ArieForce One Thrilling Riders at Fun Spot America Atlanta

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

Fun Spot America Atlanta made some big moves when they announced the addition of a towering Rocky Mountain Construction roller coaster in late 2021.  The ride, to be called ArieForce One, was much (much!) larger than anything offered at Fun Spot America Atlanta, but it was sure to put the park's name on the map.  Fast forward to now, and it certainly has!

 

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

The ride took a bit longer than expected to open, with construction going on throughout 2022 while enthusiasts mouths hung open, but that disappointment also meant the coaster was ready to go pretty early in 2023.   Fast forward to now and ArieForce One is open and as is typical with Rocky Mountain Construction creations, it's billed as a fast, intense and thrilling experience.

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

Riders encounter a towering 154 foot lift hill that serves as quite a billboard for the amusement park.  The steep first drop takes the trains rolling at a smooth 64 miles per hour and up into the ride's first inversion.  Soon after the trains soar through the largest zero-g stall in America, another inversion right after the first.  From there riders a sent through two more twisting inversions, a nuts-looking outwardly banked turn, a low to the ground helix and a total of 16 moments of airtime.  From an enthusiast perspective, ArieForce One is another mega thrill RMC machine, and it sounds like it doesn't let down from the moment it dispatches from the station!

If you've never hear of or been to Fun Spot America Atlanta, the park is only a 30 or so minute drive South of the city proper, so it's quite accessible for those passing through the area.  This was a huge investment and step for the development of the park, and if successful I'd wager the first of much more to come.

 

Fun Spot America Atlanta Releases POV of ArieForce One

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

Fun Spot America Atlanta has fired up ArieForce One, the park's new RMC roller coaster, and started the testing process.  As we well know after all these years, that means that the park has also released an official point of view virtual ride on the new coaster!  ArieForce Once is one of 2023's most highly anticipated new roller coasters in North America, a tall and fast design from RMC that appears packed with thrilling elements and plenty of air-time.

ArieForce One stands a menacing 154 feet tall and features a 146 foot first drop at 83 degrees, sending the train along the 3,400 feet of track at 64 miles per hour.  Highlight elements include the largest zero-g stall in America and a quadruple down to finish the ride.

Ready to go?  Just click play!

 

ArieForce One Making Progress at Fun Spot America Atlanta

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

We haven't forgotten about the giant new RMC roller coaster being built at Fun Spot America Atlanta - named ArieForce One - thanks to the park posting new photos of the ride's progress at regular intervals.  The park made some big progress recently when they got the ride's Raven Truss Drive completed.  The element is the ride's second - after the imposing first drop - and features a unique support structure that feeds into its name.

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

The rest of the ride is progressing as well - although much more slowly than we all expected.  The ride's far turnaround has been completed for a few weeks now, featuring a low to the ground profile.  But right now the Raven Truss Dive is the element that's drawing attention to the coaster once again.

We'll have to watch to see how quickly the mid-section of ArieForce One goes up, but the station area is just underway now and there's a lot of technical components to that yet to be built.  That's why stations are almost always one of the very first elements of a coaster standing!  Stay tuned.  You can see more of the recent images from the park here and here.

The Latest on ArieForce One From Fun Spot America Atlanta

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

Fun Spot America Atlanta has topped off their new Rocky Mountain Construction roller coaster, ArieForce One.  Standing 154 feet tall, the new coaster has also had track placed all the way up the lift hill, first drop and the entrance to the ride's second element.  That's as far as vertical construction has gone thus far, though new footings, supports and track are going in quickly now that major construction is underway.

In the top photo the ride's second element will be just to the left of the view - that will be a giant Raven Truss Drive, which inverts trains as they plummet toward the ground.

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

This second photo that the park has shared gives us a look at the location of the rest of ArieForce One's layout.  There looks to be a significant amount of work still to be done on the second half of the ride.  The coaster will turn to the left and go past the mini-golf course seen here, then up over the building on the far left and turn around in the cleared area on the upper left of the shot.  I don't see footings yet in these areas, which obviously have to happen before vertical construction moves that way.  We will stay tuned to see the rest of the ride come to life!

