VALDOSTA — Wild Adventures Theme Park is starting out its 2018 season with a big buzz. 

The new MEGABUGS! Adventure Encounters will make it’s debut Saturday, March 10, with more than 70 MEGABUGS for guests to meet in the new addition and the butterfly garden. 

Some of the larger-than-life critters wave their antennae, such as the hissing cockroach, while others such as the Emperor Scorpion moves its giant tail and claws, then there’s the chubby Hercules Beetle larvae that wiggle in the dirt and the Yellow Jacket that flaps its wings. 

There’s movement, music and bug sounds throughout for guests to experience. 

The MEGABUGS! addition also has information displays, so guests can learn while exploring. Facts displayed include how the Hercules Beetle can lift 100-850 times its own weight. That estimate is even greater than the strength of the ant, which can lift around 10-100 times its weight. 

Interactive activities in MEGABUGS! Adventures Encounters include an opportunity to dig like an ant in the sand or crawl like a spider through a rope web. 

There is also the daily 2 p.m. Bugs Out! show at the Lonestar Stage that allows guests to get an up close look at real bugs. Stars of the show include the emperor scorpion, green bottle tarantula, Texas gold millipede and curly hair tarantula. 

Harriet, the curly hair tarantula, is 2 years old and almost fully grown, said Courtney Benter, a park zookeeper.

She said curly hair tarantulas are a common type of spider that is bought as a pet. 

“They’re very affectionate,” she said.

As for Harriet, Benter complimented her “pretty webs” and personality. 

“I think she’s a sweetheart,” she said of Harriet.  

To observe the opening of MEGABUGS! Adventure Encounters, Wild Adventures hosts “Eat a Cricket, Get a Ticket” events 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 10-11, where the first 200 guests each day to eat a dry-roasted cricket at Wild Adventures will receive a general admission ticket to the park.

To complement MEGABUGS!, the park also introduces Colossal Shakes exclusive to the Mayfield Ice Cream Shop. The oversized shakes include the MEGABUGS! Real Cricket Shake and the Fun@Heart Shake, along with seasonal flavors for Independence Day, Halloween and Christmas, according to a Wild Adventures press release.

Also coming to the park this season is the 2018 Flash Foods and Circle K Summer Concert Series beginning April 7 with Little Texas and continues through August with performances from Amy Grant, Scotty McCreery, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Alabama, Jeff Foxworthy, Three Doors Down, Skillet and more. 

The Wild Adventures special events calendar includes brand-new experiences for 2018, such as the Big Boy Toy Show, Coca-Cola Racing Weekend and the Pecan Harvest Festival. Several other park events will return, including La Fiesta, BBQ Country and the Cars & Coasters Classic Car Show, the release stated.

The park will “Light Up the Sky in July” with four firework displays, beginning with Wild Adventures’ Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular.

The new Team FMX & Globe of Death Motorcycle Show will thrill guests with at least two shows daily from July 19-28 with death-defying stunts performed by daredevil drivers that will culminate with a grand finale on July 28, according to the release.

MEGABUGS!, the 2018 Flash Foods and Circle K Summer Concert Series and Wild Adventures’ Special Events are all included with park admission or a 2018 Season pass.

For more information or to purchase tickets, season passes or reserved concert seats, call (229) 219-7080 or visit WildAdventures.com.

Kimberly Cannon is a Reporter with The Valdosta Daily Times. Her extension is 1376.