those with older kids (or a party of adults only), zip lines provide a safe but adventurous experience. They also build a sense of shared accomplishment among your family.
• There are more and more of them available: Zip lines and ropes courses are becoming more popular, and the industry is expanding all the time. Two of the zip lines we’ve experienced recently were relatively new (open within the last couple years). More and more entrepreneurs are seeing the potential of zip lines for capturing tourists, especially in already popular tourism areas.
  
• They are a fun diversion from our usual vacation activities: Our family is not big on museums, and I personally get bored the second I sit down on a beach. Zip lines can be a fun, active experience that doesn’t require a lot of skill or athletic ability.
  

Raven’s Rim Zip Line Adventure in Moab, Utah

What we love about this bucket list goal?

There’s a lot to love about zip lines.

• Family bonding: As I mentioned above, completing a zip line and/or ropes course leaves our family with a sense of joint accomplishment, like we’ve survived something thrilling together.
  
• A thrill factor: Our teen and tween like a bit of an adrenaline rush. This is a safe way to give them that without worrying (much) about their survival.
  
• An opportunity to see beautiful views: Most zip lines we’ve done are in settings that showcase beautiful natural surroundings, whether that be on the top of bluffs, in a mountain valley, or in a forest. It’s a fun way to experience that beauty.
  

 

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 Canyon Forest Parcours Aventures in Villeneuve-Loubet France

What is challenging about this bucket list goal?

There are actually several challenges we have come across when working toward this travel goal.

• Cost: Zip lines and ropes courses are not cheap. We have paid anywhere from about $30 USD to well over $100 USD per person for a 2-3 hour zip line experience. As with any travel experience, it’s all about prioritizing where you spend your travel dollars. We tend not to spend a lot on luxury accommodations and prioritize our spending throughout the year so that we feel like we can afford an occasional splurge like a zip line experience.
  
• Age and/or size requirements: As mentioned above, this is probably not something you can do until your kids are about eight to 10 years old, depending on the rules of the course and, in some cases, your kids’ size. If you have little ones, be patient. They will be big before you know it, and the zip line courses will be waiting for you.
  
• Weather-dependent: Almost all zip lines are obviously outside (with some rare exceptions). We did end up rescheduling one zip line appointment because of the weather forecast. Luckily the course’s staff was very flexible. I watched as people eagerly signed up to zip line across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis during the Super Bowl VII activities. Even as a native Minnesotan, that sounded a little too cold for me.
  

Go Ape Zip Line & Treetop Adventure, Cleveland Ohio

What is our status on reaching our goal?

This is a fairly new goal for us. We didn’t try zip lining until our kids were older because so many of the zip lines have age and/or size requirements for kids. Since 2015 we have been on four zip lines:

Raven’s Rim Zip Line Adventure in Moab, Utah

Louisville Mega Cavern Mega Zips, Louisville Kentucky

Yosemite Zipline and Adventure Ranch in Mariposa, California

Go Ape Zip Line & Treetop Adventure, Cleveland Ohio

Canyon Forest Parcours Aventures in Villeneuve-Loubet France

 

Where do we want to go next for this goal?

Good question. Whenever we decide on a travel destination we research nearby zip line opportunities. Since we don’t have a lot of far-flung destinations pinned down at the moment, the most likely destinations for which we will do zip lining next are…

Minnesota: We live in this amazing state, and we have not yet tried out the zip lines in our own back yard. There is even the longest indoor zip line at the Mall of America we could try.

Indiana: Every year we visit my husband’s family in Indiana. There are definitely zip line opportunities to try out nearby.