The Cave Train

I guess Cave Train Adventures is the Boardwalk’s version of the Mouse House’s «It’s A Small World». Except that this is Santa Cruz, and Santa Cruz does things a little bit. .. weird.
It all started a few years ago for us. We were at the Boardwalk with our baby, and the hunny said «Let’s go on the Cave Train!» We rode it, I thought «this is so corny», the hunny got a kick out of it, and apparently the baby liked it too. Now we ride the Cave Train every year, and both the hunny and the girl (who is now in elementary school) want to ride it.
The line to ride snakes back and forth and back and forth (that’s 4 parallel lines), roughly one line of people can fit onto one train ride, and it takes several minutes to both load the train and ride the ride. So it can take almost an hour to go from the back of the line to your train exiting the cave. Be prepared.
Synopsis: the life of a caveman community, complete with restaurants, fishing, and a dance floor. It’s hokey, but if you approach it the way «Mystery Science Theater 3000» approached 1950s sci-​fi flicks, then it’s as much of a riot as you can make it.

This is excellent for when you are getting a little tired of walking and don’t just want to find where to sit. Just ride this around for less than five minutes and then carry on. It isn’t anything spectacular but it is one more thing to do. I sat down with the kids and went around twice because one time just wasn’t enough relaxing for me.

The Cave Train is still fun, with lots more to see! I don’t remember it ever being this «busy», as in so much to see that you might miss something. It’s as mild a ride as they come, so I’m glad it’s still on the Boardwalk as an option for people seeking mellow rides. It’s always been one of my favorite rides for kids — used to bring them here on field trips — and it’s also great to ride with your SO or other family members or friends. Not terribly romantic, as it’s silly and whimsical, but it’s pretty dark in there if you want to steal a kiss.
The wait wasn’t too bad on a Friday afternoon. You have to walk all the way down the Boardwalk and downstairs to get to it (think the opposite direction from the arcade).
FYI: If you don’t have a wrist band and are paying for tickets a la carte, this ride comes out to be four dollars per person. Expensive, yes. But it was the only ride we did (our main focus was getting to the beach early enough for the Eddie Money concert) all day so oh well.

Ditto, the old cave train was a classic. It’s modern Disney remake panders to the modern kid raised on overstimulation. Used to be everybody rode the cave train cause it was so cool. And oh yeah, maybe I’m just nostalgic cause like many a kid raised in town, this is were I had my «first kiss»!

WHY DID THEY REDO THE CAVE TRAIN!!!
I am talking about the ride at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It was perfectly bad the way it was and that’s what made it entertaining. They kept the bear from the original but that’s all that’s left.
Now when I go inside there is a bunch of strange voices and singing (or i think it is singing) from baby looking cave people with florescent colored lights shinning on them. It doesn’t really matter because you can’t hear a damn thing. All I heard was the clacking and screeching of the train sounding like it was about to derail and explode into a plethora of Rugrats looking cave trolls.
Seriously this ride was classic before. Bats on strings with fans to make them look like they were flying. Animatronic cave men with only one moving part. One of them had a club that would lift up halfway and then spasm as it could no longer perform its full mechanical function and slam back down.
I miss the old cave train!!!