Heavy Work on ArieForce One Now Underway at Fun Spot America Atlanta

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

Over the past month Fun Spot America Atlanta has started some heavy construction work on their brand new Rocky Mountain Construction roller coaster, named ArieForce One.  They've been sharing images of the work that's underway and with some of the ride now standing I think it is time to catch up.

Up top is a photo form when work just started, with a big portion of the ride's layout to be included in the open area seen here.  Land clearing didn't take long in this section of the park, as it was mostly empty to start.

 

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

It didn't take long for footers to start to go into that large open area, seen in the photo above.  The ride's 154 foot lift hill will be located here, along with the 146 foot first drop, Raven Truss Dive and a giant Zero-G Stall.  The remainder of the layout will be intertwined with the existing park.

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

It wasn't long before ArieForce One took to the sky, with the first steel support structures being put into place.  Granted it's kind of gloomy in this photo, but it was a big occasion for the park to get the first bright white supports put up!

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

Finally, we have a very impressive aerial look at the ride's construction as of a week or so ago.  There's plenty of supports up now, framing what will be the ride's lift and first drop, with the Zero-G Stall hanging underneath them.  The beefy supports for the Raven Truss Dive can also be seen, waiting their turn for supports to go on top of them.

I'm sure construction will continue at a quick pace from here on out, so stay tuned for more updates.

Fun Spot America Atlanta Releases ArieForce One Animated POV

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

Fun Spot America Atlanta has released a brand new animated point of view ride on ArieForce One, the park's new Rocky Mountain Construction roller coaster.  We saw a lot of animated footage when the ride was announced during the IAAPA trade show, however the full POV was not released at the time.  Now we can take a virtual spin on the attraction, and really evaluate just how much we'll be out of our seats while on the ride - a lot.  Take a ride:

ArieForce Once will stand 154 feet tall and start with a 146 foot drop at 83 degrees.  Featuring a patriotic color scheme, the coaster is going to haul riders at 64 miles per hour across a total of 3,400 feet of track.  The coaster features a Raven Truss Dive, a Zero G Inverted Stall and two Barrel Rolls as far as inversions go, but is packed with other elements.  There will be a wild outwardly banked turn along with a quad-down that has coaster fans mouths' watering.

Hopefully the big parts of ride construction will start soon and we will be able to watch the coaster come to life!

ArieForce One RMC Coaster Headed to Fun Spot America Atlanta

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

Fun Spot America Atlanta and Rocky Mountain Construction have announced ArieForce One, a brand new i-box track steel coaster for the park's 2022 season.  We've known that a custom designed ride was headed to the park for some time now, but the pair waited until the annual IAAPA trade show to do the full reveal of the coaster.

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

ArieForce One is named after Fun Spot America's founder John Arie - the parks are currently run by his son, John Arie, Jr.  The ride and its queue will be themed after the senior John Arie's boyhood passion for flight, hence the unique coaster name.  The $13 million project will be the largest that Fun Spot has ever spent on one ride to date.

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

The coaster will start with a 154 foot lift hill, followed by a 146 foot first drop at a steep 83 degree angle at 64 miles per hour.  The trains will then soar up into a Raven Truss Dive, similar to a dive loop, turning back toward the lift hill.  There will then be a long zero-g stall that takes place under the lift hill, followed by an outwardly banked left turn.

© Fun Spot America Atlanta

A large double-up and drop down then sends trains through a barrel roll over one of the parks buildings, and into a ground hugging turn around.  Trains navigate another zero-g roll before climbing a hill for the ride's big finish - a quad-down (series of 4 downward sections one after another).  It should serve as a breathtaking airtime filled finish to the 100 second ride.  In total ArieForce One features 3,400 feet of track and will utilize two, 5 car trains.

Fun Spot America Atlanta released this announcement video for ArieForce One, which you can watch above courtesy of Amusementinsider on YouTube.  It has a lot of great clips of the coaster in action and will give a better sense of the ride's layout.

Fun Spot Atlanta Releases First Images of New RMC Coaster

© Fun Spot Atlanta

Well, I thought that the next time I'd be writing about Fun Spot Atlanta's new Rocky Mountain Construction roller coaster it would be for the ride's full reveal, but it looks like the park has other plans.  Today they released two images of their new coaster's design, giving us our first look at one of the ride's major elements, seen at the top.

The element shown in the images appears to be a large dive loop, perhaps located after the ride's first drop.  The element will turn the trains around so they can take on the rest of the ride's layout, though the park is not ready to show us the rest of the ride just yet.

 

This also confirms the ride's color scheme, which really was released with the last update.  The new Ibox track coaster will feature white supports with track that has one rail painted red, and the other rail painted blue - a very patriotic look.

© Fun Spot Atlanta

The coaster will feature wooden supports from the look of things, but some of the large elements - like this dive loop - will feature a steel support structure.  Honestly, the supports on this dive loop are beautiful!  Head choppers throughout the element.

Also note that there is a small air-time hill right after the pullout of the dive loop, a trick that RMC's designers are all too happy to include in several other rides when space allows after big elements.  We all know that air-time is plentiful on Rocky Mountain Ibox track rides.

Until the next information update from Fun Spot Atlanta, we will wait patiently!

Fun Spot Atlanta Teases New for 2022 Rocky Mountain Ibox Coaster

© Fun Spot Atlanta

Fun Spot Atlanta is having a good time slowly releasing teases about their 2022 roller coaster project, which is being built by Rocky Mountain Construction.  First they released the fact that the project was underway, but with no additional details.  Then they posted a picture of the ride's steel track being fabricated, still a mysterious tease, but today's update is very telling.

Once the curtains seen up top were pulled back (see the full post here), this image was revealed:

© Fun Spot Atlanta

The big news gained from this photo is that the ride will not be one of Rocky Mountain's Raptor coasters, instead it will utilize their Ibox track.  Rocky Mountain's Ibox hybrid coasters are regarded as some of the best on the planet, so the ride coming to Fun Spot Atlanta next year is going to be in some seriously good company when it opens.

Rocky Mountain has utilized their Ibox track on many conversion projects, taking older wooden coasters and creating truly wild rides out of them.  For example, Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, Iron Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion.  So far they have only done one from-the-ground-up Hybrid Ibox ride, and that's the impressive Zadra at Energylandia in Poland.

While we're assuming that the Fun Spot America ride will utilize wooden supports to make it a hybrid ride, the real takeaway remains that this will be Rocky Mountain's second new build of this type.  With Zadra as their first, that's quite a ride to follow up!

Granted I do not anticipate the Fun Spot Atlanta ride being the size of Zadra, but the fact that Rocky Mountain and its designers are starting with a blank slate is quite exciting.  There's still plenty to speculate on, from the ride's name to its layout and inversion line up - heck even what color they'll paint the Ibox track!  It'll be fun to watch those details unfold.

Fun Spot Atlanta Working with Rocky Mountain Construction on New Roller Coaster for 2022

© Fun Spot

Here is a great surprise announcement - Fun Spot Atlanta has revealed that they are currently working with Rocky Mountain Construction on a brand new roller coaster for the park's 2022 season.  Still in the design process phase, the park and RMC are not yet giving more details on the coaster, only stating that it will be a "huge" addition to the park and will open in 2022.

Well, actually there was one more interesting detail in the press release, and that is that the new coaster will be Fun Spot's "largest roller coaster investment ever."  Fun Spot has added White Lightning, a Great Coasters International wooden ride, to Fun Spot Orlando and Mine Blower, a Gravity Group wooden coaster, to Fun Spot Kissimmee in the past.  Specifically, Roller Coaster Database says that Mine Blower costs $6 million, so this new project would be above that figure.

 

© Fun Spot

Notably, it has not yet been revealed if the RMC ride at Fun Spot Atlanta will be a wooden coaster, which could have different styles of track, or a steel Raptor ride.  Or perhaps even something new.  Fun Spot says that the new coaster will be the first of several "marquee" attractions added to Fun Spot Atlanta in the coming years.

Fun Spot Atlanta is currently pursuing a naming rights deal with one of the Atlanta area's major sports teams for the new ride.  More details on the project will come in the future, so stay tuned!

Fun Spot America Orlando to Open New Thrill Ride this May

© Fun Spot America

Fun Spot America Orlando announced the addition of a brand new thrill ride named Sky Hawk on April 1st, but no joke here, the park is excited to be expanding once again.  Sky Hawk is one of A.R.M. USA's brand new rides of the same name, and features a 90 foot tall tower that riders swing around.

Per Fun Spot America Orlando, "guests will be elevated to new heights while spinning at a quick 10 revolutions per minute.  The tower will feature vivid colors such as purple, magenta, yellow, and orange and is located on the north side of the park between two of the park’s roller coasters, White Lightning and Freedom Flyer.  At night guests can also expect to see a beautiful programable LED package on the tower illuminating the Fun Spot Orlando skyline."

 

© A.R.M. USA

Another neat feature of Sky Hawk is that it has two different seating styles split evenly among the 24 passenger vehicles.   Half the vehicles allow rider to lay in a prone position, as if they were their favorite super hero flying through the air.  The other half of the vehicles are a more usual seated position.  The addition of both styles makes the ride more repeatable, as some guests will want to check out both experiences.

Fun Spot America Orlando hopes to have Sky Hawk opened to the public this May.

Help Fun Spot Kissimmie Name Their New Roller Coaster

© Fun Spot Kissimmie

Who doesn't love helping a park name their latest and greatest roller coaster?  Fun Spot America Kissimmie is working on a brand new steel roller coaster for 2020 and is seeking help from the general public in naming the thrill ride.  The winner of the contest who submits the final name choice will win two season passes to the park for 2020 and a first ride on it, so it can't hurt to submit a name, right?

The new coaster will stand five stories tall and feature 1,300 feet of track.  The concept art above makes it look kind of like one of E&F Miler Industries' Hi-Miler coasters, the trains and track style give that away to some degree.  The park says it will have a "triple out and back layout" and a height requirement of only 42 inches.

You have until the end of October 31st to submit your name for the ride.  The park is looking for family friendly names that are exciting and celebrate "classic American fun, Florida life, legends, traditions and culture."

Fun Spot America Orlando Working on New Interactive Water Play Expansion for Summer 2019

© Fun Spot America

Fun Spot America Orlando has been teasing fans for a couple weeks about a new development that they are working on.  This past Friday the park let everyone know that a large new interactive water play area will open this summer at the Orlando location.

These concept art drawings show the interactive water pad which is being created by Aquatic Design & Engineering.  The expansive area will be a popular respite during the hot summer months in the Florida sun!  Fun Spot America Orlando has long talked of building a water park, and perhaps this is their first step in that process.

© Fun Spot America

There will be a total of 30 different interactive features when the project is complete, and guests will have unlimited access to them all under Fun Spot America's all-day arm band pass.

“We are excited to begin this next phase of our development plan and adding this amazing interactive water feature is the first step we have been working towards for some time now. We have had some very productive planning meetings working towards this new attraction and our fans have been very engaged with us along this journey. Orlando and central Florida is an amazing and beautiful area and we are very thankful to be a part of such a great community.” said John Arie Jr, CEO/Owner at Fun Spot America.

© Fun Spot America

“When we approached the design for the interactive water feature, we took Fun Spot’s motto of ‘Safe-Clean-Fun’ to heart,” said Josh Martin, President and Creative Director of Aquatic Design & Engineering. “Not only is this water feature a fun way to beat the heat for any member of the family, but it also exceeds the highest levels of safety and sanitation.  The nearly 4,000-square-foot interactive water feature includes state-of-the-art slip-resistant soft flooring, and it uses environmentally-friendly, advanced UV Ray technology to disinfect the water without harsh chemicals.”

The water play area will also use motion sensors to conserve energy, turning on the water features only when there are guests nearby.

Fun Spot America Orlando Opens New Headrush 360 Thrill Ride

© Fun Spot America

Fun Spot America has experienced great success with the addition of Headrush 360 at its Kissimmee location (pictured above), so much so that park owners have added the attraction to their Orlando park as well.

The ride just opened in Orlando this past wekk, with guests already enjoying the spinning and inverting that they experience on Headrush 360.

© Fun Spot America

Here is the ride in its Orlando home, with the park's inverted family coaster seen in the background.  Headrush 360 is a Midi Discovery from Zamperla, which describes the ride experience as a "rush of land and sky meshing into one as riders fly head over heals through the dual swinging and spinning motions."  Headrush 360 packs a lot of thrilling ride into a small package, which is a perfect fit for the various thrill and family attractions that the Fun Spot parks offer.

In order to make room for Headrush 360, the Orlando park packed up their Paratrooper and is sending it to the family's newest park, Fun Spot Atlanta.

Fun Junction USA Reveals New Name + New Attractions On the Way

Recently purchased by the owners of the Fun Spot amusement parks in Florida, Fun Junction USA has announced that they will officially become Fun Spot America Atlanta this year.  The purchase of the amusement park was announced back in July, with the promise of expansion on the way for Fun Junction USA, which is located not far from Atlanta in Fayetteville, Georgia.

The new owners are now making good on that promise, and are starting to reveal what will be added to the park in the near future.  Fun Spot America parks are currently located in both Orlando and Kissimmee, Florida.  Both have seen great amounts of expansion in the past few years, which bodes very well for the Atlanta park.

© Fun Spot American Atlanta

Fun Spot released a video update on social media that detailed a few changes at all the properties, but gave two big news items specifically for the Atlanta park.

They've been sharing photos of work at the Atlanta park in recent weeks, showing giant wooden poles being driven deep into the ground.  The video confirms that the park is building their first multi-story go-kart track, which will open this summer.  Fun Spot owns several patents on the way they built these giant go-kart tracks, so this is an exciting development for the Atlanta park.

The video also reveals that the Paratrooper, a classic flat ride with an avid enthusiast fan following, will be moving from the Orlando park to now reside in the Atlanta one.  Replacing the ride in Orlando will be an inverting pendulum ride named Head Rush 360, similar to the ride of the same name that opened last year in Kissimmee.

Fun Spot America Atlanta has a lot of open space still that could be developed, so hopefully this is only the start of announcements for the property.  Stay tuned!

Fun Spot America Expands with New Park Purchase in Georgia

Fun Spot America theme parks, which has two locations in central Florida is on a path to expansion.  After greatly growing both of the existing parks, including a wild new wooden roller coaster this season, the company has moved out of the state and purchased an existing family entertainment center in Fayetteville, Georgia, which is just over 20 miles South of Atlanta.

The park being purchased is known as Fun Junction USA, which opened in 1990 according to this news story.  The park currently offers a wide variety of amusements and attractions including two go-kart tracks, several mini-golf courses, zip-lines, laser tag, and both adult and kiddie rides.  According to the park's website the larger rides include a Spider, a 44 foot tall drop ride, a Screamin' Swing and the Scream'n Eagle, a galaxy style roller coaster.

© Google Maps

What is most interesting to the purchase is that after they rebrand the park as a Fun Spot America, which may happen in 2018, they have a lot of room to expand the park if they want.  The news reports 95 free acres to be developed, which allows for a full master plan to be drawn up as to where the new owners want the park to go.

That's exciting considering what Fun Spot did with the Orlando location when they obtained land for expansion.  A couple of roller coasters and plenty of other rides were added to create a very nice mini-amusement park.  If anything like that develops at the new site, that would be a major plus for the people living near the park!

Mine Blower at Fun Spot America Opens Tomorrow

© Fun Spot America

Tomorrow is the big day!  Fun Spot America will open their brand new wooden roller coaster, Mine Blower, to eager riders.

Designed by The Gravity Group, this super compact ride just recently started testing and is now ready for passengers.  Standing 83 feet tall with an 82 foot first drop, the coaster's big element is the first after the plunge, a full corkscrew that takes place over the station.  With speeds of 49 miles per hour and a total track length of 2,290 feet, Mine Blower's compact layout seems designed to maintain speed from start to finish.  Additional elements on the coaster include extreme banking at 115 degree, two Timberliner trains and 12 different moments of air-time.

If you're interested in seeing how the ride is, The Gravity Group released a point of view video of the ride soon after it started testing.  So if you're not able to hit the park tomorrow, like me, enjoy a virtual ride instead!

Checking In On Mine Blower Construction at Fun Spot America

© Fun Spot America

One of the summer's most anticipated new coasters, and one of only three new wooden roller coasters to open in North America in 2017, Mine Blower at Fun Spot America is continuing to make progress.  The super-compact coaster has already hit its maximum height of 83 feet, with the initial lift hill, tight 180 degree turn and first plunge now completed.

The crew has been hard at work on other sections of the coaster, such as the massively banked turn seen above in a photo from the park.

© The Gravity Group

Mine Blower's designer, The Gravity Group, has also been sharing photos of the coaster's progress on social media.  This past week work began, and continued quickly, on the coaster's full inversion, a barrel roll that takes place over the top of the ride's station.  Above is a photo of the steel support structure for the inversion being put into place.  If you follow the bents that will hold the track you can follow the path that the trains will take.

© The Gravity Group

One more photo that The Gravity Group has shared, this time from the top of the lift hill looking down at the ride sprawled below.  The inversion supports can be seen on the right, and one of the heavily banked turns I spoke of earlier can be seen in the back.  When completed Mine Blower will twist over itself several times during the 2,290 feet of track.  You can check out some other recent photos from Wild Gravity Travels here.

Obviously with the ride still coming together it's a bit soon to look for an opening date, but Fun Spot America is still planning to make a summer debut.

Fun Spot America's Mine Blower is Going Up Fast

© The Gravity Group

Each day that goes by Mine Blower at Fun Spot America, located in Kissimmee, Florida, is growing bigger.  This past week the new wooden roller coaster's construction crews completed a very important part of the ride - and that is seen above.  The coaster's steep 65 degree first drop of almost 81 feet is seen above in a beautiful photo from the ride's designer, The Gravity Group.

© Fun Spot America

Fun Spot America is also working hard to keep fans updated on Mine Blower's construction progress via social media.  They shared a set of photos a few days ago that also show the new coaster towering over the park.  In the above photo we can see that the focus lately has been the first drop, but the ride's lift hill (seen in the center of the pic) is also going up quickly.  At the top of the lift the trains will navigate a quick 180 degree turn before dropping down.

© Fun Spot America

Here is another aerial view of the coaster from the park.  It is amazing how much track will be contained is a rather small area - but the ride will still feature just under 2,300 feet of track when complete.  More of the low-level turns are also going in currently, showing off the extreme banking that will be featured on Mine Blower.

Still to come is the ride's full inversion, a corkscrew, that will be built after the first drop and over the coaster's station!

Fun Spot America's Mine Blower Starting to Take Shape

© Fun Spot America

Fun Spot America, located in Kissimmee, Florida, has been making great progress on Mine Blower, a brand new custom-design wooden roller coaster from The Gravity Group.  Mine Blower features steel supports, painted white, that make for a nice contract against the traditional wooden track.  Photos released by the amusement park today show how much of Mine Blower is already standing - the ride is going up quick!

The above ground-level photo shows the turn out of the station and onto the lift on the left-hand side, and over on the right is a part of what a believe is a double-down element that takes place in the first third of the ride.

© Fun Spot America

Fun Spot America also gave us a treat and took to the skies to get some aerial photos of Mine Blower's construction.  The coaster will cross over itself many times, so the park is starting the construction with the center 'guts' of the ride first.  The cross section that has been completed will be fully buried with track above it once the ride is finished.

© Fun Spot America

Highlights of Mine Blower will include a 82 foot tall lift hill, top speeds of 49 miles per hour, an over-banked turn at 115 degrees and a corkscrew inversion that happens over top of the ride's station.  Total track length that the two, six car trains (for a total of 12 passengers) will travel is 2,256 feet.  Looking forward to seeing even more of the ride go up - it looks like some very tall lift hill bents are on the ground and going up soon!